| |
The woman was in her thirties with thick dark hair and a rather stern expression. She waited a moment until the conversations quieted down. “Thank you. My name is Starr Brook and I’m the director of the Lakeside Conference Center. I hope you’ll all enjoy your time here.”
She went on to outline the menu, cafeteria hours, the location of the first aid area, activities that were offered when members weren’t quilting, and other aspects of the retreat.
“Are there any questions?” Starr asked smoothly.
One of the women from the Sew and Sews raised her hand and Starr nodded at her.
“Have you seen an updated weather forecast?” the woman asked. “It looked like we might be in for bad weather.”
Starr nodded, saying briskly, “Of course, our team here has been staying on top of the forecast. We would have cancelled the weekend altogether if there had been any threat of inclement weather. We feel confident that the storm is going to pass north of us.”
The quilter looked relieved.
A voice from behind them boomed, “Well, here you all are! I’ve been looking everywhere for signs of life and couldn’t find a single soul.”
Beatrice winced. It was Meadow, of course.
Starr narrowed her eyes, giving Meadow a chilly smile. “I’m afraid you’ve missed the orientation—we were just wrapping up.”
Meadow didn’t look fazed at all. “Oh, no worries. One of my friends will fill me in.” She waved at the row of Village Quilters.
A minute later, Starr had walked over to speak with the Sew and Sews and the quilters were helping to catch Meadow up with what she’d missed.
“Sounds easy-peasy,” she said with a shrug. “If it’s all on the piece of paper anyway, why did we need to hear it?”
It was, Beatrice admitted, a good question. But perhaps there were legalities involved on the conference center’s side.
Piper looked carefully at the agenda. “Looks like the dining hall is going to be opening up in a few minutes.”
Meadow brightened. “Good! I’m starved.”
Beatrice looked at the schedule. “It looks like it’ll be open for a while. I’m not quite ready to eat yet since we had those snacks in the car.”
“You should take a walk around the grounds,” said Meadow. “This is a pretty place. The sun came out briefly and shone on the lake and over the tops of the mountains. There were all kinds of birds flying by. It was really gorgeous out there.” She stopped and then said excitedly, “Look! Some of the Sew and Sews are coming over to meet us!”
Meadow sounded like a girl in the lunchroom, seeing the cool girls coming over to talk. Just the same, though, Beatrice smoothed her platinum-white hair in case it had gotten blown by the swift breeze on the way over.
There was indeed a group of them walking their way. The person in the front looked to be in her thirties with very blonde hair and dramatic makeup. She grinned at them, but the grin looked mischievous instead of welcoming. She drawled, “I understand you’re the Village Quilters. What village is it that you hail from?”
Meadow was practically falling all over herself to answer. “From Dappled Hills. You might not have heard of it.”
But the younger woman cut her off. “I know all about Dappled Hills. Vacation-type area in the mountains. Nice. I’m Aspen.” She gestured to the rest of the group to introduce themselves, and they quickly did. It appeared she was the leader of the guild, despite the fact that she was clearly younger than they were. Beatrice wondered if that rankled some of the other women.
One of them definitely seemed annoyed upon a closer look. She was a very thin woman with black hair and a dour expression who introduced herself as Olive.
Meadow asked breathlessly, “Where are you all from? Are you from the mountains, too? I was thinking we could even be sister guilds or set up sort of a pen pal thing. Maybe we could even have quilt shows together!”
The group looked somewhat overwhelmed by Meadow’s effusive ideas. One of the quilters said hesitantly, “We’re from the midsection of the state. In a small town near Greensboro.” She paused and then added, “It might be fun to do things together, of course.”
Beatrice said, “We could play that by ear. I’m guessing right now we’re all ready to get some quilting done.”
Aspen, the younger quilter, smirked. “Maybe later. Right now, I’m interested in the relaxation part of the retreat. I brought plenty of vodka and mixers. Anybody up for a drink?”
The Village Quilters all looked rather startled, Beatrice thought. Everyone did enjoy alcohol, but they were more the glass-of-wine-with-dinner types. Now it was lunchtime, and she was pretty sure the thought of having a drink hadn’t crossed any of their minds.
Olive, the one who’d appeared irritated by Aspen earlier said, “I think we’d rather wait until later. We just got here, after all. I was thinking about going over to the dining hall and having some lunch.”
The rest of the Sew and Sews murmured agreement.
Aspen’s mouth twisted. “I see. Okay, I guess I’m on my own, then. See you later.”
Beatrice felt there was a palpable sense of relief from the Sew and Sews when Aspen left them.
Meadow had regained her enthusiasm after looking flummoxed by Aspen for a bit. “So, lunch? I was just telling the others how hungry I am. We had appetizers in the car on the way over, but all they did was whet my appetite. I’m ready for some real food! Have y’all ever been here before for a retreat? Was the food any good?”
Meadow’s standards for good food were probably pretty high, considering what an excellent cook she was. Beatrice was interested to hear the answer. Food could definitely make or break a retreat.
Apparently, only one of the Sew and Sews had been to the retreat before. She said, “It’s pretty good. Not award-winning food, of course, but perfectly serviceable.”
Meadow looked crestfallen. Her impression of serviceable was not very good.
Regardless, most of the women headed toward the dining hall. Meadow said, “Come on, Beatrice. At least have a snack over there.”
Considering the rest of the Village Quilters were already heading in that direction, Beatrice decided to come along. But soon, she was sure she’d feel the pull of the cabin. Being with a large group had that effect on her. Every once in a while, she was going to want to retreat to a little peace and quiet.
The dining hall was a large and impressive room with rustic chandeliers hanging between large skylights. More floor to ceiling windows showcased the lake view. Now, however, the brief spell of pretty weather seemed to be at an end as large gray clouds were taking over the sky.
The others were more interested in what was on the buffet table. And Beatrice had to admit it looked good . . . more than serviceable, in her estimation. There were fresh fruits, different types of nuts, salad fixings, pasta salads, and cold cuts for sandwiches.
Only Savannah and Meadow looked disappointed. Meadow liked heavy, fried foods, and Savannah had a tendency toward junk food of all descriptions. But the others were loading their plates with a variety of offerings. Miss Sissy was already seated and devouring everything in front of her.
As the Village Quilters settled into seats at the large round tables that populated the big room, the Sew and Sews started sitting next to them. Piper said quietly to Beatrice, “They seem pretty outgoing, don’t they? That makes things easier.”
Beatrice wondered if it really did. Again, she felt as if she might want to put her feet up for a while after lunch. Particularly considering how much food she was consuming. Any thought of a small snack had flown out the window when she’d seen the buffet.
Piper could apparently read her thoughts, because she said, “I’m sure we won’t be socializing all day. On the agenda, it looked like we have some free time after lunch.”
Beatrice gave her a rueful grin. “Am I that obvious? I guess I must have gotten out of the habit of meeting lots of new people at once. And there really aren’t that many of them, are there? Maybe six? Still, they almost seem like a hoard.”
“A hoard of quilters?” Piper quirked an eyebrow at her.
“Silly, I know. Part of me feels like I’m back in summer camp. Like I’ll be writing postcards to my parents after lunch.”
Beatrice stopped talking abruptly when two of the Sew and Sews sat next to Piper and her. She smiled at the two women. One was Aspen and the other was a sturdy woman with graying hair, and large glasses.
Aspen carelessly waved a hand in the woman’s direction. “This is Cora. Are these seats saved?”
Without waiting for an answer, Aspen sat down next to Beatrice. She glanced at her plate. “Not hungry?”
Beatrice had thought her plate was groaning with food, but Aspen apparently thought otherwise. She had piled her plate high.
“We had snacks in the car on the way over,” said Beatrice with a small smile.
Aspen said, “Maybe I’m just hungry because I made time to work out this morning before I left for the retreat.” She made a face. “Apparently, the fitness center is one of the areas they closed off, but I worked out in my room with just my body weight.”
The other woman, Cora, said, “You’ve already worked out? You must have gotten up really early for that.”
Aspen shrugged. “It’s the way to get it done. If you don’t exercise when you first get up, you can’t count on it happening later on. Your day could get totally sabotaged by something else that comes up.”
Piper, whose days frequently were hijacked by her very cute toddler, looked a little envious. “I’ve been wanting to do some exercising at the start of my day, but it just hasn’t worked out.”
Aspen gave a quick glance over Piper. “You must have kids.”
Piper nodded, smiling, thinking that maybe Aspen was going to talk about hers, too.
“That’s where you went wrong,” said Aspen with a shrug. “It’s a lot easier to get the things you want from life when you don’t have children.”
Meadow, just putting her plate down on the table, caught the last bit and gave Aspen a horrified look. “What? I simply can’t imagine Piper with no children. I wouldn’t have my little grandbaby then and neither would Beatrice. He’s precious and brilliant, too.”
With that and with absolutely no encouragement from Aspen, Meadow plopped down, pulled up a slew of photos on her phone, and subjected Aspen to them for the next five minutes.
Beatrice hid a smile. Aspen deserved it. There was something about the young woman that got under her skin. Her brashness, maybe. At any rate, she was going to try her best to avoid her, if possible.
Aspen finally was able to break away from the impromptu slideshow of baby pictures. She said, “Sure, he’s adorable. But I wouldn’t trade in my lifestyle for him.”
Meadow started spluttering as Aspen continued. “I’ve got the perfect setup. A big house with its own gym, a media and video game room, and tons of room for me to host. My car isn’t any Cheerio-covered minivan, but a totally tricked out Jeep that cost a fortune and is just the way I like it. Nothing tying me down. It’s a great life.”
There was the sound of breaking glass and a gasp from Cora, whose angry face turned red. “I’m so sorry,” she muttered, as she stooped to pick up the broken water glass from the floor.
Before she could touch it, though, the staff swooped in with a broom and pan and efficiently removed the debris.
Aspen rolled her eyes. “Cora has a hard time concealing her envy. Plus, she’s clumsy on top of it.”
Cora’s face flushed even redder and there was fury in her eyes.
As if that wasn’t enough drama, a voice hissed angrily behind Beatrice’s head. It was Olive, the woman with the dark hair and dour expression and she seemed absolutely furious with Aspen.
“It was my brother’s money. You’re profiteering from that, and you know it. You don’t deserve a cent of his money and you did nothing whatsoever to earn it.” Streaks of angry red splotched up from her chest and over her face.
Aspen gave her a lazy smile, seemingly unaffected by Olive’s tirade. “Are we sure about that?”
Olive’s answer to this was to press her lips tightly together and stomp away to another table.
Aspen polished off her food. “Well, I’ve stirred things up enough around here, I guess. Mission accomplished. See you all later.”
Looking satisfied with herself, she strolled away.