CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

GRACIE

Just as Gracie suspected, Mia mastered the knit stitch much faster than the other girls. That changed the polarization in the group. In the two meetings they’d had, Bella, Trinity, and Rylee had continued to make snarky comments about Mia that they didn’t think Gracie could hear. Once they had outright insulted Mia’s hair, and Gracie had to remind them of the rules of the classroom, the first of which was kindness.

But once Mia started sailing through her stitches, the comments stopped. They were too busy concentrating on knitting correctly and trying to catch up with her. Mia, on the other hand, was acting like she’d always been a part of a yarn group, making small talk with Gracie.

“So how old were you when you learned to knit?”

Gracie was nearly at the crown of the hat she was knitting and watching out for anyone needing assistance. “I was younger than you, ten years old.”

“Did your mother teach you?” Dani asked.

Gracie grimaced. “No, my mother died when I was born.”

“That’s messed up,” Mia said.

Gracie smiled at the honest assessment. “Yes, it is.”

Bella lowered her needles. “You didn’t know her at all?”

Maybe I should have just told them how I learned to knit. “No.”

“Extremely messed up,” Dani said.

“Mia’s mother didn’t want her,” Trinity said.

It was if her words were a poisonous dart, and when they hit, Mia popped up out of her chair. Her knitting clattered to the table. “She does want me!”

Yup. I should have picked a better topic. “Trinity, that was an unkind thing to say.” Gracie stood, picked up Mia’s knitting, and handed it back to her. It had the intended effect.

Mia took the knitting and flopped down in her seat. Her breaths still came in angry puffs. “You know, a mom can still want her kid even if she doesn’t want to stay with her husband.”

Divorce then. “If I have to warn you again, Trinity, I will suspend you from the class.”

Bella snickered. “How lame. Trinity is going to get suspended from knitting class.”

Mia looked up at Gracie. “They aren’t going to stop.” Then she lowered her voice to a mock whisper. “Mean girls.”

Gracie almost laughed. “Still, I will not tolerate this behavior in class.” Besides, hadn’t she dealt with her share of mean girls?

They worked in silence for a bit before Dani asked, “Did you have a grandma?” Dani was the youngest, so Gracie knew the question came from a place of innocence and curiosity.

Gracie grinned. “I had the best gran in the world.”

“You didn’t, ‘cause my grandma is the best in the world,” Dani said with animation that Gracie hadn’t seen from her yet. A good grandma would do that to a girl.

“I don’t know. My gran was pretty great.”

“I got it. We should have a grandma battle,” Dani said, eyes sparkling.

“Like let their grandmas fight?” Rylee asked.

“No!” Mia said. “Just put them together to see who is the best.”

Dani sat up taller. “My grandma is going to win.”

“My gran gave me this house, and you are sitting here taking knitting classes, so that means I win,” Gracie said, smiling.

“Okay. Your gran wins,” Bella said.

“Thank you.” Gracie gave Bella a little bow.

“For now.” Dani huffed. “But remember, Christmas is coming.” She spoke quietly but with conviction.

Gracie laughed and was relieved when the conversation shifted to a popular show they were all watching on a streaming service. She didn’t have to tell them that she’d already lost her mother and her grandmother and she wasn’t even thirty-two yet.

Ada came down the stairs. “Gonna check email before I start my homework.”

Gracie followed her into the office. “I was wondering if you could handle that customer question.”

“You mean the question about the skein of green Spinnery Yarn?”

“That’s the one.”

“I got it.”

“Thanks.”

When Gracie returned to the table, Mia was gone. “Where did Mia go?”

“I think she went to the bathroom.” Dani looked up at Gracie. “I’m stuck again.”

Gracie smiled. “Happens to the best of us. Let me help.”

Gracie turned her attention to Dani’s knitting. She was so absorbed that she didn’t notice when Mia had returned. She continued explaining to Dani how she’d made her mistake and how to fix it.

The class ended, and Mia began stuffing her knitting into the plastic grocery bag she carried her yarn in. All the other girls had canvas bags. “Mia, you need a better bag,” Gracie said.

“I know, but my dad said he’s not buying me something else to lose,” Mia said.

Gracie bit back a chuckle. How many bags had she lost before she was fifteen? “Let me see what I have.”

Mia looked up at her, eyes bright. “Can I have that red bag over on the counter?”

Gracie laughed. “Sorry. That one is way too expensive to give away.”

“Oh,” Mia said. She turned her face away, but clearly she was embarrassed. “It’s really nice.”

“It is. It’s real leather. Besides, you don’t need something that big yet.” Gracie went to the stairs. “But I think I have something nice for you.”

She went up to her personal knitting supplies. She had more bags than she would ever need. She selected a red, pouch-shaped cotton one she’d bought many years ago. Even though it wasn’t the leather one, Mia’s eyes lit up when she presented it to her. “That’s nice.”

“It’s all yours.”

Bella sucked her teeth. “How come we don’t get one?”

“Because you all have bags already.” The doorbell rang, and Gracie headed toward the door. “And because I want to give it to her.”

Mia beamed at them, but when Gracie cleared her throat, she pulled her smile down a little.

Dani’s mother was standing at the door.

“Come in.”

“Oh no. I’m double-parked.”

Gracie laughed. “Dani, your mother is here,” she called back to the classroom.

The girl raced by her. “Here I am.” She slowed when she reached Gracie. “And sorry about your mom.”

“Thank you,” Gracie said.

She ended up standing at the door for a bit because the parents started trickling in to pick up the girls. Mia proudly showed her father her new bag.

He looked alarmed. “Where did you get that?”

Mia huffed. “Miss Gracie gave it to me.”

“Did you ask her for it?”

Mia scowled, staring down at her shoes. “No, Dad.”

“I gave it to her from my personal stash. I have more than enough.”

“We’ll bring it back when the class is over,” he said.

“You don’t have to. It was my gift to her. Please allow me to be kind to your daughter. Besides, she’ll be distraught if she loses something out of that plastic bag. All serious knitters have a real bag.”

Mia smiled up at her.

Stanley shuffled. “I guess it’s okay then, since she’s clearly serious about this knitting thing.”

“Great,” Gracie said. “See you next time.”

As Mia walked down to their car, she turned around and mouthed, Thank you.

Once Bella, Trinity, and Rylee left, Gracie realized that their mothers were taking turns picking them up. Gracie closed the door and sighed. As much as she loved knitting, teaching could be taxing. She went back to the office where Ada still sat at the desk. “I’ve got that order all sorted.” She stood. “Another one came in. I’ll pull it tomorrow. Let’s get some dinner. I’m starved.”

“How about pizza?”

“Right now, I’ll eat anything.”

Gracie sat in the chair and pulled up a local pizza restaurant’s website. She was halfway through ordering when Ada called to her. “Yeah?”

“Where is the red Cojo bag?’

“Sitting on the counter where it always is.”

“It’s not here.”

It took a second for Gracie to process what Ada was telling her, but when she did, her stomach sank. She rushed to the counter.

The Cojo bag was gone. “But it was here earlier.” She peeped behind the counter. “Maybe it fell on the floor.”

“I already checked.”

Gracie turned in a circle, studying the room. Oh, please don’t let it be true.

She didn’t want to believe Mia had stolen the bag she had just asked about not thirty minutes ago.

Gracie rolled her shoulders, but the tension remained. After a day of searching, she and Ada hadn’t found the Cojo bag. She was reluctant to tell Ada what she suspected, but she did. Ada seemed as distressed as Gracie. “Let’s hope for the best.”

Gracie was near running out of hope.

“Where do you want me to put this box?” Ada’s voice broke through Gracie’s thoughts.

“Uh, bring it back to the classroom so I can unpack and inventory it.”

The box was filled with a new brand she wanted to test, mostly bulky weight yarn. It would be midwinter when she finally got the shop open. Thicker yarns would be popular for people making hats to keep their heads warm. Clarence flashed in her mind. She could knit him a hat in the new yarn to get a feel for its properties. That was a good reason to knit him a hat, right?

She rose from her computer where she had been sitting staring at the screen most of the day. Staring and willing the Cojo bag to reappear.

Ada came up beside her and began taking yarn from the box and arranging it on the table. “I was thinking.” She lifted up a rich blue skein of yarn. She held it out to Gracie. “This would make a great hat.”

Gracie’s thoughts immediately went to Clarence again, and she blushed. “You were thinking …”

“Right. I was thinking. If the rezoning application isn’t going to take long, we should order a sign.”

Gracie rubbed her thumb against the skein of yarn she held. “It’s been a week since I filed all the paperwork. I guess I do need to start thinking about that.”

Ada put her hand on her hip. “And did you ever go on your lunch date with Clarence?”

“No. I think that was a onetime offer.” She turned her attention back to the box.

“I don’t think it was,” Ada said. “If he asks again, you should go.”

Gracie didn’t say anything. Clarence was a very nice man, but he was clearly more interested in the house than in her. Everything he’d done was in reference to the house, except… “He said he wanted to learn how to knit. Not sure why he didn’t ask his grandmother.”

Ada threw up her hands. “Call him and set up a private class. Get all up in his personal space. And then go have lunch.”

Gracie laughed. “I can teach him without invading his personal space.”

“But he smells so good.”

“He does.”

They both laughed.

Gracie’s cell phone trilled behind them in the office.

“If that’s him, you’d better set up his class,” Ada called after her.

It wasn’t Clarence. It was Preston. “Hi, Preston.”

“Hi, Ms. Gracie,” he said. “I just wanted to check in and see if you’ve made any progress.”

“Some. We dated the house. It was built in the 1830s.”

“That’s cool.” He paused. “That’s kinda why I’m calling.”

She sat down in the office chair. “What’s up?”

“There’s a rumor among the contractors that there’s another house in the area besides William Still’s that’s connected to the Underground Railroad. I think they’re talking about your house.”

Gracie gripped the phone. “Have you told—”

“Oh no. I wouldn’t do that to you, Ms. Gracie. Besides, I’m too afraid of Ms. Lila to do that to one of her friends. And you wouldn’t believe how ugly things can get when a historical site is located in this city.”

“Oh.” She exhaled. “Then how did people find out?”

“Not from anyone on my crew.” He spoke with conviction. “But I wanted to warn you. If it gets out that it’s true, you might be overrun with calls and visits.”

Exactly what she didn’t want. “Thank you for warning me.”

“I saw grown men, brothers, get into a fistfight over a site a couple of years ago. Nasty business.”

She remembered Clarence’s telling her to keep this to herself. Unfortunately, she hadn’t heeded his warning. She’d told Uncle Rand. She pushed that thought away and grabbed at another thread that had presented itself. She’d been putting off opening the shop because she was afraid of doing something bad to the house. But Clarence said she could do small things, not major renovations.

“I did have a question for you. I spoke to someone at the Historical Commission, and they said it would be okay if I go ahead with the things I want to do for the shop. Do you have any ideas about my counter? I realize it can’t be mounted to the wall, but can we do something else? I really need to get my shop ready to open.”

“Hmm,” Preston said. “I can check to be sure, but we may be able to secure it to the floor instead.”

“One more thing. Can you remove the rest of the drywall and build me a panel to cover the door? Something I can easily remove if I need to go down to the room?”

“That I can do. I can swing by tomorrow. We’ll have to look at the drywall and see how far up the wall the brick goes, but I think that would work.”

Gracie grinned. “Thank you so much.”

“You got it. See you tomorrow.”

She returned to the box and told Ada about her conversation. Ada beamed. “Yay! One step closer.”

Gracie took a shuddering breath and looked around the room. She was so close. Could it really be just a matter of days before she could announce that she was opening? Tears pricked her eyes. Gran’s dream would come true.

Ada saw the tears and pulled her into a hug. “Almost there. Gran would be so proud.”

And that opened the floodgates. She sobbed into Ada’s shoulder. “I miss her so much.”

The doorbell rang, and they broke the embrace. Ada smiled at her. “I’ll get it.”

Gracie tried to compose herself, swiping tears from her cheeks, when she heard Ada say loudly, “Hi, Clarence.”

Gracie stood up straight, feverishly wiping her face. She took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the staircase and walked confidently to Clarence. She nearly chuckled when she saw him holding Ms. Lila’s project bag. “She made another mistake?”

“She says she did. You know I can’t tell.” He paused, studying her. “Have you been crying?”

“I’ll go and finish unpacking the box,” Ada said, and scooted out of the room at lightning speed.

“I—uh—got some good news today.”

Clarence brightened. “Hooray for good news.”

“I have you to thank for it.” She took the bag from him and sat on the sofa. He sat next to her. She tried not to focus on him being so close and told him about her conversation with Preston.

“That would work. Actually, if this was a station house, the homeowner probably had a removable panel too.”

She pulled out Ms. Lila’s knitting. “She did make another mistake.”

“Okay. Because I was beginning to think that she was sending me over here—” He snapped his mouth closed.

She fought to keep her fingers from trembling as she fixed the mistake. They sat in silence for a moment, then spoke at the same time.

“About your knitting lesson—”

“I was wondering about our lunch—”

She looked up into his eyes and laughed. “How about tomorrow?”

“For the lunch or the knitting?” His voice lowered.

“Either.”

“That works.”

He smiled, and she turned her attention back to the scarf. But from the corner of her eyes, at an angle Clarence couldn’t see, she spotted Ada jumping up and down, pumping her fist in the air. Gracie rolled her eyes at her.

A soft metal clank sounded. Gracie looked up to see two pieces of mail float down from the mail slot.

She hopped up, startling Clarence. “Oh my goodness.” She practically ran to the door.

“What happened?” Clarence followed closely behind her.

She turned to him, knowing she had the most ridiculous smile on her face. “I got mail!”

Clarence, mouth slightly ajar, looked down at the mail in her hands and back up at her. “You did.” She could tell he was trying to sound as excited as she was, but he sounded mostly confused.

She laughed. “This is my first mail delivery. Gran had put her mail on hold, so I hadn’t gotten any mail since I moved in.”

Clarence grinned and offered her a handshake. “Then, congratulations.”

She giggled and gave him a hearty handshake, joy she hadn’t felt in a while washing over her. She flipped through the two pieces of mail. One piece was the weekly circular from the grocery store on the other end of the block. The other was a letter from some investment company. Junk mail but mail nonetheless.

With all that was going wrong with the house, it was nice for something to go right. It would only be a matter of time before her rezoning permit would fall through that slot.