Tight Knit Read online

  “She’s not going to mind. She’s disappointed in how you left, but she doesn’t hate you, you know. Well.” Genie paused to think. “Okay, maybe a little bit. If you want to talk to her, though, you’re out of luck. She’s not in today.”

  Lara knew that. She’d been scheduling her library trips around Sanchez’s old schedule and raking the parking lot for Sanchez’s car before she came in. She and Sanchez hadn’t talked since Lara had quit. Or been fired, rather. It was complicated. If it was up to Lara, she’d never talk to Sanchez again.

  “Thanks, Genie.”

  “No problem, hun.”

  Genie settled herself back in the chair, recovered her place in the magazine, and got to work memorizing the latest celebrity gossip, while Lara took her flyers and set off. If Paige wasn’t going to help April, Lara would. It was the least she could do.

  The receptionist at the front desk of the nursing home smiled at Lara in recognition. The cafeteria din called to her, enticing her with a slice of blueberry pie, but Lara instead boarded the elevator that opened as soon as she stepped in front of the doors, as though it had been waiting for her. Everything was becoming a little too familiar. Especially room 319.

  “Hey, Gam Gam.”

  Grandma Betty was in another flower-print dress, her signature style these last few weeks. This one was a deep red patterned with pink cherry blossom petals that fluttered as she moved.

  Betty’s smile was huge. “I thought you’d forgotten about me, Lara.”

  “I moved back to Perry for you. I’d never forget you.”

  Lara sat down in her favorite spot, an armchair directly bedside with scratchy fabric and a cushion half an inch thick. Everything in the room was bland, cold, only a small step up from the hospital. The white walls were replaced by a somehow more boring shade of rusted brown. The uncomfortable assembly-line furniture was replaced by just as uncomfortable antiques. It wasn’t the kind of place that Lara could imagine living in, but Betty had made it as much like home as possible.

  When Lara and her parents had first brought her over here, she had such a Betty reaction: one look at the place and she’d told Lara’s dad to get a pad of paper from the nurse’s desk and then proceeded to dictate of list of things she’d wanted from home, over her son’s protests that she wouldn’t be here that long. She’d replaced the blankets with one Lara had watched her knit herself over the last few weeks. The candles from her living room were working hard to rid the room of the sterile smell seeping in from the hallway. Pictures decorated the walls, both family portraits and photos taken long before Lara was born of Betty as a young woman visiting vacation sites across the globe. A stack of library books that Lara had borrowed for her on everything from crocheting to Gothic architecture towered on top of the dresser.

  Lara loved those personal touches. They were the same details she had loved about visiting her grandmother’s house since she was a kid. But this wasn’t her grandmother’s house. The nursing home was supposed to be a temporary residence until Betty was feeling well enough to go back home. Lara was worried that Betty was starting to feel too complacent here. She wouldn’t let herself feel the same way about Perry.

  It wasn’t until Lara fully settled in that she realized the items from home weren’t the only thing different about the room today. The dividing curtain was drawn back, and the second bed was empty.

  “Where’s Stella?”

  “Gone.”

  “They released her?”

  “That’s one way to put it.”

  The clock clicked a steady, stable rhythm. That and the humming of the air conditioner were the only sounds in the otherwise silent room.

  “Let’s talk about something else,” Betty said. “How have you been doing?”

  “I’ve been better,” Lara admitted.

  “What’s wrong, dear?”

  “There’s this journalist. He said he was going to write an article about my business, but all he did was grill me over a single bad experience one of my customers had. He completely blew everything out of proportion and caught me off guard, and now I’m a media punching bag. People keep telling me to relax, but I can’t. I guess it’s my own fault for talking to him and not watching my words.”

  “It sounds like he was going to twist your words no matter what.”

  “Probably.”

  “Take it from me: when people decide in advance that they’re going to be negative about a situation, nothing you say can change their mind.”

  “I feel useless not trying, though,” Lara reasoned. “I might not be able to change things if I try, but if I don’t try, then I know nothing will change.”

  “If the outcome is going to be the same either way, you might as well not waste your time. Life isn’t as long as it seems.”

  “But what if it doesn’t turn out to be a waste of time?”

  “Do you know how many decades I spent trying to defend your grandfather?” Betty asked. “No one wanted to hear it. He could have cured cancer, and they still wouldn’t have seen him any differently. You can’t let people like that bring you down.”

  “How do you not feel down about that?

  “You get used to it. The secret is to stay positive. Look at me. Just because no one lets me forget that my husband drank too much, it doesn’t mean that I’m not living the life.” Betty sprawled out her arms as if her room was truly something to behold. She coughed slightly.

  Lara laughed. If only she could have her grandmother’s sense of humor.

  Maybe other people were part of the problem, but Lara certainly wasn’t helping her own cause. She couldn’t seem to do anything right anymore. Not her orders. Not her interviews. She couldn’t even convince Paige to run an ad that she had been paid to put in her newspaper.

  But wallowing in her misery just made her feel selfish. Her grandmother was in the nursing home after a series of hospital visits, and here was Lara complaining about her petty drama with Paige and Roger Feldman? That was what April was for. Betty deserved good news.

  “Well, one thing I am feeling positive about is my friend April and I are starting a knitting club.” Betty’s eyes lit up, and Lara knew it wasn’t a reflection of the fluorescents overhead. “You taught me everything I know, so I figured I should do some good and pass on the knowledge.”

  “Any star pupils?”

  “Well, we haven’t officially started yet.” Lara thought of Paige and tried not to let her anger bleed into her deliberately cheerful tone. “We’re having some issues getting the word out, but I’ve been trying to put up flyers and get an ad in the newspaper. Things like that. Our first meeting is this weekend.”

  “I used to have a knitting circle,” Betty said. Her eyes flicked towards the ceiling as she recalled the memory. “We met every week for twenty years. Then, well, couple of us died. Couple of us got arthritis. Just fell out of touch at some point.” Betty took a moment to reminisce in silence. “If you need help, I know a few people who would probably be interested.”

  “Gam Gam, you know Dr. Barnes said you can’t come home yet. He’s not going to let you out early so you can knit,” Lara teased.

  She almost didn’t feel the playful slap that hit her arm. It was more of a touch than anything, too weak to really be called a slap, but Lara knew when she was being chided. “I didn’t mean me, silly. You’re not the only one that visits me. I have friends, you know.”

  Of course she did. Even in a town full of people who hated her for the man she married, Lara’s grandmother still had more friends than Lara did. Not that Lara could fault her. Betty was an awesome woman.

  “Do you think they’ll come?”

  “Of course. I’ll give them a call tonight. They’ll love being there just as much as you’ll love having them there.” Betty coughed, then shivered. “Maybe if all of you make me some scarves, I’ll have enough layers to stay warm.” She said the words as though they were a joke, but Lara watched her rub her hands together to trap a bit of warmth between them.


  Without thinking, Lara took off her cardigan and laid it across Betty’s chest. It was cold in the room. An army of goosebumps rose up from her arms that stretched from her shoulders to her wrist. “I’ll talk to one of the nurses about it and see if they can up the thermostat.”

  “Thank you,” Betty said, her throat finally clear. “I swear, it’s like they try to give you pneumonia so that you have to stay in here longer and give them more money.”

  “Don’t you have insurance that’ll pay for everything?”

  “It’s not that good.”

  Betty coughed again, and Lara reached for the glass of water at her bedside. Beside it was an earmarked book on holy sites in Israel and a newspaper that looked just as worn. It was that morning’s copy of The Daily Page, and Lara couldn’t help but take a peek.

  Hometown Heroes!

  We’ll review all submissions carefully and select only the very best to represent Perry. The winner will be chosen through several rounds of voting, available to those who sign up for an account on The Daily Page website. Frontrunners will be profiled individually after each round, and the winner will receive an article submitted to the Oklahoma News Organization covering their invaluable contributions to the community and will be invited to attend the award ceremony in Oklahoma City. The deadline for nominations is October 21st.

  In the margins of the page were several hastily scrawled names. Bob Piotrowski. Luna Glenson. Lara recognized a couple as her grandmother’s friends. Circled amongst all of them was Lara’s own name. She couldn’t help but smile. The thought was sweet. Silly and stupid, but sweet.

  Betty handed the glass back to Lara after a long sip. “Thank you, dear.”

  “You’re welcome.” Lara was still absently skimming the article, and Betty was keen enough to notice.

  “Haven’t you read the paper already?” she asked.

  “No. You know how I hate the press.” Lara tried to make a joke of it, but she came off sounding as bitter as she felt.

  “I submitted your name to that contest.”

  Lara was stunned; she had thought the markings in the margins nothing more than thoughtful scribbles. “I appreciate it, Gam Gam, but why? Out of all the people in Perry? I haven’t even been here the last few years. I should put your name in the running. You’ve done more for Perry than I ever could.”

  “No.” Betty was matter of fact. “Everything I’ve done is in the past. The winner should be someone young—like you.”

  “Gam Gam—”

  “No, I mean it. I am so proud of you, Lara. Nothing has ever held you back. When you lost that science fair in fourth grade, you went to space camp over the summer so you could win it in fifth. When you got stuck in a dead-end job you didn’t like, you started your own business. When your grandmother got sick, you dropped everything to move back home and spend time with me. I am so proud of the woman you’ve become, Lara Spellmeyer.”

  There was no way Lara would win the popular vote for that Hometown Heroes contest, but all those Hallmark cards were right; it was the thought that counted. Lara felt so many things all at once. Sympathy. Guilt. Love. Mostly she wished there was a way to pay Betty back for the kind words. Being here in this moment was a start, right? Moving back to Perry was the most selfless gesture Lara had ever performed for another human being, but it still didn’t feel like enough.

  A comforting hand found Lara’s. Betty’s smile calmed her.

  “How’s your father doing?”

  “He’s coming over for dinner tomorrow, so I’ll let you know.” The implication of Betty’s words hit Lara a little late. “Wait, hasn’t he been to see you lately?”

  “Eh, once or twice.”

  Once or twice? Lara had assumed he was visiting just as often as she was.

  “I’ll tell him to come by soon.”

  “I’d like that.”

  “He should be here.” Lara had packed up her life to be here for Betty. Her father lived less than a mile away and he couldn’t be bothered to visit his own mother? That wasn’t like him.

  “It’s alright, Lara. I know this is hard for him, and I know he’s busy. I’ll be here when he’s ready. It’s not like I’m going anywhere just yet.”

  That was exactly what Lara was afraid of.

  A nurse came by and rapped on the door to get Lara’s attention. “Visiting time’s up in a few. Say your goodbyes.”

  It was that late already? God, it had been a long day. Lara had done so much, and yet it felt like she’d accomplished nothing. The entire day had felt like a waste of time, one fruitless pursuit after another.

  “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Gam Gam.”

  “I look forward to it.”

  The drive home was short, but the drive from anywhere in Perry to home was short compared to the traffic of the city. It wasn’t a big town, though it felt that way sometimes on days like today, when Lara had visited nearly everywhere there was to visit. She was exhausted when she stepped in the door, eagerly taking off her shoes and padding barefoot to the kitchen to finish her nightly chores. She fed the cat, put the dishes in the dishwasher, and made sure the back door was locked. When she finally sat down on the couch, her entire body breathed a sigh of relief along with her lungs.

  She emptied her jacket pockets onto the coffee table. A tube of lip balm. Car keys. The wrapper from the tuna fish sandwich she’d picked up on the way home. The only thing left was her phone. And Paige’s business card.

  Lara weighed the card in one hand and her phone in the other. Somehow the stock paper felt heavier than the metal. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed the card on the coffee table. The numbers stared up at her, mocking. She opened the call screen on her phone and hit dial.

  April answered on the first ring. She’d be so excited about Betty’s plan for Tight Knit.

  CHAPTER 5

  Lara had a bit of a hoarding problem, but April had a full-fledged craft store in her house. Her ex-husband’s office space had been converted into a sewing room, and it took both her and Lara all morning to unpack and set out supplies for the inaugural Tight Knit meeting.

  April had more needles than a hospital and more wool than all the sheep in Oklahoma could produce in a year. Bins of supplies circled the coffee table like a moat, and the castle in the middle was decorated in sweet treats. April’s world-famous peanut butter fudge sat alongside store-bought brownies that had suspiciously lost their original packaging and been placed on a large serving platter. Lara had skipped breakfast to gorge herself, and at this point she barely cared if there were any snacks left for the rest of the guests. Between her and Cynthia, there wouldn’t be. April’s youngest was seated beneath the coffee table, her wide smile and grabby little hands just a bit more chocolatey than normal.

  As soon as they had a moment to rest, Lara fell into the couch cushions. That’s when April brought up the one thing Lara had hoped she’d forgotten about.

  “Thank you again for talking to Paige.”

  Lara took a moment to slip off her shoes and compose her thoughts. It left her with cold feet, in more ways than one. “Yeah, about that…”

  “I really appreciate it. I know you didn’t want to do it, especially with your…history,” April settled on saying. “Oh, let me go grab the newspaper!”

  This was not how Lara envisioned this conversation going. April was reaching forward before Lara could protest and brandishing a days-old copy of The Daily Page from the coffee table. Excitedly she flipped through the pages, looking for something that Lara knew wasn’t going to be there.

  “Right here, look.”

  She turned the paper around for Lara to see, and if April wasn’t there to back up the claim, Lara would have thought she’d gone crazy and started imagining things. There was the ad, right there in the center of the classifieds. Paige had run it after all.

  “It’s even bigger than I paid for. In color, too!” April let Lara soak in the images for a moment longer before taking the paper back. “Paige was so swe
et about it when she called me.”

  “She called you?”

  “Yeah! Apologized for the mix-up and the delay. Said she wanted to make the situation right and was sorry she hadn’t gotten in contact with me sooner.”

  Lara held the paper in her hands in disbelief. Apparently insulting Paige’s ability to run her business had hit a stronger nerve than she was willing to let Lara realize.

  “She even said she was going to come to the meeting and do an interview! She’s thinking of running a piece on it.”

  Oh. Or she just wanted to use the opportunity for her own gain.

  Yeah, that sounded more like Paige.

  “That’s…great.” Lara had never worked so hard to force herself into what she assumed was a smile. She had to see Paige again? Not only see her but spend an entire afternoon with her during a special event that Lara had been looking forward to for weeks? This was so far beyond Lara’s idea of a good time. She felt like she was floating in outer space with an empty oxygen tank.

  But this wasn’t about Lara, and this wasn’t just Lara’s group. If April wanted Paige there, then so be it. Lara would just have to suck it up.

  Easier said than done.

  The doorbell chimed at the exact moment the grandfather clock sung out 1:00 p.m. Their first guest was so punctual that it made Lara feel late.

  “I’ll get that,” April offered, as if this weren’t her own home. “Can you grab the drinks from the kitchen?”

  It was more scut work, but it was easy scut work. “I’m on it.” Lara peeked her head beneath the fort Cynthia had made of the coffee table. Her walls of carefully arranged plastic bins weren’t strong enough to keep Lara out. She scooted one out of the way. “Want to help me carry cups, Cynthia?”

  “No.”

  Who knew a four-year-old could be the most honest person in Perry? Lara respected that.

  Alone, Lara made her way to the kitchen. With all the red Solo cups and two liters of pop, one would think April was throwing a party. The noise from the living room made it seem like one too. From the din of conversation, it was obvious that more than one person had shown up on time, and the doorbell rang a couple more times as Lara decorated the dining table with fizzy drinks and bags of ice.