Read Online Casting About by Terri Dulong - Free Book Online

twenty-four hours? Walking into the bathroom, I saw toothpaste splattered across the mirror, and the tap in the sink had been left dribbling.
    â€œWhoa!” I said to the empty room. “This is not acceptable!”
    I slammed the door shut behind me and headed to my neat and orderly bedroom.
    Â 
    I saw a grin crossing Grace’s face after I’d shared the events of the morning with her. “You think it’s funny that she left her room like a pigsty?”
    â€œMonica, she’s testing you. I bet you did the very same thing in various ways at that age. And because of what’s happened in her life, she’s going to test you even more.”
    I passed Grace a mug of coffee and settled down on the sofa. Glancing around the yarn shop, I shook my head and let out a deep sigh. “Yeah, well, I’m not putting up with this. There’s no reason for her to leave her room looking like that.”
    â€œShe’s getting back at you.”
    â€œFor what?” I could feel anger bubbling up inside me. “What the hell did I do to her?”
    â€œShe’s angry and resentful. What life she knew has been taken from her and she has no control over anything. From what you’ve told me, it seems that child was pretty much her own boss. And now she has to take orders from you and Adam. It’s not going to be easy, Monica.”
    â€œNo shit.”
    Grace reached over to touch my hand. “It’ll take time, but you’ll get through this.”
    I wished I could feel as confident as she sounded.
    â€œI want this to work,” I said. “As much for Adam’s sake as Clarissa’s.” I couldn’t bring myself to explain that my own feelings concerning Clarissa seemed to be emotionally uninvolved—and even worse, I had no explanation as to why or if this was even natural.

8
    â€œA ny ideas yet on new services you’ll be offering?” Grace inquired the next day when she dropped by Spinning Forward.
    â€œDora suggested I offer knitting classes—the yarn would be purchased here and then I’d charge for the classes.”
    Grace nodded. “That’s a good idea. Lots of women would love to learn to knit or take a class to learn new skills.” She paused to take a sip of her coffee. “Hey, have you thought about offering a knitting service?”
    I laughed. “You seem to forget, that’s exactly what I do here. I sell yarn, patterns, and supplies.”
    â€œNo, no. That isn’t what I mean. I mean actually knitting for other people. I read something on the Internet recently—that women today are often too busy to devote time to handmade gift items. Yet they find themselves wanting to give something more personal than running into a department store or Walmart and grabbing a quick gift. The article talked about one woman up in Vermont—she had started a small business catering to baby boomers who wanted homemade jams and jellies for Christmas gifts. The business ended up growing so much she had to hire a couple other women to assist her.”
    â€œHmm,” I said, recalling that I’d heard about various women doing something like this. “Yeah, I remember seeing a woman on Oprah or someplace that developed her own line of personalized bath products for gifts. Not only did she make everything herself, she’d create a fancy label with the name of the product being whatever the customer wanted. She said girlfriends loved giving and receiving these because to see your own name on the label of a shower gel or lotion made it very special.”
    â€œExactly.” Grace snapped her fingers in the air and leaned forward. “I’ve got it,” she said with enthusiasm. “Hand-knitted Christmas stockings. It would appeal to both moms and grandmothers. You could personalize them with the child’s name, date of birth, that particular year—whatever they requested. Something like that