Read Online Darned if You Do by Monica Ferris - Free Book Online Page A

eloquently.
    â€œI know just what you mean. Waiting to be waited on, it’s good to have some handwork with you. What kind of needlework are you most interested in?”
    â€œWell, I like to knit, but the needles are too long and the ball of yarn too bulky to fit in this purse of mine—I don’t want to have to buy a new knitting bag. I can’t afford needlepoint and I’m too fussed right now to focus on counted cross-stitch. I used to crochet, but I’m not sure I remember how.” She halted, embarrassed at this seeming attempt to anticipate and shoot down any suggestion he might make.
    But he didn’t seem to mind. He pressed a slim forefinger into the edge of his mouth, his head cocked a little sideways, and thought for a bit. Then he nodded once. “Crochet,” he announced. “Once you know how to crochet, you can pick it up again very easily. It’s just the thing. It will keep your fingers busy, and it takes just enough concentration to distract you from worry.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œJust make squares and stitch the best ones into a scarf or, if you end up staying a long time, an afghan.” He looked inquiringly at her.
    But she refused to be drawn into any discussion of why she was in Excelsior. “All right, then, crochet it is. What do you have that won’t empty my purse?”
    He went at once to one of the big baskets scattered around the shop and pulled out a ball of bright yellow worsted-weight yarn that had its shabby original label—the one that had surrounded it back when it was a skein—safety-pinned to it.
    â€œThis is pure virgin wool,” said the young man. “Betsy brought her other cat down here last week and he got into the yarn basket and killed three skeins before she could stop him.”
    Valentina smothered a laugh. “‘Killed’?”
    â€œHe was trying to disembowel them.” The young man made a scratching motion with his fingers, his eyes alight with amusement.
    Valentina released a laugh. Then she asked, “What do you mean, ‘other cat’?”
    â€œHere’s the usual cat.” He turned and gestured toward a chair at the far end of the long table in the middle of the room. Valentina took a step sideways and saw an enormous, mostly white cat lying on a powder blue cushion. Its head was raised, looking back at her with yellow eyes.
    â€œThat’s Sophie. She’s hoping you have something edible to share with her.”
    Valentina spread her hands. “Sorry,” she said to the cat, and Sophie put her head down with a big, disappointed sigh.
    The young man said, “The disemboweler is a Siamese named Thai. After that yarn incident, he’s permanently banned from the shop.”
    â€œSmall wonder. Now, how much is that beautiful yellow yarn?”
    He named a price she would have expected to pay for cheap acrylic. “But this is wool, right?” she said.
    â€œYes, but it’s been washed, so it’s considered secondhand.”
    â€œI’ll take it.”
    He said, “You’ll need a crochet hook, too, right?”
    â€œYes, of course. In fact, give me a pair of them, size E—I lose small things, especially when I’m traveling. And do you have a how-to book?”
    â€œWe carry a pretty good selection.” He led her to a set of white box shelves that reached nearly to the ceiling and divided the front and back of the shop. About half the boxes held books and magazines; the rest held exotic and expensive yarns, magnetic needle minders, tubes of beads, tiny frames, and gadgets Valentina couldn’t identify.
    She was looking at
Simple Crocheting
by Erika Knight—a good-size book, profusely illustrated—when the door opened again. She turned to see a handsome woman enter wearing a royal blue trench coat and balancing a large box on one arm. Despite her youthful, curly blond hair, she looked to be in her middle