Read Online Knot Guilty by Betty Hechtman - Free Book Online

monstrosity is not the image we want for the show. You’ll take it away and remove that banner, right?” It was clearly not a suggestion but an order. “They better not be here when the show opens,” she said in a warning tone. As if to punctuate it, Delvin gave me a decisive nod. I was relieved when they moved on.
    Joshua Royal came up to the table when they’d left, and we both looked at the offending pieces. We discussed what to do and decided that it was better to keep the peace. He took down the banner and I removed the logo. We put both of them in a bin and shoved it under the table.
    â€œWhy don’t you take a break,” he said. “There’s a coffee wagon set up in the back.” He pointed off in the distance. The caffeine from my red eye at breakfast had worn off, and a fresh cup of coffee sounded good.
    As I got ready to go through the maze of aisles to get to the back, I noticed a pair of open doorways near the administration table. Curious, I wandered into the first one. There were two long tables and two sets of dress forms, a few of which had been dressed in some yarn items.
    CeeCee swept into the room, followed by a woman with a clipboard and a volunteer badge. As soon as the actress and fellow Hooker saw me, she smiled and reached out to hug me.
    â€œDear, it’s good to see you’re here,” she said. “I’m not so sure about judging the crochet competition.” She pointed toward the left of the two setups, and it was clear that it was light on entries. “Adele wanted to bring something in, but K.D. nixed it. Said it wasn’t right because she was one of the teachers.”
    We were interrupted as K.D. and a woman came into the display room. The woman looked familiar, although it took me a minute to place her. Then I saw the butterfly tattoo on her hand and realized she was the woman that K.D. had banished from her store for bringing in yarn she hadn’t bought there. This time she was holding a soft pink jacket that looked like it was made out of mohair. We couldn’t help but overhear.
    â€œJulie, you can’t enter that jacket again. You won an honorable mention with it last year,” K.D. said. I felt for Julie as once again K.D. was embarrassing her. Though the woman spoke up.
    â€œIt only looks like the jacket I entered last year,” she protested and held it out to show off the stitches. “The pattern is similar, but this time I did the bottom half in crochet.”
    K.D. seemed unmoved and then noticed CeeCee. “Maybe you can enter it in the crochet competition.” I was glad that Adele wasn’t there. The tone when K.D. said
crochet
would have set my coworker off. I had to admit that it got to me, too, particularly after the whole fuss at our booth. If it bothered CeeCee, she didn’t let on, but then she was an actress who had Oscar buzz about her last performance.
    K.D. was out the door back into the main room before CeeCee finished saying she’d accept the entry.
    â€œThank you,” Julie said. “It really isn’t the same jacket I entered last year. The color of that one was sunset pink and this one is rosy dawn.”
    â€œK.D. could use a class in dealing with people,” I muttered when Julie had gone. CeeCee leaned in close.
    â€œPutting on a show like this has to be a strain. And she is used to being the boss and ordering people around.” CeeCee brought up some role she’d played as head of a department store empire and how the character went ballistic when the staff used the wrong kind of hangers. When I left, CeeCee was graciously accepting a traditional granny square afghan as an entry.
    I peeked in the other room. A man looked up and asked if I was bringing in an item for the auctions. He gestured toward one table. “Those are all the silent auction items, and the other table has the real valuable stuff for the live auction.”
    â€œSorry. I didn’t