I just wanted to keep a little cushion for contingencies, you know?”
“Yeah, I guess, but sometimes you can be penny-wise and pound-foolish.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t you think it’s kind of strange that Angel Development is giving me all that money with no strings attached?”
Dash smiled. “Honey, your book club friends are the folks behind Angel Development. Some of those women have more money than sense. So, no, I don’t think it’s strange. But you aren’t going to make them happy by using John Rodgers as your contractor.”
“They don’t like him?”
“I suspect they never heard of him. But I have. And Hugh has. Hettie might have had some dealings with him. He’s not straight, you know what I mean? He’ll come in low and then he’ll nickel-and-dime you. And he won’t do things right.”
“Well, it’s too late. I signed the contract.”
“Maybe I should talk to Eugene and see if you can unsign it.”
She put her fists on her hips, anger suddenly flashing through her. “Dash, I didn’t ask your opinion. And I deeply resent you coming in here without my permission and throwing your weight around like this was your project. It’s not. I didn’t take your money, precisely because I was afraid of this.
“I want to do this on my own. You heard what my mother said about me on Saturday. Can’t you see why this is so important to me?”
“Honey, you’re making a mistake.”
“Yeah, maybe I am. But if someone always catches me before I make a mistake, how on earth am I ever going to learn how to walk, much less run? I need to do this on my own.”
“All right. But you watch that man, you hear? And if he starts doing things you don’t appreciate, then you tell me about it.”
“Okay. I will.”
He shook his head. “It’s a damn shame about the woodwork.”
“About that,” she said. “Can you talk to Zeph? Everyone says he’s the only one I should have touching the candy counter and the columns here in the lobby. If I promise him that the general contractor won’t touch his work or give him any grief, do you think you could convince him to come back?”
“I’ll try. But Zeph is funny about things.”
“So I gathered.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” And with that Dash pushed his back off the counter and sauntered from the lobby, just in time to meet John Rodgers on his way in. Dash stopped briefly, his face grim as he said, “Howdy, John. I can’t say as I’m entirely happy that my cousin chose you for this job. But you should know that I’m watching every move you make, so don’t you try to cheat her, you hear?”
And with that he was out the door, leaving her to deal with a suddenly annoyed and red-faced contractor.
Aunt Miriam’s sweater was a big purple mess. Savannah had managed to learn how to knit and purl so that the stitches looked even, but decreasing to form armholes and yarning over to make button holes were quite beyond her.
Which explained why she was sitting here at The Knit & Stitch on a Monday night at the shop’s bi-weekly knitting class. Pat Canaday was no fool. She knew the book club met on the first and third Wednesdays. So her knitting class was held on the second and fourth Mondays. That way, every Last Chance knitter was always within days of getting project help. Or having a gathering of women with whom they could share their strange addiction to yarn and their not-so-strange addiction to gossip.
Pat took one look at Savannah’s purple pile of spun possum fur and shook her head. “Honey, that is the sorriest armhole I have ever seen. The problem is that you forgot to use an SSK for the right sleeve decreases and a knit-two-together for the left.”
“Momma, that was completely confusing,” Molly said. “C’mon, Savannah, just sit down here with me, and I’ll show you the difference between an SSK and a knit-two-together, but I think you’re going to have to frog that back to right below the armhole.”
“I was afraid you’d say that,” Savannah said.
“It’s all right, sugar. It took me ages to learn how to knit,” Aunt Miriam said. The old lady was sitting in one of the big easy chairs in the front of the shop leafing through knitting magazines. Aunt Miriam had suggested this trip to Pat’s knitting class, mostly, Savannah thought, as an excuse to get out of the house.