Esther Jackson wasn’t the type of person you could hug, because Camille would have liked to at that moment.
“I’m sorry, Esther. You probably would do better with the dress shop than I ever could.”
Esther waved a hand in dismissal. “It was just a thought.”
Just a thought. Just everything Camille had ever wanted. Esther had just offered Camille her last chance out of Sweetgum, and she had turned it down. Because she loved Dante. Once again, the price of love would be her dreams.
Hannah’s heart was as heavy as her steps. She hadn’t wanted to go to the Knit Lit Society meeting, but Eugenie talked her into it. They walked the short block from the parsonage to the church together without saying much. Hannah still hadn’t told the librarian about her break with Josh. Thankfully, Eugenie wasn’t the type to pry. Other than to keep tabs on Hannah’s schoolwork, of course.
The Pairs and Spares Sunday school classroom was cold. Rev. Carson had told her they were trying to conserve electricity because the bills were so high. Hannah was an old hand at that. When she’d lived with her mom in the trailer, they had their power cut off all the time. A little chill in a Sunday school room was nothing compared to seeing your breath frost in the air when you lay in bed at night.
Eugenie fiddled with the thermostat, and Hannah took her usual place at the table. This months project had been to use the fan-and-feather stitch. The combination of decreases and yarn overs had confused her at first, but gradually she’d gotten the hang of it. She’d had plenty of time to work on it since she spent all of her free time holed up in her bedroom at the parsonage.
As much as she resented Josh’s betrayal, she resented the freedom it cost her even more. Even all these weeks later, the popular kids still laughed and pointed at her. Josh had left a couple of notes in her locker, but she’d dropped them in the trash without reading them. And in honors English class, she’d taken to sitting in the front row, a move that kept her from having to look at the back of his head for an hour every day.
“It will warm up in here in a minute,” Eugenie said, setting her knitting bag on its wooden legs next to her chair and then rubbing her arms vigorously.
“Doesn’t bother me,” Hannah said. She hoped the rest of the women showed up soon. She’d managed to avoid being alone with Eugenie for extended periods, which helped the whole don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy succeed when it came to Josh.
Footsteps sounded in the hall, and Merry appeared at the door. She could hardly walk since she carried her purse, a knitting bag, a diaper bag, and Hunter’s infant seat.
Hannah sprang to her feet. “Let me help.”
She had missed the baby when Merry quit bringing him to meetings in the fall. Hannah hadn’t seen him since he’d been so sick, although he looked pretty healthy now from what she could tell. She reached for his carrier, and Merry reluctantly handed him over.
“Thanks,” she said, but Hannah knew she didn’t really want to let go of him. She’d heard from Eugenie that Merry still hadn’t taken him back to day care. Hannah wondered what that would be like, to have a mother who cared about you so much she was afraid to leave you alone even for a minute.
One by one, the others arrived. Maria looked out of sorts, so Hannah avoided her. Camille didn’t look much better. Hannah thought she’d probably been crying, judging from the dark circles under her eyes.
“Let’s get started, everyone,” Eugenie said, calling them to some kind of order. “I’m interested to hear what you have to say about Wuthering Heights. I know, as a love story, it’s not to everyone’s taste.”
There was a general murmur of assent to that comment.
“It was pretty convoluted,” Merry said, leaning down to rock Hunter with one hand while trying to hold on to her knitting with the other. “Of course, I don’t have the greatest powers of concentration these days. I may have missed the point.”
Hannah was impressed she even had time to read the book, what with Hunter’s illness and all.
“I’ve never heard of people who were so good at making themselves miserable,” Camille said. “I don’t think any of them really wanted to be happy.”
Hannah bit her tongue. If ever she’d met anyone who ran away from