Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
H arper wasn’t really an art supplies shop kind of person. She didn’t do crafts of any kind, didn’t scrapbook or crochet or any of those sorts of things. Still, the store held a certain fascination for her.
All those bits and pieces waiting to be turned into something beautiful. Not by her, obviously. She hadn’t inherited whatever artistic, creative genes that Frankie had. Not even a smidgen.
She’d once attempted a paint by numbers as a way of dealing with stress and had ended up so frustrated that she’d boxed it all back up and left it by the curb for anyone who’d wanted it. But she still liked looking at everything.
Frankie was filling a cart. Brushes, paints, canvases, and all sorts of other things that Harper wasn’t familiar with. While her sister did that, Harper wandered. She looked at spools of fancy ribbon, a jungle’s worth of silk flowers and plants, a section of crafts for kids, which still looked like more than she could handle, and ended up in the yarn section.
That’s where Frankie found her. “See anything you like?”
“All kinds of stuff, but you have to pick out the yarn. You’re the one that has to live with the throw.”
“I can’t believe Jack Marsh knits,” Frankie said. She left the cart to touch a pale blue yarn marled with a medium turquoise and flecks of white. “This is soft and really pretty. And it would go with the décor.”
She took a quick glance around the rest of the aisle, then came back to the first yarn. “This is the one I want. He said to take a picture of the label with the information on it, send it to him, and he’d calculate how much to get.”
She turned the yarn so the part of the label she needed was more visible, then snapped a pic and got to work texting it.
“And pay for it separately so you can give him the receipt and he can pay you back.”
“That seems silly,” Frankie said. “He’s already given me a lot of money.”
Harper gave her sister a look. “That yarn is ten dollars a thing.”
Frankie chuckled. “I believe it’s call a skein. Not a thing of yarn.”
“Whatever. It’s still ten bucks.”
Frankie shrugged. “So? It’s a lot of yarn. How much could a throw possibly take?”
Just then her phone went off. She checked the screen. “Okay, I take that back. Jack said to get twelve skeins. And a pair of eight-millimeter circular knitting needles with at least a thirty-two-inch cord.”
Harper said nothing but did adopt her most I-told-you-so expression. She waited while Frankie put twelve skeins into the cart, which left only one in the bin.
“Okay,” Frankie said. “Knitting needles.”
“Next aisle,” Harper said. She’d passed them on the way.
Frankie found the needles Jack had requested and added them to the cart. “We’re done. We can go check out. Unless you’re still looking.”
“Looking was all I was doing. You know I’m not crafty.”
“You have other skills,” Frankie said with an indulgent smile. “But if you really wanted a new hobby, I’m sure there’s something you could pick up.”
“Reading is the only hobby I really need. Which reminds me—we should find the library.”
Frankie pushed the cart toward the registers. “That’s a fantastic idea. Look it up on your phone while I check out.”
Harper did that. As it turned out, they were only about five minutes away from the nearest branch. She relayed that info to Frankie as they carried out the bags of supplies. “You want to go? I’m game. We could get library cards and stock up on books.”
“Definitely,” Frankie said. “By the way, I keep meaning to tell you that I’m reading Kyle’s book right now and it’s pretty good. I don’t always go for the murder-thriller books, but it’s hard to put down.”
“I thought it was amazing.” Harper put the bag of yarn into the trunk. “What kind of books do you like?”
“Historical fiction, biographies, mysteries, a little romance now and then, family sagas, things like that.” Frankie loaded the last bag and closed the trunk. “But I like art books, too. No surprise there, I suppose. Someday I’ll have a library of those that I own. They’re great reference material.”
“I bet. You know, we should hit up some garage sales on Saturday. I bet there are some good ones.”
Frankie gave her sister a strange look. “You shop at garage sales?”
Harper laughed. “Just because I work with celebrities doesn’t mean I live like one. I furnished most of my place in L.A. with stuff from thrift shops and garage sales.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” Harper got in the car as Frankie climbed in behind the wheel. “Does that surprise you?”
“It does.” She found the library on her phone and set the GPS to navigate.
“It’s how I’ve managed to save a decent amount of money. Even a lot of the clothes I wear have come from those places. I do have some designer stuff, but it’s all been gifts. Or hand-me-downs from my clients. One of the perks of my job.”
“I’ll say. You don’t get designer goods as gifts when you work in the school system.”
“I suppose not.” Harper shook her head. “Teachers aren’t paid enough. Neither are the administrators.”
“No argument from me.”
“You think Willa’s going to be okay with that job? It can’t pay very much.” Harper couldn’t help but worry about her niece.
“I’m sure it doesn’t,” Frankie said, pulling out of the parking lot. “But leaving school to work was her decision. Entering the real world might not be everything she hoped for, but that’s a lesson she’s going to have to learn. I hope she’s happy. I hope she does great. But I think she’s in for a bit of a wake-up.”
Harper nodded. “That’s pretty much what I think, too.”
“Nice of Jack to offer to help her with classroom supplies.” Frankie smiled. “He really is a good guy. Maybe not the best decision-maker, but his heart is in the right place.”
That got Harper thinking, so while Frankie drove, she did a quick search on her phone just to see if anything new had been posted about Jack. In other words, if Monica had gone to the press.
She sighed at the search results, her frustration at a new high. “You’re not going to believe this. I did a search on Jack, and they have pictures of him from last night.”
“It was dark when he left the house.”
Harper nodded. “I know, but they must have night-vision cameras. The pictures have that weird green glow. I wonder if he’s seen these. These sites are relentless.”
“They really are.”
Harper turned her screen off and stared out the window. “I wish I had an answer to this. A way to deal with those leeches that would get them to back off. But if I knew how to do that, I’d have done it for myself.”
“It’s probably why Jack came out here. Not just to get away, but because he knew you’d understand.”
Harper frowned. “I haven’t really done much for him.”
“You’ve given him someone to talk to. A metaphorical shoulder to cry on. And he’s been able to spend time in a place that holds a lot of memories for him.”
“Okay, true, but meanwhile, the press is still out there, waiting to pounce on anything they can.” Harper exhaled, the need to help burning in her. “I pray Angelo comes up with something. Not just for Jack, but for Mitch, too.”
Frankie followed the navigation instructions and turned into the library’s parking lot. There weren’t many cars. She turned the engine off. “Doesn’t look very busy.”
“No. But it’s early still.” Harper opened her door. “Come on. Let’s find some books.”
They headed in. The library was cool and quiet and smelled like books. They went straight to the main desk and got to work applying for library cards. Harper couldn’t help but notice the posters announcing the library’s upcoming fundraiser next month.
Photocopies of their IDs were taken, then they had to sign a form, and the cards were issued.
Harper smiled as she held hers. “Meet you back here? Then we’ll hit the grocery store and head home?”
Frankie nodded. “Yep.”
They parted ways. Harper went straight to thrillers and mysteries. She wanted to see how many of Mitch’s books they had. Quite a few. Did they know he was local? Had he done any events here?
She glanced back toward the desk, thinking about the poster announcing the upcoming fundraiser.
Her brain started working. Maybe there was a way to help Jack after all. If she could get Mitch on board, too.
Of course, all of that hinged on what the library wanted or needed for the fundraiser. She went back to the desk to ask questions and get some details. No point in getting ahead of herself.