3. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
Iwas up early the next morning after dreaming of Mason for the first time in years.
Part of me expected to find him sleeping next to me, but that wasn’t possible.
Unable to go back to sleep, I opened my laptop and got work done.
Emails had been gathering through the night.
I knew it would be like this since this was an international organization primarily run by volunteers around the world.
My staff wasn’t even based in the United States, and I wouldn’t get to meet most of them in person until later that summer at WorldWikiMania in London.
This weekend I would get to chat with the US based staff members.
My goal was to allow those staff members some one-on-one time, talk with the volunteers present for the conference, and remind everyone that I was one of their own.
I had started editing EncycloWiki after my accident that had put me in my chair.
I had nothing but time as I healed and learned to get around the world.
Cleaning up entries, finding sources for information, and helping other editors had given me a community when I needed to figure out who I was going to be in the future.
It was made clear that I wouldn’t walk again, no matter how much physical therapy I did.
The people I met while editing had primarily been supportive and encouraging.
I knew that wasn’t the case for everyone, which was why I had gotten as involved as I could.
I learned to be proud of myself, no matter what it looked like to the rest of the world.
I decided to fight for those ignored by the world.
The EncycloWiki community had shaped the woman I am today and the work I do in the world.
“Do you want to go over together?” Lizbeth said when she met me after breakfast.
She looked refreshed, and I knew she had stayed with her grandparents a few towns over.
We took my van to Woodhouse Mills, where the first event was being held.
It wouldn’t start for a few more hours, but some of the foundation’s staff had asked to have early meetings with me so they could enjoy the weekend.
I was happy to allow this so they could enjoy the conference without being anxious about their future under a new executive director.
Not that they had anything to be anxious about.
I wasn’t planning on firing anyone or making changes to people’s jobs.
The edit-a-thon, the event that launched the conference every year, had been planned to give conference participants a chance to get to know the city and each other as they worked on a shared passion - making EncycloWiki better.
The Woodhouse Mills had been selected as the main place for people to be at, but there were shuttles around the city so people could get tours of museums and historical locations.
If it had been any other city, I would have gone on these tours, but I had tried years ago and found it inaccessible for me to do many of them.
Even if I felt the desire to explore the updated version of Lacock, I had work to do as the new executive director.
I had never been to the Woodhouse Mills before.
Until recently, it had been something the city had been considering tearing down.
Most of the old mills had been eyesores and places the unhoused populations used to keep warm.
Now things had changed. As we drove, it felt like the road to the Woodhouse Mills was a high priority.
The top layer of concrete had been dug up for repaving and the sidewalks were almost all replaced.
I was excited to see that the parking lot of the Mills was clear and safe.
There were patches from filled potholes, but they had been carefully done to avoid breaks or bumps in the lot.
I pulled my van into an open handicap spot.
There was a small Smart Car in the spot next to me.
“That’s Mason’s car,” Lizbeth said. “We’re doing one last walk through with Carrie Woodhouse before we set up.”
My heart raced as my smile fell and resting-bitch-face settled on my face.
Dreaming of Mason last night was leaving me a little unsettled, which I wasn’t expecting.
I needed to get my head back in the game.
I was here to intimidate him and Lois, not for them to do that to me.
I was going to be here the entire weekend, so I needed to get used to being in the same space as him over and over.
This was probably the only chance I had to show him how wrong he’d been to break up with me.
We rode up a clean but slow elevator. Once the doors opened, I could hear an excited woman chatting about how they planned to set up the space.
“I don’t think you ever met Carrie Woodhouse when you lived here,” Lizbeth said as we followed the voices.
I shook my head, trying to focus on my emotions.
The family was well known locally, but I had never been much of a crafter.
They had owned mills through the area where they built a major yarn company.
Every crafter in my life knew Woodhouse Yarns.
It had been my friend Emma who had told me how famous they were in the crafting world after publishing a few books with Carrie over the last year.
Lizbeth continued to talk as she walked next to me. “I met them last year because of Ginny. Carrie’s very energetic about improving the city, but you should know there’s a bit of a war happening within city leadership.”
I raised an eyebrow, interested in learning more. I made a mental note to discreetly ask around about this. Lizbeth didn’t often share the details of her personal life, but I was curious about the changes in the city. If Lizbeth was ready to share, then I wasn’t going to stop her.
“Most of the accessibility improvements in the city are because of the work the university president and Carrie have done together. Carrie agreed to host this event because President Fairfax asked,” Lizbeth continued.
I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
I had a lot of big feelings about Lois Fairfax and few of them were good.
She had fought me tooth and nail to avoid making accessibility improvements for years when she was a faculty member.
To hear that she was now instrumental in all the changes was frustrating but not a surprise.
The night Mason and I had broken up, it was because I found out that she was stealing my work about making the campus more accessible and not crediting me.
At the time, I had been angry, but now I could see how the city benefited from it.
I couldn’t help but wonder if she had done all of this to spite me.
I always knew Lois was ambitious and wanted more for the university.
Maybe the city would benefit from that ambition.
We turned a corner and saw Mason standing with his back to us, talking to a woman with black hair pulled into a bun.
She was wearing jeans and a sweater. She waved to Lizbeth when she saw us.
This had to be Carrie Woodhouse. Mason slowly turned around, his hand raised to wave until he saw me.
His smile faded and his shoulders raised half an inch.
“I am so excited about this weekend. I really think this can improve all those minimal entries related to fiber work,” Carrie said as we got closer. “You must be Penny Smith! I know your friend Emma Shaw!”
I did my best to smile, but my eyes were locked on Mason’s.
We had ignored each other at dinner last night.
I resisted the desire to come up next to him and pull him down so I could wrap my arms around him.
Now in his mid-thirties, he looked better than he had in graduate school.
His shoulders seemed broader and his neck longer.
He also looked exhausted, with dark circles under puffy eyes.
His thick black hair had been cut short and no longer fell in his eyes.
I also wanted to rewind him to the version of the man I had loved so powerfully.
“Penny,” he said slowly. “Congratulations on the new job.”
I didn’t know how to respond and didn’t trust my voice to not crack. “Thank you,” I finally said after clearing my throat. “I understand you’re up for tenure this year.”
Mason’s fake smile fell, and it was clear that tenure wasn’t a topic that excited him.
“Is there a place Penny can set up?” Lizbeth said, not letting silence make this more uncomfortable. “Some of the foundation staff asked to come by before the day got started to chat with her.”
I let Lizbeth and Carrie discuss my options while I focused on Mason.
Now that I could see him closely, I could tell that the man before was a shadow of the one I had loved so deeply.
The bags under his eyes made him look exhausted.
He had always smiled when we were together, and now his flat expression accentuated his exhaustion.
He was dressed in worn out jeans and a dull sweater he had worn often when we were together.
The Mason I remembered always looked put together, even when dressed casually.
He had favored dark wash jeans and trendy t-shirts.
When he was teaching, the t-shirts might change to white button-down shirts and snug sweaters.
I always loved how his clothes accentuated his strong shoulders and arms. This wasn’t a sign that his taste had changed, but that he had worn these clothes into the ground.
I broke my gaze away from Mason and turned to meet Carrie’s eyes when she said my name. The younger woman was taking in everything that was happening with interest.
“Do you need privacy?” Carrie asked.
I nodded as I looked around at my options. “At least sound privacy.”
Carrie followed my gaze and began to nod.
“We can move the walls around to create smaller spaces, but I think the back room is the most private. It’s a little nook that can fit a handful of people,” she said and led me to a small workroom with a table and four chairs.
“We’ve made sure wheelchairs can access all our rooms.”
I nodded and looked around. I was pleased to see that, if I wanted, I could wheel my chair around to the back of the space and not have to move the other chairs around.
“This will be perfect,” I said and noted that while the door and wall of the entrance were glass, the rest of the room was drywall.
This would do a lot to keep things private.
Carrie helped me move around the chairs. “Your friend Emma told me you were coming and to make sure you’re comfortable.”
I smiled at the mention of my best friend. “She mentioned your name, too, and to let you know if I need anything.”
Carrie’s excitement helped me relax. “I love working with her. She said you went to college together. Do you know Fredrick Wentworth too?”
I chuckled, often asked this question by people when my connection to Emma comes up. “The three of us went to Northwestern together. I was at their wedding and see them every year at Cape Cod.”
“I just love her. You need to come by the yarn store before you leave,” Carrie said as she pulled the extra chair out of the room.
“We have a cafe that’s great to work in.
Lots of people hang out there. If you graduated around the same time as Mason then you missed us expanding by a couple of years. ”
I was intrigued by a cafe in a yarn shop, especially if it was popular. I didn’t have time to ask, as Carrie left me alone to get comfortable. I made a mental note to stop by the shop before leaving town. I knew a number of people who would love to hear about it.