Chapter 15 #2
“Don’t worry, dear! I’ll show you!” Ida scooted closer, looking as pleased as she’d been on the bus.
A collective sigh passed through the room, and everyone settled into choosing yarn colors and reading the instruction sheets, swiping the occasional cookie off the plate.
I chose the vulva pattern. It was a lot smaller than the Santa hat and seemed more achievable.
I made sure Kailee, who sat on my other side, saw everything we did. She eventually took the hook and some yarn and copied my movements to get started. “By the way, I’m not taking this home with me.”
Eileen turned to Astrid. “How’s Wren?”
“Still single.” Astrid sighed.
“Don’t worry! I was praying to St. Anne. She’s the patron saint of single ladies,” Eileen said reassuringly.
“Why are you praying to the saints? You’re not Catholic,” Felicity asked.
Eileen huffed. “Pastor Jeffrey said I should stop bringing up the single people in town. I was trying to pray for everyone.”
“You were writing their names on the prayer cards and pairing them up on the bulletin board,” Ida pointed out.
I exchanged a glance with Kailee, who suppressed a giggle. She seemed more relaxed now.
We kept working on our crafts, and after a while, the group split into smaller conversations, filling the room with a comforting cacophony of laughter and chatter. I could tell that the oldest—Eileen, Ida, and Astrid—went back decades and had about 200 mutual friends.
Felicity got into a deep conversation with Erica while Lola tried to coax more out of Kailee.
I’d never seen anyone’s hands move as fast as Ida’s. While the rest of us completed a few rows, she finished her first Santa hat, and Felicity decided it was time for the book club portion of the evening.
“First of all… how many of you actually read the book?”
Erica, Eileen, and Lola raised their hands.
Felicity gave them a guilty smile. “I admit, I got halfway. It’s been a busy week.”
“I finished right before my doctor’s appointment,” Lola said.
“Dr. Handsome?” Eileen asked, eyes sparkling.
Erica sighed. “He’s so dreamy that I’m convinced he’s secretly starring in some medical drama.”
“I keep requesting him, but they always tell me he’s not available!” Astrid grumbled. “The receptionist gave me a dirty look.”
“The new doctor who started at The Hideaway Clinic is unfairly good-looking,” Felicity explained. “Kind of like the guy on that cover.”
I set down my painstakingly crocheted bottom layer of a vulva and picked up the book. “I started reading this last night, but I didn’t get far.”
“Just move on to the next one,” Ida muttered. “You won’t miss much.”
“Ida would like us to stick to crafts,” Felicity continued in her narrator voice. “But some of us are not that gifted with yarn, so we try to balance the scales with books and wine.”
“I’m particularly gifted with wine!” Lola took a drink, grinning.
“Maybe Noelle should pay a visit to the clinic,” Erica suggested. “We’ve done some detective work and concluded that Dr. Handsome is single.”
Lola pulled out her phone, tapped, and handed it over. “Dr. Handsome.”
I stared at the photo of a striking man in a white coat. “He looks like a cross between Superman and Superman.”
“Exactly!” Lola enthused. “What small-town doctor needs cheekbones like that? He should be on billboards!”
“Maybe I need to break an arm or leg soon,” I mused.
Felicity’s reaction to my words was subtle, like a cold draft sneaking in through a crack. Was she jealous because I was expressing interest in someone other than her brother?
“He’s going through a messy divorce,” Felicity said under her breath. “In case that makes any difference to any of you.”
“Have you been snooping through Dr. Handsome’s trash cans?” Erica peered at Felicity like a schoolteacher with a twinkle in her eye.
“My company may have been cleaning his offices,” Felicity added nonchalantly, clearly enjoying herself.
Even Ida leaned in, ears perked.
Lola grabbed a cookie. “Tell me more! Does he donate to charities? Pay his bills on time? I must know! Purely for research purposes, of course.”
Felicity’s mouth stretched into a salacious smile. “Well, for research purposes… I heard he overuses breath mints and never finishes a sandwich.”
“That’d drive me nuts!” I said without thinking. “Such a waste.”
Felicity gave a slow, approving nod. “Right? Fredrik licks the crumbs off his plate. Just saying. And the breath mints could be a sign of halitosis.”
“Uncle Fredrik sits in a bookstore and has like one customer per day,” Kailee pointed out. “He has enough time to eat every meal twice.”
“Excellent point, Kailee!” Erica praised, making Kailee blush. “Maybe Dr. Handsome finishes sandwiches at home.”
“Well, if I ever break my arm, it’ll be the first thing I ask, right after I sniff his breath,” I promised.
Everyone laughed, and I chuckled along with them.
The level of matchmaking in this town was insane, yet I felt at home.
These ladies were as curious as I was and not shocked by my unfiltered comments.
Instead, they were entertained. They saw me as someone worthy of being matched with these men…
even a doctor. Felicity, who was aware of my past, still seemed to like the idea of me being with her brother.
To my surprise, I managed to finish one vulva, which resembled the picture on the printout somewhat. We all helped clear the table, packing the yarn into bags Ida had lined up for us.
“Thank you, ladies!”
She beamed as we displayed our half-finished Santa hats and multicolored vulvas, then pulled on our winter coats and tumbled out the door.
Oddly enough, I felt as tipsy as most of them looked as they staggered down the icy steps, holding onto each other.
Even with my hard work the other night, every surface outside was uneven and slippery.
I’d come back another night, I decided. After I built another snowman and did some other good deeds. I had ideas.
“Come back next week!” Ida urged. “You’re making great progress. I think you’re ready to try your hand at the Santa hat. Take some red yarn.” She shoved a tightly coiled ball into my bag.
“Please do!” Erica echoed. “Hideaway holds the world record for the largest crowd caroling in Santa hats, and we’re determined to keep it. We need every hat we can get!”
“I’ll try my best,” I promised.
A soft buzz went through my body. Tonight had felt good, like finding something long lost. Maybe it was a dry-land thing, this sense of connection. Like things were more permanent and meaningful, not fleeting.
But you’re not here to stay. You’re the fleeting one.
“Thank you so much for inviting me,” I said. “You’ve made me feel… at home.” I wasn’t sure why I was suddenly fighting tears, but within seconds, I was at the receiving end of a barrage of hugs and kind words.
“I love your colorful style!” Astrid bellowed, tossing her rainbow scarf over her shoulder.
Erica’s hug was so warm and tight that it transported me back home. “Welcome to Hideaway Harbor! I hope you find your forever home.”
Kailee slipped the Grinch ornament into my mitten. “Sorry I took it.”
“It’s okay.” I spread my arms, and she jumped in for a hug, too.
Eileen held my face between her fluffy pink mittens for a weighted moment. “She’s as cute as a button! Fredrik would be crazy not to take a chance. The same goes for Dr. Handsome, but my money is on the Grump.”
Felicity pulled me into an awkward side hug. “You want a man who knows how to finish… a sandwich.”
With my heart permanently lodged in my throat and their laughter still ringing in my ears, I walked across the square, all the way to the bookstore.
It was the strangest feeling, falling in love with a town. I’d seen so many gorgeous, breathtaking ports. So many that they blurred in my mind into a generic holiday montage. I’d always thought a place somewhere might hit me with its beauty, and I’d feel that tug to settle in and make a home.
But it wasn’t the snow-covered streets and Christmas lights that tugged at my heart. It was the people. It was the sense of meaning they derived from life around here, like it meant more than anything else that went on anywhere else.
How did they do it? How did they create this sense of meaning?
Maybe I hadn’t been ready for it until now. It was safer to keep moving, letting people pass by and new people take their place, like ever-changing weather.
I’d never meant to settle so close to Bangor. It was too close to the past I was desperate to avoid. I would have been better off falling in love with Reykjavík or Key West. Anywhere else, really.
This was a dangerous path.
I unlocked the bookstore and stepped in, inhaling the scent of dust and ancient knowledge mingling with cinnamon. Where had that come from?
I’d get over this crush. But first, I’d hang some Christmas lights and crochet a few Santa hats.