Dropped Dead Stitch Read Free Page A

Jennifer worked in comfortable silence for a while, and Kelly felt that peaceful feeling start to settle in—the meditative state that she’d discovered was an unexpected benefit to the pastime of knitting.
    Then Jennifer spoke softly. “I know what you guys are trying to do.”
    “Do what?” Kelly replied, coming back from the peaceful place.
    “You know what I mean. These last several weeks, we’ve all been getting together several times a week for dinner.”
    Kelly smiled to herself. Jennifer was too sharp not to notice her friends’ attempts to include her in their regular get-togethers. In the three months since the assault, Kelly had watched Jennifer make an astonishing behavioral turnaround. She hadn’t returned to the Fort Connor bar scene. Nights were now occupied with helping her part-time employer, café owner Pete, with his private catering jobs and joining her friends in their scheduled evenings of dinner and DVDs.
    “Hey, it’s fun,” Kelly said, concentrating on her stitches. “Except I’ve gotta learn to say ‘no’ to the desserts.”
    “Well, just for the record, I know you guys are trying to keep me from being all by myself alone and . . . and I think it’s sweet.”
    Kelly grinned at her friend. “Duly noted . . . just for the record.” They continued to work quietly for another few minutes. This time Kelly broke the silence. “How’re you doing, Jen?”
    “Okay,” Jennifer answered, eyes still on her stitches.
    Kelly paused for a second. “I mean . . . how are you really doing?”
    Jennifer kept casting on stitches for a few more seconds. “I’m doing better, Kelly. Really.”
    Kelly released an audible sigh. “I’m so glad, Jen. You look better, too. More . . . I don’t know . . . more relaxed, maybe.”
    Jennifer gave her a little smile. “Yeah. I’m getting there. Moving to a new apartment really helped. And talking with Dr. Norcross, of course. I’ve never talked with anyone like her before.”
    Kelly noticed the lime green sweater had a scalloped neckline, not the turtlenecks Jennifer had been wearing for the last three months. The purple bruises on her neck had finally faded. “It’s a good thing Lisa was taking Dr. Norcross’s class at the university, otherwise she might never have found her.”
    “Hey, just the two I want to see.” Lisa’s voice came from behind them as she suddenly strode into the room. Plopping her oversized knitting bag on the table, Lisa stood over Kelly and Jennifer, hands on hips. “Please tell me you both are free this weekend. Well, all day Friday through Sunday. Please, pretty please.”
    “It depends on what you have in mind,” Jennifer said, without looking up. “If you’re teaching another one of those physical therapist workshops in the mountains, count me out. Being around all those buff, skinny jocks all weekend gave me a complex. And I’ve got enough of those already.”
    “Don’t tell me. You’re teaching another workshop and you need us to do the fiber classes, right?” Kelly glanced up at her friend.
    Lisa swept her long blonde ponytail back into a fabric band. “You’re half right. It’s a workshop in the mountains, all right. But it’s not for physical therapists. And I do need you both to teach the knit and crochet sessions. The two gals who promised to help just called and backed out on me.”
    Kelly ran through her mental daytimer, weighing her workload. Two more days till the weekend. “If I work ahead, I guess I could manage it. What about you, Jen? Would Pete be able to do without your waitressing skills for three days? You up for a spring weekend in the mountains?”
    “Pete would be okay because Sarah could come in and work for me. But I need to check the real estate office and see if I’m scheduled for floor duty this weekend. If not, then I could swing it. No clients have surfaced recently.”
    “We’re going to a ranch up Poudre Canyon, back in the forest,” Lisa tempted.
    “Whoa, that did