Someday Home (10 page)

“I know what I said, but I've changed my mind. I want all the furniture, everything just the way it is now.”

“Are you insane?”

“I'll add another five thousand to your half for all the work you've done and another five for the furnishings.”

“You want me to pull it off the market?”

“Yes, is that so hard to understand?”

“If I were you, I would not get sarcastic.” After he mumbled something, she continued, “Let me get this straight, you want all the furnishings, not just the furniture. Curtains, everything.”

“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “I walked through it yesterday while you were at work. I want it left just like that.”

She clamped her jaw. “You kept a key.”

“Yes. I want to move in soon, within two weeks. Can you be out by then?”

“Slow down. Five thousand is not enough for the furnishings. Make it ten since you want everything that is in the house right now. What about some of the things in storage?” She looked around the room, then through the living room. “I will take my personal things and that includes some of the furnishings you saw, like pictures, my mother's china…I need to furnish an apartment, you know.” She knew she was thinking on her feet and her feet were tired, along with the rest of her.

“So?”

“So, I will take this off the market. Then you and I and my lawyer will talk tomorrow and iron out the small stuff. You have agreed to ten for the furnishings and five extra on my half of the house value. And you will pay me five thousand tomorrow as surety and the remainder when I turn over the keys.”
Where are you going to get the money, buster? I have no idea, but that is your problem, not mine.

He stuttered on a reply, cleared his throat, and said, “I agree.”

“Fine. My lawyer will draw up some papers tomorrow to make sure all is legal. When I move out, we will clear my name off the title. Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“I am.”

She sat in her chair after the conversation, mulling it over. Talk about a strange conversation from a man who said he couldn't afford to buy her out. What had transpired in the few weeks since that conversation? This wasn't the time of year for a bonus. Her part of their mutual debt would be around twenty-five hundred. And they would not have to pay real estate fees; looked like she was coming out with more than she thought possible. Her father would have said, “God is providing.” Much as she'd been distancing herself from her heavenly Father…She shook her head. Mercy was all she could think. What great mercy.

All accounts had to be changed, and she would no longer be banking where he worked, that was for sure. A thought lightning bolted her. He better not be taking money out of their remaining joint account to pay her. She'd not put any more money into that account since he moved out, not that she had much to put in. Angela rubbed her forehead. This was all too bizarre for words.

After the phone call canceling the sale of the house, in which she dodged questions, she put out the lights and headed up the stairs, her little notebook with lists in her hand. For some strange reason she felt like her whole world was flipping and spinning out of control. Her phone announced a text.
Meet me at the bank and we'll go through the safety deposit box and clear up our accounts. Two p.m.

She texted back.
Ten, I'm busy in the afternoon.

See what I can do.

And if you can't, I'll take care of it all myself. Like I have been for years. Jack, you have trained me well. You jerk.

Y
ou want me to do what?” Judith sat gaping at her cousin.

Melody's smile turned into a chuckle, possibly even a giggle. They'd had a history of giggling when they were little girls, but giggles had vanished for Judith years ago. About the time the two families quit getting together. “Just do as I tell you, it's not hard.”

Judith shook her head as she picked up the pile of quilt pieces. It looked haphazard; not like something that could be salvaged, let alone made beautiful. “This is not beginner work.”

“I hate to be the one to break the news, but you are not a beginner.” The two had sewing machines set up on the dining room table and patterns, books, and fabric scattered all over the place. Even the room looked haphazard. Melody held up the pieces for step one. “Just do as I do and you'll be fine.”

“Famous last words.” Judith stretched her neck to each side, pulled her shoulders back, and huffed out a breath she did not realize she'd been holding. Step by step, one by one, they put together pieces of fabric that looked so—well, so random. The resulting quilt blocks were gorgeous. This was more pleasant than she was about to admit. Time not only flew by but the piles of in-progress and finished blocks grew, too.

“Amazing what we can accomplish when we work as a team like this.” Melody had a trail of quilt pieces reaching clear to the floor and piling up, not taking time to cut threads until she finished. When she handed the train to Judith, Judith took it to the ironing board, along with scissors, and clipped and pressed seams.

“Do you have a quilt frame?”

“No, and my quilting machine is in for repair. I don't quilt by hand much any longer; it's more fun on the machine.”

“Let alone faster.”

That night after supper while they sat in front of the crackling fireplace, Judith cross-stitching and Melody working on the needlepoint Judith's mother had started, Anselm looked up from the book he was reading. “My belly is calling for coffee or tea and dessert.”

“Let me finish this row.”

“I'll get it. Coffee or tea?” When both women answered tea, he shrugged and headed for the kitchen.

“To continue our conversation…”

“Which one?”

“The one about what do you want to do with the rest of your life?”

“Interesting, isn't it? Here I am nearly forty-eight years of age and I really have no plans.”

“What about dreams?” Melody shook her head as Judith shrugged. “Nope, not good enough. Way back you dreamed of college and becoming either an anthropologist or an archaeologist.”

“I didn't get to go to school long enough to make up my mind, either.”

“So what is stopping you from doing it now, if those things still interest you?”

Judith laid her hoop in her lap. “You really think I could?” She had to clear her throat. Did she dare even think of such a thing? Slowly she shook her head. “I really can't afford to go to college now. I need to get a job of some kind, but I don't have any kind of résumé. Who would hire a forty-seven-year-old single woman with no documentable skills?”

“Hogwash, to quote my father.”

“Hogwash to which problem?”

“The work résumé for one. Sure, you'd have to put one together, but…”

“And I have no college degree. No piece of paper to show I went to school.”

“No, you don't. But…” Melody paused. “We need to start with lists. But before that, if money were no object, what would you do?”

“You said dream and this is way beyond belief. I'd live on a lake somewhere and go back to school.” She tipped her head against the cushioned chair back and let her eyes close. “A lake where I could see the sunrise or the sunset, hear the loons call, and I'd have a dog beside me. And chickens. I still remember that short time when Momma kept chickens. I would drive to the campus every day or…”

“Or some of your classes you could take online, if you wanted to get a job. But with money no object, you wouldn't need to worry about that.”

“Yeah, well, in dreams you can do anything.”
Nothing like real life, the life I am living.
“Besides, I'd love the classroom, the discussions, the people, even the homework; you know, the academic atmosphere. I have always loved learning, and that is one thing where my father and I agreed. He made sure I learned a lot.”

“Ain't that the truth,” Melody muttered into her yarns.

“Ah, a bit of sarcasm there?”

“Not difficult to find some when you talk about Uncle Sebastian.”

“Hard to believe but he did have a good side, too. Shame that the bad so overwhelmed the good during his last years.” She sniffed, then reached for a tissue, and after blowing her nose, she heaved a sigh and nodded. “So, dear cousin, you did get me dreaming. I'm surprised at what came out. Shame the money thing is so real and anti-dreaming.”

“You know that both our mothers believed the same thing,
where there is a will, there is a way
. They raised us on that adage.”

“I think mine got buried in reality.”

“But that reality is over and your new life is beginning, or rather, has already begun.” Melody leaned forward. “You can always live here and go to college. We seem to have a plethora of schools within driving distance.”

“But no lake with loons.” A smile tickled Judith's mouth as she mentioned that part of her dream, the dreams she didn't know she had.

“You want to eat at the table or where you are?” Anselm held a tray with teapot and cups.

“What are we having?”

“Ice cream on those brownies you made and hot fudge sauce.”

Judith groaned. “I sure hope you have chopped nuts and whipped cream to put on that sundae.”

“Sorry, just plain.” He paused with the tray. “Well?”

“Right here.” Melody inhaled. “You made Constant Comment tea! What a sweetheart you are.” She moved her project off the coffee table so he could set the tray down. “Anselm, my sweet, you spoil me rotten.”

The next day on their way to the quilting and needlecraft show, Melody asked her again. “Did you think about school and your dreams?”

“I did and I followed your orders to start with lists.” Judith patted her leather purse. “All in here. You know, I've never been to a show like this.”

“What a shame. Someday I want to attend the biggest of the big in Puyallup, Washington. I have friends who have gone, and they say that this one is good but that one is incredible.” She followed the signs into the parking lot of the convention center. “I brought my fold-up cart along and my credit card. You will find notions and all kinds of things here that you don't find anywhere else. Wait until you see the vendors. Talk about creativity.” After they parked, she retrieved her fold-up cart from the trunk and handed Judith a bottle of water. “You did bring another bag, didn't you?”

“Ah, no.”

“Fine, I brought you one. It folds out bigger than it looks.” She pointed off to the west. “That's our hotel. We'll check in after our day on the floor and we're too exhausted to go any farther. We can even do room service for supper if we want.”

“You have it all planned.”

“Major campaigns require major plans. We have our first Make It and Take It at ten o'clock.”

“Make It and Take It?”

“You'll see. Since I already have our name tags”—she pulled them from her purse—“all we need is that big program with all the maps and things. I assume it's basically laid out as the last time, so…” She grabbed two of the newspaper-like eight-page programs and, handing one to Judith, led the way.

Never had Judith seen so many excited women. Why, the walls could bulge out and back in with all the energy in this huge hall. While her eyes would rather stop and look at each booth, she knew better than to lose Melody, who was plowing through the crowd with iron determination. Thank goodness her cousin was tall and wearing a bright red jacket.

In one of the hallways off the main floor, the relative quiet felt like a balm. Judith blew out a breath; it seemed like not enough air to breathe as they hustled on their way.

“Did you see anything you want to go back to?” Melody checked the program to make sure that the room number and class matched. “Some of the demos are really worthwhile, not that most anything here isn't.”

Most of the chairs were already taken. To get two together took some doing. An assistant came around with kits and greeted each of them, inviting them to come look at the finished samples.

By the time the hour had disappeared, Judith's speed-quilting project was nearly half finished, like most of the others. She now knew how to sew together strips accurately, then offset and sew them together, creating a tumbling blocks pattern. It was so easy when one knew the tricks.

“I have included complete instructions in each of your packets. I hope you have a great convention, and I am teaching another class tomorrow at eleven. No, it will not be the same.” She held up the sample of lovely ribbon embroidery on, of all things, a pillowcase. “Hope to see you back.”

As the women filed out of the door chattering and laughing, Judith felt like she might just bob above the others, she was so filled with delight.
I've not had this much fun in years, and to think I hesitated about coming.
They headed back to the main convention floor.

“The quilting section is over there, if you would rather do that next.” Melody pointed to the far end of the football-field-length hall.

“I—ah…” Judith had no idea what she wanted, and it was so crowded.

“What I thought we would do was make a quick tour of the whole thing, then come back to the places where we want to spend more time.”

Judith stared at her. “You have to be kidding, right?”

“No, why?”

“Because my brain is already on overload. We saw that there was a demo on stabilizers back there.” She pointed to where they had come from. “I would like to watch that, and besides, there were chairs there.”

“Of course, but surely your feet don't hurt already?”

“When you said comfortable footwear, I didn't know you meant hiking shoes.”

Melody shrugged and grinned at the same time. She'd perfected the action. But she led the way back to the demo site, this one on various kinds of stabilizers to use. Since cross-stitch did not use stabilizers, Judith was curious as to what they were used for.

“This is all new to me,” she said as they sat down. The woman next to her had a cart like Melody's. Many women had them in various designs. “Did you buy that here?” Judith asked.

“By the door as you come in. They have a pickup room where you can leave your bags and get them at the end of the day, too.”

“Really? People buy that much?”

The woman pointed at her cart. “More than half full. This afternoon I will probably pack all that in one huge bag and leave it at pickup.”

“I see.” Watching the demo, Judith realized that the product could help her and decided to buy the sample pack, along with all the info on where to purchase or order the product should she want more.

By the time Melody allowed them to stop for lunch, Judith's bag was nearly half full, a lot of it free samples. “You didn't tell me about all this.”

“Why should I? You wouldn't have believed me.” That shrug-grin thing again.

“Right. When's the next Make It and Take It?”

But Melody was obviously thinking lunch, not about making anything. “Turkey sandwich okay? And a bottle of flavored tea?”

“Whatever.” Judith glanced across the table. A woman over there had a really good-looking salad. “How about that?”

“Will do.” She set Judith's bag on the chair, her cart beside it, and away she went, no lagging in her steps.

“I'm exhausted. Are these chairs taken?” asked a woman beside Judith's right shoulder.

“No, they're free. Please join us.”

“Thank you.” The two women sat down, one older, one younger, both looking a bit jaded.

“How about I go get our food?” the younger one said. “What would you like?”

“Anything and a superlarge coffee, I have the sweetener here.”

The younger woman left.

Judith smiled. “Sounds like you feel the same way I do.”

“If you mean in need of a chair and a drink, you are right on.”

“You been before?” Was Judith the only one in the world overwhelmed by all this?

“I take it you haven't?”

“No, and I am amazed beyond anything I even thought of.”

“My name is Lynn Lundberg.” The woman extended a hand. “Welcome to your first quilt and needlework show, and I hope you love it so much you have to come again.”

“Judith Rutherford. And I have a feeling that if I live anywhere in Minnesota, my cousin is going to force me to come again. Not that it will take much force.”

“Why, Lynn, you came after all. Those chairs taken?” a new woman said with a smile.

Lynn waved a hand. “Join us. Just leave these chairs free.”

“I can only stay a minute. Need to rest my feet.”

Judith smiled at the lady and her friends across the table and reached for her cell phone. But instead of checking for messages, she shut it off and slid it back into the assigned pocket in her purse. If someone did happen to call her, she'd not be able to hear them in here anyway.

Melody set the food on the table. “You didn't say what kind of dressing, so I got two, raspberry vinaigrette and ranch. And I couldn't resist the bars. They were crying out our names.” She laid down two clear-wrapped bars with chocolate chips and topped with coconut.

“I haven't had one of those in ages. What a treat.” Judith dumped the croutons and dressing on her salad and dug in, surprised by how hungry she was. Mrs. Lundberg and her friend chatted until her younger friend returned with a tray of food.