Crushed Velvet by Diane Vallere

Author:Diane Vallere
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-05-31T00:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

“You’re serious?” I looked up and down the street. “How could he leave? He was going to talk to Clark. He knew I was getting him donuts.”

“Yeah, I hear they don’t have donuts in Los Angeles.”

I headed to the back of the store, slowing only to take the donuts from Charlie and set them on the cash wrap. Charlie stayed behind and opened the box while I unlocked the back door. Twelve rolls of velvet, each bagged in heavy plastic and secured along one end with a plastic zip tie, were propped up against the exterior wall of the fabric store. I wrapped my arms around one and stepped backward, and then pushed it back toward the wall, where it knocked into two other rolls, crashing them to the ground like dominoes.

“Yo, Polyester, keep your pants on. Did you ever think of asking for help?”

“I thought I could handle it. When you get enough sugar coursing through your veins, will you help me with these?”

“Sure. But you’re the fabric expert. Shouldn’t you know how much a roll of velvet weighs?”

“It was heavier than I expected,” I said. “Make sure your hands are clean first.”

“Are you afraid I’m going to dirty up the plastic?”

She finished her second donut and wiped her hands on her jeans. I found a dull pair of scissors I’d been meaning to have sharpened and sliced through the plastic that covered the forest-green velvet. I fed my hand through a narrow opening and ran my fingertips over the nap. It was as soft as I’d anticipated. I reached a few inches in from the selvage edge and tugged gently on the material, testing the gauge. It had a little spring to it. I pulled my hand out of the opening and taped the plastic back together. A shot of excitement pulsed through me. This was my very first order of custom fabric. Rich, elegant, unusual. But the ten percent polyester gave it my personal stamp.

She studied me. “This is like Christmas for you, isn’t it?”

“It’s amazing, you know? This fabric represents the beginning of what I’m going to do here. And it represents what my aunt and uncle passed along to me. It’s so much more than material. I can’t wait to open for business and let people see how fabric can change their lives. Help me with the rest, will you?”

She followed me out back. I tipped the navy blue bolt toward me and took careful steps backward, until it was at a thirty-degree angle with the floor. Charlie wrapped her arms around the other end, dropped into a partial squat, and stood up. I walked backward into the store and tripped over the welcome mat. The end of the roll fell from my hands. Charlie anticipated my klutzy move and tried to overcompensate by lifting her end up high. She tripped over the same carpet and the roll dropped to the floor. She bent down, grabbed her ankle, and hopped around for a couple of seconds.

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