Fangs and Needles by Elle Wren Burke

Author:Elle Wren Burke [Elle Wren Burke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-03-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“Oh, come on, Sandy was not Orla’s nemesis.”

“No, but they had a fraught relationship,” Marian said. She reached over to squeeze Bev’s forearm. “I wasn’t accusing Sandy. I was just answering honestly.”

Bev grumbled. “You’re right. Their relationship was broken. Beyond repair.”

Not wanting to let on that I knew Sandy, I played dumb. “Ladies, if I might ask, who is Sandy?”

“Our friend.”

“Is she? Is she really still our friend?” Bev asked, her voice full of a different kind of grief. The kind that comes with missing someone who you know is just out of your reach.

“Yes,” Marian said with finality.

“Did something happen?” I asked, my tone gentle.

Bev took a deep breath, resigning to tell me what had happened. “We knew Sandy from college. The four of us were a team for decades. Once we found knitting, we called ourselves The Knotty Knitters. For many years now, we’d knit on Orla’s porch almost every day. We’d also make blood blends together, go shopping.

“Then Sandy’s husband, Stefan, passed suddenly. It was awful. We tried to help Sandy through it, but she was lost without him. Floundered for a bit. Let herself go. Barely knit anything. But that’s more than you need to know.

“After a while, Sandy woke up and took a firm grip on her life. She started changing anything that didn’t serve her anymore. Threw out the ugly lawn ornaments Stefan had insisted they buy. Got rid of her old station wagon. Stuff like that. Then she started looking for new things to make her feel whole. Started yoga. Went hiking. One day, she asked if she could host our knitting group.”

Marian and Bev exchanged a tense look, clearly reliving the absolute horror of Sandy inviting them to knit at her house.

“I take it that didn’t go over well?” I asked, confused as to why that was such a big deal.

With a nod to her friend, Marian picked up the story. “Orla always hosted. Always. Sure, her porch was bigger, just like Bev’s is bigger than mine,” I looked at Marian’s porch with an eyebrow raised, taking in its identical proportions to Bev’s, “but it was more than that. She was…stubborn. It was her way or the highway, her house or no house. She was like that with everything.”

Having only had brief conversations with Orla, I hadn’t realized she was so controlling. I’d spent more time talking to Harrison, usually about his bees, and he thought his wife was the bee’s knees. Pun absolutely intended.

“Her attitude didn’t bother you two?”

They shrugged in unison, but Marian answered. “It was easier to just give in most of the time.”

“Plus, Orla always had the good blood blends and brownies in stock,” Bev added.

I laughed a bit. “I see. But Sandy didn’t feel the same?”

“Sandy had griped at Orla over the years about things. She wanted us to try new activities as a group. She wanted to take a trip together a few years ago. She’d even started planning it a bit. Clive had given her some info about Bledchester, his hometown.

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