Kelly, Sofie - Sleight of Paw

Rebecca was slowly fixing a disastrous pixie hairdo I’d come to Mayville Heights with last year. A huge fashion error, it had been part of my plan to show I could be spontaneous. I’d learned I could be spontaneous—if I planned for it.

She waited while I took off my outside clothes and changed my shoes, and told me a little more about her visit with several of the women she’d studied hairdressing with.

I got the feeling the green hair was more of a possibility than I’d first thought.

“I almost forgot,” she said suddenly. “I bought a little something for Hercules and Owen.” She fished in the pocket of her coat and handed me a brown paper bag about the size of a school lunch bag.

“I suppose it wouldn’t do me any good to tell you that you shouldn’t have done this.”

“Not in the slightest,” she said, her eyes crinkling with delight.

I stuck the bag in my coat pocket. “Thank you so much, Rebecca,” I said.

“Oh, you’re welcome. I miss the boys.”

I pulled on my left shoe and stood up, shaking down both of my pant legs. “Owen’s been racing around in the snow,” I said. “But you know how Hercules is about getting his feet wet. He such a fussbudget.”

“Well, I don’t know if I’d call him fussy,” Rebecca said as we walked into the studio. “I don’t like wet feet myself.”

“True,” I said, giving her arm a squeeze. “But I don’t have to carry you across the lawn if there’s a little dew on the grass.”

Her eyes twinkled again. “Well, Kathleen, I have to say I’ve always been a bit partial to those chairs the ancient Egyptians used to carry the pharaohs around.” She laughed. I loved the sound. Rebecca had a great laugh, and now that she and Everett were together again I got to hear her laugh a lot.

She spotted Roma over by the window. “I need to talk to Roma,” she said. “Come stand beside me in the circle when it’s time.”

I crossed to the table where Maggie and Ruby were standing. “Hi,” I said, touching Ruby’s shoulder lightly with my hand.

“Hi,” she said. She seemed more like herself, albeit a quieter version of herself. Her hair was spiked and she was wearing her favorite CROSS YOUR NUTS T-shirt with black spandex leggings.

I didn’t know Ruby nearly as well as Maggie did, but I liked her. She had a kind soul. I still wore the crystal necklace she’d made for me.

“How are you?” I asked.

“Better. Thank you for this morning, for everything.” She stopped and swallowed a couple of times. “I can’t believe Agatha’s dead. She worked so damn hard so she could come home.”

“And she got home.” Maggie’s voice was steady and reassuring.

That made Ruby smile. “That was Agatha. When she made up her mind to do something”—she laughed—“forget it.”

“Oh, so that’s where you learned it,” Maggie said dryly over the top of her mug of herbal tea.

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

It was almost time to start. Maggie took one last drink from her cup and set it down. She held up two fingers to us. The two-minute warning.

“If I can help or do anything, please ask,” I said to Ruby. “Do you know about the service yet?”

She shook her head. “David—that’s Agatha’s son—is in China, of all places. He’s a mining engineer. It’s going to be a week before he can get here. Part of the road collapsed in a storm where he is. Peter Lundgren is in charge of everything, I guess. He’s Agatha’s lawyer.”

“Lawyers are good at working these kinds of things out,” I said.

Maggie moved to the middle of the room.

“Agatha would hate a big, showy service.” Ruby said.

“It doesn’t have to be that way. Peter was her lawyer. He’d know what she would want.” I touched her shoulder again. “I meant what I said. If I can help, just ask.”

Her eyes filled with tears. She blinked them away and after a second’s hesitation threw her arms around me and hugged me.

I gave her my best everything-will-be-okay smile and tried to ignore the worm of doubt squirming around in my head.

“Circle, please, everyone,” Maggie called.

Ruby, as the most accomplished student in the group, went to stand to Maggie’s left. Rebecca was next to Roma on Maggie’s right. She caught my eye and patted the air next to her. I slid into place, returning Roma’s smile as Maggie started the warm-ups.

I worked steadily during the class as Maggie reminded me to bend my knees and shift my weight at least a dozen times, while Rebecca, who was surprisingly fluid for her age, gave me little bits of encouragement.

I wasn’t naturally coordinated, though I had to admit I was getting better since I’d started the class. More than once in the past few weeks I’d caught myself shifting my weight to reach something, instead of stretching too far and losing my balance.

“What do you have planned for tomorrow?” Maggie asked, after we’d finished the complete form at the end of class. “Any chance you could give me a hand changing the lights at the community center?”

I didn’t want to tell Maggie I was going out to Wisteria Hill with Marcus. She’d start telling me it was a sign the universe thought we were good for each other. Okay, so she wouldn’t rub her hands together and cackle, but it’d be close.

“I have a couple of things I need to do first thing,” I said, using the hem of my T-shirt to blot the sweat on my neck. I was the only one who seemed to be sweating so much in class. “When did you want to go do it?”

“Midafternoon.”

“I can make that work,” I said. “Call me in the morning.”

“Okay.”

I went out to get my coat. Rebecca was putting on her own things.

“Would you like a drive, Kathleen?” she asked, wrapping a soft rose-colored scarf around her neck. “Everett is picking me up.”

“Thank you,” I said. “But I have to check in at the library. How is Everett?” I asked, trying not to grin.

Rebecca and Everett had been a couple when they were very young, but had broken up and gone on with their lives. They’d gotten back together during the summer, with a little indirect help from the cats and me. I liked them both and I felt a bit like a fairy godmother invested in the romance. And sometimes they acted like a couple of love-struck teenagers, so it was easy to get caught up in what looked like a happily-ever-after.

“Everett’s fine,” she said, but she couldn’t help smiling that huge smile she got when she said his name.

I couldn’t hold back my own grin. “Glad to hear it.” I waggled my eyebrows at her.

She shook her finger in a mock reprimand. “Don’t start getting ideas. We’re taking it nice and slow.”

I was actually happy they could take it slowly. Rebecca had needed surgery to remove a small growth back in the fall. Luckily it had turned out not to be serious.

The downstairs door opened and Everett Henderson himself started up the stairs. He looked like the actor, Sean Connery, strong and charming with just a touch of ruthlessness. Rebecca’s cheeks flushed pink at the sight of him.

I leaned over and spoke softly in her ear. “Rebecca, if I had a man in my life who made me blush the way you do when you see Everett, I wouldn’t take it nice and slow. I’d wrap him in duct tape, stick him on a sled and take him home.”

She looked at me, shocked. “Kathleen!” she said, shaking her head.

I tried to look innocent as Everett joined us. “Hello, Kathleen,” he said.

I smiled. “Hello, Everett.”

“Thank you for the information on the library renovations,” he continued. “Lita said you sent it over. She’ll call you Monday about a meeting.”

I nodded.

He looked at Rebecca. “Ready to go?” he asked, reaching for her hand.