Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 122206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
“D’ye wear cloaks and face paint every Thursday?”
“Nope,” Lilly answered. “These are our initiation garbs.”
Thank God for that.
“So,” Lilly said. “How was everyone’s week?”
I held my hand up like I did when I was in school and had a question to ask.
“I have a little bitty question first.”
“Shoot.”
“Why is Alec, his brothers, me boyfriend, and his brothers half naked in blown-up pictures around the room?”
“Ah.” A small lady grinned. “We touch them all before we knit and crochet for good luck. It’s a ritual we have. Name’s Mary, by the way, pet.”
The rest of them followed suit and introduced themselves. The knitters consisted of Lilly, Alec, Mary, Catherine, Maura, Nancy, and Francis. Francis, like me, was deaf and wore hearing aids. She dubbed us the “Aids Sisters” and that was that. After some laughter, the ladies all chatted amongst one another.
“Question for you, Alec. D’you touch the photos for good luck?”
“Nah.” Alec snickered. “I rub me own abs instead.”
That drew a laugh from me, but when I stopped and simply stared at Alec, he caught me and grinned. “You can’t believe I’m a member too, huh?”
I shook my head. “This is wild.”
“Ye can’t tell anyone, not even Date.”
I had figured as much.
“I won’t, but he’d die of laughter if he knew.”
“He’s a hater.”
I snorted. “So, what d’we do?”
“Talk as we knit and crochet. It’s honestly so fun that I wish we had class more than once a week.”
I retrieved my wool bag, got my hooks and latest piece, and began to crochet. I truly felt like I was in my element.
“How was your week, Alec?”
“It was good up until I had some … animal problems.”
I tilted my head. “With your dog? I know ye have a German Shepherd. Aideen mentioned that he’s, um, not very nice.”
She said he was a fat bastard who would kill her one day, but I wasn’t saying that to Alec.
“Ado hates Storm, and he hates her.” Alec nodded as if it was a tale as old as time. “They have a blood feud that might result in homicide one day.”
I wasn’t touching that conversation with a ten-foot pole.
“So Storm’s givin’ ye trouble?”
“Nah, Storm boy is great. It’s the wildlife that’s out to get me.”
I hesitated. “The wildlife … like birds? They can be dangerous.”
There was a crow who lived in a tree outside of my building, and I felt him watch me every morning. For what, I didn’t know.
“Yes, birds.” Alec’s voice pitched lower. “I’m frequently shocked by the number of people who overlook swans for their dangerous tendencies, but you instantly said birds, so you have a good head on your shoulders.”
“Swans? Your animal problems are with swans?”
Alec tensed and glanced around as if we were being watched.
“Yes, swans. Have you ever been feeding baby swans on a Sunday afternoon, feeling at peace and happy until, out of nowhere, a mama and daddy swan tactically advance on you from your blind spots and proceed to smack the fucking life out of you with their unnaturally strong wings while you cry to your wife to sacrifice herself, or your newborn son, to save you?”
“No.” I blinked at his too-specific answer. “I can’t say that I have, have you?”
“No.” Alec cleared his throat. “I was speaking hypothetically.”
Right.
“So swans are dangerous then?”
“Ina, they’re worse than geese. A goose will give you a warning hiss but swans? They’re stealth creatures. I’d put them up there with lions. They are apex predators.”
“Alec.” I blinked. “Have ye been attacked by geese this past Sunday as well?”
“All I was doing was feeding their babies!” He threw his hands up in the air. “Keela said they’d be mad if I got too close, but I don’t understand why! I just wanted to fill their little geese bellies up, and their way too overprotective parents chased me all the way back to the car park for it! I was mildly injured from the swan incident, so I couldn’t run as fast, it was terrifying. I thought I might die.”
Don’t. Fucking. Laugh.
“Where was Keela during these attacks?”
“Pissing herself laughing.” Alec rolled his eyes. “I got attacked by two kinds of birds on God’s Day of rest for being a good fucking person, and what does it get me? Humiliation. Keela laughed at me until she couldn’t speak, and the park ranger banned me for disrupting the animals’ peace … I didn’t even know that was a fucking thing!” He began to crochet angrily. “Fuck those swans and those motherfucking geese, too.”
I burst into sudden laughter that made him roll his eyes, but I did catch his lips twitching. He talked a little more as he crocheted a jumper for his son. I couldn’t look away from his hands as he worked. The man was a tall drink of water. He was drop-dead gorgeous with a body made for sin … and he could crochet like it was no one’s business. I was trying to figure out the pattern, it was like a granite stitch and a puff stitch rolled into one but with something else thrown into the mix.