Page 48 of The Side Road
He shook his head.
Her eyes drifted down to the mauve wool in his lap.
‘I see where you’re heading with this. It’s taken you, what, five minutes? My mother’s had forty-two years. She still tells people I live with a friend.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘No need to be sorry. Now, why in the name of big weddings, are you being set up…withme?’
Mia wiggled her nose. ‘Because people are incapable of minding their own business.’
He looked unconvinced.
‘Because this town has a median age of sixty-five.’
Josh looked her over. ‘Bad breakup?’
Mia nodded.
‘I feel your pain. “Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake – it’s everything except what it is.”’ He smiled. ‘Romeo and Juliet. It all goes downhill from there.’
‘My thoughts exactly. Let’s talk about my wedding dress… I was thinking handmade lace.’
‘I’m listening.’ He poured himself a large glass of wine.
From across the room, Kristen said, ‘Handmade clothes. That sounds political.’
‘I don’t think making your own clothes is political. It’s just making your own clothes,’ Blanche said.
‘Make sure you get properly compensated for the sewing work,’ Flora said. ‘Don’t let anyone take advantage of you because you’re a woman.’
‘It’s lace,’ Mia said. ‘Handmade lace.’
Leo entered. He swooned around the room, filling glasses and offering the cheese platter.
‘Oliver is back. For how long is anyone’s guess.’ Kristen’s elbows were splayed wider than an eagle’s wings.
‘He was a wild young man,’ Flora said.
‘I heard he didn’t have a job,’ Kristen continued. ‘How in the world is he going to raise a child if he doesn’t have a job? And what’s he going to do in Eagle Nest anyway? We already have a garage.’ She shook her head. ‘I remember his father. Good god, that man could drink. It killed him in the end.’
A murmur rose from the group.
Kristen held her glass out for a refill, and Leo obliged. ‘’Remember when Oliver took off, he left Elsie with that poor child.’
Leo cleared his throat.
Blanche lifted her chin. ‘That was years ago, and it was only a week – his wife had just died.’
‘Humph,’ Kristen squirmed. ‘The apple doesn’t fall far, that’s all I’m saying. Mechanics are one step above criminals.’
Leo tiptoed toward the door. When he caught Mia’s eye, she stage-whispered, ‘Coward.’
He nodded and left. Mia wanted to follow him.
‘It’s true,’ Kristen continued. ‘I dropped my car off at the garage last week. The workshop was full of teenagers. They had the radio blaring. No one offered to help, and when they did, I couldn’t hear a word over the music.’
‘Mechanics can’t be trusted,’ Flora said.
