Page 85 of Not Part of the Plan
Emma returned—with two shoe bags—and they abandoned the stand to Jax and Joey. They spent the rest of the morning visiting and shopping, teasing each other with bites of fresh cheese and samples from OJs by Julia.
This was what a community felt like,Niko decided, raising his camera when Aurora threw her arms around Gia’s neck in a sticky-fingered hug. Warm, welcoming. He wouldn’t mind experiencing more of this.
Maybe it was time to start really thinking about the future? What was it that he really wanted? More of the same, or something different? Better.
Emma was irresistible, he thought, watching her haggle over salad greens and free-range chicken breasts with Farmer Carson who, though in his nineties, clearly had a crush on the redhead. Niko loved watching her swing into action, loved her unshakeable confidence, her attitude. He couldn’t remember ever spending time with a woman like this. The ones he’d dated casually had been more interested in talking industry gossip and not eating because of whatever shoot they had the next day.
Had he been missing out his entire life?
Chicken and greens purchased, they picked up gyros from the Greek stand and carried them to the gazebo where more than twenty knitters were setting up.
“This is why I have to live here,” Emma said, shaking her head in wonder as men and women readied what looked like large, colorful logs of thick merino wool yarn.
“I’ve never seen yarn like that,” Niko said, raising his camera.
“They’re race arm knitting blankets for the children’s hospital over in Cleary,” Emma explained.
Niko dropped his camera. “I don’t understand that particular combination of words.”
Emma laughed and took a bite of her gyro. “Just watch. The contest is first team to one standard sized blanket. They’ll trade off every time they swap out yarn,” she explained.
Niko gave her an incredulous look.
“What? It was inThe Monthly Moon,” Emma explained.
Ellery was onstage readying herself behind a stack of black-as-midnight yarn. She waved in their direction.
“Some poor kid in the children’s hospital is going to end up with the blanket of death,” Niko quipped.
Emma elbowed him in the ribs. “Very funny. Get your camera ready, they’re about to start.”
Niko forgot all about his gyro when the action started. Arms blurred with speed, and chunky sections of yarn turned into thick rows of knit blankets. The competition was fierce and filled with good-natured cheating. He captured Bruce Oakleigh sweating over a skein of pink wool while Mrs. Nordemann, Elvira Eustace’s knitting partner, crawled over to tie his loose yarn in a knot around his chair leg.
An out of town knitting duo sang off-key folk songs so loudly that the team next to them kept missing stitches and shooting them dirty looks while Bobby, the dreadlocked proprietress of Peace of Pizza, “accidentally” kicked another team’s yarn off the makeshift stage.
Ellery was clearly a pro. She settled noise-cancelling headphones over her ears and her yarn between her feet where no other contestants could get to it. Any time anyone invaded her personal space, she stomped her Frankenstein shoe on the stage. The intimidation appeared to be working as she was a full row ahead of the competition.
Niko shot the action and the crowd until Emma covered his lens with her hand. “Okay, Annie L Leibovitz. Let’s enjoy the fun without a camera for a minute so I can make sure you know how to live on the other side of the lens.”
“One more,” Niko insisted. He called Evan over. “You mind taking a picture of us?” he asked.
Evan handed the dripping ice cream cone he’d been working on to a friend and wiped his hands on his jeans. “Sure!”
Niko looped the padded strap around the boy’s neck and gave him the point and click instructions. He returned to Emma and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Smile pretty for the camera.”
“You go from not wanting to pick up a camera to wanting to capture every second of the day?” Emma teased. “Don’t you know how to live in the middle?”
Niko gave her a pinch. “Where’s the fun in that?”
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Forty-five minutes later, the knitting action came to a climactic finish when Bruce Oakleigh and his wife, Amethyst, edged out Ellery for the big win by two stitches. Emma hid her smile when Niko rushed forward with the crowd to capture the awarding of the prize. Davis Gates, the young and dashing owner of Blue Moon Winery, presented the year’s supply of wines to the ecstatic Oakleighs. Bruce’s victory speech lasted twelve minutes until Bobby, her silver dreads sparkling in the sunshine, elbowed him out of the way and thanked everyone for coming out to show their support of race arm knitting.
Niko returned to her, grinning at the screen of his camera as he flipped through his bounty.
Emma crossed her arms in amusement. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were starting to like Blue Moon.”
