Threads of Hope: Quilts of Love Series (17 page)

For the next half hour, Nina outlined how the intern could help her. “I’m sending you copies of what I’ve already put together for my story on the political corruption. I need you to fact-check and proofread what I have so far. Then, you’ll need to open a file on your laptop, just label it ‘Quilts’ for now. And here’s the information I want you to research.” She handed Shannon a list starting with the We Care benefit, the sponsors, the contributors, background on The AIDS Memorial Quilt, local support chapters. Nina stopped there. She recognized the eye-darting, first-rung on the panic ladder look on Shannon’s face. “If you have questions, ask me. Seriously. We don’t want to have a problem with sources or research that might have been easily solved, okay?”

“Yes. Absolutely.” Shannon stood up, and Nina imagined she felt the anxiety fall off like scales. “I’ll get right on it.”

Nina watched her walk away, but instead of going to her desk, she headed for the door. “Are you leaving?” She couldn’t have overwhelmed her already.

“Just long enough to go to Brew Who next door.”

“The coffee shop? But didn’t you say you brought it from home?”

“Oh, I’m not going for coffee. I left my Bible there. A few of us have a short Bible study one morning every week.”

Well, this piece of news went right over my head. A Bible study? Seriously?
“How did I miss that? You’d think for a place that reported news—”

Shannon looked like someone next in line to walk over hot coals. “We just started a few weeks ago. I mean, a few of us go to the same church. With the others, it was just word-of-mouth,
you know . . . You’re welcome to join us. Really. We never meant to exclude anyone . . .”

Nina flashbacked to a middle school moment, sitting cross-legged on the cold hard floor of the hallway on Valentine’s Day, pretending to do homework she’d actually finished the night before. While girl groups giggled around her and exchanged hand-drawn cards, glittery red boxes of candy, and white fluffy stuffed bears whose hearts beat outside their bodies, Nina invested herself in the algebraic importance of helping
x
find
y
. Because none of the girls looked for Nina.

“Would you like to go with me?”

Shannon’s question pulled Nina back to reality, but to one that didn’t feel all that different than the one she’d just left.
But this wasn’t one day of “will u b mine” messages. This was a lifetime of it. You don’t even go to church. Or pray. Why would you want to go to a Bible study?

“Thanks for the invitation. Maybe another morning, but tell me,” Nina ate a spoonful of oatmeal. “Who else is there?”

Shannon started rattling off names, but it wasn’t until Nina heard “Michelle, Elise . . .” that she had a coughing spasm from almost swallowing her coffee into her lungs.

Nina’s fingers hit the telephone number for Threads of Hope, but her brain burbled at jet speed, ready to make a landing right into Aretha’s ears. Even as she heard the phone ringing, the words “Bible study” stayed in her head like uninvited guests, the overnight variety.

She heard “Hello,” on the other end. Finally, her mouth had something to do. Nina identified herself as a staff writer at
Trends
, forcing the belligerent child in her head to not blurt, “Who recently discovered she was ostracized from the Bible
study.” She informed the voice that she attended the We Care benefit, where she bid on one of their quilts—

“Which one?”

Nina told her it was the paisley-patterned quilt, which elicited a squeal.
How old are these people? This may be a more painful feature than I thought
.

“That’s the one I helped sew. We really appreciate your support—”

This conversation may last longer than an all-day sucker
. “I’m sorry what did you say your name was?”

She laughed. “You hadn’t asked my name, but it’s Crystal. My mother, Kelley, usually takes the calls, but she’s out right now. Do you want her to call you back?”

Nina’s tolerance groaned. “No, in fact, I think you can help me. I’d like to come to one of your meetings. The magazine would like to run a feature . . . but I can explain that when we see one another. When will you all be getting together again?”

“This Sunday at two o’clock. We meet at the Faith Church Fellowship Hall. Do you need directions? It’s that little church—”

“I’m sure I’ll be able to find it.”
Otherwise, my GPS is worthless
. “Sunday at two, right?”

Crystal confirmed and when Nina hit “off” on her phone, she wondered how she was going to be able to pull this off.

It’s not that funny.” Nina went downstairs to the lobby atrium where she called Aretha after hanging up with Crystal. The more she talked, the more Aretha laughed.

“Do you hear yourself?”

“Yes, and I hear Manny barking. What’s your point?” Nina paced in front of a metal sculpture that looked as if someone had thrown car parts in a blender, then dumped them on the ground.

“Manny and I are stretching our legs. You, on the other hand, aren’t stretching something enough. Sister, you’re making that group sound like terrorists. Afraid they’re going to sneak in the office and whomp you with their Bibles?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t so much care that they’re having a Bible study. Though it does reek of ‘look how holy we are.’ I couldn’t care less if they gathered to study the fax machine instruction book. What bothers me—”

“What bothers you, way down deep, is that no one included you. What bothers me is, why do you care? You don’t go to church, you don’t read the Bible . . . It would be like my getting offended because I wasn’t invited to join the Garden Club. What do I know about gardens? I know things grow in
dirt, and some are trees and some are flowers and then there’s everything else.”

“What does that say about what they think of me . . . that they didn’t even think of me? I’m a good person.” She located a padded bench next to a fountain wall. Nina considered pulling off her shoes and soaking her feet in the water.

“I’m guessing they think you wouldn’t be interested. Being good isn’t an admission ticket. And if you did study the Bible, you’d know that’s something to be grateful for.”

“If I’d known Elise was there, I would have been interested.”

“Nina, are you really thinking you could use Bible study to earn points with your editor? I guess people fake it, but I don’t see how they do. That’s not a risk I’d be willing to take. Eventually, you’d be as obvious as a cat at a dog fight.”

“Here’s the thing . . .”

“Wait. Let me get Manny. He thinks he’s going to tear after Mr. Pete’s Lab.”

Nina examined her cuticles, not remembering the last time she and Aretha had a mani/pedi day. Maybe this Saturday.
What was taking so long?
She checked her watch. Time for her to get back to the office. She could finish talking to Aretha later. “Aretha, you there?” Nina tried again, louder, “A-re-tha . . .”

When she did hear her friend, her scream shot Nina up from the bench as if it had reached out of the phone and pulled her by the hair. Aretha shouted Manny’s name, but Nina didn’t hear him. “What’s going on? Aretha? Where are you?” The pitch in her voice rose, and the words wrapped inside her so tightly she could barely breathe.

“Nina, Nina.” Aretha sounded as if she’d just finished a marathon, but there was no mistaking the hysterical urgency.

Before she even heard the words that a car hit Manny, Nina had kicked off her shoes and sprinted up the stairs to Elise’s office. With every step, she repeated, “Be there, be there,
be there . . .” until her own breathing was as labored as her friend’s. Nina had pushed on the phone speaker and when she started the stairs for Elise’s floor, Aretha said, “Mr. Pete’s helping. He’s breathing, Nina. We’ll take him to Dr. Alvarez—”

“No. Wait one minute. Just one minute.”

She opened the stairwell door. Elise was standing outside her office on her cell phone. Nina saw what she felt mirrored in Elise’s face.

“Nina? What happened?”

“Where’s Greg? Please call Greg. Manny. Aretha called and said a car hit Manny.” Nina didn’t remember Elise’s office being so cold. Her cell phone shook in her hands.

“I just hung up with him.” Elise pressed call. “I’ll call him back right now.”

Greg must have answered because Nina watched Elise’s lips move, but the words bounced like beads off a broken necklace.

“Is that your friend on the phone?”

Nina looked down at her hand and nodded.

“Hand me your cell phone, so I can tell her what to do.” Elise said more words into the phone, then turned to her receptionist. “Would you cancel my lunch appointment? I’ll be back as soon as possible.” She handed Nina her phone, and closed her fingers around it. “Hold on to this.”

“Greg?”

“He’s going to meet us at the Animal Emergency Clinic. And I’m driving you there.” She looked at Nina’s feet. “You probably want to put your shoes back on. We’re taking the elevator.”

Greg, Paloma, and Jazarah were on their way to lunch, singing, “Don’t worry about a thing, cause every little thing gonna be all right” along with Bob Marley when Elise called. As soon
as Greg heard the sound of his sister’s voice on the phone, he pulled into the first parking lot he could find. He sensed it wouldn’t be good news.

“Hey, a car hit Nina’s dog. She’s here at work, and the dog was with Aretha, her friend. I know you’re off today, but can you help? She asked me to call you.”

“Shh! A few minutes for Daddy, okay?” Greg lowered the volume, and he needed only to exchange one glance with Paloma for her to distract his daughter with her new book,
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
. “I’ll call Dr. Cadoree at the emergency clinic. I’ve done some relief work for him, so they can meet me there. Does Nina know anything about the dog’s condition?”

“Doubt it, and if she did, I don’t think you’d get too much right now. She’s holding her cell phone, so Aretha might be on the line.”

“Find out. I need to talk to her as soon as I can. Time is crucial here.”

Elise took Nina’s phone and relayed information from one to the other. “Dachshund. Almost two. Neighborhood street, not going above 20. Breathing. Trying to move a bit. No blood in ears.”

“Tell her to support his back, neck, and limbs and as gently as possible, wrap him in a blanket and head to the clinic. If someone can drive her, that’s better, and please drive the speed limit. We don’t want to have a dog hit by a car in the car with two humans who are hit by one.”

Greg called the emergency clinic to tell them about Manny in case they arrived before he did. He didn’t have time to take Jazarah and Paloma home, so they’d have to come with him. He figured Paloma, listening to the conversation, already understood the Elvis Presley Memorial Combo at Chuy’s Restaurant wasn’t going to happen. “Okay, Princess Jazarah, Daddy has to hurry to take care of somebody’s little dog that just got hurt.
So, you and Paloma will have lunch, then pick up Daddy, and we’ll all go somewhere for ice cream.”

“Um,” she looked back and forth between Greg and Paloma. “Choc-lit?”

Greg smiled. “Of course. Whatever flavor you want. Do you want to sing some more?”

She clapped and kicked her feet against the bottom of the car seat. “Yes! Yes!”

When they pulled up to the clinic entrance, Paloma replaced Greg behind the driver’s seat. “Here’s my credit card. Call me when you finish lunch, and I’ll let you know how I’m running on time.” He opened the door and leaned in to kiss Jazarah. “Love you. Be good.”

When Aretha arrived ten minutes later, Greg was encouraged Manny made it to the hospital. Animals that did, especially small ones, had a good chance of survival. And, if the car that hit him wasn’t going fast, possibly a better chance.

Alone with Elise, no distractions, with time to discuss her future at the magazine, to solve the mystery of Daisy, Brady, and Janie . . . but, instead, Nina stared out the window and wished the car could move as fast as her heart pounded. The thought of what Manny might look like when they arrived at the emergency clinic scared her almost as much as the thought that she might not make it there in time.