Threads of Hope: Quilts of Love Series (20 page)

Checking her text messages as she exited the elevator, Nina might have worn Brady’s coffee had he not called her name in time to avoid the collision.

“Nina, where have you been?” He sounded like a teacher who’d just nabbed kids lurking in the hall during class. Carrying what was atypical for Brady, a leather briefcase, he rather looked like he was on his way to school, too.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was your turn to watch me.” She slipped her phone back into her purse and checked the front of her sweater to be sure she escaped splatters. “Why does almost every encounter between us have to involve coffee or cameras? Anyway, you’re the one who fell off the planet since I last saw you headed to the HR office.”

“About that . . . well, first, what’s this Elise tells me about Manny? Why didn’t you call me?”

Nina moved to the side, away from the elevator traffic. “Do we have to stand here? I’m hoping Michelle made coffee, I need to check in with Shannon . . .”

“I have some time, and I needed to talk to you anyway. But let’s sit in the conference room where we’ll have some privacy.”

She didn’t expect, when they finally sat at the boat-shaped table, the mahogany gleaming with polish, that it might be the last time she’d see Brady sitting there.

“Did you just tell me you’re quitting, as in no longer working here?” Nina wiggled her high-back chair closer to the table. “You’re leaving
Trends
?” She turned her coffee mug in her hands, and looked at Brady. “I’m confused.”

“I know. For a while, I was too. The past few weeks, I learned an important lesson. Be careful what you ask for, because you might get it.” One side of his mouth went up, like he just got his own joke. “I thought I wanted New York—”

“Wait,” Nina said. “
You
wanted New York? I thought you wanted Janie, and
she
wanted New York for you.” She leaned back, sipped her coffee, and waited.

He moved a hand across the grain in the table. “That’s harsh,” he said, but his tone wasn’t accusing. “But you’re right. And that’s why I came back. It’s hard to live someone else’s dream. I thought once I was in Manhattan, I’d get caught up in it. But the tornado skipped right over me.”

“So, what was your fascination with me when you returned?”

Brady cast his eyes down and when he looked up, he reminded her of a child on the verge of confession. “I owe you an apology for that. Not that I meant to use you. I thought, maybe, after I figured out what I didn’t want, I needed to revisit my other decisions.”

Nina swiveled in the chair. “Hmm . . . then you’re telling me you wanted to make sure leaving me wasn’t a mistake, too?” She eyed him over the rim of the cup as she finished her coffee. “I’m flattered,” she said in a way that indicated she wasn’t at all.

His mouth opened, but his thoughts never made their way out because he pressed his lips together. His cell phone scuttled across the table, the vibration sounding like humming metal. He checked the number. “That one can go to voicemail.” He turned to Nina. “If you’re really honest with yourself, you know the mistake would have been to stay together. Assuming that would have been possible at all.” He grinned. “Though I know I’m so handsome, Brad Pitt won’t be seen in my presence for fear of being overshadowed.”

She knew he was right. She liked the idea of a relationship with Brady more than a relationship with Brady himself, and she didn’t like feeling that she lost to Janie.
And since when did competition and a trophy enter into loving someone?
“You’re right. About all of it. But, honestly, it’s taken your not being around
for me to arrive at that conclusion. Except for the Brad Pitt thing. I would have said Channing Tatum.”

Brady looked relieved. “I didn’t want to leave unless we’d straightened this out between us.”

“Done. Now what?”

“I’ve always wanted to freelance, but I liked the security of being here. If New York did anything positive, it showed me it was time for me to go after my own dream. That’s what I’ve been talking about to Elise and HR. I’m not leaving Houston. I’m going out on my own.”

“Good for you. You’re a talented photographer, and I’m proud of you for going after this. I hope Elise can throw some work your way . . . speaking of which, I was counting on you for my feature,” Nina said. “Has Elise said anything to you about that? I’d hate to have to break in somebody new, especially since I’ve already been branded with your camera lens on my forehead.”

“Funny. She did, and that’s the other thing I needed to mention. Since I was still on the payroll when she approved the series, she’s given me the go ahead to finish it out with you. You’ll need to let me know your schedule and how this is going to roll out.”

Nina checked her calendar. “There’s a meeting this Sunday afternoon. I’ll email you the information. Can you make it?”

Brady scrolled through his phone. “Booked it. Oh, and speaking of emails . . . you’ll be getting one from Janie soon. Seems like there aren’t e-UNinvites. Party cancelled this weekend. You’re free Saturday night.”

Nina opened her calendar.
I’m free every Saturday night
.

Nina meant to call her mother about Manny’s accident, but dread and busyness kept her from it. Not that her mother would be all that interested in his misfortune, but Nina wasn’t going to leave him to go to her parents’ house for lunch on Sunday. Especially if it meant going somewhere she didn’t want to go. Every dinner there was like going for an annual checkup. You knew it was going to be miserable, but you had to go through it to get past it. But this time, her mother would be caught off-guard by Nina’s pre-emptive strike call, so she wouldn’t have as many prepared sighs and guilt trip vouchers as usual.

“Nina, something must be wrong or else you wouldn’t be calling me. Right?”

“Hello, mother. How are you?”

“Are you really calling to find out how I am . . . because you usually don’t bother.”

I don’t bother because of this exact conversation
. “I won’t be there for dinner this Sunday. Manny, my dog, was hit by a car, and his leg’s fractured. It’s hard for him to get around, so he needs someone with him.”

A long sigh. “So, you’re choosing a dog over your parents?”

“No, mother. I’m choosing to stay home because Manny needs help right now. You and dad are welcome to come eat over here.” Nina cringed hearing the words that escaped from her mouth.
What did I just say? Please don’t agree. Please don’t agree
.

Silence.

“Mother? Did you hear me?”

“Yes, but I am surprised that you invited us. You know your father is more comfortable watching his own television.”

So, a father can choose a television over his daughter?

“Well, unless he can bring the television here, I guess we won’t be seeing one another.”

“You know, your brother’s birthday is next month. He would have been thirty-two. Your father would want you here, you know.”

“Of course he would.”
But not you?
“It shouldn’t be a problem. By then, Manny should be back on his own four feet.” She felt her mother’s eye-roll through the phone.

“We’ll be expecting you then.”

Most times after a conversation with her mother, Nina had enough pent-up frustration to heave plates against the wall like Frisbees. Today she could have gone through a place setting for twelve.

“You’re kidding? You rode in the car with that man, and you didn’t ask him about his daughter or that woman with her?” Aretha carried a bowl of still steaming popcorn to Luke on the sofa. She handed him the bowl and plopped next to him. “Baby, that’s job security right there. You won’t ever have to worry about Nina out-detective-ing you.”

“ ‘Detective-ing’? Did you just invent that word?” Luke laughed and grabbed a handful of popcorn.

“Between you looking at Aretha like she just invented a new language and the smell of that butter wafting from the kitchen, I might need Pepto-Bismol,” said Nina. “And, as for my sloppy detective work, I’ll have you know that there was no wedding ring on his left hand. There wasn’t even a tan mark where one would have been. But, nothing we discussed transitioned into asking about his daughter.”

“I know this much. If he was attached to that woman with his daughter, I doubt if he would have agreed to the two of you having dinner. He doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would be unfaithful,” Luke shared between bites.

“You’re the hotshot detective. Why don’t you and Nancy Drew come along?” Nina slipped her iPad into her portfolio, then reached in the refrigerator for a bottle of water.

“If we go with you, how will we ever be alone?” Aretha elbowed Luke who rewarded her with a kiss on her forehead.

“Exactly,” said Nina. “Which is why, while I go meet the quilt people, you two are going to the clinic for visiting time with Manny. Greg said he’ll release him Monday.”

“We should get him a homecoming happy. A new squeaky rubber ball. He loves the ones that look like basketballs,” Aretha said as she carried the empty popcorn bowl back into the kitchen.

“Let’s leave now, so we’ll have time to swing by a pet store after we visit. I have to get back for late shift. And if I don’t wash my hands first, they’ll be sliding all over the steering wheel from all that butter,” said Luke.

“Isn’t he adorable?” Aretha said as she watched him amble into the kitchen.

Nina smiled. “If I have to say so myself.”

Probably because of her smarty-pants attitude about her GPS when she spoke to one of the quilters a few days ago, Nina drove right past her destination. Faith Church and the Fellowship Hall perched on a corner at the edge of a hodgepodge residential neighborhood. A stand of pine trees obscured the front of the white-bricked Fellowship Hall, so when she turned around, she had to trust that the GPS voice telling her she’d arrived at her destination was directionally smarter. It was. Nina didn’t see Brady’s car. She hoped he remembered.

At the door, she didn’t know whether she should knock or just walk in, so she did a combination of the two. “Is this the Threads of Hope group?” she asked once inside. Had she surveyed the room for thirty seconds, the question would have been unnecessary.

Bolts of fabric draped several of the long tables on one side of the room. On the other side, four tables surrounded by chairs had been pushed together and held pieces of fabric, scissors, and rulers of all shapes and sizes.

A young woman with a shoulder-length waterfall of sand-shaded ringlets walked out of one of the side rooms. She set the bundle of clothes she carried on a chair. “You must be Nina. I talked to you on the phone,” the young woman shook Nina’s hand.

“Crystal. Yes, I remember. Nice to meet you.” After their first conversation, Nina expected to meet someone barely out of her teens, but Crystal looked not much younger than she was.

“Come on in, I’ll show you around and introduce you to everyone. They should all be here soon.”

By the time Brady arrived, Nina had met Crystal’s mother Kelley, the hospice nurse Becca, Pam, Lacey, and Jenny. “There
are more people here sometimes, but since we just finished the quilts for the We Care benefit, we’re just working on designs right now,” Kelley explained.

Nina introduced Brady and, while he snapped pictures, she explained the feature series, her idea to spotlight the different people involved and bring attention to The AIDS Memorial Quilt and their group’s contributions. “Of course, I’ll need your permission, and I understand you might need to think about it first, so you don’t need to give me a decision today.”

“Actually, Crystal had told us about the feature part. We talked about it already, and we all want to help. If our stories can make a difference, we want to tell them,” said Pam, who joined Becca as she cut squares from the stack of clothes Crystal plopped on the table. “There’re two more people who usually come, but they’re both going to be late. We hadn’t talked to them yet, so if you’ll still be here, you can ask them, too.”

“Great,” said Nina, adding more notes. “What are their names?”

“Martha is one. She’s just running late today. The other one had an appointment, so we’re not sure when he’ll make it. His name is Dr. Hernandez, but we just call him Greg.”