I glanced at the rhinestone clipboard. I had placed check marks next to Bennett Franklyn for the acting workshop, Commander Blaine for entertaining, Dinah for memoirs and Izabelle Landers for crochet and fusion. I was still looking for Jeen Wolf and her husband. She was doing the knitting workshop, and I guessed he was along for the ride. Mrs. Shedd hadn’t given me the name of the tai chi replacement teacher; she’d just crossed out Master Riki and written in TBA.
Bennett and Commander were talking about parties when they returned carrying plates of steaming food. “Personally, I find all those black-tie events boring, but my wife likes them,” Bennett said, setting his plate on the table before pulling out a chair. Apparently dinner consisted of meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and succotash. There was a thick layer of gravy over everything.
Commander was listening, but his eyes were on Dinah as she set down two plates of food and pulled out a chair. He nodded toward the spot next to her.
“Is this seat taken?” he asked in a hopeful voice. I knew Dinah well enough to read her expression. She wanted to say it was, but she also didn’t want to make problems. She pulled out the chair and invited him to sit. I had forgotten to ask her about her earlier reaction to him. It certainly mystified me.
Dinah announced she was going back for rolls. Commander urged her to sit, and took off to get them. She rolled her eyes. Somebody needed to tell him not to try so hard.
Izabelle moved until she was next to Bennett. Commander came back with the rolls, and Izabelle glanced up at him. Commander’s reaction surprised me. I thought he would smile at her in acknowledgment, but instead his eyes narrowed. In turn she gave a little toss of her head, which I took to indicate that she knew him but dismissed him as unimportant.
“I bet you could give me some pointers,” she said to Bennett, explaining her upcoming tour and TV appearances.
“Sure,” he said in a friendly voice. I let out a sigh of relief. So far, so good. Or maybe not.
Adele sailed into the dining hall with Sheila trailing behind her. Adele had changed out of her forest ranger look and was in full crochet embellishment mode down to the cloche hat with the two-tone flower. She flipped her mohair shawl over her shoulder as she put dibs on the chair on the other side of Izabelle. Sheila stopped next to me, looking pale and tense. With her nerves, it was no wonder. Sharing a tiny room with Adele couldn’t be fun. I handed her a name tag. Technically Adele and Sheila weren’t workshop leaders, but I looked upon them as support staff. Adele picked up her name tag and the two of them went off to get food.
A couple hesitated at the entrance to the dining hall. Even if they hadn’t been together, I would have known they were a couple. They were both tall and lanky, and had the same very straight posture. Both had neatly trimmed hair, though the colors were very different. Hers was such a dark brown, it was almost black, and was perfectly straight except for slightly turning under as it grazed the bottoms of her ears. She had thick, straight-across bangs. His hair and close-cropped beard were wheat colored.
They were dressed alike, too. Both wore classic waist-high jeans that hung loosely over their slender frames, and topped them with heavy, gray cable-knit cardigans. I could just make out the writing on their tucked-in tee shirts: Knitters Make the Best Lovers. I thought the shirts were kind of funny since they both looked so prim.
Adele was already on the way back with her dinner. In hopes of avoiding a war between the knitters and her, I steered them toward the empty table and introduced myself.
“Jeen Wolf,” the woman said, holding out her hand.
“And I’m Jym,” the man said, standing next to her. “Or as we like to call ourselves-”
“A couple of knitters,” they said in unison with a flourish. Adele was within earshot, and I thought she was going to choke.
“So you’re both knitters. My list only had Jeen,” I said, holding out one packet.
“I like to think I’m the bonus,” Jym said with a wink, and added that one packet would be fine for both of them. They glanced at the other presenters. Jeen’s expression changed when her gaze reached Izabelle. “Izabelle Pilsen?” Jeen said. Izabelle seemed startled as she turned toward the voice.
“It’s Izabelle Landers now,” she said once she’d seen who’d spoken.
“I barely recognized you,” Jeen said. “You must have lost, what, twenty pounds?”
Was it my imagination, or was there an edge in Jeen’s voice?
“Give or take a few pounds,” Izabelle said, trying to shrug off the comment. “It’s been a long time. I was just showing off my crochet book,” Isabelle said, picking up the copy and handing it to Jeen. “What about you? What have you been up to?” I was just guessing, but I thought Izabelle already knew the answer to her question, and whatever Jeen had been doing, it didn’t measure up to Izabelle’s achievements. Jeen muttered something about having to catch up later. After taking the book from his wife, Jym nodded a greeting to Izabelle and handed the book back to her. She gave him a knowing smile, and he looked away quickly. I hoped that didn’t mean there was going to be some kind of drama involving the three of them.
The awkward moment was made even more awkward as Adele stepped in the couple’s faces. “I just want you to know that for this weekend, crocheters rule. None of that ‘knitting and crochet.’ Any references will be to ‘crochet and knitting.’ Okay?”
The Wolfs seemed taken aback by Adele’s pronouncement and watched her flounce back to her seat. “She’s a little intense,” Jeen said.
I tried to smooth things over by introducing the new arrivals to the rest of the group. Jym knew who Bennett was right away. He was a fan of the show and started reeling off all the clever devices that had been on the show lately. I didn’t have to introduce Commander Blaine.
“You have the copy shop, right?” Jym said, extending his hand.
Commander’s cheerful expression wavered and recovered. “It’s a complete office and mailing center. But my workshop is all about entertaining.”
The rest of the introductions went without incident, and the Wolfs got their food and joined the others. A short time later one of the kitchen employees came from the other side of the room with a cart of vacuum pots of coffee and slabs of candy-bar-topped cheesecake.
My plate of food was still untouched, and I left it on a tray stand. The woman made the rounds with her cart, leaving everyone but Izabelle with a piece of the cheesecake.
“She probably heard how many calories and almost fainted,” Dinah said when she accepted a piece. She took one for me as well and set it on the table, even though I hadn’t eaten my dinner. I glanced over the rhinestone clipboard. All the presenters were accounted for except the tai chi person.
When everyone had finished dessert and coffee, I stood up and gave my little welcoming speech. I said the retreaters would be arriving throughout the next morning, and the workshops would begin after lunch. Commander Blaine raised his hand, and when I gestured for him to speak, he stood.
“I just wanted to add that in addition to my workshops on entertaining, I’ll be putting on little events during the weekend. The first is the campfire and s’mores reception.”
As he continued, describing how most people just thought of the regular ingredients of milk chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers, he took the concept to a new gourmet level. I tuned out, as I imagined everyone else did, as he ran through the different variations on the common camping treat. When he finished, I took the floor again. I’d been dreading dropping the bomb, but there was no choice. I broke the news that Mrs. Shedd had promised a local shelter that the retreat would donate handmade afghans. Izabelle and the Wolfs responded as I’d expected. They already had plans for their workshops, and there wasn’t enough time over the weekend.