“Wouldn’t hurt morale.”
I took a deep breath and made my way down to the center of the line, where two spaces were left open. Left open because Faith was not sitting in one. I scanned around the rest of the workshop. I made sure she wasn’t wandering before I started to shake my head.
No. She was not going to do this to me today.
Immediately, I reached into my back pocket, opened my phone, and searched for her name. She was getting one chance to answer, and then I was out of here.
Dom’s eyebrow creased. “What are you doing?”
“Calling.” I waved toward the phone at my ear. As if it wasn’t obvious.
“Calling who?”
“Faith.”
He really had no idea who he was dealing with tonight. Since when had he become the chill one?
It took me more than a couple of times to know this routine Faith had and how to combat it. Though, for some reason, I’d thought she was past it by now. Apparently not. I waited for her to answer her phone so I could remind her exactly where she was meant to be right now.
Faith was someone you could consistently not trust when it came to staying on schedule most days, let alone when she signed up for a random, new hobby. Sure, usually, it was cute and ended up with her decorating Gertie’s house more than her own—from painting classes to when she had decided that she could learn how to knit without getting bored. In that case, she only managed to make half a scarf. It still sat in the basket near Gertie’s fireplace.
“She’ll get here soon, I’m sure. She calledyouto remind you, didn’t she?” asked Dom.
“That means absolutely nothing right now.”
The dial tone switched over to Faith’s bubbly voice mail message along with the warning that her mailbox was almost full—why wouldn’t it be? Ending the call before the beep, I hit redial.
“Pick up the phone, Faith,” I muttered to myself.
Again, it went to voice mail.
“She’s probably just running late. Maybe have some faith in people?”
I raised my eyebrow, grinding my teeth. “You really need to stop with that pun.”
Dom paused, running his words through his head. With a pout of his lips, he looked mighty impressed with himself. It would almost look charming if not for the dark circles under his eyes that I was sure matched my own.
Charming.I had just called Dominic Rovnik charming.
“I wasn’t trying that time.”
I shook my head at this turn of events. This day was never going to end. “You just have no idea who we are dealing with. I try to be nice …”
“This is you trying to be nice to your friends?”
I shushed him.
I knew who my family was. I also knew that if I turned around right now, I could still sneak out before the big-earring lady, who was also the pottery teacher extraordinaire, joined us. Screw whatever it was Dom thought of me at this point. I was still exhausted and tired, and I wanted to climb back into my bed—alone this time. That plan sounded better than ever.
When I turned back to the barn doors, they swung open, and for a moment, a piece of me believed that it was Faith. She was here and following through on her own plans she had dragged me into. Only it wasn’t. The teacher, with a flick of her wrist, threw them shut again, closing me and the other ten people in the room.
“Good evening, everyone!”
There were a few scatterings of, “Hello,” and, “Good evening,” in polite return.
I stared as if I were waiting for the beginning of a horror film to begin. My day-to-day life was turning into a continual nightmare.
“Welcome to our introduction to pottery class. My name is Sheila. I’m delighted to be your instructor today. I’ll be here to oversee your creativity. I see that almost everyone is ready, so please take a moment to put your borrowed aprons on unless you wish to purchase your own—with complimentary embroidery. Then, introduce yourself to your neighbor before they hear what it is like for you to either have a wonderful time tonight or swear quite a bit.” The woman chuckled to herself at her joke.
