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I didn’t get a chance to respond because a sudden chill washed over the room when the door to the entrance opened wide and the sensor beeped. I flicked my eyes her way and exhaled a breath. The ice queen had arrived.
“Hiya, Lilly.” I got to my feet. “Dante’s ready and waitin’ to see to ye.”
Lilly snorted. “Course he is. The man loves me.”
I smiled as Dante sauntered her way, ducking down to kiss her cheek in greeting. They spent a few minutes talking about the non-problem with her car before Dante had to hurry back into the hangar to stop another argument between Harley and Edana when JJ called for backup. They’d constantly been at each other’s throats over the past few days. It started out small, but now they were bickering like an old married couple.
Lilly didn’t bother sitting down to wait on Dante. She walked right up to my desk. Instantly, she became a floating head. The woman was itty bitty, but that only made her more dangerous. She was like Chucky. She was even wearing adorable blue dungarees like the murderous doll. She paired it with a to-die-for red cardigan that I knew was handmade.
“Love your cardigan, Lilly,” I commented offhand.
“Knitted it meself. It’s nice and light for today’s heat.”
“D’ye get your wool from somewhere specific? I’m still tryin’ to find somewhere that sells a brand I like.”
Lilly didn’t take the bait right away, so I left her to her thoughts while I pretended to search for something on my computer. “D’ye knit then?” she asked after thirty or so seconds of soul-pinching silence.
“Some.” I nodded, turning my gaze to hers. “I crochet more than anythin’.”
Lilly raised an eyebrow. “Are ye any good?”
And so the interrogation begins.
“I’m very good.” I lifted my chin. “I’ve been at it since I was a little girl, me SNA at school taught me.”
If she didn’t up and invite me to join her this evening at her club, I was going to have to come out and ask her if I could go, and I felt like stepping up to the hangman’s noose would have been an easier task. Lilly looked me in the eye. I peered right back at her, and I saw it. I saw the moment Lilly decided.
“Ye know.” She tilted her head, eyeing me all the while. “I just so happen to run a world-class knittin’ establishment. It’s called Knit Happens.”
I raised an eyebrow, trying not to appear too interested or overly eager.
“Clever name.”
“I like to think so,” she commented. “It’s invite-only to join, though.”
“Ah. Ye’ve got to gatekeep the sacred patterns. I don’t blame ye.”
Lilly’s lips twitched. They actually twitched. I suddenly felt about three metres tall as I sat in my chair speaking to her.
“So.” Her steely eyes never left mine once. “How about ye join us tonight for an evenin’ of … fun.”
Doing my best not to come across as too eager, I said. “If ye have a spare seat, I’d love to join ye this evenin’. I just know you and the other members have fantastic patterns that are to die for.”
Lilly lifted her hand and stroked her hairless chin. “We do have pretty amazin’ patterns, some of which we created ourselves.”
I said nothing while she assessed me.
“Can ye keep your mouth shut about what goes on behind the group’s closed doors?”
My pulse spiked. “I absolutely can.”
“We’ll see.” Lilly’s eyes … gleamed. “Tonight, seven sharp, come by HQ. Bring your wool, needles, hooks, and whatever you’re currently workin’ on. Date knows the place.”
She turned and left the reception, and I felt like I had just been part of a dangerous drug deal. I sat still, staring at the entrance for a long time because I couldn’t believe that had just happened. Loud voices from the hangar snapped me out of my trance. I got up and headed inside only to find Edana on one side of a car glaring daggers at a grinning Harley.
Every man in the hangar watched the pair with interest.
“I told ye I could handle it just fine!” Edana snapped. “But does Harley Collins care about that? No, he sees a woman messin’ with a car and not a fellow mechanic.”
“Oh.” Gavin shook his head. “Sexism is not cool, big bro.”
“Right!” Edana nodded. “It’s not, not at all.”
Harley rolled his eyes. “I was tryin’ to be helpful. If I see anyone struggle with a vehicle on their log, I offer to help them. I do it for the lads all the time. Why d’ye think I’m singlin’ you out?”
“Because I’m changin’ out a sensor! I don’t need help with that.”
“Well, I thought ye did. Ye’ve been at it for forty-five minutes, and it’s a ten-minute job, fifteen at most. It’s okay to struggle with somethin’ simple, darlin’. We’ve all been there.”
