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The monthly knitting club was by invitation only, and anyone under forty only got invited if the powers that be deemed them qualified. The sad part was that the qualification was usually only extended when someone was going through a life crisis. Laura had gotten her invite a few months back after Mrs. D came into the Snack Shack and found Laura looking through fertility clinic and sperm bank pamphlets. Apparently, not having a baby at thirty-five had qualified her. And when one got invited, they went and kissed the ring.
The thought of facing a room filled with people was overwhelming, but she did her best to suck it up.
It wasn’t a real relationship, she reminded herself as tears began to form in her eyes.
Her brain knew that, but her heart wasn’t as convinced.
Laura was a pro at breaking up. This wasn’t her first rodeo. She’d been there, done that, and bought the T-shirt. Actually, two T-shirts.As a repeat divorcee, she was well versed in the stages of heartbreak. They were the same as grief, because that’s what it was when a relationship died.
Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. And, finally, acceptance.
She’d whizzed past denial, anger, and bargaining, but her emotional truck was stuck in the muddy swampland of depression.
As she stepped inside the community center room, she made her way to the back of the room, where the only other women under forty were seated. Jessa Myers, who owned the sole hair salon in town, was married to Ethan Steele, who was in law enforcement. Ali Walsh, who owned Whisper Lake rentals, was married to Kade McKnight, who happened to be Kennedy’s high school sweetheart. Brynn Daniels, who worked at the high school and was married to Axel Vaughn, a man of many trades; he was a master carpenter, a former Marine, and had done some work in personal protection as a bodyguard. And finally, Sara Kellan, who ran the Princess & Pea B&B with her husband Austin Stone.
They all happened to be madly in love and married to their soulmates, but Laura did her best not to think about that.
When she sat down, they all whispered, "Hi."
One of the strangest rules of the knitting club was no talking. Of course, the women didn’t adhere to that rule, but they did their best to put on library etiquette and keep their voices down to avoid the wrath of Mrs. Chen.
"We were just talking about Chrissy’s engagement," Jessa filled her in as she sat down.
"Oh yeah, where is Chrissy tonight?" Chrissy was also a card-carrying member of the Needlepoint Mafia. She’d been invited when her husband skipped town with his assistant and left Chrissy a single mom of four.
"She’s going to be here. She just went to drop Connor off at soccer."
"Oh."
As the conversation turned from Chrissy to what was happening on a reality show they all followed, Laura remained quiet and concentrated on the scarf she was knitting.
While the other women were in a heated debate over whether or not two people from the show were having an affair, Jessa quietly leaned over and whispered, "Is everything okay?"
Laura nodded.
Jess did not look convinced; she lowered her voice so much that Laura had to read her lips. "Are you sure? I haven’t seen Knox sneaking over to your house in the last week."
Laura’s eyes flew to Jess.
She grinned. "When Ethan is on duty, I go and walk in the field behind your house. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid."
Laura’s eyes flicked to the rest of the group, and she saw they weren’t paying the women any attention.
"I haven’t said anything to anyone," Jessa assured her.
That was a relief. If she had, the entire town would know since her salon was gossip central.
"Look, I don’t know what the arrangement was, but Ethan and I were in a fake relationship; it was just supposed to be for show, and it became real. So real, he put a ring on it. I saw how you two were looking at each other down at the dock during the proposal. I know that what you’re feeling is scary, but believe me, if there’s one thing that life has taught me, it's that you can’t change the past or predict the future. The only thing that you truly have is right now. So don’t waste it worrying about things you can’t control or predict. If you do, then you are wasting your life."
People used the phrase "new lease on life" in the metaphorical sense, but Jessa actually had experienced the literal meaning of that phrase. Jess’s perspective on life had always interested me. She’d been sick as a child; she’d had a heart condition and had been told more than once that it was terminal. Somehow, she’d beaten the odds and survived long enough to have a heart transplant.
Facing mortality at such an early age had given her a glimpse into a side of life that most people didn’t have. Not only that, but her parents were the true definition of hashtag relationship goals. John and Bonnie Myers had a marriage that most people in Whisper Lake envied. They had been together since childhood and had faced the hardships of having a sick child, but still, John couldn’t keep his hands off of his wife, and Bonnie lit up whenever he walked into the room.
Laura nodded, and Jessa joined the conversation, talking about the reality stars.
The meeting was typically two hours long, but after twenty minutes, Laura excused herself, saying that she had an early morning the next day. The truth was, she was exhausted because she’d barely slept the past week.
When she got to her car, she felt totally wiped out. As much as she appreciated Jessa speaking to her, she wished that Kennedy was in town. She needed someone to vent to, and since no one except Kennedy knew what was going on, she was the only person she could.
