Real Men Knit(57)
As she stepped closer, she marveled at the quickness of Jesse’s long, thick fingers and the fine, even quality of the stitches on his circular needles. He looked up at her with half-tired but still very sexy eyes. “Good morning,” he said, his voice thick and slightly gruff from lack of overnight use.
“Morning,” she said.
“What are you doing up so early?” she asked, then pointed to the almost-done hat on his needles. “Or did you even go to bed last night?”
He put the work in progress down and took a sip from the cup of coffee that was next to him. “I slept a little. Though not well.”
Good. Though she didn’t voice it out loud, she took some satisfaction in knowing she wasn’t the only person in the house not sleeping well. “Well, it looks like you were making good use of your time.” She stared at him again after taking in the cute little multicolored rolled-brim hat. “This little beauty going to anyone special?” she asked.
“No,” he said, stretching and pulling his tee across his muscles in a manner that was way too provocative so early in the morning for her not to be affected. Kerry swallowed.
“I was thinking of doing a bunch of them with some of our odd yarns. And we could do a display. Maybe hang them with clothespins so that we can sell them. The yarn is doing no good just sitting in the half-off basket. This way we can recoup the cost and hopefully bring new customers into the store.”
Kerry smiled. “I love that thinking. What a great idea!”
He blushed cutely before his expression clouded over. “It’s not such a big idea. And I wish it were enough, but at least it’s something.” He shrugged. “I’ve seen versions of it done all over the Internet.”
Kerry gave him a hard look. “So what, you’ve seen it on the Internet? Ours will be unique to us. It’s not like their hats will be our hats. Don’t be such a downer.”
He made a face. “Our hats?”
“Well, you’ll need a bunch to make a decent display. And with fall coming soon enough, you’ll want to get it up. I can help you out. Maybe do some fingerless gloves too.”
He grinned. “Have time for a cup of coffee before you head to the center? I picked up a bagel, or we have buttered rolls from the corner store. But only if you have the time.”
Kerry walked over to the basket that held the yarns they had been stumped over what to do with yesterday. Her mind was already starting to click with excitement over how cute their new display would be.
“Kerry?” he asked, pulling her attention his way. “The coffee? Do you have time?”
She nodded but was already itching to get to work. “Oh yes, I have the time.”
* * *
Hard as it was to leave her new project behind, the community center called, and it was, for now at least, a steady paycheck.
Val practically scared the pee out of Kerry by unexpectedly greeting her at the door when she went to open it in the morning, treating Kerry more like must-see programming instead of her good friend and coworker. With Val’s overly friendly smile and super-nosy demeanor, for a minute Kerry thought she may have landed down in front of a Park Avenue doorman instead of her uptown homegirl. But there her friend was, causing Kerry to jump in surprise and pull out her earbuds as the door opened magically before Kerry could even grasp the handle.
“You scared the hell out of me,” Kerry said.
Val gave Kerry a quick up and down, then frowned and handed her one of the cups of coffee she was balancing. “Thanks,” Kerry said, taking the cup and a fast sip. She hadn’t gotten to finish her cup back at the shop, instead getting caught up with Jesse in talk about the hats and fingerless gloves, with the time for sipping and chewing flying by faster than she’d anticipated. Though it was already hot out, the warm liquid was still welcome in the coolness of the center.
Working, low-income parents couldn’t afford to send their kids to pricey summer camps, and if your utilities weren’t included in your rent, running the AC all day just wasn’t an option. Besides, who had the cash for ACs in each room when the novel idea of central air was a thing for the private houses of the burbs? The best you got around here was room to room, which meant most of the fam spending most of the day camping out in one room once the temps got past 80.
Usually taking to opposite extremes of being chilly and then overly hot, Kerry welcomed both the warmth and the air-conditioning this morning. She had awakened with the expected doubts she’d gone to bed with and had a restless night’s sleep, but after seeing Jesse this morning and hearing more of his ideas, she could admit to being slightly more hopeful about being able to get through this time with him and come out with both the shop thriving and their friendship, if you could call it that, still intact.
Kerry looked at Val and caught the fact that she was still frowning. “What’s with the face?” she said. “I said thanks for the coffee.”
Val did a quick finger point, roaming her manicured nails in the air around Kerry’s body and indicating her cropped pants, cap-sleeve top and knit vest. “Really? How did those pants and that shapeless top get in your bag? I don’t remember putting them in there.”
“So this is why you were at the door, to not only scare me but also do a uniform check? Are you going to start doing that with the kids too? Tell me, Teach, was I was supposed to wear my booty shorts to work today?”