The Stitching Hour Read Online Free PDF Page A

He stood. “Be back in a few.”
    â€¢Â Â Â â€¢Â Â Â â€¢
    When Todd came back, he was grinning and shaking his head. “Are you ready for this?” He dropped onto the club chair.
    â€œI don’t know. Am I?”
    â€œI doubt it. Nellie Davis thinks the Atwoods are vampires.”
    My jaw dropped. “Vampires?” Then I scoffed. “If they’re vampires, then how are they walking around in the daylight?”
    Todd slapped his forehead and addressed Angus, who’d come to sit beside him. “
Then how are they walking in daylight?
she asks. Not,
Isn’t that ridiculous because there are no such things as vampires?
Have a talk with her, will ya?”
    Angus woofed.
    â€œFine,” I said. “There are no such things as vampires . . . more than likely. But if there
were
, then how would they walk around in the daylight?”
    â€œIt depends upon whose mythology you embrace,” said Todd. “These days werewolves and vampires can do pretty much anything they want.”
    â€œThat’s true.”
    â€œAnd what’s with the
more than likely
crap?” he asked.
    â€œI don’t know. Too much
Supernatural
? I love Sam and Dean. They teach you not to discount anything.”
    â€œAngus, help me out here, would you, buddy?”
    Again, Angus barked, excited to be made an integral part of the conversation.
    â€œRemember whose bed you share,” I said to Angus.
    â€œShe has a point there, buddy. That’s a lesson all men must learn quickly.”
    Angus let out a low rumble.
    â€œI hear ya,” said Todd, nodding as if Angus had uttered a clever bit of banter. “And I agree a hundred percent.”
    â€œWill you two stop talking about me and tell me what Nellie Davis said about the Atwoods?” I asked.
    Our conversation was delayed by a customer who came in and wanted to debate the benefits of linen over Aida cloth. I explained that it was really just a matter of preference, that I had both, and that the one I chose depended on the project I had in mind. The woman ended up choosing Aida cloth, and I noticed her eyes lingering on Todd as she paid. He never looked in her direction, so she left after I’d told her about the upcoming open house.
    I went back to the sit-and-stitch square and sat on the ottoman in front of Todd. “Now spill.”
    â€œHow are the preparations for the open house coming?” he asked.
    I plucked a candlewick pillow from the sofa beside me and tossed it at Todd’s head. Todd laughed, caught the pillow, and Angus ran to get his tennis ball.
    Todd lobbed the pillow back at me. “Where should I begin?”
    â€œYou left the Stitch and walked up the street,” I prompted.
    â€œThat’s right.” He grinned. “So I went into Nellie’s shop and I told her I was looking for something for Audrey.”
    Todd was dating Deputy Audrey Dayton of the Tallulah Falls Police Department.
    â€œNellie said she was glad I’d stopped dating you and was seeing someone else,” he said.
    I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes.
    He held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, her words, not mine! I thought you wanted the full 4-1-1.”
    â€œYes, please. Leave nothing out, no matter how insulting it might be to me.”
    â€œAfter the dating dig, she asked what she could help me find. I said I’d just look around. And then I asked her what she thought about a haunted house moving next door.”
    Angus pawed at Todd’s knee, urging him to throw the tennis ball. Todd complied with Angus’s wishes before continuing his story.
    â€œShe said she wasn’t happy about it,” he said. “And then she asked me if I’d met the Atwoods. I told them I hadn’t but that you met them this morning. She wanted to know what you thought about them, and I said that you found them eccentric. ‘Eccentric, my eye,’ she said. ‘I