“Wally got a job installing kitchens for a builder in Newcastle. Should be pretty steady work for a few months. Maybe more.”
“Darn.”
Everyone looked up at Mary Beth, and her face turned a little pink.
“Oh no, I don’t mean I’m not happy for you and Wally, Peggy.” She patted the younger woman’s arm. “I was just hoping he could put in my new cabinets. That is, if the place I ordered them from ever gets me the right ones.”
Annie shook her head. “Didn’t you get that straightened out yet?”
“As far as I can tell. The guy promised they’d send a truck sometime this week to pick up the wrong ones and deliver the right ones. If they do, I’d like to get them installed as soon as possible.”
“I hope so.” Kate frowned. “All the new inventory and extra supplies are such a mess down there.”
“And that’s exactly why I want these new cabinets. A place for everything, and everything in its place.”
“And when he’s through with his other obligations, Wally can come work for me again.” Annie finished up the azure stripe and fished in her bag for her crimson yarn. “He did a great job on my kitchen, and I’m going to have him work on the upstairs bathroom once I decide what I want done.”
“Really?” Peggy’s eyes lit up. “That would be great. Maybe we’ll be able to put a little money aside for once. You know how tight finances have been for us lately.”
Kate sighed. “Tell me about it. At least your Emily is still little. Vanessa will be wanting to go to college before long, and I don’t know how I’m going to swing that on my own.”
Everybody knew Kate’s ex-husband Harry was unreliable. No wonder she didn’t feel she could count on his help with their daughter.
Mary Beth gave her a motherly hug. “One day at a time, hon. That’s about as much as any of us can really handle.”
“Yeah, I know.” Kate smiled. “One day at a time and a few good friends.”
And they were good friends. Annie blinked hard, clearing the mist out of her eyes so she could see her crochet hook again. These were good people, and she was glad to know them all. Still, she couldn’t help wondering who had been there for poor Susan after her parents’ accident, and if she had friends who cared about her now. Well, wherever she was, she couldn’t be that hard to find.
Annie started crocheting again, the rhythm of her hook brisk and determined.
****
When the club meeting finally ended, Annie and Alice stopped for a quick lunch at The Cup & Saucer, and then Alice had to hurry off to her Princessa jewelry party. Annie went next door to the library.
Grace greeted her at the Circulation Desk. “You’re back. How’s that decorating book?”
“It’s got some wonderful ideas in it. I’m going to do my bathroom over.”
“Good idea. I love our old homes, but there’s nothing like a sparkling new bathroom, even if you give it an old-fashioned look.”
“Exactly. And I plan on spending more time looking through your section of books on decorating when I have the chance, but I really came in to ask you about city or state records. Marriages and deaths and that kind of thing. How would I look up something like that?”
Grace smiled. “That’s quite a change from decorating. Are you researching your family history?”
“I’m still trying to find my friend Susan Morris.”
“Any leads yet?”
“I’ve heard that she came back here after she went to college, that her parents were killed in a car accident, and that she sold their house and married a rich man who has something to do with the shoe business.”
The laugh lines around Grace’s blue eyes crinkled slightly. “I guess that’s a start. How about we check the newspapers? If her parents were in an accident, there was probably an article about it somewhere. Do you know when it was?”
Annie considered for a minute. “Susan probably finished high school in 1984 and college in 1988 or so. I’d guess her parents died in ’88 or ’89.”
“Unfortunately, the articles in The Point aren’t indexed. Unless you want to go through a couple of years’ worth of microfiched back issues, you might want to check the state’s death records on the Internet first. When you have a date of death, you can see what the paper had to say about it. Come on back to the Reference Room with me. We’ll see what we can find.”
Annie followed her across the main part of the library into the room that housed the reference books, computers, and microfiche readers. It was a school day, so most of the computers were unoccupied. Annie sat down at one.