Page 44 of A Light in the Dark
“I’m sure he can afford it, but he has hoarding tendencies when it comes to their silk.”
I pointed at my haul. “I cannot say a single word about that. Look what I did with Five’s. It’s just sonice.”
“I made curtains for my house with a lot of it,” Joel confessed.
“You actually used the silk?” Yolana planted her hands on her hips. “Prove it.”
Joel got off the floor, pulled out his phone, and tapped at the screen before showing her the display.
“I’ll be damned. You didn’t just sit on the bolts?”
“I need to do sheets next.”
“Ah.” Yolana sighed. “All right. If you’re actually going to use it, you can buy the silk, but I don’t want to hear any crying from you when you can’t get any bolts for a while. It takesyearsto get enough to weave this many bolts.”
“I know, I know,” Joel muttered. “I’ve been waiting for navy for ten years now!”
“That’s why there’s navy. I was going to call you that I had it waiting for you, but you showed up. I just finished these bolts, and you’re making off with them already!”
“Well, tell them to produce faster.”
Yolana raised a brow. “I’ll tell them you said that, and I’ll say nice things about you at your funeral.”
“Just ring me up for everything, please,” he begged.
“I’ll even be nice and arrange for delivery to your home to spare your delicate little SUV from hauling that much silk.”
“Can you ship her stuff, too? She’s a neighbor of mine.”
“Absolutely. If you want to pick out what you want to keep with you, I can package your stuff with his. We don’t normally deliver, but he’ll whine me into submission.”
“I really will.”
I appreciated seeing the playful side of Joel, but I struggled to accept he’d actually pitched a fit on the floor. “You seemed so dignified and normal. What happened?”
“I undergo a severe transformation upon leaving the rigidity of Stonecreek.”
I bet he did, and it involved a town of luna moth shifters who sold their silk for profit. “Are you going to be okay being separated from your silk stash?”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure how I’m going to survive.”
Leaning over, I placed my hands on my knees, giggled, and said, “Why don’t we go buy some steaks for lunch, get something to eat, and visit the garden store before you show me that new lens you got? I have a camera I don’t know how to use, and there are a bazillion moths in the forest tophotograph. It’s probably going to take hours to teach me how to use the camera.”
Joel reached into his pocket, dug out his wallet, and offered me the whole thing. “She knows what to do. If I watch her swipe my card, I might not make it.”
I understood that feeling. I took his wallet, handed it to Yolana, and held out my hand to Joel. “Come on. You can go visit your new bolts of silk while she rings you up. You can pat them and promise they’ll be used with love and great care. But you’ll have to wait for delivery to do anything with them.”
“Do you need any of your silk for immediate use?” Yolana asked. “I can cut your fabric and hem the edges to prevent fray if you’d like.”
I abandoned Joel, opened the pattern, and told her the stitch counts. “I can dig out a calculator if needed.”
“No need. I’ll give you a three inch margin excluding the hem zone. It’ll take ten minutes once I ring Joel up. And don’t mind him. He’ll be back to his dignified self the instant he steps out of the store.”
“You’re weird, Joel.”
“Says the woman who decided she’s in love with Shifter Five’s silk.”
I sniffed. “It had the best texture of the lot, and when spending hundreds of hours stitching on a project, the texture matters.”
