wanting to let Sarah take care of herself. At least a little bit.'
“That's too bad,' Shelley said. 'I'm on Grace's side, but I can see how it's awkward. Conrad is her husband, after all, and knows her best. Even Grace admitted that Sarah's a different person whom she hardly knows anymore. Sarah might be a whole lot more fragile than Grace realizes.'
“True. And I imagine Grace has thought of that, but it's awkward for her. It's always awkward being a fifth wheel anyway.”
Shelley waited for Jane to go on, and when she didn't, said, 'There's something else on your mind, too, isn't there?'
“That obvious? Okay, this makes me feel like a real traitor, but I've been wondering about Grace. That nasty divorce of hers — how long ago was it?'
“I don't know. Years and years, I imagine.”
“Before Stonecipher moved here?”
Shelley was silent for a few minutes. 'I seewhat you mean. She might have been another client like LeAnne. I'll have to think about this. I believe it was much longer ago than that, but then I don't really know when Stonecipher first turned up.'
“How can we find out?' Jane asked.
“Didn't you say Patsy Mallett was an old friend of Grace's? She'd know who handled her divorce.'
“You're not thinking of just asking her outright, are you? She'd see through what you were getting at in a minute. Patsy's no dummy.'
“Jane! Don't you think I can be subtle?' Shelley said with a grin.
“I merely think you've met your match in Patsy. But I look forward to watching — at a safe distance.”
17.
Jane was thrilled to discover that Patsy Mallett lived in the messiest house in the world. It wasn't dirty though. Clean windows, floors, curtains, no used dishes sitting out on the sink. But for sheer numbers of 'things' out and about, Patsy took the prize. There were piles of books and papers everywhere. Tidy piles, but a lot of them. Plastic bags bulged with needlework, model airplanes, electronic kits. There were a dozen different rosters on the — telephone table, half a dozen notepads. Children's artwork, some yellowed and curling, adorned the front of the refrigerators and the walls. A stack of recipe books was feathered with notes and file cards sticking out every which way.
Patsy ushered Jane and Shelley into a huge family room with a picnic-sized table in the middle, nearly covered with other projects in various stages of completion. A clay model, sketchpads, some colored chalk, and poster-board took up most of the surface. Three sides of the rooms were windows and had glass shelving with plants everywhere. One whole large window had spectacular African violets. Another was cacti and succulents. There were bonsai trees, radishes growing in cut-down milk cartons, and something that looked like an experiment in hydroponics. A sweet-potato vine started near the kitchen door and worked its way entirely around the room.
They had to make their way around a sewing table, spinning wheel, and loom to get to the table, where Patsy was hastily clearing a spot for them to sit without their elbows in a project. It was a fascinating house reflecting an enormous variety of interests and skills.
“I know it's a mess, but it's my house,' Patsy said with a laugh. 'When I turned fifty, I decided I was entitled to live any way I wanted without apology. It was tremendously liberating. My late mother-in-law used to give me a cleaning service every year for my birthday and they always quit within the month because they couldn't stand all the stuff. There, I think that will give us a little space. Jane, you can sit over here, just watch where you step.”
Alarmed for a second, Jane glanced down. Pushed up against the wall by the chair was a cardboard box containing a fluffy towel, a big tawny cat, and four of the cutest kittens Jane had ever seen. 'Oh, how pretty they are!' she said, squatting on the floor. 'Will the mother let me touch them?'
“Only if you give her a good petting first,' Patsy said. 'They're Abyssinians. Aren't they lush little guys?”
Jane sat down cross-legged on the floor and played with the kittens while Shelley and Patsy started going over the basic outline of the high school graduation night party. Patsy had charts showing who reported to whom, a day-by-day plan for the year that put the most elaborate 'Plan Your Wedding' chart to shame. She had notebooks for each committee and subcommittee, which gave the entire history of their work from inception, all suppliers they'd ever used with assessments of each, and annual budgets balanced down to the last penny. There were scrapbooks that captured each graduation party in pictures, boxes of ribbons and buttons that identified the workers, and small plastic containers of attractive tiny lapel pins to reward the workers. Patsy had had her collection of pins made into charms on a bracelet, which she showed them with. well-deserved pride.
Jane was far more interested in the kittens, who were now climbing around on her, but got the impression from what she overheard of the conversation between the other two women that Patsy thought all this organization was not only easy but fun. And Shelley agreed. The strongest of the kittens had climbed up the front of Jane's T- shirt to her shoulder, and after studying her ear with great concentration, licked her earlobe with its tiny emery- board tongue. Jane's heart turned into marshmallow goo.
By the time the kittens started to tire, nearly an hour had passed. Shelley and Patsy were winding up their overview of the graduation night party's history and methods. Jane tucked the exhausted kittens into the box where the mother cat had been calmly sleeping, and joined Shelley at the table. Patsy was putting away notebooks. 'What did I miss?' Jane asked with a guilty grin.
“I signed you up for six committees,' Shelley said. 'You don't need a personal life, do you?'
“You've been talking to my kids if you think that.'
“Actually, Patsy thinks I might be good as junior co-chairman of the food committee and you've agreed to assist me,' Shelley said. 'You
“I wouldn't think of disagreeing with the two of you. Patsy, there are people like you and Shelley who like running things, and people like me who will do anything Shelley tells me to—'
“Not quite anything,' Shelley murmured. 'I told you a white winter coat was a waste of money.'
“—but,' Jane continued, 'there are a lot of people who can't stand being told what to do by anybody. How on earth do you manage? Everybody seems to come out of this still liking you.'
“Kindness,' Patsy answered. 'Deadly kindness. There are plenty of people who don't like me, but since I'm so terribly,
“Are you being kind to us?' Jane asked.
Patsy laughed. 'I hope so, but it's because I like you two so much. How about some cookies and coffee?”
Jane glanced around the busy room. 'If you're a good cook, too, I might have to kill you.”
Patsy laughed heartily. 'Don't worry. My family has nearly banned me from the kitchen. My kids are all good cooks out of self-defense. They'd have starved otherwise. I've mastered egg salad sandwiches and that's about it. But my oldest daughter came by last night and made the cookies. Stay where you are.”
She bustled off to the kitchen while Shelley studied the one notebook that was left on the table. As Jane watched her, Shelley suddenly did something very odd. Her eyes widened, she looked down and said, in the sappiest voice Jane had ever heard, 'O000h, my.”
Jane stood up and leaned over the table to look. The mother cat had deposited a sleeping, milk-sated kitten in Shelley's lap.
Shelley, who despised cats, looked up at Jane and said in a tiny voice, 'That's so sweet I think I'm going to cry.' She gathered the kitten up tenderly and held its little soft body to her face. 'What a baby!”
Patsy came back in with a tray. 'She wants you to have that one,' she said.
“No, no. I hate cats,' Shelley said. She had her eyes closed and the kitten against her cheek.
“They'll be ready for new homes in about two more weeks,' Patsy said as she poured coffee. 'Jane, you need one, too.”
Jane shook her head regretfully. 'I have two cats already who would probably consider these little guys chipmunks. And my dog would either be afraid of them or think they were snacks. These cookies are wonderful! And the coffee is — well,
