Before I could volunteer the information, several fingers were pointing toward me.

A woman with shoulder-length champagne blond hair and Angelina Jolie-quality puffy lips stepped into my line of vision. Before I could speak, Adele stood up so quickly her chair fell over, and she rushed up to the new arrival.

“I know who you are. You’re Izabelle Landers.” Then Adele did something I never thought I would see. She raised her arms in a worshipful position and bowed to the newcomer. “I’m awed by your crochet work.” Adele turned to the rest of the table. “She’s the author of A Subtle Touch of Crochet.” All of our gazes moved back to Izabelle, who appeared uncomfortable at Adele’s antics.

“Mrs. Shedd said to see you,” Izabelle said to me. “She said you had the folders for the weekend.” Then I put it all together. “You’re doing the crochet workshops, right?” Of course, I recognized her now from the photo on the back of her book, though her green eyes were much more startling in person.

Adele stepped in front of me. “Did I mention that your book on crochet embellishments has been an inspiration? I love embellishments.” As if to illustrate, Adele turned around in model fashion. There was nothing subtle about her embellishments. She wiggled her behind to show off the trim she’d added to the back pockets of her jeans and then kicked her leg out to show off the line of what looked like coasters she’d attached to the bottom of her pants. She pulled her bag off the table and swung it in Izabelle’s face. “I got this flower pattern from your book,” she said, pointing out the felted fuchsia flowers clustered around the handles of the black fabric tote bag.

Izabelle nodded uncomfortably at the fashion show and at the first chance turned back to me, saying she was going up to the retreat a day early and wanted to pick up her folder.

“You’ll find all the information in here,” I said, handing Izabelle a thick packet.