The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club by Wanda E. Brunstetter Page B

trouble between these two men
. Emma knew she’d better say or do something before things got out of control.
     
    “Now, now,” Ruby Lee said, before Emma could find her voice. “We didn’t come here to talk about church. We came to learn more about quilting.” She looked at Emma and smiled. “Isn’t that right?”
     
    Emma nodded, relieved that after Ruby Lee’s comment both men seemed to relax a bit. “Before we begin the next step in making your wall hangings, did you all get your pattern pieces cut out this week?”
     
    Everyone but Stuart nodded. “With all my responsibilities at the sporting goods store, I didn’t have time to get anything done on the quilt project this week,” he mumbled.
     
    Pam crossed her legs, and her foot bounced up and down as she shot him a look of disdain. “That’s not true, and you know it! You would have had plenty of time to get all your pattern pieces cut out if you hadn’t watched so much TV. But no, just as soon as you came home every night, on went the stupid sports programs.”
     
    “Well, at least I’m not sitting around all day watching a bunch of melodramatic soap operas,” he shot back.
     
    “I don’t do that!” Pam said with a huff. “When I’m not cleaning, cooking, or doing laundry, I’m in the car running the kids to and from school. Oh, and don’t forget, I drive Devin to and from his piano lessons and soccer practice every week.”
     
    “I go to all his games.”
     
    “Sure you do, but it’s not the same as—”
     
    Emma cleared her throat loudly, hoping to put an end to the Johnstons’ bickering. “Shall we begin with the next phase of making your wall hangings?”
     
    “How’s he gonna begin the next phase when he hasn’t done the first phase?” Star asked, pointing at Stuart. It was the first time the young woman had said more than a few words since she’d entered Emma’s house this morning. “I hope we don’t have to sit here and watch while he does what he should’ve done during the week.”
     
    “That’s for sure,” Jan spoke up. “We all paid good money to take this class so we could learn how to quilt.” He leveled Stuart with a look Emma thought could have stopped a runaway horse in its tracks.
     
    Before Stuart could respond, Emma intervened. “Now if everyone will please lay their pattern pieces on the table, I’ll be able to see how things are progressing.”
     
    Emma wasn’t surprised at how neatly Pam’s pink and Ruby Lee’s blue pieces had been cut out and pinned, but she never expected Jan’s dark green pieces to have been done with such precision. Paul’s pieces were yellow, and both his and Star’s black and gold pieces were a little offcenter, but nothing a little readjusting and pinning wouldn’t fix.
     
    Emma smiled. “You’ve all done quite well.”
     
    “All but him.” Pam motioned to her husband. “He did nothing at all.”
     
    Stuart’s eyes squinted as he sneered at her. “That’s it. Just keep on reminding me about it!” His face turned red, and his voice rose with each word he said. “Things always go so much better between us when you throw things up in my face. And it’s even better when you have an audience, isn’t it? I’m sure it makes you feel real good if you can get others to take your side.”
     
    “You’re impossible,” Pam mumbled, turning her head away.
     
    Emma squirmed nervously. A lot of anger and tension seemed to be going on between Pam and Stuart. She knew she had to say something to help ease the tension, and her mind grappled for the right words. Then, remembering something Ivan had told her once, she looked first at Pam and then Stuart. “Tolerance is what we all need for each other. Things go smoother if we’re kind to everyone we meet.”
     
    Neither of them said a thing in response.
     
    “Love God, yourself, and others. That’s what the Bible teaches,” Ruby Lee put in.
     
    Paul gave a decisive nod; Star rolled her eyes toward the