How to Knit a Tangled Mess: DIY Dating, #2

By Rachel Elizabeth Cole

Sadie, Fen and April are back in the second installment of the DIY Dating Series.

No thanks to her best friend Sadie Dawson, April Schultz gets roped into a Knit-a-Thon to impress Owen Godfrey, the guy she's been crushing on for months. Sadie had to open her big mouth and tell him April's an absolute knitting pro and now she's been pledged to knit more items for charity than anyone else. Trouble is, April has never knitted a day in her life. And she's got less than 24 hours to learn. If she doesn't master the basics soon, she risks losing Owen to the girl he's sponsoring, Dana Van Stanten--and she already knows how to knit.

How to Knit A Tangled Mess is a breezy chick lit novelette which should also appeal to romantic comedy fans.

The DIY Dating Series:
Book One: How to Cook Up a Disaster
Book Two: How to Knit a Tangled Mess
Book Three: How to Wallpaper a Catastrophe (coming 2015)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tangled Oak Press
• Release date: Nov 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781524255442

Rachel Elizabeth Cole

Rachel Elizabeth Cole is a novelist and short story writer whose work has appeared, among other places, in Cahoots, Literary Mama, Gator Springs Gazette, and Flashquake. Even though she hates the rain, she lives just outside Vancouver, British Columbia, with her husband, their two sons, and two very spoiled house rabbits.

Book preview

1

Ever since middle school, when we discovered our shared loathing of P.E. class and love of English class, Sadie Dawson and I had been best friends. Together our friendship had survived:

The Grade Ten Double Date at the Saanich Fair Disaster (hot dogs, cotton candy, and one too many rides on the tilt-a-whirl)

The Teach Sadie to Drive a Car Disaster (yes, you can get into a car accident in a parking lot without a single other vehicle around)

The Hair Colour Make-Over the Night Before Grad Disaster (does this really need explanation?)

Sadie’s Great Grampy’s 100th Birthday Party Turkey Dinner Disaster (just last month)

But the day Sadie signed me up for the Warm Hands Warm Hearts Knit-a-Thon, I was certain our friendship was about to meet a quick and untimely death.

It started on Friday at lunchtime in the Campus Caf. We were just sitting down with our coffee—well, me a coffee and Sadie a tea—when Sadie leaned across the table and said, Say, April, what’s the name of that cute guy from your class you’re always talking about?

Owen Godfrey. Why?

Well, you might want to check out who he just walked in with.

Who? I glanced up, brushing aside a curl of auburn hair that was hanging in my face, and scanned the entrance to the Campus Caf. There was Owen with none other than blonde and model-thin Dana Van Stanten. She was laughing and practically glowing. He was smiling at her like I wished he’d smile at me. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I hated Dana. It’s not even that I disliked her. No, despite her tendencies toward brown-nosing, simpering, and manipulating situations to her advantage, Dana was a nice enough girl. It was just seeing her at that moment—standing just a little too close to Owen, gazing at him with those puppy-dog brown eyes, hanging on his every word—that made me want to scratch her face off.

I know, I know. That was totally catty of me. But see, Owen and I were both in a couple classes together and we kind of hit it off. Literally. That’s how we met. When I hit him. On the head. With my textbook. He’d dropped his pencil and was reaching under his desk to pick it up when he bumped my leg, which totally freaked me out—I thought maybe it was a spider. I hate spiders—and I screamed and accidentally dropped my textbook and it landed right on his head. I, of course, was mortified, but he just laughed it off. Ever since, we’d been friends. Although I secretly hoped one day that might turn into something more. Like me in his arms as he declares his eternal love kind of more.

"What is he doing with her?" I hissed at Sadie.

I have no idea. But I think we should find out. She practically pulled me out of my seat and dragged me across the cafeteria through the throng of hungry students over to where Owen and Dana were standing next to the Warm Hands Warm Hearts Knit-a-Thon sign-up booth.

Owen! Sadie said as we approached.

He glanced our way. Oh! Hey, April. April’s friend.

Sadie, Sadie said, and stuck out her hand when I didn’t immediately introduce them. It was taking me a few moments to get my brain and mouth to cooperate.

Hi, Sadie. Owen shook Sadie’s hand. Nice to meet you. You guys know Dana?

We’ve met, Sadie said coolly.

I glanced at my friend. I’d thought I was the only one who didn’t like Dana. So, uh, what are you guys up to? I’d finally found my voice.

Oh, uh, well, Dana here—Owen looked pointedly at Dana—"asked me if I’d