“Time to go home,” she said.
“But we need to tidy things up here first.”
Riley scoffed. “Since when have you been eager to tidy up anything?”
Mimi nodded. “True, even though it makes me sound neglectful.”
Crouching in front of Mimi’s wheelchair and making sure she didn’t bump her leg, Riley looked her grandmother straight inthe eye and smiled. “You’re never neglectful.” She patted Mimi’s hand, then stood. “But you are stubborn, and I can tell you’rehurting. When was the last time you took a pain pill?”
“I hate those things.” Mimi averted her gaze and drummed her fingers against her knee.
“Do they help you?”
After a pause, Mimi nodded, rubbing her thumb over her short fingernails.
“Then you need to take them.”
“I left them at home.” She looked up at Riley. “Did you have a good time tonight?”
Now it was Riley’s turn to pause, although she shouldn’t have been surprised at the question. Mimi always wanted to know howshe was feeling, especially when Riley was a teenager. At the end of every school day, the first thing she would say whenRiley walked into Knots and Tangles was, “Did you have a good day today?” Most of the time Riley had nodded, even though itwasn’t the truth.
This time when she nodded she was being honest. “I did. I forgot how relaxing knitting can be. Except for those first fewstitches.”
“Everyone tenses up when they’re new.” Erma smiled, then winced again and sighed. “I have to admit, I am a little tired.
“That’s it. Home we go.”
An hour later, after driving Mimi home in her twenty-five-year-old Lincoln Town Car that still had less than 100,000 mileson it, then helping her grandmother get dressed for bed and extracting a promise that she would stay there and sleep, Rileystepped out onto the front porch. The air wasn’t as muggy as last night, and a faint, almost cool breeze ruffled her bangs.She leaned on the banister and looked at Mimi’s front yard. The light from the streetlamp at the end of the driveway illuminatedthe disaster.
The grass needed mowing, weeds had taken over the flower beds, and the Burford holly bushes could use a good pruning. She’dseen the backyard this morning, and it was in even worse shape than the front. Riley had never been a fan of yard work, butafter almost a decade of not having a yard, she found herself itching to pull the lawn mower from the shed and attack theovergrown grass.
She sat on the front porch step and propped her elbows on her knees. There was so much work to do—the shop, the house, theyard . . . Everything was unkempt and disorganized. Why hadn’t anyone helped take care of these things? Riley knew the answerbefore she finished the question—stubbornness. Even if someone had offered to help, her grandmother would have turned themdown. It was clear that she did need assistance, even before the accident. Things wouldn’t be such a mess if I had stayed here.
She brushed aside the guilt. It wasn’t her fault her Mimi was set in her ways. What was Riley supposed to do, stay in MapleFalls for the rest of her life? She was an artist—at least she was trying to be—and that couldn’t happen in a backwater Arkansastown. Even worse, I could end up like Tracey.
Scowling, she straightened, batted at the mosquito that landed on her arm, then stood. She’d do what she could to clean upthe house and store before she went back to New York. But before she left, she would stand her ground with Mimi. Her grandmothercouldn’t keep living like this, and she couldn’t expect Riley to give up her dreams because she didn’t want to change.
And what exactly would I be giving up? Fame, fortune, friends? She didn’t have any of that, except she did consider Melody her friend. But just because she hadn’t reached her goals yetdidn’t mean she should hang up her dream, tuck her tail between her legs, and come back to Maple Falls. That was somethingshe would never, ever do.
She went inside and readied for bed. When she laid down and pulled the soft sheet and light blanket over her, she fought tosettle her mind. What should she tackle first? The front yard or the back? The store or inside the house? She expected tobe up all night trying to come up with a plan, but instead she quickly fell asleep, not realizing she slept until pale sunlightfiltered through the gauzy white chiffon curtains covering the bedroom window.
Riley rolled out of bed, ran her fingers through her hair, and threw it up in a messy ponytail. She quickly dressed in runningshorts, a T-shirt, and sneakers, then crept down the hallway and peeked into Mimi’s bedroom. Her grandmother was still asleepwith her cast propped up on the hill of pillows Riley made for her last night. Soft snores drifted through the room. Rileystepped back, then quietly went outside. The sun was just above the horizon, the sky streaked with shades of blue, lavender,and peach. Birds greeted her with their cheerful chirping. Despite her troubled thoughts from last night, she felt optimisticthis morning. A lot of work lay ahead of her, but she would get it done.
Breathing in the fresh, slightly humid air, she sighed. When was the last time she’d gone out for a run? Before leaving forNew York, she had enjoyed running and tried to fit one in a few times a week. While art and working at Knots and Tangles wereher escapes, she always felt better after a good run. She wasn’t a fast runner, and she would rather have a root canal thanjoin a 10K or any kind of marathon, although she had trained herself to run those distances.
When she arrived in New York, she had quickly abandoned running. Art school and the work-study program she was enrolled inhad taken up all of her time. After graduating, she was busy trying to make ends meet while working on producing and sellingher mixed media creations. She had no time to run, much
