“Yes, I do. I’m glad you’re finally letting yourself enjoy life.”
Riley sat in the car and talked to Melody for the next twenty minutes as they caught each other up on what was going on intheir lives. Melody had an audition for an off-off-Broadway play that she felt good about, and she and Charlie were stillgetting along as roommates.
“I miss you,” Melody said. “But if being back in Maple Falls is what it takes to make you happy, then I’m glad you’re there.”
Riley opened her mouth to correct her but decided against it. In spite of what had just happened, she hadn’t changed her mindabout going back to New York, but she didn’t want to think about leaving right now. She remembered what Hayden had said aboutliving in the moment. That idea was foreign to her. She usually spent so much time thinking about the future and how whatshe did in the present affected that future, that she didn’t take time to enjoy anything. Now that she knew what it was liketo slow down, set aside her worries, and have a good time, she was willing to try.
Not just for Hayden, but for herself as well.
* * *
For the next three weeks, Riley put in ten-hour days between working at the yarn store and helping Hayden rehab Mimi’s house.By the middle of June, Knots and Tangles looked like a completely different store. The walls were painted crisp white, aswere the wooden shelving units and cubbies. The shelves lined the two walls and were filled with a colorful array of hanks,skeins, and balls of yarn. Riley had repainted the checkout counter a soft sage green, and next to it she’d installed a pegboard,painted it the same color as the walls, and hung a variety of packages containing knitting needles, crochet hooks, stitchmarkers, and other yarnish novelties.
She was most proud of the center of the shop. She’d gone to a variety of local thrift and antique stores and hit a coupleof flea markets with Bea. She found four mismatched armchairs upholstered in various shades of light purple that somehow allwent together. An oval, wood-topped coffee table with a brass pedestal sat atop a faded sage-green area rug with off-whitecurlicues, completing the gathering space she had envisioned. The Man Chair had to stay, of course, and was positioned byone of the picture windows. She’d set up a table near it where shoppers could help themselves to coffee and water. Riley wantedto get rid of the lime-green couch, but Mimi put her foot down. They compromised by keeping the couch in the back room.
While the shop was in the rehab process the last three Thursdays, the Bosom Buddies had met at different houses. Tonight,however, they would see the finished results of Riley’s hard work, and she couldn’t wait.
This would be the second Thursday BB gathering she’d attended since returning to Maple Falls. Being surrounded by all theyarn and knitting and crochet supplies made her want to pick up the hobby again. She’d been thinking of ways she could incorporatedifferent motifs into the art Mimi had commissioned.
Riley was putting out a tray of mini cheesecakes on the front counter, specially ordered from a bakery in Malvern, when Beaand Myrtle walked into the shop fifteen minutes early.
“Oh my.” Bea pressed her pudgy hands against both her plump cheeks. “Riley, you have outdone yourself.”
“Is this Knots and Tangles?” Myrtle marveled as her gaze traveled over the store. “It’s beautiful. When I came back from mycruise two weeks ago, I thought you had performed a miracle in this place, but now . . .” She went to Riley and gave her awarm hug, much like she had when she saw Riley for the first time after returning from vacation.
“Isn’t it?” Mimi came out from the back, limping with her cane. She’d only needed the crutches for less than a week beforeswitching to the electric-blue cane she now used.
Riley was thankful her grandmother was almost healed, but it also signaled that her departure wasn’t too far away. She refusedto think about that now. Instead, she was going to enjoy the happiness and camaraderie of the Bosom Buddies tonight, a lessonshe had learned not only from her grandmother and each of these women, but also from her budding friendships with Harper,Olivia, and Anita, whom she always met for lunch after church on Sunday.
Harper and her mother had a strained relationship, Anita was hopelessly in love with Tanner, who didn’t seem to know she existed,and Olivia was working on her second master’s, this one in American Southern literature. Riley still played her emotions closeto her chest and hadn’t mentioned Hayden too much. She also made sure not to sit with him at church, and he’d agreed. Neitherwanted to inspire any small-town gossip.
As each of the BBs entered the shop, they all expressed their amazement. Even Madge, whom Riley had learned was extremelypicky and critical about almost everything.
“This is stunning, Riley.” Madge looked around the store as the rest of the women sat down, their project bags in hand. “Sofresh and tidy and welcoming.”
Riley blushed. “Thank you. That’s what we were going for.”
“We? This is all you, sugar,” Mimi said, beaming with pride from her seat across the room. “I just approved the colors.”
“And gave me the inspiration.” She smiled and walked over to the group, then put her hand on Mimi’s shoulder. Mimi coveredRiley’s with her own.
Tonight’s group project was knitting and crocheting hats for chemo patients at the various hospitals in central Arkansas.Riley was pleased to see that the patterns weren’t plain but had creative touches that made them special. As the women startedto work, she joined them with a crochet hook and started her hat. Riley had grown to appreciate her grandmother’s friends’loyalty and support, and not just as a member of a needle group. These women were Mimi’s family, and Riley’s by extension.
“I’m impressed with what you’ve done with the outside too,” Peg said, her needles flying fast as she knitted with,
