CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Good news,” Olive said. “I’m coming home today.”
Sarah whooped with joy behind the register, startling a customer into dropping a handful of yarn on the floor. “I’m so glad you’re all right, Grandma.” Maybe everything was going to be okay after all.
All morning, Sarah had been on pins and needles waiting for the other shoe to drop. Because it couldn’t possibly be as easy as two childhood sweethearts falling back in love with each other, could it?
No, she told herself for the hundredth time that day, she was just being silly. Trying to throw up roadblocks on an otherwise smooth track.
All day in the store, Sarah had been preparing for the town hall meeting. Rather, she’d been trying to prepare, with her notes spread out across the counter, her laptop open so she could make last-minute changes. But she’d barely been able to concentrate. And it was that same lack of focus that had her saying, “I had the strangest dream, Grandma, about the carousel, where I was knitting bridles and saddles for the horses.”
“You’re a genius!” her grandmother exclaimed. “What a perfect way to raise money to move and restore the carousel. We’ll have a knitting contest. People will pay a fee to enter.”
“You know what?” Sarah had to smile at the excitement in her grandmother’s voice—and in her own. “That might actually work.”
“Of course it will work,” Olive said in a no-nonsense voice. “And I’m glad you’ve found your reason to knit. I thought maybe falling in love would take you there. But this makes much more sense. Of course, you would have to knit toward a goal. Something tangible, like saving the carousel. Have you started making a saddle yet?”
It was almost as if her grandmother had ESP and knew that Sarah had been looking at different skeins all morning, wondering how they’d knit up for the horses, fighting the urge to pick up a pair of needles. “How could I possibly knit something like that without a pattern?”
“Well, if you don’t think you’re up to the challenge, I understand.”
“You’re not much for subtlety, are you, Grandma?”
“I’m too old for subtlety. Speaking of which, how are things going with that boy who’s so in love with you?”
She didn’t bother to deny it. What was the point when her grandmother obviously saw everything? Even the things Sarah had tried so hard not to see.
“Good. Great, actually.” Warmth stole over her as she remembered how sweet—and how sexy—it was to wake up in his arms. But then that same dark premonition she’d been trying to run from all morning settled on her as she added, “Except for the fact that we’re going to be facing off against each other tonight at the town hall meeting.”
“I sure wish I felt up to attending. I’d like to see the fireworks. Be sure to drop in to the cottage tonight to tell me all about it. And I’ll let my friends know about your knitted saddle idea so that we can get started on them right away.”
Sarah was still staring at the receiver, wondering how her life had managed to get so crazy in so short a time, when Christie walked in.
“I’ve been meaning to come by for the past few days, but things have been nonstop at the inn. Ever since the press found out that we hosted Smith Sullivan’s wedding, we’ve been booked solid.”
Sarah smiled, or tried to anyway. “Don’t worry about it. Things have been nuts with me too.” She thought about Calvin, about her dream, about her grandmother knitting a saddle for a carousel horse. “Really nuts.”
“It’s not your grandmother, is it?”
“No,” Sarah said quickly. “She’s coming home from the hospital today.”
“That’s great news.” Christie smiled, her expression softening even further as she added, “Rumor has it that I’m a great listener if you ever want to talk.”
Sarah had never really had a girlfriend with whom she could talk about dating or guys. Not since she and Catherine were kids, actually. Now, for the first time, she found that she desperately wanted to sit down with another woman and talk about her feelings.
But before she could take Christie up on her offer, the door opened and Catherine walked in. “Here’s the schedule for the town hall meeting tonight.” She dropped a printout on the counter before turning to Christie with a smile. “Hey there. How are you?”
“Good. Taking a much needed break.”
Jenny walked in next. “Sorry I’m late, Sarah. Blood and kids is all you need to know.”
“Are your kids okay?”
“They’re fine. Just stupid. Hi, Christie, Catherine.”
“I was just going to get a cup of coffee at Moose Cafe,” Catherine said to Christie. “Care to join me?”
“I’d love to. Sarah, come with us.”
Before she could gracefully decline, Jenny jumped in. “You’ve been chained to the register all week. All this wool and alpaca can start to make you crazy after a while. I can man the store solo for a while.”
Sarah knew when she was cornered. Not only by Jenny gently kicking her out, but also because Christie clearly wanted to try to mend things between her and Catherine. And yet as she followed the other women, she was surprised to realize that she wasn’t overcome with relief at getting a chance to escape the store.
The truth was, she liked working there, liked talking with women, liked helping people with something fun that truly got them buzzed. And then there was the yarn itself, which she’d fallen head over heels for too.
The three of them ordered their drinks, then sat at a table by the lakeside window. Looking out at the blue lake, the patchwork quilt of colored leaves spread across the mountains, Sarah said, “It really is beautiful here.”
“Which is why you shouldn’t bring those condos in and change everything,” Catherine said.
As Sarah turned her gaze from the water to her old friend’s face, Christie jumped in. “I’m sure she didn’t mean it like that, did you, Catherine?”
But Sarah knew she had. “I always admired you so much when we were kids, Catherine. You were never afraid to say what you thought. What you really meant.”
Catherine blinked at the unexpected compliment. “Neither were you.”
But Sarah was starting to know better than that. “It may have looked like that, but lately I’ve been wondering if I was just trying to make everyone happy.” Her father, of course, but she hadn’t stopped there. She’d spent years trying to please every teacher, every boss. When, she suddenly wondered, had she tried to please herself?
Catherine’s face softened slightly, just as Christie murmured, “It’s pretty darn easy to fall into that people-pleasing trap.”
Sarah shifted her gaze to her new friend just as Christie twisted her diamond engagement ring. Maybe one day soon she would feel close enough with her, comfortable enough doing the girl-sharing thing, that she could ask about her relationship with Wesley. And if everything was okay.
“I never meant to come back here and upset everyone,” Sarah said. “So many times, I’ve wondered if I did the right thing coming back at all.”
“I know I told you that your coming back into Calvin’s life has been bad.” Catherine looked more than a little uncomfortable now. “But I’m not sure I got it completely right. It’s more that he’s been different since you’ve been back.”
Sarah had given Catherine the perfect opening to jump all over her admission, to agree with her that she shouldn’t have come back to town, to maybe even pack her bags and drive her back to the city to make sure she really left. Hardly able to believe her old friend hadn’t taken the chance to slam her down again, she asked, “Different how?”
“After years of seeing someone be up and energetic all the time, you sort of forget they’re ever any other way,” Catherine said. “These past couple of weeks, it’s like his outer layer has started to drop away, like something has changed inside of him, way down deep, like I’m finally seeing the real Calvin Vaughn.” Catherine shook her head. “I’m more than a little ashamed that I didn’t realize he was covering up part of himself all this time. You touch him, reach him in a way no one else has, Sarah. In a way no one else ever could.”
Sarah was afraid everything she felt for Calvin was written on her face. She tried to contain it out of sheer habit, but then it hit her: What was she doing? Why was she always trying so hard to hide from what she really felt? Where was the gain in that?
“I love him, Cat.” The childhood nickname slipped out right alongside her true feelings for the man they had both been friends with as children.
Surprise flashed across Catherine’s face a split second before she said, “I know you do.” She paused, almost as if she was giving Sarah time to catch her breath. “So, what are you going to do about it?”
Sarah gripped her shiny red mug tightly, even as she tried to still the panic rising inside of her. “I’m going to try to make it work.”
She’d never moved forward on anything without a plan. Not until Calvin had touched her. Not until Calvin had kissed her. Not until they’d made love as adults. But the truth was, she simply hadn’t had a choice. Not in any of it. Because she’d always loved him.
And she always would.
When Catherine’s voice came again, it was softer, gentler. She reached out, put her hand on Sarah’s arm, regret mingling with shame in her eyes. “I’m sorry I’ve lashed out at you so many times. I had no right to say those things at the knitting group on Monday night.”
Sarah looked down at Catherine’s ragged nails, a Band-Aid strip wrapped around her thumb, the same friend who used to take such care with her appearance. “You’re Calvin’s friend. You just want what’s best for him. I can understand that.”
“Just because I’m his friend doesn’t mean I should be acting like this. Not when I know firsthand how hard love is.”
Sarah could almost see the olive branch being extended across the table. It was habit to proceed cautiously, to make sure she didn’t connect too closely with anyone—and to make sure she didn’t let Summer Lake or the people in it reach out and grab hold of her, of her heart. But she didn’t want to live that way anymore.
“What happened?” she asked.
“I married the wrong guy is what happened.”
Sarah frowned. “When did you figure it out?”
“When I found him in bed with another woman.”
“Men suck,” Christie said.
Catherine raised her eyebrows, obviously just as surprised by Christie’s emphatic statement as Sarah was. “What are you talking about, Christie?” Catherine asked. “Wesley’s the perfect fiancé. You couldn’t have found a nicer guy if you’d tried.”
Christie looked so uncomfortable that Sarah dove in to save her. “I’ve got to tell you guys about my crazy dream.”
She never would have guessed it was possible from the way their coffee break had begun, but over their emptying coffee cups, the three of them were soon discussing contest ideas and possible patterns for knitted saddles and bridles for carousel horses. And Sarah was enjoying herself. So much that she wanted to believe she could have more than one afternoon like this, chatting over coffee with girlfriends.
“Wow, those dark clouds came out of nowhere.” Christie pointed out the coffee shop window toward the lake. “There’s definitely going to be a storm tonight.”
Sarah shivered even though the café was perfectly warm.