CHAPTER EIGHT
Present day…
“Could I have a glass of water?”
Sarah was so riveted by her grandmother’s story that it took her a moment to hop up from the porch and head into the kitchen. They had come back to the cottage while her grandmother had been talking. “I’ll be right back with it, Grandma.”
At first it had been a little bit of a shock to realize Olive had been head over heels in love with someone who wasn’t her grandfather. But maybe every woman had a Carlos in her past, a man she wanted but couldn’t have. Still, none of this helped Sarah understand why her grandmother was so attached to the carousel.
Coming back in with the water, Sarah waited until she finishing drinking as if she’d been walking through the desert. But then suddenly the glass fell to the ground as her grandmother began to cough—deep, hacking coughs that racked her small frame.
“Grandma!”
Their earlier roles in the garden now reversed—Sarah was the one trying to comfort her grandmother this time—she rubbed Olive’s back, noticing as she did so just how much the bones in her ribs and spine pressed into her palm. Sarah hated feeling palpable proof of the fact that every year the woman she loved so much was losing more and more of the flesh that had once protected her from falls, from illness.
Fortunately, this coughing fit wasn’t nearly as prolonged as the one in the store had been, and a few moments later, Olive managed to say, “The water went down the wrong pipe.”
Sarah made sure none of the glass had pierced her grandmother’s skin before she knelt carefully to pick up the shards. “You shouldn’t have tired yourself out with all that talking.”
“But you had to know, had to understand.”
Didn’t her grandmother realize she hadn’t yet got to the part about the carousel, hadn’t yet told her why it was so important? But Sarah couldn’t ask her now. Not when Olive shouldn’t be doing anything but resting. Especially not revisiting such emotional territory—after last night in the Tavern with Calvin, Sarah knew firsthand how fiercely all of those lost dreams and hopes ripped at your heart.
“I want you to see the doctor again.”
“Pfft. I told you. The water went down the wrong pipe. Besides, your mother needs me to help her with the inventory today. I’m planning to head in soon.”
“No way. I’ll help Mom so that you can stay here. In bed.”
Sarah refused to leave until she had her grandmother tucked into bed with a good book and another glass of water on the bedside table. Her own project workload would just have to wait.
Lakeside Stitch & Knit was calling again.
* * *
Denise was helping a customer when Sarah walked into the store. “Honey, would you mind coming over here to give us your opinion? We’re trying to figure out the best color combination for a blanket.”
Sarah walked over to the table where a dozen skeins of various colors were set up in three different groupings. She quickly pulled a skein out of each grouping. “These.”
The customer said, “Perfect! Now why didn’t we see that?”
“My daughter has a great eye,” Denise said with pride, and Sarah wondered for half a second if it was true. She never had any problem putting together her presentations, but that seemed less about design than about content.
After her mother finished ringing up the yarn, she came over to where Sarah was sitting in the back, booting up the store’s old computer where they kept their financial records.
“I’m going to take over for Grandma today if that’s okay with you. I went over to her cottage for a visit this morning.” And she told me all about a man named Carlos. Something told Sarah not to bring that up with her mother, who most likely wouldn’t appreciate hearing that Grandpa hadn’t been Olive’s only love. “She started coughing again, so I sent her back to bed.”
Her mother frowned. “I know it’s just a nasty cold, but I hate it when she’s sick.”
Sarah put her hand over her mom’s. “I do too. But she’s going to take it easy the rest of the day, which should help.”
“You’re so sweet to come in again. You know how much I love having you here.” Smiling now, Denise pointed to the computer screen. “Everything look okay?”
“Actually, I’ve been looking at your ordering and inventory systems, and I can’t help but think everything would run more smoothly if you upgraded a few things.”
“You’re the expert. We trust you to do what’s right for the store.”
Sarah’s fingers stilled on the keyboard as she remembered Calvin’s pointed questions last night, the way he’d said she was only thinking of her career, not of her own town. Of course the condos were going to be good for the store. Her mother’s trust wasn’t misplaced. Sarah would never do anything to hurt their livelihood.
Although, truth be told, she was beginning to worry about how her mother and grandmother were going to cope with running the store by themselves in the coming years. Was there anyone they trusted to take over one day as manager?
“Mom, do you and Grandma have many employees?”
Her mother pulled up a chair and sat. “A few ladies who come in part-time now and again. Jenny is probably here the most. Why do you ask?”
Not wanting to tread on her mother’s toes—after all, she’d been running this store with absolutely no help from her daughter for decades—Sarah proceeded carefully. “With Grandma starting to slow down, I can’t help but think that running Lakeside Stitch & Knit alone has got to be a big burden for you. Have you ever thought about hiring a manager? Perhaps one of the women who already works here?”
“I’ve been trying to get Olive to agree to hire a manager, but so far your grandmother refuses to even consider it.”
Sarah found herself staring at her mother practically openmouthed in surprise. This was the first she’d heard about problems at the store. The irony wasn’t lost on her: Her job was fixing companies that were breaking. And yet, her own mother hadn’t thought to come to her for help with their family business.
“How long have you been talking about this?”
“Awhile now. But Olive says the store should be run by family, not a stranger who is only working for a paycheck. That it’s about love and personal connection, not money. You know how she is.” She smiled. “You’ve always reminded me a lot of her.” Before Sarah could express her shock at that surprising statement, her mother added, “I’m sure it will all work out.”
The bell over the door rang as a customer walked in, and Denise went out front to say hello. Because there was no one else to help the customer but her.
Which was precisely why Sarah was concerned. The only family member left to manage the store in the future was herself.
And they all knew the last thing anyone wanted Sarah to do was move back to Summer Lake to run Lakeside Stitch & Knit.
* * *
Later that afternoon, she caught her mother yawning for what had to be the hundredth time. It was one thing to worry about her from a distance, but it was another to watch her barely make it through the day.
“You seem tired, Mom.”
“Oh, honey, it’s just that ever since your father passed away, the bed has seemed too big.”
Sarah was a breath away from noting that her father had rarely been there, even when he was alive, but that wasn’t what her mother needed to hear. “Did you take any time off? After?”
“It’s better to be busy.”
Sarah knew she should agree. After all, hadn’t she done the same thing? Gone to her father’s funeral in Washington, DC, one day and been back at her desk in New York City the next. “Maybe I should send you off to bed, like I did with Grandma earlier. I can keep things running here until closing.”
Denise’s eyelids were drooping, but she still insisted, “Oh no, you’ve already done too much.”
Was her mother kidding? Two days in the store wasn’t even close to too much. Sure, Sarah was neglecting her job, but her family needed her right now.
“Please, Mom. I’m happy to take care of closing up.”
“If you’re absolutely sure.”
“Positive.”
Heck, she’d already made it through a day and a half at the store. She was feeling pretty proud of herself and of the fact that she could almost talk about yarn and patterns with customers like she had half a clue about what she was saying.
Sarah didn’t see Calvin standing just inside the doorway until Denise went to get her things. As her mom walked over to say hello, Sarah stood behind the register and tried to act busy, even though she knew there was no escaping him.
But would it be better for both of them if she did? If she just turned around and went away again? If she had never come back at all?
Calvin walked Denise out, then came up to the counter and leaned against it, looking even better by day than he had last night. Sarah had always loved the way his dark hair curled a little bit at the nape of his neck, the faint hint of stubble that always magically appeared at five p.m., the long eyelashes on such a masculine face.
And here she’d thought she would be better prepared to see him now that the first shock was past. Good one.
“Sarah, I’m glad you’re here.” He ran a hand through his hair, leaving the dark strands sticking up just enough that she had to grip the edge of the cash register to prevent herself from reaching out and smoothing them down. “I was sitting in an Adirondack Council meeting today, and I was missing pretty much everything I needed to hear because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. About the things I said to you last night. I was out of line. That’s why I needed to come here today, needed to see you again to make sure that you don’t hate me.”
“Of course I don’t hate you.” How could she possibly hate someone she’d once loved so much? She forced herself to meet his gaze head on. “But that doesn’t mean I’m backing down on the project.”
He looked as tired as she felt. So much for the peaceful lake town where you could let your cares drift away. Not one of them was getting any sleep in Summer Lake.
“I didn’t expect you to,” he said. “Here’s the thing, I know we didn’t exactly see eye to eye last night.”
She raised an eyebrow at that stupendous understatement. “There was practically blood.”
He winced. “Again, I’m a total jerk.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” she said with a small smile. “Total might be taking it too far.”
It was good to see him grin, and despite the words that had been shot out across a scratched-up table at the Tavern last night, Sarah knew she wasn’t ready to lose him as a friend. Not when she’d only just found him again.
“When you said we should talk about the past,” he continued, “you were right. I can see that now. We can’t pretend nothing happened when we were eighteen. It’s just that I swear I didn’t realize it had affected me like that.”
Appreciating his honesty, she found herself admitting, “Me either.”
“Once we’ve hashed through everything, said whatever needs to be said, we can leave the past in the past. Where it belongs. You weren’t the one making things personal last night. It was me, Sarah. I shouldn’t have done that. I won’t do it again.”
He sounded so sensible now, so different from the man who had been coming at her last night, all emotion and unavoidable feelings. Sarah knew she shouldn’t be wanting the intense, difficult Calvin back. But a part of her did.
Because then at least she had known he cared.
No. That was crazy. Of course she was happy that they weren’t at a total impasse, that he was willing to discuss the condos with her in greater detail without it becoming a big, heated fight where one of them ended up storming out.
He cleared his throat, looking a little nervous. “So I was thinking, what if we each get one night to try to make our point about the condos?”
One night.
Her brain—and body—immediately spun away from condos and proposals and sensible discussions to other nights full of kisses, full of so much more than just kisses. When he had taken her out into the forest in the middle of summer, where it was only the two of them and the moonlight and the stars above, as they stripped away each other’s clothes and lay on the soft blanket he’d brought. Where they’d made each other feel so good, so full of pleasure, so happy.
“Give me one night to remind you of everything that’s good about Summer Lake,” he urged her in that deep voice that had always sent shivers of need running through her, head to toe. “What do you say? Will you give me that, Sarah? And then I’ll give you the same, to show me whatever you want.”
Was that yearning in his voice? Or was she just imagining it was there because that was what she suddenly wanted to hear?
“When?” The word came out a little breathlessly.
“How about I take tonight and you take tomorrow night?”
The longing to be with him swelled within her, swift and overpowering, causing all of her emotions to swirl around inside her chest, right behind her breastbone. Still, she tried with everything she had to tell herself it was the businesswoman saying, “Okay, one night for each of us.”
And not the flesh and blood woman inside.