Erma nodded. She hated to waste food, but she couldn’t choke down cold buckwheat pancakes. “Just two,” she said. She would eat those at least. If she went home from the buffet hungry, Riley might think something was wrong.
At least she had settled a few things in her mind. She’d butt out of Riley’s life, both professional and romantic. That was the right thing to do. She’d failed so many times with Tracey and partly blamed herself for her daughter’s mess of a life. She couldn’t bear it if she messed up Riley’s.
***
“What’s it like being a famous artist?” Olivia asked, scooping a small bite of hummus with a pita triangle.
“Glamorous, I’m sure.” Anita sighed.
“Erma is really proud of you.” Harper smiled and looked at Riley. “She said one day she would like to display your artwork in the yarn shop.”
“She did?” Riley wondered why Mimi hadn’t mentioned it to her before. She also wondered why she hadn’t offered to send Mimi some pieces.
“I was always amazed that you could draw and paint so well,” Anita said before taking a sip of iced tea. “I can barely draw a stick figure.”
Olivia nodded. “Same here. What do you paint now?”
“I don’t paint anymore.” Riley explained about her mixed media projects, and she was pleased to see the girls were interested and had a lot of questions. As long as the topic stayed on art or New York life, Riley was fine. More than fine, actually. Not only was she enjoying the food, but she was also enjoying the conversation. Still, she kept up her guard in case the subject shifted to something more personal.
To her surprise, it never did. She saved a plate of food for Erma to heat up later and told the women she didn’t need help cleaning up the kitchen. Then she walked them to the door, Olivia and Anita saying goodbye and heading for Harper’s Mercedes.
Harper lingered on the front porch and turned to Riley. “I was serious about getting together for coffee,” she said. Before Riley could answer, she added, “I know what it’s like.”
“What do you mean?” Riley asked, confused.
Harper tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear, revealing a single twinkling diamond stud in her ear. “Coming back home and trying to find your place again. I left for college right after graduation, and then I worked in Dallas for four years. When I decided I wanted to have my own business, I came back here.” She frowned slightly. “I’ve always been kind of an outsider here since I didn’t go to school with everyone else. It took me a while to ease back into friendships.”
Riley wasn’t sure what to say. She couldn’t admit to Harper that there were no friendships to ease back into. Of course Harper wouldn’t know that.
“So be sure to call me. Or maybe I’ll call you.” She made her way down the steps. “I know where you live, after all.” She grinned and waved as she walked to her car.
Riley watched them leave, and the lump in her throat reappeared. It had never occurred to her that anyone in Maple Falls would understand what she was going through. Not back then and definitely not now. But Harper did, to a certain extent.
Would Hayden?
She shook her head and went back inside. It didn’t matter if Hayden understood her or not. While she was changing her mind aboutpossiblytaking Harper up on her coffee offer, she stood firm about not getting any closer to Hayden.
Chapter7
To Hayden’s surprise, Monday morning was almost as busy as Saturday had been. Several customers had purchased paint, including one woman who had taken more than an hour trying to decide on the perfect shade of white for her kitchen. Hayden always thought white was a bad color for a kitchen, especially if the family had kids. He intended to paint his own kitchen a light golden yellow, once he got that far into the project. But white and gray and wood tones were in right now, and when she finally decided that Ice White was the perfect shade, he told her she had made an excellent choice, when in reality he was just glad she’d made a decision at all.
“I’ll be back to pick out hardware for the cabinets,” she said as he rang her up.
“Great. Is there any particular kind you’re looking for?”
“I haven’t decided. I’m considering bright silver or matte silver. I have to think about it a little longer.”
“We’ll be here when you’re ready. I’ll take this out to your car for you.”
“Thank you so much. I’m so glad I stopped in here.” She pushed her long black hair over her shoulder. “I had gone to the big building store in Malvern, but they didn’t have the right shade of white. You have no idea how many shades of white there are out there.”
He nodded and smiled.I sure do now.
After he put the paint in her car and went back inside the store, he helped another customer find grass seed for his lawn, then described the difference between a Phillips and a flathead screwdriver to a young man he thought should have known the distinction already. Hayden had learned all the types of screwdrivers and hammers they had in the store by the time he was eight, but he had to remember that not every kid was interested in hardware. By the time lunch rolled around, he realized he hadn’t taken a morning break.
“This takes me back,” Dad said as the last customer left and the store was empty for the first time since they opened that morning. “I remember when we were this busy most of the time.”
Hayden smiled, glad to see his father happy. Even though Dad usually rolled with the punches, Hayden suspected he was concerned about the downslide in business for the past several years. Or maybe he wasn’t as concerned as Hayden thought he should be.
