“You are so stubborn.” Her grandmother slapped her hands on the armrests of her wheelchair. “I have no idea where you get that from. Fine. Do what you want, as long as it’s what you want, and not what youthinkyou should do.” Mimi frowned. “I’m not sure that made sense.”
But it made perfect sense to Riley. And while her cornflakes were now little limp blobs floating in milk, for the first time since she returned, she didn’t feel completely at sea. “I love you, Mimi.”
“I love you, too, sugar.” She put her glasses back on and started reading the paper again, as if they hadn’t just finished one of the most important conversations they’d ever had. But that was her grandmother. She didn’t dwell on things for long.
Riley stood and picked up her bowl. As she walked to the sink to dump out the soggy cornflakes and fix something else, “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” rang out from Mimi’s cell phone. When her grandmother didn’t answer it after several seconds, Riley frowned and turned. She was still perusing her newspaper, but Riley caught her glance at the phone before focusing back on the paper.
“Aren’t you going to get that?”
“No.” Mimi continued reading. “It’s just a solicitor.”
The phone stopped singing, and Riley reached for the bag of bread in a basket near the toaster. “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” started up again, and once more her grandmother ignored it.
“Same number?” Riley asked, slipping two pieces of bread into the toaster slots and pressing down the lever.
“Yes,” she replied, her tone tight.
Riley watched her and saw the strain at the corners of her mouth as she sipped her coffee. “You could put your number on the do-not-call list if they’re bothering you.”
Mimi didn’t say anything as she glanced at the phone, then turned it over so the screen lay flat on the table. As soon as the ringing stopped, she picked up the phone and dropped it on her lap.
“Time to get dressed for work,” she said.
“I think you should stay home today.”
But Mimi was already wheeling out of the kitchen faster than Riley had seen her move before. She frowned. That was weird, even for Mimi.
The toast popped up, and Riley blinked. She turned to the toaster and started preparing the bread, adding a small pat of butter to each slice. After she finished eating, she would tell her grandmother what she tried to before she hurried out of the kitchen—that she shouldn’t go to work today, considering tomorrow would be a long day since they had to go to Hot Springs to see her doctor. Riley didn’t like the idea of closing the store, but then she remembered that Mimi hadn’t had normal business hours in a long time.
One day wasn’t going to make any difference.
***
A short time later, Riley arrived at Knots and Tangles, having convinced Mimi to stay home and rest up for tomorrow’s trip to the doctor. She parked in the lot behind the store, then unlocked the back door and walked through the store to the front door. Ready for another workday, she flipped the Closed sign to Open.
But instead of starting straight to work, she stepped outside on the sidewalk, remembering what Hayden had said about the decline of the buildings. Now that she was paying attention, she could see he was right. She took in the old architecture, seeing it with an artist’s eye for the first time. It would be a huge undertaking, not to mention expensive, to restore some of these buildings. She doubted the town or the businesses had that kind of money. A less ambitious plan would be to freshen up the storefronts, including Mimi’s. But what did that matter if she was going to sell the shop anyway?
Riley frowned. Now that her grandmother had accepted that Riley wouldn’t take over the shop and had agreed to sell the store, what would she do? Travel with Myrtle, maybe. The Bosom Buddies would have to find another place to hold their gatherings too. Riley wondered where they would end up. At someone’s house? Or the church?
She walked to the curb and stepped onto the street, which had been empty since she walked out of the store. In the middle of the road, she turned and studied Mimi’s storefront. What would happen to this place once her grandmother sold it? Would it continue to be a yarn store or become something else? The idea of Knots and Tangles turning into a different business, or worse, shuttering altogether like so many other stores on this street, bothered her. How ridiculous. She didn’t have an emotional attachment to anything here. But she couldn’t deny her unease.
She glanced over her shoulder at Price’s Hardware. They were open too. A sandwich board stood out in front of the big picture window, announcing a sale on garden tools. At least Hayden didn’t have to worry about anything happening to the hardware store. They seemed to have decent business, and even she knew how much his father enjoyed working there from the few times she’d gone into the store. There was no way Mr.Price would sell his business.You thought the same thing about Mimi.
“Excuse me, are you open yet?”
Riley turned to see a pretty blond woman, whom she guessed to be in her midforties, standing on the sidewalk, her smile bright and cheerful.
“Yes, we are,” Riley said, opening the door for her. “Come on in. Excuse the mess. We’re doing a bit of reorganizing.”
The woman surveyed the store. “There’s so much yarn here! Oh, I’m in heaven!” She started to walk around, checking out the bins of yarn, stopping to pick up a skein. She turned it around in her hand, scrutinizing the label. “You have some vintage products,” she said. She turned to Riley, who was brushing a bit of stray dust off the Man Chair near the front windows. “I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Lorri, and I own a yarn shop too. Mine is in Malvern.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Riley.” She walked over and shook Lorri’s hand. “This is actually my grandmother’s store.”
“It’s really neat.” Lorri’s eyes sparkled. “I love visiting yarn stores when I’m out and about. It’s nice to see what other places carry. I always find something different that I don’t have in my store.”
It was nice to see a new customer who was passionate about yarn the way Mimi and the Bosom Buddies were.
Not wanting to keep Lorri from shopping, she said, “If you have any questions about anything here, let me know. I’m still learning the inventory, but I’ll help if I can.”
