“With a broken leg?”
Erma gave her a pointed look. “In a heartbeat.”
“You might just do it too.” Myrtle grimaced. “Fine. You win, as usual. But that still doesn’t make it right that you acted like it was an emergency and Riley had to come right away.”
“Itisan emergency.” She gestured to the overstuffed shelves and baskets in the store. “How am I supposed to maneuver around this place in this thing?” She slammed her hands on the wheelchair armrests, which jolted the chair and made her leg twinge. Uh-oh, that was more than a twinge. “I need a pain pill.”
“Right away.” Myrtle rushed to get a glass of water from the bathroom sink in the back, then handed it and a pill to Erma. “Bea has already told you she can help out.”
Erma swallowed the pill, then leaned back in the wheelchair. Bea was Erma’s closest friend, but Myrtle came in second. She was grateful for their offers of help, but she needed to refuse them this time. “It’s high time Riley came home for a visit. Nine years is too long.”
“So you took advantage of your injury to get her back here.” Myrtle gave her a reproving look. “You know why she left.”
Erma lifted her chin. “She can have an art career here.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
She knew exactly what Myrtle was referring to—her no-good daughter who hadn’t returned since she disappeared fifteen years ago. Riley still carried the burden of that rejection, even if she stuffed it down behind a facade of small-town girl turned big-city artist. “I just want her home, Myrtle. Is that too much to ask?”
Her friend’s blue eyes softened, the creases in the corners deepening. “It might be.”
Erma didn’t want to hear that.
The bell over the door chimed, and both women turned to see Hayden Price walk into the store. If Erma were fifty years younger and hadn’t known not only Hayden’s parents but also his grandparents and great-grandparents, she wouldn’t mind taking a crack at the handsome young man. As it was, she could still appreciate his fine form, which looked even better in a baseball uniform. He wasn’t as winsome as her Gus had been in his day, but he was definitely easy on the eyes.I might be old, but I ain’t dead.
“Hi, Hayden,” Myrtle said, casually patting the back of her short gray hair. “What brings you by?”
Erma smirked. Seemed like she wasn’t the only senior woman who thought Hayden was the bee’s knees.
“I came to check on our center fielder.” Hayden walked over to Erma and crouched in front of her. “How’s the leg?”
“Tolerable.”
“She just took a pain pill,” Myrtle blurted.
Erma shot her an annoyed look. “Don’t you have a cruise to pack for?”
“I guess I do.” She grabbed her pink purse, which looked big enough to house half the contents of the yarn store, and headed for the door. “Hasta la, um, whatever.”
“You might want to brush up on your Spanish for Jorge,” Erma called out.
“It’s Javier!” The door shut behind her.
Hayden chuckled. “You two are a mess.”
“Sugar, you have no idea.”
He stood, still smiling, a shock of his thick blond hair falling over his forehead. Then all traces of humor disappeared. “I’m sorry about what happened.”
She waved him off. “Not your fault.”
“I was the third base coach. And I’m the head coach. I should have told you to stay on second.”
“I wouldn’t have listened to you anyway.” She looked up at him, smiling as she remembered the split second before her leg ended up going in a direction God never intended. “Did you hear the crowd cheering?”
“They were yelling at you to go back.”
“But I was already committed—”
