“But I want to pay you for gas.”
“Forget it.”
“I insist.”
“This is a favor for Erma, remember?” He opened the door. “I’ll bring your bags to the porch. I’m sure she’s chomping at the bit to see you.”
Riley scrambled out of the car, bothered he wouldn’t let her pay him but eager to see Mimi. She hurried to the house and swung open the door. Instantly she was greeted by the smell of arthritis cream, Mimi’s favorite vanilla-scented candles, and the sound ofThe Golden Girlsblaring from the TV as she entered the living room.
“Riley!” Mimi motioned for her to come to the ancient recliner, her smile big, bright, and the most beautiful thing Riley had ever seen. “Come give me a big hug, sugar!”
Tears welled in Riley’s eyes, and not only because she saw the wheelchair next to Mimi—a visual reminder of the pain her stalwart grandmother was suffering. Otherwise, Mimi looked the same. Her silver hair was still cut short in a style Mimi had always called serviceable, and she was wearing her usual evening attire—old sweatpants and a T-shirt that said “I’m a limited edition.” In that moment, basking in her favorite person’s smile as she saw the love in her blue eyes, she realized how much she missed and loved this woman who had taken her in when her mother abandoned her. Mimi had showered her with the affection Riley hadn’t known she craved. She dropped her purse and hurried to her, kneeling on the ground and hugging her thin but still strong body.
“Welcome home, Riley,” Mimi said, her voice thick as she hugged her tightly. “Welcome home.”
Chapter3
Hayden yawned as he swept the sidewalk in front of his father’s hardware store the next morning. He hadn’t made it home until almost midnight, and then it took him at least two hours to fall asleep, mostly because he was thinking about Riley. Why was she still on his mind? It wasn’t like he was going to get to know her better while she was taking care of Erma. He was sure she’d want him to keep his distance anyway, especially now that she knew he was to blame for her grandmother’s accident.
The smart thing would be to forget about her. He had his job at the hardware store and his new house to focus on. Besides, Riley wouldn’t be in Maple Falls very long anyway. Last night she looked like she wanted to jump right back on that plane to New York.
His mind returned to the scene he’d walked in on when he brought Riley’s bags inside the house. Neither woman heard him come inside, and he was surprised when he saw Riley crying in Erma’s arms. Erma hadn’t exactly been dry-eyed, and when she finally noticed Hayden standing there, she motioned for him to leave. He quickly crept out the door. He shouldn’t have watched such a private moment, but he had to be sure they were both okay.
He bent over and swept the dirt from the sidewalk into a dustpan as he mused about something else he learned last night. He couldn’t believe Riley hadn’t returned to Maple Falls in nearly a decade. Even when he was busy with his baseball career, Hayden had made sure to come home regularly to see his family and friends. Maple Falls had always been his keystone, and no one was surprised he decided to stay permanently. He figured he’d just been away when Riley visited over the years, not that she hadn’t visited at all. It was obvious from their embrace last night that she and Erma were close, and he was confounded Riley hadn’t wanted to return to her hometown even once.
“Mornin’, Hayden.”
He turned to see Jasper Mathis, a retired carpenter in his eighties and a fixture at Price’s Hardware, standing behind him. The older man arrived every morning soon after the store opened, and he was such a staple that visitors who weren’t familiar with the store often thought he was an employee. He could be since he knew where every single nail and screw were located, probably better than Hayden did. “Mornin’, Jasper. How’s it going?”
“Countin’ my blessin’s and not my problems.” He peered at Hayden over his glasses as he took a sip of coffee. “You’re lookin’ kinda tired, young man.”
“I am, a little.”
“Long night?”
“You could say that.” He opened the front door for Jasper. “Dad’s in the back. We got a shipment of paint yesterday and the SKUs are all mixed up.”
“I’m sure that’s put him in a fine mood.”
“Yes, sir.” His father had talked to the supplier, who promised them a box of free paint in exchange for keeping his business. Few things ruffled Harrison Julius PriceIII’s feathers, but dealing with shipment problems was one of them.
“I’ll see if I can give him a hand.” Jasper sighed, but Hayden didn’t miss the slight grin on the man’s craggy face. Jasper was always happy to help fix a problem.
After emptying the dustpan into the trash bin in front of the store, Hayden went inside and put the broom and dustpan away. They’d opened an hour ago and business was slow, not so unusual for any of the businesses on Maple Falls’ short Main Street. He spent the morning straightening up the gardening section, a part of the store that had stayed in constant chaos the past month and a half. It was planting time, and all the gardeners and a few farmers had replenished their supplies. One day Hayden would have his own garden, but that project was on the back burner until he fixed up his house.
Near lunchtime his father and Jasper came from the back of the stock room, arguing about something that had happened twenty years ago, as they typically did. Although nearly three decades separated the men, the Price family was one of the founding families in Maple Falls, as was Jasper’s family. The two of them went way back.
“Why don’t you take your lunch break?” Dad said, coming up beside Hayden as he wiped off the glass countertop at the front of the store. He sprayed more glass cleaner on a light-blue microfiber cloth and cleaned around the computerized cash register. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to get an onslaught of customers anytime soon.”
Hayden watched for a sign of his father being upset with the slow business, but as usual his dad was upbeat. Family and friends had pointed out that Hayden took after him, in temperament anyway. Definitely not physically. His father was balding, short, and had worn a spare tire around his middle for as long as Hayden could remember. “You sure you don’t want to go first? I don’t mind waiting an hour or so.”
“I guess that’ll be all right.” Dad adjusted his black suspenders. “I won’t be gone long. You up for some lunch at the diner, Jasper? I’m buying.”
“Then I’m in.”
Hayden smiled as he watched the two men leave, then he looked around the store. It was full of merchandise all carefully organized and tracked. Vastly different from Knots and Tangles, a store he hadn’t been inside until yesterday when he asked Erma to join him for lunch. He’d been stunned to see the place filled from top to bottom with yarn and yarn accessories. Was Erma selling yarn or collecting it? He couldn’t tell.
The two stores did have one thing in common—they were original Maple Falls businesses, two of the three legacy businesses on the street that were still open. Like those stores, Price’s Hardware and Knots and Tangles had struggled with declining business over the last fifteen years. Up until his shoulder healed and he retired from baseball, Hayden hadn’t paid much attention to the family business, other than the times he’d visited and worked a few days out of nostalgia. His older brothers, Harrison and Henry, had spent many more hours working for their father than Hayden had. The two of them were part-time employees until they left for college.
