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“Can I open yours now?” she asked, reaching for the present that I’d wrapped myself.
“Yes, you can,” I said, pushing it toward her. Inside was a set of knitting needles of different sizes and a basic knitting book. I’d taken the direction of the lady at the library who was the one who’d formed the knitting club years ago. She was beyond helpful and had steered me in the right direction.
“Wow, thank you so much, this is perfect. I have my first meeting next week and I’m so nervous,” Natalie said.
“They have a bunch of yarn you can have at the library for you to start with,” I said. “I talked to Beth all about it. She’s excited you’re coming.”
Beth, the head librarian, was in her forties and had been in charge of the Castleton library since she was in her twenties, so everyone just referred to her as “The Librarian.”
“We’ll see how I do. I’ve watched some videos, but haven’t attempted anything yet,” Natalie said.
“The first thing I carved was supposed to be a heart, but it ended up looking like a butt. I gave it to my mom for her birthday anyway. She still has it,” Gray said, and that made us all laugh.
“Okay,” Linley announced. “Food is ready!”
Linley’s place was in the new apartment building in Castleton and reminded me a tiny bit of Natalie’s place. All granite and shiny surfaces and open concept. Linley had lots of great art on the wall, most of it baking-themed.
I’d also recently seen an increase in carved items from Gray around her place as well. Linley wasn’t one for knickknacks, so it was really cute.
I opened the wine and Linley served us a beautiful heirloom tomato galette with fresh basil and balsamic chicken kabobs. For dessert, red velvet macarons.
Linley’s apartment felt so grown up. She had a dining table and placemats and lit candles for dinner. Soft piano music played in the background.
“This is absolutely beautiful,” Natalie said as we ate.
“For real, you never miss,” I said. I was having to hold myself back from inhaling everything at once.
“So, we have some news. We wanted to wait until Esme and Paige were here, but we’re too excited,” Linley said, gazing at Gray, who looked back at her with so much affection it made my stomach twist.
“We’re moving in together!” Linley announced and leaned over to kiss Gray.
“Wow, congratulations!” I said.
“That is amazing, congrats,” Natalie said.
I shared a quick look with her.
Linley and Gray had only been dating for a short while. Only a little bit longer than Paige and Esme, who had already moved in together. The difference was that Paige and Esme had known each other for years. Gray and Linley were still new.
“Yeah, I found a job at the hospital with a better salary, so it just kind of happened,” Gray said.
“He’s going to start selling some of his carved bowls and utensils at the bakery too,” Linley said. She was absolutely beaming.
“I’m so happy for both of you. To Linley and Gray,” I said, raising my glass.
We all toasted and then talked about the moving plans.
“So we’re going to stay here for now, until we can save up some money. I’m pretty settled here, but I think we’ll want to make sure this is where we want to be before we get a house,” Linley said.
“I just want to be wherever you are,” Gray said, and I almost died from the sweetness.
Over coffee and macarons, Gray chatted with Natalie and I talked with Linley about how she was going to transition to living with another person. She’d been out of her parent’s house for a long time, and even though she had a sister, her sister was older and hadn’t lived at home for a long time.
“We’ll make the second bedroom into Gray’s workshop. And my parents have said he can use the garage to store some of his bigger tools. He promises to get one of those robot vacuums so there aren’t sawdust and wood shavings everywhere,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“I need to get me one of those,” I said. I hated cleaning more than pretty much anything else.
“It’s going to be nice to have someone to cook for every night. And I thought my mom was going to pass out when I told her,” she said. Linley’s mom had one goal in life: get her daughter happily married. When Linley had started dating Gray, her mom had already decided that he was going to join the family.
