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“A bit cooler now, but still pleasant.”
Bailey looked at the sky. “Certainly looks like it will be a nice day, Miss Marla.”
The women came closer, and she noted the lines that had not been there before. She guessed the Robbins sisters were close to sixty-five now.
“Bailey Jones!”
“Hello, Miss Marla, Miss Sarah.” The sisters had been teaching when she’d last been in Ryker Falls. In fact it was Miss Sarah who had first introduced Bailey to the piano.
“Marla, it’s Bailey Jones!”
“I have eyes, Sarah, I can see who’s standing a foot in front of me.”
Bailey remembered that about them too. The arguments.
Miss Sarah hurried forward. “Dear, we are so proud of you.”
“Thank you.” Bailey leaned into the hug, even though she wasn’t big on touching. Her face was then cupped between two soft hands, and she was studied.
“Well now, my dear. I think it’s past time you came home. You come on in to the tea shop when you’re passing. Right up on the main street, you can’t miss it, and the first cup’s on us.”
“Tea shop?”
“We don’t teach anymore, Bailey,” Miss Marla said. “We now run Tea Total.”
“Here in Ryker?”
“The locals needed a bit of refining, and we were just the girls for the job,” Miss Sarah said. “And now we need to get on, Bailey, dear, as we left Mandy in charge.”
Mandy was their niece who they’d raised after her father had died suddenly, she remembered that because they’d been in the same classes at school. Watching them walk away, she swallowed the tightness in her throat. Back in town a few hours, and she’d met Joe, Luke, and now the Robbins sisters. Shaking her head, Bailey headed to the shops. The one she wanted was third in the row. She looked in the store windows as she walked, and saw a herbalist, massage place, and a greengrocer... with the emphasis on green. Lots of leafy vegetables and baskets of fruit with “organic” written in large lettering. It would be a place to explore, Bailey thought. But for now the shop she wanted was up ahead.
“Artsy Fartsy?” Bailey read the sign, shaking her head. “Really, Maggie?” Pushing the door open, she walked inside.
The interior was white, the walls covered with a variety of art, and the shelves and floor held sculptures in a variety of different materials.
Bailey would have recognized Maggie Winter anywhere. At thirteen she’d had that shock of red hair, and the promise of the height she now topped. She had a phone cradled against her shoulder while she did something on the computer with her hands. They’d been inseparable and shared everything from their first meeting, until Bailey had left Ryker Falls.Well, not everything, Bailey remembered. She’d told no one about Joe Trainer.
“Can I help you?”
Bailey watched Maggie replace the phone and round the counter to head her way. Her hair was shoulder-length and still curled in every direction. Those hazel eyes had once seemed almost too big, but now sat perfectly proportioned in a pretty face. She had a curvaceous body, clothed in a soft, floaty mint-green dress. On her feet were red ankle boots.
“Maggie.” For the second time that day she felt a fierce surge of emotion, but this one was warm and good. “It’s me, Bailey.”
Her friend’s painted red lips opened wide, but no sound came out, except a loud squeak. She then ran at Bailey, arms open, and hugged her hard.
“Bailey!”
Bailey hadn’t had a lot of hugs in her lifetime; she came from a family that didn’t communicate with physical gestures. In fact, they didn’t communicate at all.
“Oh my God, Bailey.”
She was held by the shoulders and studied, then hugged again.
“Maggs, it’s so good to see you.” And it was, Bailey realized, better than good. Closing her eyes, she leaned in to her old friend and held on.
“Oh, and you too!” Her friend squealed, holding her at arm’s length again. “You look tired, Bays.”
“I am. I’ve driven for miles to see you.”
