Free The Lover's Knot by Clare O'Donohue Page A

that’s what Eleanor slipped on?” she asked.
    “Probably. What could it be?”
    Nancy looked around at the empty stairs and shrugged. “I don’t know. Come upstairs, carefully now. I’ll get something to clean it up.”
    She started back up the stairs and I followed her, skipping the fourth stair. While I waited for Nancy to finish cleaning the step, I looked around at the messy shop. The place looked as if a pack of three-year-olds had gone through it.
    “How do grown women do this to a business?” I swept my arms dramatically at all the bolts that were piled on top of each other.
    “Quilters have to touch the fabric. They have to take it out, look at it, feel it.” She laughed. “They just don’t always feel the need to put it back.”
    “Can I help?” I didn’t really know how to help, but I thought I should ask.
    “No thanks. Eleanor will be anxious to see you.” She glanced at the clock and stepped up her efforts.
    “I feel bad about leaving you so close to opening time, but it’s not like you’re going to get a rush.” I smiled, but Nancy just raised an eyebrow.
    “You’d be surprised,” she said with a smile.
    I walked toward the door, still thinking about the stairs. “Who could have spilled something?” I asked.
    “Me, I guess. Your grandmother.” She paused. “One of Carrie’s kids.”
    “What would one of her kids be doing on the stairs?”
    She raised her eyebrows. “They’re not always supervised in here. Yesterday I saw the little boy head for the stairs and Carrie go after him in a mad dash. It was five minutes before she could get the boy back upstairs again. And the whole time I had to keep her daughter from pulling every fabric off the shelf.”
    Just then, with minutes until ten, a woman knocked on the door. Nancy waved at her and pointed to the clock. The woman nodded but didn’t budge.
    Maybe they did get a rush.

CHAPTER 14
    “How does anyone stay home during the day and watch television? ” My grandmother greeted me with annoyance and flipped off the TV.
    “You’re obviously feeling better.” I dropped her favorite cardigan on the hospital bed. “In case you’re cold.”
    She quickly scooped it up. “It’s freezing in here. And,” she took a deep breath, “I’m sure Nancy is frantic at the shop.”
    “Grandma, Nancy has worked at the store for years.”
    “With me beside her every step of the way.”
    “She’s very smart,” I said, not really knowing whether she was or not.
    “I know that,” Eleanor huffed. She made an actual noise that sounded like “huff.” “I’m just worried how we’re going to manage. Nancy’s never run a store.”
    “I’ll stay,” I volunteered before I realized what I was offering. I really wanted to get back to New York, to see if Ryan and I could somehow figure our way through this, but now the words were out. And if I were needed here . . .
    My grandmother looked into my eyes, with sweetness usually saved for animals and children. “Oh, dear,” she said as she took my hand. “You’ve never run a store either.”
    As soon as I was out of the hospital I reached into my pocket and pulled out a business card. I dialed the number on it without even thinking whether I should.
    “I have a favor to ask you,” I said right away.
    “Name it.”
    “Meet me at my grandmother’s house in twenty minutes.”
    He agreed and hung up without asking a question.
    Twenty minutes later I pulled into the driveway. Marc was already at the house, leaning against his car reading a piece of pink paper.
    “I brought lunch,” I said as I got out of the car, holding up a pizza box.
    “You learn how to make that from your grandmother?” He folded up the paper and put it in his back pocket. Then he came toward me with a smile. He did have a nice smile. Different from Ryan’s, but equally as charming.
    Once in the house, after pizza and ten minutes of play with a still-worried Barney, we set to work. We took my grandmother’s bed,