Free The Quilt Before the Storm by Arlene Sachitano Page A

Mavis agreed.
    “I’ll need to check with Aiden,” Carla said. “I need to see if he wants me to do anything for his sister now that she’s stuck here.”
    “Michelle is still here?” Harriet felt the muscle in her jaw tighten and willed it to relax.
    “She was going to leave yesterday,” Carla explained. “But they talked so late last night, she decided to stay over. She was still in bed when Wendy and I left for here.”
    “Hey, is this a party?” Tom Bainbridge asked. Rainwater dripped from his hair. Harriet had been so focused on Carla’s news she hadn’t noticed him arrive.
    “You’re stuck here, too?” Lauren asked.
    “I think that’s obvious, don’t you?” he shot back. “I ran into one of my mom’s old friends yesterday and stayed for dinner with her and her husband. I let them convince me it was too late to drive home in all this rain.” He gestured toward the chaos outside the window. “So, here I am.”
    “Want to help move fabric to the attic of the quilt store?” Harriet asked.
    “Why not? It’s not like I’ve got anything else to do.”

Chapter 7
    “Did anyone talk to Sarah today?” Connie asked as the group returned their used coffee mugs to the bar.
    “I called to tell her about coffee this morning, but she said she’s at her boyfriend’s house and he didn’t want her to leave his cat alone.” Mavis shook her head in disbelief. “Apparently, he thinks the cat is having emotional problems due to his absence.”
    “Oh, for crying out loud,” Lauren said. “I think we need to go check on her. I want to see with my own eyes that cat is the only reason she’s not coming to quilting anymore.”
    “Would anyone care to give us a ride?” Ronald asked hopefully.
    “You’re going to have to get used to taking the bus,” Joyce scolded him. “That’s why the church gave us these passes.”
    “Of course you can ride with us,” Aunt Beth said. “I’ve got room for two people if one doesn’t mind crawling into the back seat of my Beetle.”
    “I’ve got room,” Harriet said, and with the transportation settled, the group drove to Pins and Needles.

    “How about Lauren and I go up to the attic and see what’s already up there,” Harriet suggested. “Duane and Rodney could go to the basement and see what’s down there. If there are folding tables, they might be useful for stacking bolts of fabric, and at the very least, we could bring them up out of the flood zone.”
    “Sounds like a plan,” Mavis said. “Come on, gentlemen, I’ll show you where the basement door is.”
    “Where is the attic access, anyway?” Lauren asked.
    “I’ll show you,” Carla volunteered, and led them to the hallway outside the kitchen at the back of the store. She picked up a broom handle that had a large metal hook in place of the bristles and with a practiced move used it to grab the latch to a set of accordion stairs that folded down from the ceiling.
    “I’m not seeing Mavis or Beth going up and down these babies,” Lauren said as she stepped onto the first of the steep, narrow steps and began to climb.
    Harriet followed and was soon standing in the large attic that covered the entire square footage of the store below. Three eight-foot tables were lined up against the front wall of the building, bolts of fabric wrapped in plastic stacked six bolts high on each table. Plastic storage bins were neatly stowed under each table.
    “Here’s a bin marked ‘tablecloths,’” Harriet said as she opened the container and verified that it was, indeed, full of tablecloths.
    “Are we having a party?” Lauren asked as she took the two cloths Harriet handed her and spread them on the floor. Harriet took two more and laid them next to Lauren’s.
    “Let’s stack the tables as high as we can, and then we can start putting bolts on the cloths on the floor.”
    “Beth told us to bring these tables up to you ladies,” Duane said as he fell through the stair opening along with the