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Apparently I also stitch like a drunk, according to Ginny

The bell hanging over the door jangles and htens just a little I automatically shift my stance and shake my hair forward I do this anyti a long scar line running down the length of your face The concealer provides inal help, but it can’t hide the creases when I sap in my teeth anymore

"Dakota Howard Well, I’ll be dauy who just walked in announces, straightening the collar of his black coveralls, a tag that reads "Fanshaw Electrical" sewn into the breast pocket "When Dad toldissues, I had to take the job"

Her face pinches up with recognition "Chuck?"

He grins "You bet! How long has it been?"

"You were a couple of years ahead of uess?"

That’s the thing about a town like Sisters: everyone knows everyone And everything about everyone It’s a miracle I’ve kept my own situation under wraps

Chuck stops in front of the counter and throws me a wink "Who’s your lovely coworker?"

"This is Water Ginny Fitzgerald’s cousin, who ht

"Pittsburgh," I fill in I feel bad for lying to Dakota, as nice as she is

Chuck’s eyes widen "Crazy Tree Quilt Lady?"

"The one and only" I force a smile Yes, she may be crazy, but she has her share of reasons and it bothers me that people call her that so openly

"Dad says he saw Old Fitzgerald’s yellow truck driving through town but figured Ginny had sold it, given she hasn’t been seen in years She still have those horses?"

"Just the two"

"She’s nuts for not selling off so in soest it to her" He chuckles "That didn’t go over too well"

"Let ht--renting those stables would be great for her, financially But that wouldonto her property, and everyone kno Ginny feels about that

"You should talk her into it I know lots of people who’d be interested"

"I’ll h I’m not sure I will That will earn a thirty-ot over a thousand acres, last I heard It’s worth a ood side and maybe she’ll leave it to you when she kicks it"

"Uh"

"What’s it like, living with that old nut, anyway?" They’re both looking atall of Ginny’s quirks

"It’s great She’s been very kind tothe jewelry rack to ets the hint "So, Dakotayou called about a problem with your stereo system?"

Dakota throws her hands in the air "Please! It just stopped working one day and this silence is driving iving hi on her ass

"No wonder it quit How old is this thing?" I hear Chuck exclaie roo since I started here Neither has the security camera, which Dakota says is just a du thirteen-year-olds

The bell jangles over the door and Amber walks in with a quilt folded over her ar a stretch of night shifts Her red Mini usually pulls into the Welleses’ driveway around the sarain and fresh water each

"I picked up a day shift toht" She hands me the quilt

I shakethe world next year with ease That’s how I do it" She handson all week "Ginny said to put it in the display "

I can’t help but smile The woman doesn’t own this shop, but she acts like she does I lay the quilt out over the table of wool blankets The token tree is there, as always, with gold and green fields stretching into the horizon

It’s just like all the others--except this one has two tiny horses in the far distance, one black, one brown

As into her pocket and pulls out a piece of paper "The artist sent this with uess" Sure enough, the sa this!"

"When she’s six feet in the ground, and knowing Ginny, that won’t be for another fifty years"

After teeks straight of dried-out chicken legs, mealy instant potatoes, and beans froht, as a thank-you to her I wasn’t even sure I kne to cook, but I figured it orth a shot

Ginny gru--and I set out, borrowing a cookbook froredients for a beef stew that looked easy enough and using my ’70s kitchenette for the very first ti, but it turns out I’reed

I suffered through a few more days of "Ginny’s Classic" and then, when it was ti it Ginny gave rocery list with three itehs, five boxes of instant mashed potatoes, and seven 14-ounce cans of Heinz baked beans in to theredients for several recipes I wanted to try When I dropped her groceries off at her doorstep that day, I asked if I could cook again that night

That was alo We’ve since fallen into this routine where she handson Friday after work In that tiht the dishes down to her front porch And yet she still gives h I’ve now stopped buying them