Dakota Love (36 page)

“I’m fine, really,” Sarah said, certain that reassurance was all Karla really needed.

The skeptical look Karla shot her made Sarah flinch, and defensiveness began to niggle her insides.

“At least the quilt class ends in a couple more weeks. That should relieve some of your stress. How is it going, anyway?”

“Just a second and I’ll show you.” Sarah left the room to get her tote bag from her desk drawer. She pulled the completed blocks out as she returned to the room. “I planned to make a wall quilt, but I’m behind on sewing my blocks together.” She placed six blocks in front of Karla. “I may be changing to the table runner.”

Sarah sighed. When she did find the time to work on the Job’s Tears blocks, she struggled with the lack of control from the MS in her arm, making the sewing even slower.

“I see improvement.” Karla arranged the blocks side by side on the table.

“Thanks. I’ve found hand stitching the blocks works best for me.” She paused, hoping Karla wouldn’t say “I told you so” with her next admission. “And I’m also finding that I have to sew in spurts because of the MS in my arm, so it’s taking longer than it should.”

“Maybe I should have enrolled, and we could have made the quilt together since it seems so important to you.” Karla started laughing. “Although my sewing wouldn’t look any better than yours, and I don’t have MS.”

Sarah chuckled. “Remember those aprons we made in that home economics class we both hated?”

“Yes.” Karla continued to giggle. “And they made us model those aprons in a fashion show. Embarrassing. That’s why, for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why you enrolled in quilting class.” Karla wiped at the corner of her eyes with the back of her hand.

“There was a reason.” Finally, the conversation she’d been wanting to share with Karla for some time.

Karla sobered. “I know. You like the guy that runs the quilt shop. It’s not like before, though, is it?”

“You mean one-sided interest?” Sarah searched her friend’s face.

“No, I mean mixed signals. Sarah, I witnessed that married man talking to you, flirting with you, remember. I know your mom never thought so, but he led you on. You weren’t wrapped up in some fantasy crush. He was a player. Please tell me that Mark isn’t a player because—”

“I have the same look on my face when I talk about him?”

The astonishment on Karla’s face pulled another laugh from Sarah. “Mom told me that.”

Karla’s features softened into a smile.

“One thing I know for sure is Mark isn’t married. A family friend of his teaches the quilting class, and Mark introduced me to his uncle the other night.”

“Okay, so he’s not married, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a player and when your class is over you’ll never see him again.”

“Well…” Sarah wanted to jump to Mark’s defense, but really, this was what she’d wanted Karla’s reassurance on for a long time. “You tell me. He’s always happy to see me. He’s polite and treats me with respect. He compliments me, introduces me to people. We’ve only had one official date, but we spend a lot of time together. He drops by and brings me lunch and calls and text messages me throughout the day. He’s always where he’s supposed to be and, like you and Mom, he expresses his concern that I’m doing too much.” Sarah stopped when she realized that she’d hardly taken a breath while she was ticking off Mark’s attributes. Sheepishness stirred in her. “Sorry, I might have gotten a little carried away there. What do you think?”

“I think the only thing you left out is if he’s a good kisser.” Karla winked.

Sarah smiled broadly. “I don’t kiss and tell.”

Karla returned her smile. “He sounds like a great person. I hope to meet him soon, maybe at the MS walk?”

“You’re coming to the walk?” Sarah clapped her hands together.

“Yes, to support you, encourage you, or just cheer you as you finish.” Karla stood. “I’d better let you get back to work.”

Sarah walked her friend to the door. What an unexpected joy God sent her today.

Karla stopped in front of the door. She pulled Sarah into a tight hug. “I still think that you are overdoing things a bit, but Mark is good for you. Happiness surrounds you like a halo when you talk about him. I really hope he loves you as much as you love him.”

There was no time to respond to Karla’s statement before her friend disappeared out the door. Where did Karla get the idea that Sarah loved Mark? Sarah never mentioned it to anyone, even though it was true. She loved Mark.

“Am I glad to see you.” Mark’s expression showed his relief as he relocked the main door to the quilt shop. “I couldn’t face another Saturday working alone.”

“It’s my pleasure, although I’m not sure how much help I’ll be.” Sarah stashed her purse and tote on the shelf under the cash register.

“Terri’s family is sure having a run of bad luck. First strep, now food poisoning.” Mark sighed and jerked his head toward the H
ELP
W
ANTED
sign. “I guess it’s just coming at a bad time for me.”

“Well, I’m here now. Just show me what you need me to do.” Happiness bounced through her since Mark phoned early this morning. As soon as he’d hung up with Terri, he’d called Sarah. His first choice. He needed her.

“I think you’re here in plenty of time for some training. Measuring and cutting the fabric isn’t that difficult, but there are some other things I’d like to run through.”

“Okay.” Sarah adjusted the ruffled collar of her light pink top. Glad she’d chosen it along with the white crop pants and flat tennis shoes. On the phone, Mark had said to dress casual, but she thought the tennies might be pushing it. To her relief, Mark also wore athletic shoes, jeans, and a white polo shirt with G
RANNY
B
EA’S
stitched across the left side.

“I know it was hypocritical of me to ask you to come in and help me out in the store today when I’m telling you all the time that you overdo it. So, I’m insisting that if you get tired, you go rest in my office. I don’t care how many customers are milling around the store.”

Sarah’s heart swelled with pride and love that she was the first person Mark turned to in his time of trouble. That seemed like a good sign. “I promise I will. But I feel great today. Obviously, you haven’t had any luck hiring someone.” Sarah pointed to the H
ELP
W
ANTED
sign in the store window.

“I’m getting a lot of people who want to work certain part-time hours like afternoons or evenings. But the people who are flexible don’t feel like a good fit for the store.” Mark grimaced. “Sadly, I’ve been down that road, and it’s easier to be under the stress of working alone.”

Sarah closely watched as Mark demonstrated how to lay, smooth, and hold the fabric to cut it to ensure the accurate yardage. When it didn’t take long for Sarah to catch on, Mark left her with instructions on cutting fat quarters while he ran down to the coffee shop for their breakfast.

After an hour of practicing cutting while Mark wrapped and marked the fat quarters, she felt confident she’d be an asset in the store. Time would tell, sooner rather than later. Mark flipped the door sign to O
PEN
and clicked the dead bolt.

Sarah continued to work on the fat-quarter task since Mark had fallen behind on that job in the last week. With each empty cardboard bolt she stacked in the cart beside the cutting table, a sense of accomplishment filled her. Similar to when she delivered parcels, and the piles became smaller and smaller.

Sarah’s first customer test came about thirty minutes after the store opened. While Mark was busy showing a young woman the difference in the sewing machines, Sarah assisted a lady by cutting several yards of three different fabrics.

“What are you making?” Sarah wrote the number of yards on the preprinted form along with the price from the end of the bolt.

“This is backing for several quilt tops my church circle made. We’re raffling one as a fund-raiser and giving the other two to the family that lost their home in a fire.”

“What a wonderful idea. Will you get them quilted that fast?” Sarah measured a length of the fabric against the yardstick built into the counter. She repeated the process six times then smoothed the fabric and ran the scissors down the crevice in the countertop.

“We’re tying the top to the back. That goes fast, and with many hands we’ll get them finished in a couple of hours.”

Sarah slid the folded cloth to the woman who then laid it in her cart.

“I’m not in a circle at my church, but I might steal your idea and see if the ladies in our circle will make a quilt and raffle it for a mission we sponsor in the fall.” Sarah smiled. “We could choose a simple pattern.”

“A nine patch sews fast.”

“A nine patch.” Sarah hadn’t realized that she expressed out loud her mental note for the next committee meeting. Not knowing what that quilt design was, Sarah smiled at the lady. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Our circle made a pretty nine patch in red and green and backed it with poinsettia-printed fabric. We raised quite a bit of money with that quilt.” The elderly lady’s wide smile and twinkling eyes showed her love of quilting.

“Sounds lovely. Is there anything else?” Sarah smiled back at the lady.

“No thank you, dear.”

“Good luck with your projects.”

As the lady walked toward the cash register, Sarah rolled the bolts to tighten the remaining fabric. She heard Mark excuse himself from other customers so he could ring up the elderly lady’s purchases.

Sarah looked up in time to see both Mark and the lady looking her way. The lady waved and headed for the door as Mark walked toward the cutting table. Sarah’s stomach dropped. Had she done something wrong?

Mark shook his head as he crossed his arms over his chest; then he smiled. “That customer just told me that I should give you a raise.” He gathered the bolts of material.

“What?” Sarah giggled. Then she knitted her brows. “You’re teasing me. She didn’t really say that.”

“Yes, she did. She comes in here a lot and told me that even though you don’t know what a nine patch quilt pattern is, you’re a very nice person and you’ll learn.” Mark chuckled.

Sarah laughed out loud. “Guess my expression showed my lack of knowledge.”

Mark shrugged. “All that matters is she left happy. Keep up the good work.”

Sarah watched Mark restock the fabric bolts before returning to the customer in the sewing machine area. She liked that Mark had shared his customer’s compliment. She liked the cheery atmosphere of the store. She liked working with Mark.

After hanging up the phone with Mark this morning, she’d said a prayer for Terri and her family for better health. But Sarah almost hoped Terri needed another day of rest. It was fun working in the store. Sarah had forgotten how enjoyable work could be.

M
ark added more navy-blue thread to the accessories on Sarah’s display. She’d done such a good job helping him out on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen much of her since then. She texted him throughout the day, and they spoke briefly once each day over the phone. Her schedule this week was full. Too full for someone with MS, and he’d added to her burden, leaving her little time to rest.

He really hadn’t expected her to come into the store to work last weekend. After he ended the call with Terri last Saturday, he’d dialed Sarah’s number without thinking, because he had a problem and he wanted to talk to her. Actually, she was the one he wanted to share everything with these days.

That was selfish of him, because what free time Sarah had, she needed to use it resting, not helping him out.

The jangle of the door buzzer startled him, and he knocked over four spools of thread. He caught three before they hit the floor, but the fourth rolled away from him.

“Hi, Mark.”

Mark looked up from his retrieval duties. “Hi, Diane. Did you come for my team information?”

“Yes, and I’ll collect donations if you have any.”

“I have a new team member for Gert’s Gang this year—Sarah Buckley.” Mark made a spool pyramid with the navy thread before he zigzagged around material displays to where Diane stood. “The information’s in my office. I’ll just be a minute.”

Diane was leaning against the register counter when Mark returned with the MS walk packet.

She read the list of names on his envelope. “All the regular walkers plus one.”

“That’s right.”

“Is Sarah Buckley a friend of yours?” Diane glanced up from the envelope.

Mark drew a deep breath. Although Diane had no problem telling him she was engaged, Mark found it hard to tell a former girlfriend that he was dating someone else. Generally, he never again saw the women he dated.

“By the twinkle in your eyes, I’d say more than a friend of yours. A girlfriend, perhaps.” Diane’s warm smile encouraged him.

“We’ve been dating. Nothing serious.” The last two words rushed from Mark’s mouth with practiced ease. Why did he say that? This time it wasn’t true.

“Right, nothing serious.” Diane lowered the envelope then scanned the quilt store before looking directly into Mark’s eyes. “Does she know that?”