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Which was exactly what she pla

At the sound of a vehicle pulling into the drive, Charlotte grabbed her things and hurried to the front door in time to see her niece climbing out of her sunflower-yellow VW Beetle. Falling in line with Je

Flowers weren’t Je

Charlotte loved to see Je

Today, Je

And as usual, Je

“Hello, dear!” Charlotte called as she pushed through the front screen door and bustled down from the porch.

Je

“You ready to go?” Je

Charlotte ’s head bobbed up and down. “The station wagon and U-Haul are both stuffed to the gills. As soon as you’re settled, I’ll be on my way.”

“If you’re in a hurry to get going, don’t let me hold you up,” Je

“Oh, good! And you know where everything is, right? Even in the barn?”

Je

A small weight lifted from Charlotte ’s chest. “Of course you will. I’m sorry, it’s just that I don’t leave them very often, and I’m too used to taking care of them all by myself, I guess.”

“Except when I come over to help you out, which is how I know all of their names, their little quirks, and where everything is that they could possibly need.”

Je

Je

Vinyl seat squeaking as she climbed behind the wheel, Charlotte deposited her purse on the passenger-side floor before fitting the key into the ignition.

“Oh, I nearly forgot.” She hadn’t, of course, but the more spontaneous her gift seemed, the better.

Taking the skein of purple yarn from her lap, she held it out to Je

Je



She leaned in to press a kiss to her aunt’s cheek, then straightened and pushed the door closed.

“Drive carefully,” she said through the open window. “And good luck with the show. I hope you sell out of everything.”

“Me, too, dear. Of course, if that happens, I’ll just have to start all over again.”

One corner of her niece’s mouth quirked up in a grin. “Yes, but you love every minute of it.”

“You know I do,” Charlotte returned with a grin of her own. She cranked the engine and waited for the low throb to vibrate along the car’s long metal frame all the way to her posterior. “All right, then, I’m off. You take care, and if you need anything… Well, I don’t have a cell phone, so if you need anything, you’re going to have to run to someone else. But I will call as often as I can to check in.”

“I’ll be fine. And so will the alpacas. You just go and have fun.”

With a nod, Charlotte put the car in gear and rolled slowly out of her drive. She eased the wagon and U-Haul onto the dirt road, kicking up dust and waving into her rearview mirror at Je

Charlotte hoped for a lot of things for this trip. Safe traveling, high-volume sales of her hand-spun yarns and knit goods… but most of all, she hoped for a very special man to appear in her niece’s life. One who would take the shadows from her eyes and make her smile-really smile-the way she hadn’t since her separation from Gage.

It was a lot to ask of one tiny skein of yarn.

But the spi

Knit 1

The Rob Thomas/Santana collaboration “Smooth” rocked from the small radio/CD player Je

Hips twitching in time with the heavy Latin beat, she punched the blender’s off button and popped the lid, dipping her finger in for a tiny taste.

Mmm, perfect. Mango was definitely a good choice to start. She also had lime, lemon, pineapple, and watermelon-flavored mixes on hand, and all the tequila they could possibly need to make Mexican Night mucho, mucho ay caramba!

Even over the bass of the song and her own humming, Je

The minute she turned the knob, Grace and Ro

A dozen delicious aromas wafted around them, making Je

“We’re here,” Grace a

Laughing, Je

“I’ve got a pitcher of mango margaritas mixed already, but that’s about it.”

“Well, that’s why we’re here,” Ro

Out of long practice and many Girls’ Night get-togethers, they moved around the kitchen as a unit, opening drawers and cupboards, organizing things just the way they wanted them.