Read Online A Thread of Truth by Marie Bostwick - Free Book Online Page B

with laughter, her tongue pushing out between the circle of her lips with each snort. I joined in. Wendy’s laugh was so unique and so comical that it was impossible not to.
    â€œSo, how are things going around here, Evelyn?” she asked as she bent over her checkbook. “How’re you feeling these days?”
    â€œCouldn’t be better. I just saw my doctor last week. No signs of cancer anywhere. Of course, I’ll have to keep going back for regular checkups, but the doctor thinks I’m fine.”
    â€œThat’s great! Wonderful! And the shop? How’s business been?”
    â€œNot bad. Not booming, but every month is a little better than the one before. Our Internet business is good and we’re getting more walk-in traffic, too. Somebody must be spreading the word. This week I had a group of three customers who were driving from Rhode Island to New York and took a ninety-minute detour just to check us out. Not everyone would go so far out of their way to visit a new shop, but if the word is getting out among the hard-core quilters, it’s a good sign.”
    â€œThat’s terrific,” Wendy commented, and handed me her check. “You’ve come a long way in two years. Remember when you found this place? I’d been going through the longest dry spell, hadn’t gotten a commission check in I don’t know how long, and there I was, getting ready to close up for the night and thinking that I’d just wasted another day of my life in the real estate business when the phone rang. It was you, saying you wanted to lease this old wreck of a building and would be over in five minutes to sign the papers. I was so shocked I didn’t know what to think! It had been so long since anyone had asked about this place that I had to dig through the archived files to find out what they wanted to rent it for. The paperwork was dated something like 1982! Back in the days when I still had all my own teeth!” Snort! Snort!
    I put the check in the register and handed Wendy her receipt. “Remember how you tried to talk me out of taking out the lease? Some Realtor you are.”
    â€œWell, I was worried about you. You’d just been through a divorce. I thought maybe this was your way of going on the rebound. That instead of taking up with another miserable man who would burn through your money and break your heart, you decided to do the same thing except with a quilt shop!” Snort!
    â€œI didn’t see how you could make a go of it, not in this location, but I was dead wrong. Forgive me for doubting you.”
    â€œThat’s all right, Wendy. It isn’t like you were the only one who felt that way. Do you have your punch card with you? You get a fifteen-dollar gift certificate for every three hundred dollars you spend. You must be pretty close by now.”
    â€œHold on,” Wendy said, digging through her voluminous handbag. “It’s in here somewhere.”
    The front door jingled. I looked up to see Abigail and Franklin enter with Liza following close behind. “Liza!” I ran out from behind the counter to give her a hug. “I didn’t know you were coming home this weekend! Does Garrett know?”
    She looked wonderful. She’d gone back to her natural hair color, a deep chestnut brown with some reddish undertones. It was much more becoming than the dye she’d used when we first met. So much had changed since that day when she dragged Abigail into my first Quilt Pink event. The sullen, angry teenager, the girl with the darting eyes, slumped shoulders, and all-black wardrobe had been replaced by a smiling and confident young woman. Of course, she was still our Liza, artistic, a little edgy, blunt, and just as strong-willed as her aunt Abigail. The two of them could go ten rounds over the silliest things, but these days it was more just for her own entertainment than from any desire to really hurt Abigail. She still liked to