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Evelyn didn’t know her sisters had followed behind her until she heard Celeste say, “You’re making a sweater for Arthur?”

Arthur Powell was from the most well-to-do family on the lake, even wealthier than they were. He was a perfectly nice, good-looking guy, but she didn’t love him.

Evelyn had always told her sisters everything before. But now, for the first time ever, there was something she wanted to keep all to herself.

“Could you talk me through this Fair Isle pattern?” was what she finally said, a knot of guilt forming in Evelyn’s stomach as her sisters stared at her, then nodded.

Together, Celeste and Rose talked her through the difficult first few rows of the sweater that would keep Carlos warm—and make his blue eyes seem even bluer.

Evelyn had never had the patience for handiwork like this, had never enjoyed needlepoint or quilting. But here she was, sweating it out over counting stitches and alternating colors for a sweater that she wasn’t sure she would ever have the guts to actually give to a stranger.

A stranger she suspected just might steal her heart.

C
ould I have a glass of water, honey?”

Andi was so riveted by her grandmother’s story that it took her a moment to respond. “Of course, Grandma. I’ll be right back with it.”

At first it had been a little bit of a shock to realize Evelyn had been head over heels in love with someone who wasn’t her grandfather. But then, Andi suddenly thought, with a strange sense of kinship to her grandmother, maybe everyone had a Nate in their past, a man they wanted but couldn’t have.

Still, none of this helped her understand why her grandmother was so attached to the carousel.

Coming back in with the water, Andi waited until Evelyn finishing drinking as if she’d been walking through the desert. But then suddenly the glass fell to the ground and shattered as her grandmother began to cough, deep hacking coughs that wracked her small frame.

“Grandma!”

Their earlier roles in the garden now reversed—Andi was the one trying to comfort her grandmother this time—she rubbed Evelyn’s back, noticing as she did so just how much the bones in her grandmother’s ribs and spine pressed into her palm.

Andi hated feeling palpable proof of the fact that the woman she loved so much was losing more and more of the flesh every year that had once protected her from falls, from illness.

Fortunately this coughing fit wasn’t nearly as prolonged as the one in Lake Yarns had been, and a moment later Evelyn managed to say, “The water went down the wrong pipe.”

Andi made sure none of the glass had pierced her grandmother’s skin before she knelt down carefully on the ground to pick up the shards of glass.

“You shouldn’t have tired yourself out with all that talking.”

“But you had to know, didn’t you?”

Didn’t her grandmother realize she hadn’t yet got to the part about the carousel, hadn’t yet told her why it was so important? But Andi knew she couldn’t ask her now. Not today. Not when Evelyn shouldn’t be doing anything but resting. Especially not revisiting such emotional territory.

After last night in the Tavern with Nate, Andi knew firsthand how fiercely all of those lost dreams and hopes ripped at your heart.

“I want you to see the doctor again, Grandma.”

“Pfft. I told you. The water went down the wrong pipe. Besides, your mother needs me to help her with the inventory today. I need to head in soon.”

“No way. I’m going to go help Mom with the store again so that you can stay here. In bed.”

Andi refused to leave until she had her grandmother tucked in beneath the soft covers of her bed with a couple of books and another glass of water on the bedside table.

Her project workload would just have to wait again. Lake Yarns was calling.

Carol was helping a customer when Andi walked into the store. “Andi, honey, would you mind coming over here to give us your opinion? We’re trying to figure out the best color combination for a blanket.”

Andi walked over to the table where a dozen skeins of various colors were set up in three different groupings. She quickly pulled a skein out of each grouping. “These.”

The customer said, “Perfect! Now why didn’t we see that?”

“My daughter has a great eye,” Carol said with pride, and Andi wondered for half a second if it was true. She never had any problem putting together her presentations, but that seemed less about design than content.

After Carol finished ringing up the yarn, she came over to where Andi was sitting in the back, booting up their old computer.

“I’m going to take over for Grandma today if that’s okay with you. I went over to her cottage for a visit this morning.”
And she told me all about a man named Carlos.
Something told Andi not to bring that up with her mother, who most likely wouldn’t appreciate hearing that Grandpa wasn’t Evelyn’s one true love. “She started coughing again, so I sent her back to bed.”

“You know I love having you here,” her mother said again, her big smile sending off more of those pangs of guilt in Andi’s chest. Carol pointed to the computer screen. “Everything look okay?”

“Actually, I’ve been looking at your ordering and inventory systems, and I can’t help but think everything would run more smoothly if you upgraded a few things.”

“You’re the expert. We trust you to do what’s right for the store.”

Andi’s fingers stilled on the keyboard as she remembered Nate’s pointed questions from last night, the way he’d said she was only thinking of her career, not of her own town. Of course, the condos were going to be good for the store. Her mother’s trust wasn’t misplaced. Andi would never do anything to hurt Lake Yarns.

Although, truth be told, she was beginning to worry about how her mother and grandmother were going to cope with running the store by themselves in the coming years. Was there anyone they trusted to take over one day as manager?

“Mom, do you and Grandma have many employees?”

Her mother pulled up a chair and sat down. “A few ladies who come in part-time now and again. Jenny is probably here the most. Why do you ask?”

Not wanting to tread on her mother’s toes—after all, she’d been running this store with absolutely no help from her daughter for decades—Andi proceeded carefully. “With Grandma starting to slow down, I can’t help but think running Lake Yarns alone has got to be a big burden for you.” She gauged her mother’s expression before continuing, “Have you ever thought about hiring a manager? Perhaps one of the women who already works here?”

“I’ve been trying to get Evelyn to agree to hire a manager, but so far your grandmother refuses to even consider it.”

Andi found herself staring at her mother practically openmouthed in surprise. This was the first time she had heard anything about problems at the store. The irony wasn’t lost on her: her job was fixing companies that were breaking.

And yet, her own mother hadn’t thought to come to her for help with their family business.

“How long have you been talking about this?” Andi asked her mother.

Carol sighed. “Awhile now. But Evelyn says the store should be run by family, not a stranger who is only working for a paycheck. That it’s about love and personal connection, not money. You know how she is. There’s no talking to her about anything. Her way or the highway.” She smiled. “You’ve always reminded me a lot of her.”

Barely biting back a
how?
Andi wasn’t the least bit reassured by her mother’s answer. Not when the only family member left to manage the store was her—and they all knew the last thing Andi was going to do was give up her job and move back to Emerald Lake to run Lake Yarns.

Later that afternoon, Andi caught Carol yawning for what had to be the hundredth time. It was one thing to worry about her mother from a distance, but it was another to watch her barely make it through the day.

“Haven’t been sleeping well?”

“Oh honey, it’s just that ever since your father passed away, the bed has seemed too big.”

Andi was a breath away from noting that her father had rarely been there, even when he was alive, but she knew that wasn’t what her mother needed to hear.

“Did you take any time off, Mom? After?”

“It’s better to be busy.”

Andi knew she should agree. After all, hadn’t she done the same thing? Gone to her father’s funeral in Washington, D.C., one day and been back at her desk in New York City the next.

“But you seem really tired.” Andi was reminded of the way her mom would be in the weeks after her father went back to D.C. “Maybe I should just kick you out, just like I did with Grandma yesterday.”

Carol’s eyelids were drooping, but she still insisted, “Oh no, you’ve already done too much.”

Was her mother kidding? Two days in the store wasn’t even close to “too much.” Sure, Andi was neglecting her own job. But her family needed her right now.

“Please, Mom. I’m happy to take care of closing up.”

“Well, if you’re absolutely sure.”

“Positive.”

Heck, she’d already made it through a day and a half at the store. She was feeling pretty proud of herself and of the fact that she could almost talk about yarn and patterns with customers like she had half a clue what she was saying.

Andi didn’t see Nate standing just inside the doorway until Carol moved to go get her things.

“You’re a good daughter,” he said softly to her, right before Carol went to say hello to him. Andi moved over to the register and tried to act really busy, even though she knew there was no escaping him.

She shouldn’t want to escape him. Or should she? Would it be better for both of them? Would it be easier if she just turned around and went away again? If she had never come back at all?

Nate walked Carol out, then came up to the counter and leaned against it, looking even better by day than he had last night. Andi had always loved the way his dark hair curled a little bit at the nape of his neck, the faint hint of stubble that always magically appeared at 5 p.m., the amazingly long eyelashes on such an otherwise masculine face.

And here she’d thought she would be better prepared to see him now that the first shock was past.

Good one.

“Andi, I’m glad you’re here.”

He ran a hand through his hair, leaving the soft dark strands sticking up just enough that she had to grip the edge of the cash register to prevent herself from reaching out and smoothing them down.

“I was sitting in an Adirondack Council meeting today, and I was missing pretty much everything I needed to hear because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Because I couldn’t stop thinking about the things I said to you. I was out of line, Andi. That’s why I needed to come here today, needed to see you again to make sure that you don’t hate me.”

“I still don’t like the things you said, but I don’t hate you.” How could she possibly hate someone she’d once loved so much? She forced herself to meet his gaze head-on. “But that doesn’t mean I’m backing down on the project.”

He looked as tired as she felt. So much for the peaceful lake town where you could let your cares drift away. Not one of them was getting any sleep in Emerald Lake.

“I know you’re not,” he said. “Here’s the thing. I know we didn’t exactly see eye to eye last night.”

She raised an eyebrow at that stupendous understatement. “There was practically blood, Nate.”

He winced. “Again, I’m a total asshole.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” she said with a small smile. “
Total
might be taking it too far.”

It was good to see him start to grin, and despite the words that had been shot out across a scratched-up table at the Tavern, Andi knew she wasn’t ready to lose him as a friend. Not when she’d only just found him again.

“You were right. I can see that now. We’ve got to talk about what happened between us. We can’t pretend nothing happened when we were eighteen.” He shook his head. “It’s just that I honestly didn’t realize things had affected me like that.”

Appreciating his honesty, she found herself admitting, “Me, either.”

“Once we’ve hashed through everything, said whatever needs to be said, we can leave the past in the past. Where it belongs. You weren’t the one making things personal last night. It was me, Andi. I shouldn’t have done that. I won’t do it again.”

Boy, he sounded so sensible now. So different from the man who had been coming at her last night, all emotion and unavoidable feelings.

Andi knew she shouldn’t be wanting that intense, difficult Nate back.

But she did.

Because then at least she’d known he cared.

No. That was crazy. Of course, she was happy that they weren’t at a total impasse. Of course, she was thrilled that he was willing to discuss the condos with her in greater detail without it becoming a big, heated fight where one of them ended up storming out.

He cleared his throat, looking more than a little nervous. “So I was thinking, what if we each get one night to try to make our point about the condos?”

One night.

Her brain—and body—immediately spun off in the worst possible direction, away from condos and proposals and sensible discussions to other nights full of kisses and sweet caresses from their past.

The same past that Nate was so bound and determined to put to rest. The same past she knew she needed to let go of too.

Andi licked her lips, hating her own nervous gesture, but not knowing how to stop the nerves when Nate was this close, his warmth radiating out at her from across the counter.

“I want one night to remind you of everything that’s good about Emerald Lake. What do you say? Will you give me one night, Andi?”

Was that really yearning in his voice? Or was she just imagining it was there because that was what she suddenly wanted to hear?

“When?”

“How about I’ll take tonight and you take tomorrow night?”

The longing to be with him swelled within her, swift and overpowering, pulling all of her emotions to swirl around inside her chest, right behind her breastbone.

Still she tried with everything she had to tell herself it was the businesswoman saying, “You’ve got yourself a deal,” and not the flesh and blood woman inside.