Pieces of the Heart by Karen White Page B

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CHAPTER 7

    J EWEL LEANED HER BIKE AGAINST THE WINDOW WITH THE FOR SALE sign in it, then climbed the steps to her grandmother’s shop. It was still early in the morning, and Jewel was glad to see there were no customers parked in front of Rainy Days. She opened the unlocked door, not even bothering to test it first. It was one of things she enjoyed most about living in Hart’s Valley. In Charleston you locked everything, and her dad would never have allowed her to ride her bike anywhere except the driveway behind locked gates. She enjoyed the freedom and the way she could watch the sky fade from blue to purple at the end of the day without city lights and lots of buildings to block the way. Not that she would ever admit any of it to her dad.
    The bells chimed as she got a whiff of rose potpourri and bolts of new fabric and something else that she called magic. She wouldn’t describe it to anyone that way, but the smell of Rainy Days was very much magic. Maybe it was because it was there she felt her mother the most. Sometimes she even imagined that she saw her over near the cash register where Rainy kept the jars of candy and gumballs. Being here made her feel not so alone in the world anymore.
    “Back here!” her grandmother shouted, and Jewel followed the voice to the back room, where quilting scraps were now littering the table and floor as if a tree full of them had been shaken and the fabric leaves allowed to land wherever they would.
    Rainy was poised at the sewing machine table in the corner, threading the bobbin, and looked up over the tops of her bifocals. “Hi, sweetie. Your dad called and said you were on your way over.”
    Jewel rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you call him back and say that a rabid deer attacked me, then carried me off to his evil lair to pelt me with fern fronds.”
    Rainy took off her glasses and stood so she could hug Jewel. “Now, now—he’s your father, and it’s his job to worry about you and make sure you’re safe. Besides, we don’t have ferns here, so he’d know I was lying.”
    They smiled at each other before Rainy pulled away and began looking at the fabric scraps strewn across the table. “I’m looking for some yellow satin with appliquéd daisies—it’s from a formal dress your mother wore in high school. I know it was here yesterday, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere now that I need it.”
    Jewel bent over the table and began looking, her fingers outstretched as she sifted through colors and patterns and memories. She stole a glance at her grandmother. “Was Mom a big football fan?”
    Rainy shook her head, concentrating on the bright colors beneath her hands. “Not really. Well, not until Jude started playing. He’d made the football team here at the high school before his dad moved them all to Atlanta. He was a real star—the youngest quarterback we’d had for a long time.” Rainy’s head was bent forward, but Jewel could see the creases in her cheek as she smiled. “He sure loved that game. I don’t know if he ever played again once they moved, which was a real shame.”
    “So he didn’t graduate from Hart’s Peak High School?”
    Rainy paused, her hands still. “No, sweetie. Jude never graduated. He died his senior year. But I know he always had plans to join his graduating class here at Hart’s Peak, at least for the ceremony. I don’t think he really ever called Atlanta home.”
    Jewel was about to ask another question when the bell above the door chimed, followed quickly by the sound of the door slamming.
    Rainy shouted, “Back here, Caroline.”
    Jewel looked at her with raised eyebrows, and Rainy looked back with the same expression.
    “Her mother called right after your dad did to let me know Caroline was on her way.”
    Jewel almost laughed as they both turned to see Caroline enter.
    Caroline didn’t see Jewel at first as she walked into the cluttered room. But when she spotted her with her red hair tied back in a ponytail