The truth was Willow didn’t quite remember. “Then it couldn’t be Zeke.” Although Zeke was Collin’s father, Josie had lost contact with him after Zeke dumped her and moved away. “I do remember a boy you liked a lot—it was the first year when you came to live with Asher and me. I think his name was Nathan. He seemed like a nice young man.”
Josie turned to her with surprise. “Yes. It was Nathan. I was only fourteen, but I was head over heels for that boy. And he was nice. Well, until he dumped me for Mattie Harris.” Josie scowled. “I still hate that girl. I hope she’s gotten fat and ugly by now.”
Willow suppressed the urge to chuckle. She wanted to point out that Josie’s hatred toward Mattie was hurting Josie more than Mattie, but she suspected that wouldn’t be too well received. “So, at least you know how Collin might be feeling.”
“Yeah, I’ve been trying to cut him some slack.”
“Good for you.” Willow noticed that Collin was on his way back now. To her relief, he didn’t look too gloomy. Hopefully he hadn’t seen Marissa with her new beau.
“Mr. Emerson is over there.” Collin jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “He’s with a bunch of women.”
“Are you kidding?” Josie stood up, peering in that direction.
“Don’t stare, honey.” Willow tried to act nonchalant. Sowhat if George was here with a bunch of women? Why should it concern her?
“They’re over by the dock,” Collin told Josie.
“I’m gonna go say hello.” Josie took off now.
“I’m sure Mr. Emerson will enjoy that,” Collin said sarcastically as he sat down.
“How many women were with him?” Willow asked.
“I didn’t count them. But I guess it was about six or so. He introduced me to one of them. She’s his neighbor. It looked like he was with her.”
“That must be Lorna Atwood. She lives right next door to him.” Willow wanted to ask if George waswith heras if on a date, but didn’t want to appear overly interested. Really, it was nice that George had gotten out this evening. As she lay back on the quilt, she hoped he’d enjoy tonight’s display. Hopefully he didn’t have a phobia of fireworks or loud noises. At least he’d have a lot of women around to comfort him.
twenty-one
The weekend following the Fourth was busier than ever at the gallery, so much so that Willow actually asked Josie to help out a little. To her surprise, Josie arrived with clean hair and decent clothes and, for the most part, minded her manners. Still, it wasn’t ideal.
“I’d rather be an artist than work in a gallery,” Josie said as she helped Willow to close on Sunday evening.
“I couldn’t agree more.” Willow sighed as she locked the door. “Fortunately, we’re closed tomorrow. Then Joel is back on Tuesday. And I have a couple of applicants to interview.”
“Good. Because I need to get back to my art projects.”
Although Josie still hadn’t managed to connect with George and peruse his attic, she’d unearthed a few stray items in Willow’s studio to keep her busy. So far, she’d decorated a small stepladder and an apple crate, and she was about to start on a pair of wooden stools.
“I’d like to get back to my projects too,” Willow said as they trudged upstairs. She’d bisque-fired her most recent pottery creations, and although she’d glazed them, she hadn’t found the time or energy for their final firing. Maybe tomorrow.As she went into her apartment, she thought about George. She still hadn’t spoken to him. Not since their disagreement over Collin’s college plans. Although it was undeniable that George had overstepped a bit, Willow also had to admit that she’d been unkind and unreasonable. She owed him a sincere apology.
As she changed into more comfortable clothes, she wondered about taking George some sort of gift to help with her apology. She remembered how he’d complimented her on her pottery and thought about the tall vase that was waiting for its last firing. She’d glazed it with a turquoise blue that would look lovely in George’s bungalow. Especially if it was full of sunflowers. As tired as she was, she decided to go down to the basement to load and fire up the kiln.
Of course, it took longer than she expected. But at least she had an automatic timer on this kiln so she wouldn’t need to babysit it like she used to do. Even so, she stayed down there for a while, sweeping up and cleaning paintbrushes that Josie had left behind. And leaving her a reminder note to take better care of them. She paused to look at Josie’s stepladder. It was actually quite nice. Josie had listened to Willow’s suggestions, taking care to be sure that all surfaces were painted. Josie’s eye for color was definitely interesting. And Willow knew that if the right customers came into the gallery, these pieces could sell. At the very least, they were helping Josie to build confidence and would look fun in her apartment.
Finally, satisfied that the kiln was at the right temperature and that the timer was working properly, Willow said a little prayer for good results, then turned off the lights and went up to her apartment. Hopefully there would be nokiln mishaps and George’s tall turquoise vase would look beautiful tomorrow. She was just going into her apartment when Collin popped his head out the door. “You missed Mr. Emerson, Nana.”
“What?”
“He came by here about an hour ago. He said he was just on a walk and had stopped in to say hi.”
“Oh, that’s nice.” She pushed hair away from her damp forehead. “How was he?”
“He acted just fine. Said he really enjoyed the fireworks the other night.” Collin frowned. “Do you think he’s dating his neighbor now?”
“I don’t know.”
“I thought he liked you.”
