Dakota Love (30 page)

Mark chuckled. “For my conscience. I really hated standing you up yesterday.”

“Well, many thanks to you and your conscience for this treat.” Sarah removed a doughnut from the box and held it up. “And for your surprise visit. You’ve made my day.”

“Likewise.” Mark smiled. Should he tell her she’d been making his day every time she stopped into his store?

“I hope you didn’t go out of your way.”

“Actually, I didn’t. I live in the condos not far from here.” Mark pointed to the southeast.

“In the new development?” Sarah nibbled at her glazed doughnut.

Mark nodded his head. “You sound surprised.” Only two-thirds of his doughnut was left after his first bite.

“I guess I assumed because you were a lifelong resident of Sioux Falls that you’d live in a more established neighborhood.”

“We did, but after Mom passed away I downsized. Unlike Caroline’s fiancé, Rodney, I dislike yard work and snow removal especially after a long day of work, so I sold Grandma’s house and bought a condo.”

“Makes sense. I don’t enjoy those activities, either. I rent my Kiwanis Avenue duplex. The owner and his wife live in the other side. He is very particular about his lawn, so he takes care of those things for me.”

Good, because you shouldn’t be doing that kind of work anyway
. Mark broke a sugar-coated doughnut in two and dunked one end into his coffee.

“Thank you again for the treat.” Sarah wiped icing from her fingers.

“I should thank you for indulging me. I thought it’d be nice to have friendly company before I start a long day.” Mark popped the last of his doughnut into his mouth.

“Another one?” Sarah’s dark eyes clouded. “If you want to talk about what happened and why your clerk quit, I don’t mind.”

Was she a mind reader? As soon as it had happened, he’d almost called Sarah to talk. It was the first time he’d wanted to talk to someone other than his mom when he had a problem. He’d actually picked up the phone then reconsidered.

He wiped his mouth and hands on his napkin. “Rachel’s daughter ran into some trouble with the law, so she’s moving her grandchildren to her house.”

“Sounds like Rachel’s family needs our prayers.” Sarah twisted her earring as she shook her head.

“I’d say so. It’s a sad situation, but Rachel’s doing the right thing for the children. She hated to quit with no notice, but given the circumstances she just didn’t feel like she could leave them with a sitter while she worked for two weeks.”

“So now you’re shorthanded.”

“Yes. I’m covering her shifts this week until Terri and I can work out a schedule. I’m heading in to work early so I can get some special orders placed before it’s time to open.” Mark sighed. “Compared to what Rachel’s going through, a few long workdays is nothing, but…”

“You’re not looking forward to it.” Sarah’s eyes conveyed sympathy.

“As much as I like running the quilt shop, I’m not looking forward to several eleven-hour days.”

“It does get tiring. I delivered for UPS for twenty years and pulled long shifts during holiday times.” Sarah’s expression changed to wistful.

“You had to change jobs because of your MS?”

“Yes, the heavy lifting and summer heat made my symptoms flare, so I opted for a climate-controlled job.” She held her hands up, but sadness showed on her face.

“I can tell you miss your old job.”

“I miss being busy and chatting with a variety of people each day. It’s hit or miss most days here on both accounts. Although I’ll find out later today if a large company decided to lease the third floor. If they do I’ll be overseeing the remodeling project.” Sarah’s face brightened.

Mark frowned. He knew how stressful it could be working with contractors, not to mention lessees. She’d be right in the middle of trying to please everyone. Not a good position for an MS patient to be in. “That sounds like a lot of work.”

“I prefer to think of it as a challenge.” Sarah rubbed her palms together.

Mark smiled at her enthusiasm but made a mental note to make sure she took care of herself if the remodel deal went through. “Speaking of challenges, I have my own to handle today. I’d better head to the store and place those orders before it’s time to open.” Mark stood. “And I’m sure I stayed longer than I should have.”

Sarah waved his comment off. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll eat my lunch at my desk. And as you can tell, the phone hasn’t rung once since you arrived.” She put their coffee cups into the kitchen sink and followed Mark into her office area.

Mark slowed his steps to stretch their last moments together. He reached for her hand and cupped it the way he had the night he demonstrated the sewing machine. He felt the familiar curves where the back of her hand met her knuckles, her short, plump fingers, the feathery softness of her skin.

He stopped by the door and searched her face. The soft curve at the corner of her lips beckoned to him. He licked his lips in an attempt to stop the nervous quiver that urged him to kiss Sarah. It didn’t work. He leaned toward her. When their eyes met, hers widened.

He’d never wanted to kiss any woman more than at this moment. He’d never wanted to hold any woman close and feel her warmth like he wanted to do with Sarah. He never wanted to protect any woman like he wanted to protect Sarah.

Her hand trembled in his, reminding him that their surroundings weren’t the appropriate place for a first kiss. He squeezed her hand before lifting it to his lips and pressing a kiss in her palm, never breaking eye contact. He folded her fingers over the spot he kissed.

“Hold on to this for me.” He knew his kiss would be safe with Sarah.

“You are the prettiest sandwich-delivery person I’ve ever seen.” Mark pulled a foot-long sub from a plastic bag.

Sarah giggled. Since Mark kissed her palm she’d been floating in a bubble of happiness.

“Aren’t you eating?” Mark lifted the bag and shook out the napkins. “I can share.”

“It’s all yours. I ate mine on the drive over.” Sarah turned on the demonstrator machine. “I need all the time I can get to try and sew a quilt block on the machine before the class starts. I ended up ripping the last one apart and sewing it by hand.”

Mark brought his sandwich and drink to the middle of the worktable as Sarah spread out her supplies. “Will it bother you if I sit here and watch?”

“No, but it may bother you to watch a woman who has absolutely no idea how to sew since you’re not used to that,” Sarah teased Mark.

He gave her a weary smile. “It won’t bother me. You’re so thoughtful to bring me dinner.”

“I told you I know what it’s like to work long hours. Little things matter.” Besides, she wanted to touch his heart the way he melted hers with the surprise visit to her office.

“I saw the Help Wanted sign in the window. Has anyone applied?” Sarah lined up two pieces of contrasting fabric then tucked them under the presser foot.

“Not yet. I did have a lady inquire, thinking that her daughter may be interested in it. However, Terri’s daughter is home from college in a week. She has a summer internship lined up, but that doesn’t start until the first of June, so Terri’s going to see if she’d like to fill the open position to earn some extra money.” Mark raised the straw to his mouth.

The simple gesture warmed Sarah’s palm where he’d placed his sweet kiss. “That sounds like the perfect solution. Then you can take your time finding the right person for the position.”

Mark nodded as he chewed a bite of sandwich.

The machine whirred as Sarah guided her fabric toward the needle. “Darn.”

“What?” Mark looked over.

“My fabric keeps slipping.” Sarah lifted the presser foot and pulled the pieces free.

“You need to pin it together.” Mark wiped his hands on his napkin.

“Then how will I sew it? Won’t pins break the needle?”

Mark shook his head as he stood. Sarah forgot her quilt project as she watched him walk around the table and stop beside her. His navy-striped polo shirtsleeves stretched tight across his biceps. The sharp crease in his navy trousers, a shade lighter from consistent pressing, led down to athletic shoes.

“I knew I’d be on my feet all day.” He lifted one foot. “I wanted to be comfortable in case the Tuesday night special works. My timing wasn’t good concerning the start of that, but…”

“I was just thinking what a smart man you were, wearing practical shoes on a long day.” Sarah thought she saw the circumference of Mark’s chest increase a little as his instant smile pushed all the weariness from his features.

“You”—Mark tapped the end of her nose with his forefinger—“are just what I needed today.”

His intense stare made Sarah hold her breath. Would he kiss her?

Mark leaned toward her, closing the gap between them. The emotion conveyed in his hazel eyes caused a rapid pattering of her heart. His warm breath tickled her cheek. Sarah leaned forward and tilted her chin, ready to receive his kiss.

A light rap on the workroom door broke their eye contact. “Sorry to interrupt your dinner, but it’s time for me to leave.” Terri threw her boss an apologetic look.

Sarah caught the slight tremble of Mark’s hand as he glanced at his watch. Was attraction surging through him, too? Numbing his thoughts and putting his senses on high alert?

“Go ahead and leave.” Mark’s baritone held a bass edge. He cleared his throat. “I’ll go out to the sales floor as soon as I show Sarah a sewing method.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow at noon.” Terri gave them a wiggle-finger wave as she left through the back door.

“Let’s start with two new pieces of your pattern.” Mark held out a steady hand.

Sarah lifted two pieces of her quilt block, hoping Mark didn’t see her own hand shake from her palpitating heart, and laid them in Mark’s outstretched palm. How had he gained control in such a short time?

Mark lined up the raw edges of Sarah’s quilt blocks. “Slide your straight pins over to me.” He pinched several pins out of her plastic pin container and scattered them on the table. “This is what you need to do.” He poked each of the pins into cloth so that the sharp end was even with the raw edge of the fabric. He handed it back to Sarah.

She studied the pins lined up a few inches apart. “Do I take the pins out as I sew?”

“You could, but I think you’d have better luck leaving them in until your seam was finished. Don’t worry. The machine will stitch right over the pins. Try it.”

Sarah lined the fabric up with the seam-measurement marker on the sewing machine. She lowered the presser foot and slowly pushed down on the foot feed. Concentrating on her sewing, Sarah began to regain control of her emotions. After a few minutes, she was finished. “That worked so much better!”

Mark’s eyes crinkled from his wide smile. “Have fun practicing.” He scooped his garbage up from the table and headed toward the door.

“Are you sure you don’t know how to sew?” Sarah started pulling pins out of the material.

“Only enough to demonstrate the machines I sell.” Mark winked then walked out the door.

Although the edges weren’t even, Sarah had one block sewed by the time Caroline and her classmates started arriving. She wasn’t sure if it was faster to sew by hand or the machine. Both took arm control. Yet MS tingled her arm as if it were asleep—more times than she cared to admit by this time of the day.

Once everyone was seated, Caroline began the class. “I just want everyone to work on their projects tonight. I’ll walk through and check your progress or answer any questions that might have come up since you worked on your projects last week.” She held up a table runner. “I finished this during the week. I’ll pass it around so you can see how the blocks look when they’re finished and sewn together.”

Caroline handed the table runner to Sarah, who ran her fingers over the Job’s Tears blocks. Caroline had sewn the quilt’s pattern pieces crisp and even, creating distinct angles that added to the beauty of the block. Sarah’s heart sank a little. Even her hand-sewn blocks were jagged in spots, giving her block a choppy look. Karla was probably right—Sarah was wasting her time.

“While you’re looking at the table runner, don’t use it as a measure for your project. I’ve been sewing and quilting since I was teenager.”

Sarah slowly lifted her eyes to Caroline.

“Your wistful expression gave you away. The very first quilt I ever made was four-by-four-inch blocks, in pink and orange, sewn in rows. Some had wide seams and some had narrow seams. At ten, I wanted to do whatever my mom did, so while she made a double wedding ring quilt for my grandparents’ fortieth wedding anniversary, I stitched a psychedelic twin-sized quilt for my bed, which brings me to something I’d like to discuss tonight.”

After examining the front and back of Caroline’s table runner, Sarah passed it to one of the elderly ladies then resumed pinning more pieces together as the other machines’ purrs mocked her lack of abilities. Yet the last block she sewed was her best work so far.

Caroline examined everyone’s stacks of blocks and returned to the front of the room. She pulled a chair to the center. “I’m sorry I didn’t bring my hippie quilt, as my grandmother donned it.”

“You still have it?” the teenage girl asked.