Page 68 of You Met Me There

Seeing the three men together like this fills me with so much joy. I didn’t know what coming back to Maple Lake would look like, what the family dynamic would feel like, but I’m happy to say that I couldn’t have imagined it being as delightful as this.

Chapter 33

Luke

Isit at a table against the wall as Natalie positions the group of ladies around two gathered tables in the middle of the diner. All of them have gray hair and wear knitted sweaters, despite the summer heat.

Natalie got roped into taking photos for the town’s local knitting club. It’s not what she’s used to, compared to the social media celebrities she’s usually contacted by, but here in Maple Lake, the group seems to be a form of local renown. Everyone knows everyone in this town, and the knitting ladies are no exception. In fact, they seem to be the heart of everything that happens here.

We got here a few minutes earlier than the group, but when the women started trickling in, everything in the diner suddenly stopped, only starting again as the group shuffled tables together and took chairs from neighboring ones.

But every person in the diner seemed to expect it. Men put down their forks to move chairs, and a waitress brought mugs and a pot of coffee before anyone got a chance to order it. Once the ladies were seated and pulling balls of yarn from their handmade bags, the others went back to eating their breakfasts, picking up their conversations where they had been dropped minutes before.

“That’s perfect. Everyone smile for me,” says Natalie, moving around the joined tables with her camera to her face. “Rose, I can’t see you behind the knitting needles.”

Rose—who, upon meeting, I learned is the gas station owner’s wife—scowls before lowering her needles and shooting a wide, wrinkled smile at the camera.

There are six women in the circle, and I’m seeing from the sidelines that each has their own eclectic personality.

Natalie talks to Miss Paula—the lady I understand was the catalyst for this photo session. Miss Paula says something and then smiles broadly as all the ladies laugh at whatever she told them.

The shoot only takes about ten minutes, and when Natalie announces they’re done, she packs her camera away in its leather bag.

“Why don’t you two stay awhile?” Miss Paula asks as soon as I join Natalie by their table.

“Oh,” answers Nat, looking back at me. “We don’t know how to knit.”

“Nonsense,” she laughs. “We’ll teach you. There was a time when none of us knew how, and now look at us.”

There’s much agreement from the other ladies, and Natalie glances at me with a look that says she doesn’t know how to get out of this.

I smile at her. “Sure,” I say, looking back at Miss Paula. “We’d love to learn.” Natalie stares at me with wide eyes. I lean down to whisper in her ear. “Just for a few minutes. It’ll make them happy.”

She nods slowly, and I chuckle, pulling two more chairs to the table.

“What are we making?” I ask, taking a seat and watching as Natalie lowers herself timidly into the one beside me. She smooths her hair down nervously and hangs her camera bag over the back of the chair.

“We’re making squares,” Rose answers, “to make a baby quilt for Paula’s granddaughter.”

I sneak a look at Natalie. Her eyes have gone soft.

“Well, congratulations are in order,” I say to Miss Paula. “First grandchild?”

“Thank you, Luke,” she says. “Yes, it’s my first grandbaby. My daughter is due in the fall.”

“Well”—I place my hands on the table—“what can we do to help?”

The women pull out an assortment of yarns, handing a bundle of pink to Nat and blue to me.

Natalie unwinds the string until there’s a few feet of it draped across her lap. “Is it a boy or a girl?” she asks. “The baby.”

Miss Paula grins. “They don’t know. They’re keeping it a surprise until it’s born.”

“But it’s probably a girl,” Rose pipes in. “That’s my guess anyway, from the way she’s carrying.”

“The way she’s carrying?” I ask.

“If the belly is high and wide, it’s usually a girl. Boys like to hang a little lower,” Rose clarifies with a know-it-all glint in her eyes.