Clare O’Donohue - The Lover’s Knot

Eleanor looked at Jesse. "We're having the meeting for the Friday Night Quilt Club," she said. "Are you staying?"

"No ma'am," he said. "I'll leave you to it." He grabbed a pecan square and nodded toward me. "Can we talk a minute?"

Outside the shop Jesse stared at his feet. "I'm sorry about, you know…"

"Our fight? Me too. I was out of line," I acknowledged. "I just was having so much fun working with you."

He looked into my eyes. They were warm and kind, and a little unsure. They were nice eyes. "I was too," he said. He took a few steps away from me. "If you'd like to get dinner sometime, when you're ready…"

"I'd like that." I smiled. "I just can't get into a new relationship until I'm over the things that happened in the last one."

He nodded. "You let me know." Then he turned and walked away and I headed back into the shop.

Inside the ladies were sitting in their circle, with Barney in the middle wagging his tail.

"Are you staying?" Eleanor turned her eyes on me.

"I'm staying."

"Well, then, sit down."

So I sat, pulled out the small squares of fabric I'd painted and started my first quilt.

CLARE O'DONOHUE is a freelance television writer/producer. She has worked worldwide on a variety of shows for the Food Network, the History Channel, and truTV, among others. An avid quilter, she also was a producer for HGTV's Simply Quilts.