The Christmas Boutique (The Elm Creek Quilts Series) by Jennifer Chiaverini

Author:Jennifer Chiaverini [Chiaverini, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: 2019-10-01T05:00:00+00:00

6

Gwen

On Tuesday afternoon, Gwen and Sylvia finished revising their plan for the arrangement of the Christmas Boutique booths, while Andrew and Joe put away the last of the sewing machines, irons, rotary cutting mats, and other quilt-camp tools and equipment. The tall white partitions and tables remained in the middle of the ballroom, ready to be moved into position to form spacious aisles and market stalls. On Wednesday afternoon, as soon as Gwen finished proctoring her last final exam of the day, she drove to Elm Creek Manor to get started.

It was a bright, sunny day, clear but bracingly cold, with capricious gusts of wind that blew clumps of snow from the treetops onto the road and the hood of her car as she drove through the forest from the highway to the rear parking lot of Elm Creek Manor. Gwen had been monitoring the weather forecasts closely ever since Nancy and Melanie had asked the Elm Creek Quilters to take on the Christmas Boutique, and thus far, all indications were that they could expect seasonally cold temperatures blessedly free of blizzards. A few inches of snow were expected to fall on the Elm Creek Valley late Saturday night, but as long as the snowplows cleared the roadways by Sunday morning, the weather should not interfere with their plans for a successful fund-raiser.

Or, of greater significance to Gwen personally, with her daughter’s flight home.

About 575 miles to the west, Summer was finishing up her first semester of graduate school at the University of Chicago. As far as Gwen could tell from her frequent phone calls and occasional emails, she was thriving there. Her classes were challenging but fascinating, her professors exacting but fair. She had made new friends, and was especially close with the three graduate students with whom she shared an apartment in Hyde Park near Kenwood and Fifty-Sixth. In fact, Summer was so engrossed in her studies and so happy in her new surroundings that she had not come home for Thanksgiving. Gwen had been horribly disappointed when Summer hesitantly broke the bad news over the phone, but having survived a grueling graduate program herself, Gwen knew how difficult it was to get away from campus, how precious those four-day weekends were when one had sleep to catch up on, reading to plow through, and papers to write.

“You should do what you need to do,” Gwen had bravely replied, forcing cheerfulness into her voice. “I’ll see you in December.” Summer, clearly relieved, had thanked her for understanding, but as soon as they hung up, Gwen burst into tears.

She and Summer had never been apart so long. Summer had earned her undergraduate degree at Waterford College, so even though she had lived in a campus dorm during her freshman year and had shared an apartment with friends after that, she had come home for dinner at least once a week and they saw each other frequently at Elm Creek Manor. All that had ended when Summer departed for Chicago.

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