The Memory Keeper: A Heartwarming, Feel-Good Romance(71)

“Then we’d better start making some money,” Hannah teased, wiping a vase with a towel to get the dust off of it. “I think that on the heels of the article we’re doing for the paper, the Spring Festival would be our best shot to pull in some serious business and get the word out.” She retrieved the flier from her bag and held it out to Georgia.

“But that’s in three days,” Georgia said, peering down at the paper.

“I know…” Hannah chewed on her lip. “And I was also wondering if you’d like to run a display for the festival. We could put a table with some bouquets under our vendor’s tent outside.”

“You want me to run it?”

“Yeah. I figured you could make little bouquets of some sort for the festivalgoers, and I can be in the shop for anyone who comes in with bigger orders. I’d pay you… You interested?”

Georgia jumped up and down, clapping her hands. “That sounds amazing. Thank you for letting me do this.”

“I’m glad you’re excited.” Hannah looked around the shop, remembering the grievance bouquets Minnie had thought of during the war. “I wish we could find something unique to offer at the festival…” She eyed the different flowers, trying to figure out what they could sell that would be exclusive to what they usually had in the shop. Then suddenly an idea came to her. “What if we did tiny take-away bouquets, and we offered an artful keepsake notecard with a photo of the bouquet with each one?”

“Flowers are forever…” Georgia said.

“No. Memories are forever.”

“That’s perfect.”

“Okay,” Hannah said, feeling the push to get the shop ready. “We’ve got three days.” She dropped the dusting towel onto the counter. “I’ll be back. I’ve got some business to take care of with Christie Wright.”



Hannah set a bottle of water on the grocery checkout in front of Christie.

“Just this?” Christie asked, clearly more questions on her mind than that one.

“And this.” Hannah flattened the dance lesson flier onto the conveyor belt.

“You buyin’ a piece of paper?” she asked.

“Nope. I’m buying the lessons on that piece of paper.”

“You learnin’ a new skill?”

“You are.”

“And when am I supposed to find time to do that?”

“Look.” Hannah pointed to the time listed on the flier. “It’s only once a week to start. I’ll watch Wesley for you if you need me to do that.”

A woman who’d stepped up behind Hannah, holding a loaf of bread and two bags of shredded cheese, cleared her throat.

“Say yes,” Hannah said, handing Christie her credit card to pay for the water.

Christie swiped it, ripping off the receipt and handing it to Hannah with her card. “You’re holdin’ up my line,” she said.

“Then say yes,” she repeated.

The lady behind Hannah coughed and shuffled on her feet.

“The first class is the day after tomorrow. I’ll pick you up,” Hannah said, as she headed out the sliding doors. “I’ll get us both registered.”

Christie rolled her eyes, but she hadn’t said no, which was a good sign.



“Whatcha doing, Hannah?” Noah asked, walking across their farm toward her as Hannah unlatched the tailgate of her father’s truck and jumped up in the back.

After Hannah and Georgia had met with the reporter and finished up for the day at The Memory Keeper, Hannah had called Liam to arrange a time for her and Georgia to do the photo shoot, and to make sure the whole family was okay with being in the shots. While they chatted, she’d suggested they surprise Noah with a game of baseball. The parks office had hooked her up with everything—batting helmets, gloves, bats, and field equipment. She just had to return it by sundown. When Liam reached her, she lifted the bucket of baseballs over the side and handed it to him.

“Baseball,” she said, tossing the bases onto the grass with a smack.

Liam set the bucket down onto the field, which had been cut short to give the ground a chance to rest before they planted crops for the next season. He reached in and grabbed a glove, sliding the well-worn leather over his hand and pinching it closed as if he were catching a ball.

Hannah handed him both a child’s bat and an adult bat, grabbed a couple of batting helmets and hopped down. Then she put a few balls into the pockets of the new joggers she’d bought at the boutique in town. She grabbed the pitcher’s mound and ran to the center of the field to set it up.

“You can pitch?” Liam called over to her. He looked as excited as his son.

“There’s a reason my best friend growing up was a boy,” she replied. She took a ball out of her pocket, reared back, and sent it sailing toward him in a straight shot.

Liam reached up and caught it in his glove, causing Noah to gasp.

“Can I catch one?” Noah asked.

“Sure!” Hannah called over to him. “Grab a glove.”

Liam handed Noah the little league glove and showed him how to squeeze it to catch the ball.

“Do you want one in the air or a ground ball?” Hannah asked from the pitcher’s mound.

“I’ll try a ground ball,” Noah replied.