Georgia Sweethearts
A Pattern for Love After inheriting her great aunt’s failing yarn shop, Lily Barnes is determined to make it a success. All she wants is stability, something she doesn’t think possible in the small town of Corinthia, Georgia. Then Pastor Daniel Foreman rents space in her store to hold meetings for his growing congregation, which proves to be her lifeline.At first, Lily wants nothing to do with Daniel’s big dreams, but she soon finds herself starting to share his goals. Yet trouble between her customers and his congregation make them both doubt the path they’re on. That is, until practical Lily shows him that love is a risk worth taking.
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A Pattern For Love
After inheriting her great-aunt’s failing yarn shop, Lilly Barnes is determined to make it a success. All she wants is stability, something she doesn’t think possible in the small town of Corinthia, Georgia. Then Pastor Daniel Foreman rents space in her store to hold meetings for his growing congregation, and this proves to be her lifeline. At first Lily wants nothing to do with Daniel’s big dreams, but she soon finds herself starting to share his goals. Yet trouble between her customers and his congregation make them both doubt the path they’re on. That is, until practical Lily shows him that love is a risk worth taking.
“I couldn’t help it. You’re just so beautiful when you’re mad.”
She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and shook her head. “Words a woman longs to hear. Now…since I don’t want to talk business with you unless you’re here to buy yarn, I suggest you leave before you make me truly angry and find out how utterly gorgeous I can be.”
Even though he knew it would probably blow up in his face, he couldn’t help the grin that formed. “I like you, Lilly Barnes. I hope you’ll let me look at your basement and then listen to my offer.”
“Bribery, huh? I have to say you’ve caught my attention.”
“I prefer to think of it as incentive.”
She nodded toward a door at the back of the shop. “It couldn’t hurt to let you look.”
One small victory. He tried not to irritate her with a smile.
MISSY TIPPENS
Born and raised in Kentucky, Missy met her very own hero when she headed to grad school in Atlanta, Georgia. She promptly fell in love and hasn’t left Georgia since. She and her pastor husband have been married twenty-five-plus years now and have been blessed with three wonderful children and an assortment of pets.
Missy is thankful to God that she’s been called to write stories of love and faith. After ten years of pursuing her dream of being published, she made her first sale of a full-length novel to the Love Inspired line. She still pinches herself to see if it really happened!
Missy would love to hear from readers through her website, www.missytippens.com, or by email at
[email protected]. For those with no internet access, you may reach her c/o Love Inspired Books, 233 Broadway, Suite 1001, New York, NY 10279.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
—1 Corinthians 13:13
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not
on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
—Proverbs 3:5,6
To my agent Natasha Kern—
For your unfailing encouragement.
To my readers—
For letters and emails that touch my heart.
To God—
For the lessons You teach me through the journey of each book.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to author Shirley Jump for her online writing classes and for invaluable feedback on my homework assignments—which became this story!
Special thanks to Gail White
for generously sharing her time and talent by starting the Yarners group at my church. And to Marla Weaver and Penny for patiently teaching this hopeless knitter how to attempt to make a scarf. Maybe someday I’ll finish it.
Thank you to my amazing editors Emily Rodmell and Elizabeth Mazer for your guidance
and for making the book better. I’m blessed to be able to work with you.
A big thank-you to all the other wonderful folks
at Love Inspired Books, especially those who do the behind-the-scenes work. Please know that I appreciate you!
Contents
Chapter One
The third time Lillianne Barnes dropped the knitting needle—along with two stitches—should have been a clue. But she kept clacking the needles and wrapping the yarn like Great-Aunt Talitha had taught her, trying to make the soft blue yarn into something...anything. She glanced at the supposedly simple, “no-fail” directions. No fail for everyone else, maybe. But not for her.
Lilly chewed her lip as she tried one more time to carefully slip the loop of yarn to complete the transfer of the stitch from one needle to the other. It went where it was supposed to go, but the last two uneven loops followed prematurely and began to unravel.
She’d left her perfectly good job as manager of women’s clothing at a high-end department store—secure, enjoyable, with benefits—for this...mess?
With a growl, she tossed the whole bundle aside. “I give up. I cannot knit.”
“Must be a problem if you work in a yarn shop.”
She yelped, then jumped up, the metal folding chair scraping the floor behind her. A man built like a professional athlete stood in the doorway watching her with a bemused expression. His dark blond hair, playful blue eyes and crooked smile made her suck in a breath and hold it. Still, gorgeous or not, Mr. Six-Foot-Plus and his big, broad shoulders had barged in, ignoring the sign out front.
