by Amy Clipston
Date? Had he really thought of that word when it came to Nina?
“Ira?”
His mother’s voice drew him out of his thoughts. He looked at her. “Ya?”
“I asked if you wanted more chow chow.”
“Oh. Sure.” He held out his plate, and she spooned a big helping next to his almost finished potpie.
While Judah and Daed discussed going to an auction, Ira stared at the chow chow, still bothered by the direction his thoughts had taken with Nina. Of course their fishing times weren’t dates. They were outings. Yes, that was the right word for them. Outings with his best friend, and so what if that best friend happened to be a girl? Not a single thing about Nina made him think of her as anything other than a friend—even if her hair did smell really, really good, and her full figure was just the right size to tempt him into an embrace.
“Yer food’s growing cold on yer plate, Ira,” Daed said with a small grin.
He hadn’t heard that phrase since he was a kid. Then again, he never let his food get cold—until now. Ira glanced around. Not only had everyone already finished eating but Judah had left the table. He hadn’t even heard his brother get up. He quickly polished off the rest of his meal and then helped Mamm clear the table as his father moved into the living room.
“Everything all right?” Mamm asked when Ira placed a short stack of plates next to the sink.
“Ya. Fine.”
She turned to him. “You don’t have to take Margaret fishing if you don’t want to, despite what yer daed said.”
“I said I would.”
“I know, but you’ve seemed off-kilter since I asked you.” Mamm put her hand on his forearm. “I didn’t realize yer time with Nina was so important to you.”
“It’s not,” he said quickly, but then he regretted the lie. “I mean, it’s not a big deal for Margaret to fish with us. I was just surprised you thought she would want to.”
“Don’t you remember how much she enjoys fishing?” Mamm said. “That’s one reason I thought she and Nina would hit it off. They’re both tomboys.”
Ira frowned. “Nina’s not a tomboy,” he blurted.
Mamm’s brow lifted. “Oh,” she said, and then she paused before adding, “I see.” She turned away from him and started placing dishes into the sink.
Ira frowned, wondering what his mother meant by I see. He decided not to question it. But Nina wasn’t a tomboy, at least not in his mind. Sure, she liked to fish and play sports, and when she helped out on their farm, she wasn’t afraid of getting dirty. But not once had he thought of her as anything but a girl—actually, a woman.
He inwardly groaned. He was thinking far too much about this, and it was giving him a headache. Nina was Nina. Simple as that.
“I’m going to geh feed the horses,” Ira said. At his mother’s nod, he went outside and put his focus on his chores—and away from Nina Stoll.
Chapter 2
On Monday morning, Nina went about her job as a maid at the inn, cleaning the four guest rooms, which had all been booked for the weekend. Business had been steady for months now, which not only put her family in a good mood but also confirmed that their move from Wisconsin to Birch Creek hadn’t been a mistake. For a while there, they hadn’t been sure.
Nina had been homesick as well. Then she’d met Martha, and after that, Ira, and it hadn’t taken long for Birch Creek to feel like home.
Her brother, Levi, and his new wife, Selah, who both worked at the inn, made an excellent team, both as business partners and as a married couple. After helping to plan Cevilla’s wedding, Selah had switched jobs with Nina, finding her niche as a hostess and event planner. That suited Nina just fine. She didn’t want to deal with the guests. They always made her nervous, and when she was nervous, she was clumsy.
She’d spent yesterday and this morning trying not to think about Ira or continuously feel the pinch of pain in her heart because he hadn’t asked her to the singing. She hadn’t been all that successful. He was still in her mind, but at least he was at the back of it instead of consuming her thoughts. Still, she had a difficult time keeping him there. Being in love, especially a one-sided love, was tougher than she’d ever imagined.
When she finished cleaning all the rooms, she went downstairs and decided to break for a snack. She put away her cleaning supplies in the large cabinet in the mudroom, and then she walked behind the inn to the house she shared with her father, Loren, and her grandmother, Delilah. Selah and Levi lived there, too, but they were in the process of building their own house next door.
In the kitchen, Selah and Grossmammi were busy baking muffins for the guests they expected that afternoon. Check in was at three, and they were booked solid until Sunday morning. Sundays had been a concern for a while because most guests left on Sunday morning, and that was when the family attended church services every other week. Then Levi devised a self-checkout system, and his process turned out great. Their guests—many of them there to simply experience Amish Country and enjoy the peace and quiet of Birch Creek on the outskirts of the busier communities in Holmes County—had been honest.
Nina washed her hands and opened the pantry door. She sighed as she searched for the homemade peanut butter and grape jelly. When she found them both, she sighed—again.
“All right, that’s it.”
Nina spun around at her grandmother’s impatient tone. “Huh?”
“You’ve been sighing and moping since Saturday night.” She set her spoon on the spoon rest next to a bowl of batter and marched to the table. “Sit,” she said, pointing at a chair.
“Grossmutter, I—”
“Nina.” She looked at her over silver-rimmed glasses that matched the color of the hair peeking out from under her kapp. “We’re going to talk.”
Nina’s shoulders slumped as she dragged herself to the table. Her grandmother was treating her like a five-year-old even though she was twenty-two. She plopped down on the chair and set the jars on the table in front of her. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Selah and I are concerned about you.” Grossmutter pulled out a chair for herself, across from Nina. “Right, Selah?”
Selah had just put two trays of muffin tins in the oven and closed its door before setting the timer. Now she faced Nina. “Concerned might be too strong a word,” she said, wiping her hands on her apron.
“Nee, it’s not.” Grossmutter pointed to the empty chair next to Nina, and Selah dutifully sat down. Under the table she gave Nina’s hand a squeeze. Both of them knew how Grossmutter could be. She’d been haranguing Selah and Levi about having children from the minute they got married.
Grossmammi folded her hands and rested them on the table. “Now, tell us what’s wrong. And don’t say nix, because that would be a lie.”
Nina almost sighed again but caught herself. She couldn’t lie to her grandmother, especially when she was right. She did have a problem. She stared at the tabletop. “I’m just a little . . . disappointed.”
“About what?” Selah said. In contrast to Grossmutter’s, her tone was soft and encouraging, her blue eyes filled with understanding.
Nina clasped her hands together. “About . . . about . . .”
“Just spit it out, Nina.” Grossmutter tapped her plump finger on the table. “How can we help you if you won’t tell us what’s wrong?”
“Because there’s nee point,” she muttered, looking away. “There’s nix you—or anyone—can do about it.”
“Humph.” Grossmutter frowned. “I refuse to believe that. Nee problem is unsolvable.”
Nina looked at her and then at Selah, who gave her a tiny nod of reassurance. Neither one of them seemed ready to drop the subject, which gave her no choice but to tell them . . . something. But how much would she have to say?
“Well, the Yoders are planning to hold a singing soon.” She started to sigh again but held it in.
“Really?” Grossmutter’s brown eyes lit up like a birthday cake overloaded with candles. “
It’s about time. There hasn’t been a single singing in this community since we moved here.”
“Most of the buwe here don’t like singing,” Selah said. “And there hasn’t been another reason to have one.”
“Nee reason?” Grossmutter gestured to Nina. “There’s a reason right here. The buwe around here need to know what maed are available.”
Nina wanted to sink into the floor. Although she was the only young, single woman in Birch Creek in her twenties, not a single man had shown interest in her. That hadn’t been a problem since she hadn’t been interested in any of them either . . . until now. But even though she didn’t want to date any of the eligible Birch Creek bachelors other than Ira, their lack of attention did bother her. Was she that unattractive and . . . not dateable? Ugh. Now she felt worse than before.
“When is the singing?” Grossmutter said, clasping her hands. “Hopefully not before we have time to make you a new dress. Is that it? You were disappointed because you didn’t have a new dress and thought no one would have time to help you make one? I do! Other than yer two Sunday dresses, all yer clothes are full of grass stains.”
“I don’t know when it is,” Nina whispered, dodging the true reason for her disappointment. “Ira didn’t say.”
“Then we have time. We’ll sew this week.” Grossmammi tapped her chin. “I probably need to take yer measurements again. Yer dresses have been looking a little tight lately.”
Nina pushed the peanut butter and jelly jars away. Her grandmother had made this comment before, more than once. That was ironic since she was more than a little plump herself. Still, Nina didn’t need to be reminded that she’d put on a bit of weight recently. Just a little. She would never be thin, but she didn’t want to burst out of her dresses either.
At least news of the singing had pushed Nina’s sighing and moping out of her grandmother’s mind. Good. She didn’t want to talk about Ira.
“Oh, I just remembered,” Selah said, jumping up from her seat. “I promised Levi I would pick up more cleaning supplies from Schrock’s Grocery. He wants more of Aden’s honey too. The guests can’t get enough of it.” She looked at Grossmutter. “Delilah, would you mind finishing the muffins?”
“Nee, but I thought we had plenty of cleaning supplies.”
“We’re out of a few things, right, Nina?”
Nina looked up at Selah, confused. Grossmutter was right. They did have plenty of supplies, enough to get them through the month. Probably through August too. But Selah’s eyes grew wide, and she gestured to the mudroom door with a quick nod of her head. “Right,” Nina said, not sure what Selah was doing but going along with her anyway.
“How about we geh together?” Selah said, walking over to Nina and practically lifting her by the elbow. “You can tell me exactly what we need.”
“Uh, sure.” Nina stood up before Selah yanked her out of the chair.
“We won’t be gone long.” Selah snatched her purse from the counter and then guided Nina out of the kitchen before Grossmutter could say anything else. Once they were outside and near the barn, Selah let out a breath.
“What’s going on?” Nina asked. “You know we don’t need more cleaning supplies.”
“I’m sorry, but I had to get you out of there. I had to get me out of there.” Selah looked at her. “I love Delilah, but she can be too much. And Levi did mention we were running out of honey. That part was true.”
“Danki,” Nina said, understanding now. She was relieved she didn’t have to listen to her grandmother talk about dresses or singings anymore. “I’ll hitch up the buggy.”
A short while later, as they were on the way to the grocery store, Selah said, “Nina, you mentioned you’re disappointed, but I don’t think it’s about a dress. Do you think the Yoders will expect you to geh when you don’t want to? I understand that. I used to dread going to those things, but at least I had Martha there with me. Then Ruby showed up and went to one of them.” She paused. “I wasn’t very nice to her back then.”
Nina couldn’t imagine Selah not being nice to anyone, but she knew what her sister-in-law said was true. She didn’t know any details other than Selah had trouble with feeling blue and that she saw a counselor. Levi had even gone with her twice. Nina respected that it was Selah and Levi’s business, though, and she never asked either one of them about it.
“Anyway,” Selah said, “I wonder why Freemont decided to have a singing now. It’s not like anyone will want to geh.”
Nina cleared her throat and stared straight ahead.
Selah looked at Nina. “You do?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said softly. “Ira didn’t ask me to geh.”
“He didn’t? Did something happen between you two?”
“Hardly,” Nina mumbled, tightening her grip on the reins.
Selah paused for a moment, and then said, “Did you want him to ask you?”
She glanced at Selah. Why deny the truth? Maybe it was time to tell someone she trusted what was going on with her. “Ya. I did. But that’s me being stupid.”
“You’re not stupid. And I’m not surprised, honestly.”
“You’re not?”
“You and Ira spend a lot of time together.”
“As friends.” Nina guided the buggy to the next road, turning right. “Only friends.” The disappointing word stuck in her throat.
“Friendship can turn into something else. Look at mei bruder and Ruby.”
“Ya, but Ira and I are different.” I’m different. She’d known she wasn’t like typical Amish girls for years, and not just because her grandmother often pointed it out with a decent dose of chagrin. She wasn’t sweet and feminine and pretty like so many girls her age were. She wasn’t interested in cooking and sewing, either, although she knew how to do both passably thanks to Grossmutter. What would Ira see in her anyway? She was just a tomboy with thick eyebrows and an expanding waistline.
Selah chuckled. “Nina, nee two people are more different than Christian and Ruby.”
Despite her negative thoughts, Nina had to smile. Christian and Ruby were unusual, not just as a couple but each in their own right. They were their district’s schoolteachers, in charge of the two classrooms at the school. But while Ruby was extremely outgoing and lively, Christian was staid and more than a little awkward. Yet they were happy together, which was what mattered in any relationship, along with love.
Nina frowned. Happiness and love. Right now, she didn’t have either with Ira.
“Nina,” Selah said, fortunately interrupting Nina’s train of thought, “if you like Ira, why don’t you tell him?”
“It’s not that easy.” She turned to Selah. “Did you ever tell Levi you liked him?”
“Um, nee. Not right away.” Selah sighed. “You’re right. It’s not easy. But yer bruder and I had a different situation than you and Ira do. Levi was mei boss. You and Ira are already friends and on an even playing field.”
“I don’t want to ruin that.”
“But you’re unhappy with the way things are.” Selah put her hand on Nina’s forearm. “Ya?”
She couldn’t lie about that either. “Ya, I am. I don’t know what to do, Selah. I’m confused about everything.”
They rode in silence for a few minutes, Nina feeling more miserable than ever. She didn’t see a way out of this situation without a terrible ending.
Selah snapped her fingers. “I have an idea.”
“Uh-oh.” Usually when she heard those words, her grandmother was saying them, and they almost always meant bad news for Nina.
“Don’t worry, this is a gut idea. Why don’t you prepare a picnic for this Saturday?”
“I always do that.”
“I don’t mean throw a few sandwiches in an old cooler,” Selah said. “I’m talking about a proper lunch. A special lunch.”
“Why would I do that?”
“A picnic can be either friendly or romantic.” Selah had a soft look in her eyes. “You can see how it goes, and
then if you feel like you can tell Ira about yer feelings for him, do. If not, then the two of you are just having a picnic as friends. Ira will be none the wiser.”
Nina’s face heated. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because he can’t know how I feel. That would mess up everything.”
“It didn’t mess up things between Levi and me.” Selah smiled. “I’ve always wished we would have been more straightforward with each other about how we felt. Looking back, I see how foolish it was not to discuss our feelings. We could have spared ourselves some heartache.”
Nina’s heart was definitely aching. “I don’t know,” she said as they neared Schrock’s. “What if he doesn’t feel the same way?”
“Then you’ll learn the truth. Isn’t that better than pining for him like this?”
“I wish I didn’t pine at all. Things would be so much easier if they went back to the way they were.”
“What changed?”
I did.
A car whizzed by, shaking the buggy. Fortunately, their horse wasn’t fazed. They bought him from an auction shortly after moving here, and it hadn’t taken him long to find his way around Birch Creek. Although Nina didn’t appreciate cars speeding past her, she was glad for the distraction, and she ignored Selah’s question. She said a quick prayer of thanks when Selah didn’t bring it up again.
Nina parked the buggy at Schrock’s and looped the reins over the hitching post in front of the building. When she and Selah entered the store, Selah told her she wanted to look around for a few minutes before she picked up the honey. Nina made her way to the back where the cleaning supplies were. If they didn’t return home with one or two items, her grandmother would be suspicious. Nina grabbed some toilet cleaner, which they always needed, and a sturdy scrub brush to replace the one that had seen better days.
She’d just started for the check-out counter when she saw Ira come in. Oh nee. Of all the times for him to show up. Panicked, she went to the very back of the store and hid in the garden supplies aisle. She was surrounded by tools, peat moss, fertilizer, and seeds as she ducked and peered around the endcap. She had a limited view, but if Ira came back here, she would be able to see him.