Marie flipped her ponytail over one shoulder. “No, he wasn’t. And before you start arguing, listen. First of all, John and I are together, so he wouldn’t be looking at me even if he wasn’t looking at you.”
“Which he was,” E.A. said, sounding triumphant.
“Stop,” Katie said as forcefully as she dared. “The men are going to hear you.”
But E.A. only shrugged, like that concern wasn’t important. And Marie? Well, Marie just kept talking like she was a lawyer proving her case.
“Secondly, he was staring at you like you were the most fascinating thing he’s ever seen. You couldn’t have missed that, so stop pretending otherwise. What has been going on between the two of you?”
“Nothing.” Fearing she was going to say something that she might later regret, she rubbed some lotion on her hands and walked toward the door. “Come on, let’s go. The men are waiting.”
“Oh, they can wait another minute or two,” E.A. said. “Look, you don’t have to tell us everything.”
“That’s right,” Kendra said with a nod. “Just the important things.”
“What happened in this house that made everything between you two change?” Marie finished up.
It was becoming obvious that she was no match against three curious women. She also didn’t want to lie . . . and maybe sharing a bit would help her get a handle on things? “We started talking more, I think.”
“You two weren’t talking before?”
“Not like this. I mean, first there was the whole Melody thing. Once I told Harley I was sorry that I talked bad about her and he admitted that they would’ve broken up anyway, we started talking about things that mattered.”
E.A. wrinkled her nose. “That’s all that took?”
“The Melody issue was a pretty big obstacle, Elizabeth,” Katie said.
“So, you two just needed to iron things out,” Kendra murmured.
Katie shrugged. Honestly, she didn’t know what had happened. Only that one day she wanted to avoid him . . . and on the next she couldn’t wait to see him again.
Marie smiled. “I get it now. Thanks, Katie.”
“Um, I don’t,” E.A. blurted. “What is there to get?”
“I’ll tell you later. Let’s go meet the boys,” Marie said softly as Will called up to them.
“Fine,” E.A. said in a huff.
Marie linked her arm through Katie’s as they followed E.A. and Kendra down the stairs. “You okay?”
“I’m just not used to being the focus of speculation.”
“We all love both you and Harley. You can’t fault us for being curious, Katie. We’re loyal but we’re also human.”
“Point taken.” After all, she’d kind of done the same thing to Marie when she and John B. were first dating.
When they got downstairs at last, Will was staring up at them with a scowl on his face. “It took you ladies long enough.”
“We had to wash our hands,” Marie retorted. “I hope you washed yours, too.”
“We did. Let’s go, jah?”
Logan waved a hand. “Lead on, ladies. We’ll follow right behind.”
“Oh, brother.”
As they started walking down her driveway, Katie caught Kyle’s eye and smiled. He smiled back before walking to his brother’s side.
Fifteen minutes later, they were all in Walnut Creek Cheese Shop and started ordering sandwiches, chips, and the last cups of iced tea and lemonade.
Right when they were headed out, the door opened again. A pretty brunette English girl with chocolate-colored eyes entered. She had on short blue jean shorts and a snug-fitting striped T-shirt. She smiled at all of them, then stilled. “Oh my goodness. Kyle?”
Kyle turned and gaped at her. After visibly collecting himself, he walked over to her. “Hey, Gabby.”
Looking over at Harley, Katie raised her eyebrows. She’d been thinking that his interest in an Englischer girl was probably just a passing phase, but both the woman’s looks and Kyle’s reaction told a different story.
He was hooked. Line and sinker. And she was fairly sure his parents were going to have plenty to say about that.
SIXTEEN
Pretending to be aggrieved, Harley closed his eyes and shook his head. “Katie Steury, just as bold as you please, chirped, ‘We were going to go swimming in your lake.’ ”
Both she and Kyle Lambright were in the middle of Walnut Creek Cheese Shop at the same time, and Gabby Ferrara had never felt so awkward in her life. That was saying a lot, given the way things had gone for most of her life.
She’d just stepped out for a minute after turning in her application and being told that the manager could go ahead and interview her if she hadn’t minded waiting. She hadn’t minded waiting. Not one bit. If the interview went well, she could start really making some money, which meant that she could finally start having some choices in her life. She really needed to start having some choices.
But now her decision to apply for a job at the famous establishment felt pretty dumb. Lots of Amish shopped here, which meant she would see Kyle pretty often.
Which was going to be pretty hard, since she liked him a lot while he was probably thinking that she was just a reason to let off a little steam before he was baptized and found a suitable Amish girl.
Standing there, with all of Kyle’s friends looking at her like she was an unusual sight at the zoo, Gabby didn’t know where to look. She felt her skin flush and her palms get a little damp—both telltale signs of just how awkward she was finding the situation. This was the first time that her world and Kyle’s had intersected.
Why had she even called out his name, anyway? He was with a bunch of his friends. He probably would’ve never looked twice at her if she hadn’t called attention to herself.
Maybe Kyle knew that, because he solved the problem right away.
“It’s sure a surprise to see ya here,” Kyle said with a soft smile.
“I thought the same thing about you.”
He held up a paper sack. “We’ve been working at a house today and decided to take a break. What about you?”
“Me?” A sudden thought occurred to her. She glanced at the phone in her hand. “You eat dinner at eleven in the morning?”
“I mean lunch. We’re breaking for lunch.” Smiling in that cute way of his, he lowered his voice. “My family calls lunch ‘dinner’ and dinner ‘supper.’ ”
“It sounds confusing.”
He chuckled. “I guess it sometimes is. Anyway, what brings you here? Are you getting lunch/dinner, too?”
“No. I only ran in here to pick up a job application and fill it out. But the manager said if I waited, I could get an interview right now, too.”
“You want to work here?”
Maybe she only imagined that he was staring at her bare legs and T-shirt like it was the world’s worst outfit to wear to apply for jobs.
“Maybe, though I would’ve worn something else if I’d thought I was going to have an interview.”
“Nee, that wasn’t what I meant. I was just surprised that you wanted to work here, that’s all. I thought it might be boring for you.”
Feeling more comfortable, she teased him. “Not so much . . . I mean, look what already happened. We ran into each other.”
“That we did.”
Tearing her gaze from him, she noticed all the people with him were watching their conversation intently. “So, you’re here with a lot of people,” she whispered. There had to be seven people with him, men and women. All about the same age. Some were Amish, some English. One of the girls looked to be Mennonite.
After darting a glance behind him, he smirked. “Jah. We decided to take a break from work.”
“But I thought you worked construction.”
“I do. I mean, that’s my brother’s job.”
“Are all of you working construction today? The women, too?”
He looked around, like he was surprised his friends were still there. “Ah. We’v
e been doing some cleaning today. No real construction.”
“Oh.”
“Kyle?” a man called out, sounding impatient. “You coming?”
“What?” Whatever he saw must have made him nod. “Oh, sure. I’ll be right there.”
Gabby backed up. “I’m sorry. I’ll let you go.”
“Nee.” He rolled his eyes. “I mean, no. You don’t need to do that.”
“Are you sure?” She lowered her voice. “That man looked like he wasn’t happy with you standing here.”
“Him? He don’t matter. I mean, it’s just my brother.”
She took another peek at him. When she saw he noticed her looking at him, she averted her eyes. Boy, he probably thought she was so rude.
Kyle was still waiting for her to agree, but something was holding her back.
No, it wasn’t something, it was because she was afraid his brother was going to find another reason to warn Kyle away from her after they talked.
As the seconds of awkward silence passed between them, she knew it was time to move him along. “So, I better go stand over by the manager’s office before they forget that they asked me to stay.” She pasted a smile on her face. “I’ll be seeing you.”
Kyle reached out and pressed his fingers against her bare arm. “Gabby, wait.”
When she looked down at his hand, trying hard not to notice how even that one simple touch could affect her, she looked back into his eyes.
They looked hesitant. “I mean, I want to introduce you to my brother.” Before she could say a word, he called out, “Harley, come here, wouldja? I want you to meet a friend of mine.”
“Kyle, do you want to introduce the rest of us, too?” a handsome blond man asked, amusement thick in his tone.
“Ah, nee. I do not.”
While the others laughed and walked out the door, the man who had called out to him earlier approached. He looked much like Kyle, except he had green eyes and a thicker build. He also was wearing a far more serious expression. She didn’t see any of the warmth and humor that was always lurking around the edges of Kyle’s eyes.
Feeling nervous, she smiled tentatively.
Kyle stepped closer to her. “Harley, this here is Gabrielle. Gabby to most everyone. Gabby, this is my oldest brother, Harley.”
She held out her hand. When he only looked at it, she let it drop. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Hello.” He drew in a breath. “I’m glad to know you, as well.”
Kyle’s eyes widened as an Amish woman approached. She was slim and couldn’t have been much over five feet. Gabby felt gargantuan next to her at five foot seven.
“Kyle, I know you didn’t invite me over, but I couldn’t stay away. May I get introduced, too?” Before Kyle could even take a breath, she smiled brightly at her. “Hi. I’m Katie.”
“I’m Gabby. It’s nice to meet you.”
She held out her hand and clasped Gabby’s between both of hers. “I’m really happy to meet you.”
Katie seemed nice enough, but she was looking at her and Kyle like they were about to profess their love for each other right in the middle of the store.
“Sorry,” Kyle mouthed, looking really embarrassed.
“You know what? We should probably leave. Come on, Harley, let’s go join the others outside.”
Kyle’s brother looked like he might argue for a second before murmuring, “Good day,” and walking outside.
When they were alone, Kyle shook his head. “Sorry about that. I promise, I haven’t been talking about you. Katie is . . . well, she says what’s on her mind.”
She wasn’t sure if Kyle was upset with Katie or still embarrassed that Gabby had called out to him. “I didn’t mind. I’m glad to meet your brother.” Which was kind of a lie, because he hadn’t been very friendly.
“He’s not so bad. I promise. Now, I’ve gotta go, but why are you here? I mean, besides applying for a job. I thought you had school today.”
“I do. I’m running late.” She’d also had to take care of her brother, who’d woken up with a fever, headache, and a bad sore throat. After their mom told her that there was no way she could take any time off work to run him to the clinic at the pharmacy, Gabby had known it was going to be up to her.
Lane, of course, had complained, saying that he was fine and far too old for his sister to take him to the doctor, but Gabby had been pretty sure he had strep throat again. The doctor there had taken one peek down Lane’s throat, grimaced, and written out a prescription for penicillin. She was at the deli getting him a sandwich to drop off before she finally headed into school.
So, the majority of her day had been like it always was. She’d done the best she could for Lane all while trying not to care that their mother couldn’t step in and be, well, a mother.
But there was no way she was going to share all that.
But as if they’d known each other for years, Kyle scanned her face, his expression filled with doubt. “Is everything all right? Do you need anything?”
“Of course not. I mean, everything is fine.”
“Fine?” He raised his eyebrows, showing that she wasn’t fooling him for a minute.
“I really do have to go, Kyle,” she said. “I’m not positive I want to work here, but I don’t want the manager to have to come looking for me. Plus, I need to drop off this sandwich for Lane.”
His look of concern deepened, but he only nodded. “Will you still come over on Sunday afternoon?”
“You still want me to come over?”
“I really do. We’re all planning on it.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He smiled at her. “So? Will you?”
She shouldn’t. She was going to be a nervous wreck. And what if the rest of his family was as stern-looking as his older brother? What if his parents asked questions about her parents? Was she going to be able to lie to them?
“Please?” he murmured.
Please? Please, would she come over and be his guest for his family’s Sunday supper? “Okay,” she said at last. Because where Kyle was concerned, she couldn’t say no. The idea of him was too good.
Thirty minutes later, after a very brief interview with the manager, Gabby got back in her car and started home. Just before she pulled out onto the highway, she whispered, “Thanks, God. I was wondering why all this had happened today but now maybe it was so I would have another chance to see Kyle. If so, thanks. I needed that.”
She suddenly found herself smiling. Even as she ran inside, gave Lane two pain relievers with a fresh glass of ice water, then told him to eat at least half the sandwich before he went back to sleep.
Smiling when she texted her mother about Lane, the antibiotics, and his lunch, and only got a “thnx” in reply.
Smiling as she drove back to school, got the lecture from the office receptionist about how disappointed they all were that she didn’t take her responsibilities at school more seriously.
Even smiling as she took her seat in biology and took notes on gene pools.
Kyle Lambright had said he was looking forward to seeing her on Sunday, and she had promised him that she’d go. Now, no matter what happened, she couldn’t back out of it.
She’d never been so glad to make a promise.
SEVENTEEN
“I don’t know why I didn’t lie,” Katie said with a chuckle. “I honestly meant to.”
Kyle was still reliving their conversation when he finally joined his brother and the rest of the group at the picnic tables by the side of the store.
As he should have expected, all conversation stopped as he sat down.
Then, looking like he could hardly stand to wait another moment longer, Logan blurted, “Is Gabby your girlfriend, Kyle?”
After glancing at Harley, and seeing that he was back to his old tricks of remaining quiet and closed off, Kyle shook his head. “Nee. She’s just a friend.”
Logan looked surprised. “Really?”
“What’s wrong wit
h that?”
“Nothing,” Will said easily. “It’s only that the two of you seemed pretty close.” Before Kyle could say that they actually weren’t all that close yet, Will continued. “Not that I would blame you for wanting to know her. She’s pretty and she seems sweet, too.”
“She is sweet. Shy as well.” And as for her looks? As much as he wanted to say that he hadn’t noticed, he certainly had. But Will had it all wrong. Gabby wasn’t pretty. She was beautiful.
But her sweet, shy personality and beauty didn’t mean that they had a future.
There was still a lot keeping the two of them apart.
As every word of their stilted conversation floated back to him in waves, Kyle wished he could go follow her and make things better. He had been distant and awkward. Poor Gabby hadn’t known how to act.
He took a bite of his roast beef sandwich, hoping everyone would take the hint and stop asking him questions.
But this was the Eight, not a group of polite strangers.
“What do your parents say?” Marie asked. “Do they like her?”
“They haven’t met her,” he said before taking another large bite. Maybe if he kept his mouth full they would get bored with their questions?
That was not the case. They all looked at each other again, then stared at Harley, who was still eating his Trail bologna sandwich like it was a special treat.
Marie cleared her throat. “Kyle, no offense, but are they going to be okay with you courting her?”
Surprisingly, Katie rushed to his defense. “I think he just said they were only friends.”
“It sure seemed like there might be something more between ya,” Logan said. “Take it from someone who has recently been in your shoes.”
Logan didn’t lie. Just a few months back he had begun courting Andy’s younger sister, who was English. He’d had to go through many of the same things that Kyle could possibly face . . . if Gabby would ever learn to relax around him.
Before Kyle could stop himself, he asked, “Did you really see something between Gabby and me?”
Logan slapped him on the back. “Absolutely.” Will and Marie nodded, too.
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