“Yeah. They have a forgiveness program for bad semesters like the one I walked away from. I’ll also need to get an apartment, a car, and a phone. The school would be in easy driving distance of the café. So if it’s okay with everyone, I could continue to work there while I’m taking classes. But would that be allowed?”
“I’ll allow it, and under these circumstances I don’t think it’ll be a problem with the ministers. If it is, I’ll deal with it. You’re not the only one who’s seen a need for change. I saw it in myself quite clearly, and I’m standing my ground with the ministers on Ariana’s behalf too.”
“But she’s not back at the café yet.”
“After the accident she needed rest and no stress or strain. What’s the plan with Brandi and Nicholas?”
“I don’t have one, other than apologizing. Since I came here a wreck, you probably think it’s their fault, and maybe I wanted you to think that. I’ve blamed them time and again when it was solely my fault for getting off course.”
“Sometimes”—Isaac stroked his beard, looking thoughtful—“we get off the right track and it’s no one’s fault. Maybe I did judge your parents at first, but then I saw that my children are better than I deserve. So maybe parents don’t plant the seeds for all the things that are harvested—good and bad—in their offspring’s lives. But I know it’s never too late to get back on the right track, not for either of us.”
What kind of patching up had happened between Ariana and him? She wouldn’t pry, but she was glad to see this accepting man in place of the hardened rule enforcer.
“Skylar,”—Isaac set the book on the coffee table—“what would you think about living above the café in the loft?”
“I’ve heard Susie talk about it.”
“Ya. That’s what she thought she wanted, but since Ariana is going to hire additional crews, she’ll have days off. She said the other day she doesn’t want to be in that noisy loft during her days off, especially on her mornings to sleep in.”
“People are allowed to sleep in? In this family? On a day that’s not Sunday?”
“If they have a full-time job, they are.”
“Wonders never cease.”
“Would the loft work for you since you’ll be in school five days a week? You could do what you need to with your music but not move away.”
Skylar’s heart leaped. It was perfect for what she needed. Perfect. A solid connection to her Amish family while she had the resources she needed to succeed in her new plan for the future.
Abram carried an armful of boxes of coffee beans down the loft stairs and into the storage room behind the kitchen.
Susie shifted another box and slapped a handmade label on it. “Put that there, please.” She pointed.
It had taken time and considerable effort to clean out the loft while changing two main-floor closets into storage rooms.
“We’re running out of space. How much more is there?” Susie eyed the supply of coffee.
“Help,” Skylar yelped.
Abram turned and grabbed two boxes from Skylar’s hand.
“Thanks, Bro.” Skylar winked.
“Bro?” Abram tried to pass the boxes back to her.
She laughed, raising both hands. “Denki, liewer Brudder. Better?”
“Depends, I guess.” Abram held the boxes, waiting on Susie to find the right spot. “What were you trying to say?”
“Hey.” Skylar rapped her knuckles on a box. “That was clearly, ‘Thank you, dear brother.’ ” She peered around him at Susie. “Right?”
“They were certainly words from some language in this world…I guess.” Susie took the top box from Abram and set it on a shelf.
“That bad?” Skylar asked.
“Nee.” Abram patted Skylar on the head. “Ich denk du bischt verhuddelt. Du schwetze wunnerlich.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
He scooted past her, getting in a position to leave fast. “It means, ‘I think you are confused and you talk strange.’ ” He walked away.
“I talk strange?” she called after him.
Abram chuckled and headed back to the stairs. Everyone was upbeat and staying faithful to their tasks as they neared the end of at least this portion of the project. Martha was cleaning the floors after the boxes were removed from an area and also cleaning where the boxes were being moved to. They still needed a plumber to add a shower to the bathroom in the loft, which would make the tiny room even tighter. Then there was the process of moving in a bed and Skylar’s few belongings.
When he topped the stairs, he found Ariana on her knees, reaching into a crawl space. “Was there any spot in the loft where you guys didn’t store things?”
“No.” Abram walked over to her and removed the boxes near her as she emptied the crawl space. “We pretty much scouted out the loft, looking for spots that would be particularly hard on you to empty.” He held out his hand. “Now get out of that space.”
“What?”
“You were in a car wreck a little more than two weeks ago. You’re supposed to be the supervisor. We’re the worker bees. Right, Martha?”
Martha stepped out from behind a wall, a mop in hand. “Ya. Sorry, I didn’t know she was doing that.”
“Two weeks is plenty.” Ariana took his hand, and he pulled until she was on her feet.
“I saw the care instructions that came home with you from the hospital, and it clearly stated at least three weeks.” He passed her a clipboard. “This is the most you’re to lift.”
She looked over it. “So nothing in these last three stacks of boxes has been counted?”
“Not yet.” He snapped his fingers at her.
She smiled and moved to the first stack of boxes.
Skylar bounded up the stairs. “What’s next?”
Abram gestured. “Ariana will point, and you will move these boxes into the correct pile. Each stack is going to a separate area downstairs. She’ll take inventory before they leave the loft.”
“Got it.” Skylar turned to Ariana. “Direct me, oh, wise one. Your wish is my command.”
“Don’t tempt me to give you all my chores for the next year.” Ariana lifted a brow. “Just move these boxes to group one.”
Skylar began shifting the boxes as Susie entered the loft. “For the record, I can’t believe everyone is spending so much time on a place for me.”
Abram knelt and reached into the cubby. “Well, you may find it surprising, but we do like you.” He turned and smiled at his birth twin. “We get that you can’t stay in our house while studying music, but we’re glad you chose to stick close.”
Susie crouched and opened a box to inspect its contents. “Oh, my! Oh, my goodness! I think…” She grabbed something out of the box. “Look!” She waved a bank bag in the air. “Money!”
Exclamations of shock filled the loft, and everyone huddled around Susie. “This box has two bank bags.” Skylar laughed. “Who put the deposits in a half-used box of coffee beans?”
Martha peered into the box, her eyes wide. “I…I think I did. I hadn’t thought about it until now.”
Everyone except Martha laughed.
“Guys,”—Martha looked at each of them—“I’m so sorry. I was unloading supplies in the kitchen a few times, and I needed space in the crisper, so I took out the money bags and tossed them into the coffee bean box sitting between the fridge and the counter.”
Susie chuckled. “I saw a box sitting there several times and told Skylar I was going to bean her with a bag of coffee beans if she didn’t keep them out of that spot, because I needed it for fresh produce.”
“Yeah,”—Skylar raised a brow—“because onions and cucumbers are so much more important to customers than coffee.”
Abram had often heard these two sass and tease each other.
“I moved the boxes upstairs whenever Susie complained, but they were always closed,” Skylar said. “I even remember hearing a funny noise once, which apparently was change jingling, but I
never took the time to check it out.”
“And when I saw the boxes sitting in the loft, I shoved them to the very back of the attic storage”—Abram knelt, looking into the tiny cubbyhole leading to the storage space—“to make room for other boxes.”
“I ordered more of those coffee beans because I couldn’t find the boxes with half-full bags of beans.” Skylar laughed, covering her mouth. “I thought maybe we’d used all of them when Cilla was manning the machines.”
“Didn’t anyone realize they were having to get new bank bags from the bank rather than reusing the same ones?” Ariana asked.
“Cilla mentioned the need to get more bags,” Abram said. “We just thought sometimes whoever took the bags to the bank left the bags there.”
Skylar continued to giggle. “Sorry, Ariana. I know it’s not funny, but…it is.”
Chuckling, Ariana pointed at herself. “That makes me the only innocent person in the missing-money scandal.”
Susie narrowed her eyes in a fake glare, given away by the smile she couldn’t quite suppress. “Ya. Let’s peddle that ‘I’m innocent’ jargon to the ministers and see if it gets you anywhere.”
Ariana laughed. “You!” She shooed her toward the opening. “Go pull out any other boxes in the cubby. The rest of you thieving rascals look through the boxes. According to the ledgers, we have two more missing deposits.”
Skylar scooted a box with her foot to the second stack. “Apparently the skill you have with numbers, Ari, doesn’t help when it comes to using ‘fancy’ coffeemakers.”
Ariana pinched the bodice of her apron and flapped it. “I’m wearing more steamed milk than Skylar’s ever sold. I think it was a plot. Skylar thought, ‘I’m going to talk everyone into getting fancy coffee machines so I can soak Ariana in various forms of foamy milk and espresso when she returns. And to top it off, she won’t even know the names of the coffee I make, let alone how to make them.’ ”
Skylar opened another box, looking for the missing bank bags. “And the plan worked so much better than I ever dreamed. Can you say caffe breve with me?”
“I’ve seen the receipts, so I know it sells beyond belief, but who would’ve thought that people in rural Pennsylvania would come to this café and want that?” Ariana asked.
“You needed me in this café, just like I needed to be here. People love the coffees served here…at least until I’m in school and they taste your caffe breve.”
“I’ll get the hang of it. I will.” Ariana rubbed her forehead, and Abram knew her head was aching again. Since the wreck her mind hadn’t been as clear as it typically was, and he wondered if that was slowing her down when it came to learning new things.
“I’m just kidding,” Skylar said. “You could make coffee with mud, and it’d taste better than Susie’s and Martha’s best attempts at croissants.”
“Keep it up, Sky Blue,” Susie said. “You think you’re insulting us, but I hear it as an invitation to come to the café, also known as your apartment, to practice baking before the rooster’s up.”
Martha resurfaced and banged the handle of the mop against the wall. “And we’re loud when we practice.” She banged it harder. “Really loud.”
“I’ll join her and work on making coffee,” Ariana piped in, “and on Sundays too.”
Skylar stood and massaged her lower back. “Did I tell you girls that your coffee and croissants are the best I’ve ever had anywhere?”
Ariana, Susie, and Martha looked at each other, a bit of a victory smile on their lips. “No,” Susie said, “you didn’t.”
Skylar picked up two boxes and headed for the steps. “Good. Because it’d be a lie.” She scampered downstairs, and they broke into laughter.
“And voilà!” Abram held up two more bags of money.
Skylar came back up to the loft. “Would anyone like me to make us some coffee?”
“It’s five-thirty in the afternoon. It’ll be dark in an hour, and you want coffee?” Abram’s brows knit.
Skylar shrugged. “Why not, lightweight? We are in the business of caffeine after all.”
“I want coffee.” Susie’s voice came from behind one of the stacks of boxes. Apparently she had opened another container and was looking through it.
Ariana pointed to a stack. “Those can go.”
Skylar picked up two boxes. “Okay, real coffee for the girls and wimpy decaf for Abram. Got it.” Skylar went to the top of the steps and paused. “You know, Abram, you’re right. There is a time and place for decaf.” She went down a few steps. “Never, and in the trash.”
Ariana laughed and cupped her hands around her mouth. “I was the nicer twin, Abram.”
“I heard that,” Skylar quipped.
Abram chuckled. “The café is doing great. Your dream to buy it was spot-on. Skylar’s ability to know how to bring in as many customers as possible was also spot-on.”
“It wouldn’t have survived my absence without you guys, and I’ll never forget that. But, Abram, if you want to return to construction…”
“I’d like that. I could work here whenever construction is slow.”
“Perfect plan.” Ariana nodded. “In a few years, when we’re on our feet a little better, I’d love to see if we could buy the building next door and knock out a wall. Brandi took me to a place a little similar to ours, except they had a huge section with couches and love seats and big coffee tables.”
“Couches? Whatever for?”
“Women gather to chat for hours, buying lunches, coffees, and desserts. Writers use it as a home away from home or a place to gather with other writers and brainstorm. Oh, and it had a small area in a corner with a half wall and a gate for children. It had cushy building blocks, books, and some toys. The kids would play, and the parents would sit at nearby tables. The place was open from eight in the morning to nine at night every day, and I never saw it with less than twenty people.”
“That’s a really cool idea, and I know you could make the expansion work, but you’ll have babies by then, and Rudy…” Susie let the sentence drop.
“Ya, you’re right,” Ariana agreed. Rudy would want her home, managing from afar as much as possible.
“Okay, here comes some liquid salvation from exhaustion.” Skylar held a tray of coffee mugs. “Oh wait.” She set the tray on top of a box. “Abram, here’s your brown water.” She held out a pink mug to him that had a kitten on the front.
He eyed it before he took it, suppressing a smile and refusing to acknowledge her teasing.
“Thanks, Skylar.” Ariana lifted a traditional café mug off the tray. “And thanks for the lesson on the espresso machine and steamer earlier. Sorry about your shirt.”
Skylar waved away her apology. “It’s no big deal. That machine has sprayed me on multiple occasions. At least it happened when we were closed this time.”
“There will be multiple perks for Skylar once she’s living here,” Susie said. “She can make her usual mess brewing coffee, and then she can take a shower up here.”
“Watch it, or I’ll aim my messes in your direction.”
Susie laughed and picked up a cup from the tray. “You’re not allowed to smoke up here either, you know?”
“A newborn knows that. I’m in the process of quitting. Parents are right—Amish or Englisch. It’s counterproductive to indulge in something that will begin to steal my health before I’m middle age. Besides, how can I in good conscience have a habit I wouldn’t want my students to pick up?”
“I used to smoke,” Abram said. “Ask Skylar.”
“What?” Martha looked seriously stressed.
Skylar nodded. “He did. He took two puffs of a cigarette while trying to get me off his back. You know, back in the day when I was difficult.”
“Yesterday?” Ariana asked.
“You’re a troublemaker in sheep’s clothing,” Skylar said. “I like that!”
They chuckled, enjoying the lack of stress and newly strengthened bonds.
“So tell
me about Cilla.” Ariana raised an eyebrow as she sipped her coffee. She had known Cilla as well as Abram had before all the turmoil pushed him and Cilla together. “Inquiring minds want to know, Abram.”
Picturing Cilla’s face made Abram feel as if he was stepping out of winter and into spring sunshine. Imagining her sweet laughter had him longing to be with her again. “She’s great.”
“Well, there you have it,” Skylar said. “I would make fun of him for using so few words, but I think the look on his face says it all.”
“Ya, it does.” Ariana nodded. “She’s a much better match for you than Barbie.”
“You were interested in Barbie?” Skylar made a face. “She’s nice and all, but I can’t see you really connecting with anyone else like you do with Cilla.”
“Sometimes we have to take the wrong path to find the truth,” Abram said.
His sisters, four of them anyway, stared at him.
“That’s what Cilla told me to say if this ever came up.”
The women broke into laughter.
“You’re making that up.” Ariana shook a finger at him. “Cilla said no such thing.”
“Is he?” Skylar asked.
Abram nodded. A knock on the door echoed through the loft, and Abram went downstairs.
He opened the door to find an Englisch man with a slight build, probably in his early forties, staring back at him.
He dipped his head in a quick greeting. “Good evening. I’m Detective Blake Torres. I’m looking for an Isaac Brenneman, and I noticed your sign said Brennemans’ Perks. Any chance you know Isaac?”
“Ya. He’s my father.”
“Good. That’s a start.”
“You’re a detective?”
“Yeah.” The man pulled a badge off his belt. “No worries. He’s not in trouble. I’m doing some preliminary work on an old complaint, but so far I’ve hit only dead ends. I couldn’t find a Summer Grove residence listing for Mr. Isaac Brenneman. Could you tell me the address?”
“Sure.” Abram gave him the address. “The house may be in my grandfather’s name or maybe in my uncle’s name. It’s been passed down.”
“Mr. Brenneman called us, and he mentioned an Eli Schlabach.”
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