Huckleberry Harvest (The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill Book 5)

by Jennifer Beckstrand

  “Oh, well, we don’t need anything like that,” Kristina stuttered, giving Mammi her full attention for the first time since she walked into the house. “My sister is coming up from Wautoma, and Aunt Esther will help for a few days. Esther makes gute potato soup.”

  A stack of newly knitted pot holders sat on the table. Mammi had been busy while Mandy had worked outside with Noah. Mandy smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, Mammi. I should have helped finish the pot holders.”

  Mammi waved away her apology, sending bubbles flying in every direction. “Felty’s wonderful eager to get that shed up. He said Noah needed your help. I got seven pot holders done. That should tide us over for a few days.”

  “How many quarts are we doing, Mammi?”

  Mammi took a paper towel and swiped a sticky spider’s web out of one of the jars. “I’ve got two bushels of tomatoes downstairs, and Felty is out picking more right now. At least three dozen quarts. I hope the new stove holds up.”

  Mandy thought of Noah’s careful hands. The stove would hold up just fine.

  Kristina still peered out the window in hopes of catching a glimpse of Noah. It was no use. Unless he came around to the front of the house, she wouldn’t be able to see him.

  “We’ll fetch the tomatoes,” Mandy said, taking Kristina’s wrist and pulling her in the direction of the cellar. Kristina reluctantly followed.

  “And I’ll need more bottles. Another dozen will do it.”

  They tromped down the stairs, Mandy still holding on to Kristina’s wrist just in case she decided she couldn’t live one more minute without a glimpse of Noah.

  “Do you think Noah will come in for a drink soon?” Kristina said.

  The way Noah had reacted when Kristina came up that hill, he wouldn’t even come in the house for emergency medical attention. “I don’t wonder but he’ll keep outside.”

  “I wish he were working right by the kitchen window. Then we could spy on him while we wash tomatoes.”

  “It’s gute we can’t see him, then,” Mandy said, stooping to pick up one of the baskets of tomatoes. It wouldn’t budge. “We’ve too much work to waste time spying.”

  Kristina gave Mandy a smug smile. “It’s easy to spy while you work.”

  “It doesn’t matter, because you promised there would be no more spying.”

  Kristina ran her finger along one of the shelves as if she were looking for dust. “Spying doesn’t hurt anybody.”

  Mandy scolded Kristina with her eyes. “Have you forgotten that I almost drowned two days ago?”

  “Nae,” Kristina said, without a hint of remorse in her expression.

  “Spying makes you look desperate.”

  “It does not.” She smoothed her hand down her purple dress, leaving a smudge of dust from the shelf. Blinking as if holding back tears, she sighed dramatically. “Besides, I am desperate. I love Noah so much I think I’ll die if he doesn’t love me.”

  Mandy tried not to be impatient. Poor Kristina hoped for something that wasn’t going to happen. Ever. Noah’s heart was completely set against her. Mandy had seen it in his eyes a dozen different times since she’d met him. It was as if he’d never liked Kristina at all.

  Mandy took Kristina’s hand. “I think you’re going to have to accept that Noah doesn’t want to get back together with you.” She felt a twinge of guilt. Was she glad that Noah didn’t want to get back together with her best friend?

  Kristina lifted her chin. “You’re wrong. If he knew me better, he’d want to court me.”

  With all her might, Mandy tried to scoot a bushel of tomatoes toward the stairs. After she managed to move it about eight inches, she gave up. “I thought you said you dated over the summer. Didn’t you get to know each other?”

  Kristina suddenly became interested in the empty jars sitting on the shelves. “He drove me home hundreds of times in his courting buggy.”

  “But did he go to your house and sit with your parents and play Scrabble and Life on the Farm?”

  Kristina picked up a jar and blew the dust off the top of it. “He doesn’t like Scrabble.”

  “What does he like to do?”

  Kristina’s face lit up like a propane lantern, as if she were thinking about something else entirely. After returning the jar to its shelf, she pulled out her cell phone and started pushing buttons. “I’m going to text him. He’ll die when he sees who it’s from.”

  Mandy snatched the phone from Kristina. “You’re not going to text him. That’s ridiculous.”

  Kristina stuck out her lower lip. “I’m just teasing. Boys like to be teased.”

  “He doesn’t. He’ll think you’re a nuisance,” Mandy said.

  “That’s not true. We used to text each other all the time over the summer.”

  Mandy pressed her lips together. She wasn’t as eager to believe Kristina’s side of the story as she had been last week. “How often did you text Noah, really?”

  “Twenty, thirty times a day.”

  Mandy’s jaw clunked to the floor. “Twenty or thirty? And he texted you back?”

  Kristina looked positively sullen. “Sometimes. And then he stopped responding altogether. I think he blocked my number or something.”

  No doubt he blocked Kristina’s number. Mandy would have blocked Kristina’s number. Mandy’s throat went dry. She was beginning to suspect that she’d given Noah a scolding he hadn’t deserved.

  Kristina’s eyes pooled with tears. She had a talent for turning on the water with only a few seconds’ preparation. “He treated me so bad, but I still love him.”

  Even though her sympathy felt thin, Mandy snaked her arms around Kristina’s shoulders. “Don’t cry. Noah would no doubt make a fine husband, but there are plenty of other boys who might suit you better. If you stopped pining for Noah, you might find someone else.”

  “I don’t want someone else,” Kristina sobbed, compelling Mandy to lean away so her eardrum wouldn’t shatter. “Noah is the only one. He knows how to fix anything. He takes his Bible everywhere he goes. He is the first one to help at the auctions and always goes to the barn raisings. He’s wonderful. Wonderful. There’s no boy in Bonduel even half as wonderful.”

  Mandy didn’t know if she should pump Kristina with hope or serve her a dose of reality. It was plain that Noah had decided against Kristina. Mandy couldn’t blame him. A girl who spied on a boy and texted him dozens of times a day needed to grow up before she ever thought about trying to find a husband.

  She grasped Kristina by the shoulders and forced her to make eye contact. “Krissy, I know this is hard for you, but I don’t think Noah is ever going to want you back.”

  “But why?”

  Mandy cleared her throat. “He told me.”

  Kristina’s eyes got as round as plump, juicy tomatoes. “He told you? When?”

  “Today while I helped him with the shed.”

  “You and Noah talked about me? Behind my back?” Her voice rose in pitch.

  “He said you’d be happier without him.”

  And he’d be happier without you.

  Kristina narrowed her eyes into slits. “Last week you told me he was a dumkoff, and suddenly you two are building sheds together and gossiping about me? Are you trying to steal my boyfriend?”

  Leave it to Kristina to blow things out of proportion. Mandy sighed to herself. At least she’d stopped crying. “Nae, of course not. Noah pulled me out of the river. I’m very grateful.”

  “Grateful enough to forget your best friend?”

  “I would never forget my best friend,” Mandy said.

  “Then you shouldn’t be nice to Noah. I promised myself I wouldn’t even smile at him until he agreed to get back together.”

  “Noah and I are friends, Krissy.” Mandy’s heart did a little skip in her chest. Was she really friends with Noah Mischler, the boy who’d ordered her to get her hinnerdale off his porch? She swallowed the lump of guilt forming in her throat.

  Kristina let out a squeak of indignation. �
�You can’t be friends with someone who treated your best friend like dirt.”

  Nae. She couldn’t be friends with someone like that, but Mandy was beginning to think that, as Noah had told her, she’d only gotten half a story that hadn’t been true to begin with.

  Kristina grabbed her phone from Mandy’s hand. “I’m going to text him and tell him to help us carry the tomatoes.”

  “Don’t, Krissy.”

  “They’re too heavy to lug all the way up the stairs, and he has muscles.”

  The thought of Noah’s muscles stole her breath for a second. “I don’t want to interrupt him. I can carry the tomatoes upstairs. I just need a better grip on the handles.”

  Kristina made a halfhearted attempt to lift one of the bushels. “Come on, Mandy. We need his help for reals.”

  “If he blocked your number, he won’t get your text.”

  Kristina’s eyes sparkled playfully. “I’ll go outside and fetch him.”

  “You said you weren’t ever going to talk to him again.”

  She was already halfway up the stairs. “How I am going to get him to come in here if I don’t talk to him?”

  Dread settled like a pile of rocks in Mandy’s stomach. Would it be better or worse if she went out there with Kristina? Would Noah accuse her of spying?

  She had the almost overpowering urge to protect Noah from Kristina’s attack, and yet her feet felt as heavy as a bushel of tomatoes. She didn’t think she could bear to see the contempt or the betrayal on his face when Kristina asked him to do something that he knew perfectly well they could do themselves.

  Maybe he would refuse to do Kristina’s bidding. He avoided her whenever possible. Perhaps he would tell Kristina he was too busy to heft tomatoes. Mandy took heart at that thought. She’d rather not face him.

  Her heart sank as she heard footsteps upstairs. Those heavy ones didn’t belong to Kristina. When she heard Noah’s boots on the stairs, she wanted to fold herself into a small pile and hide in one of Mammi’s empty jars.

  She stood there like an idiot watching as he clomped down the stairs with Kristina right behind him.

  Kristina rattled on in that gushing tone she saved for babies and boys she was trying to impress. “Two whole bushels, that’s what there is down here. Anna needs that spaghetti sauce done and we can’t even get the tomatoes upstairs. But we knew you’d be able to do it. You’re so strong, Noah.” Mandy wished Kristina would make up her mind about whether she despised Noah or wanted to win him back. Mandy found it impossible to keep up.

  They could probably turn all the lights off in the cellar and be able to see by the glow of Mandy’s warm cheeks. When Noah got to the bottom of the stairs, his eyes met hers. He was grumpy, no doubt about that, but he didn’t seem particularly angry with her, even though he should have been. She should have lugged the tomatoes upstairs instead of wasting time arguing with Kristina about it.

  She raised her eyebrows and mouthed the word “Sorry.” He turned his head slightly in Kristina’s direction and smirked.

  Kristina pointed to the tomatoes in case Noah didn’t see them sitting in the middle of the floor. “There they are. I don’t know how Felty got them down here, but you are the only one who can help us. We’re just helpless girls, you know.”

  As easy as if it were a basket of feathers, Noah lifted one of the bushels and started up the stairs, frowning as if Kristina had asked him to marry her. Determined to pull her own weight, Mandy grunted as, with every ounce of strength she had, she lifted the second bushel.

  Noah glanced back at her. “No, you don’t. I’ll come back for that one.”

  She ignored him, held her breath, and stumbled up the stairs. She thought her arms might fall off before she reached the top.

  “Oh, Noah, you’re so strong,” Kristina cooed. “I’m such a weakling. It’s so nice to have a big, strong man around to do the heavy lifting.”

  If Noah was even remotely impressed by her praise, he didn’t show it. It was obvious that he was trying his very best to politely tolerate Kristina and her incessant chatter. After depositing his bushel on the table, he quickly grabbed Mandy’s. His hand brushed against hers, and she didn’t even try to ignore the pleasant roughness of his calloused palms. “I told you I would get this one,” he scolded mildly. “These probably weigh fifty pounds.”

  “I didn’t want to impose. We are perfectly capable of carrying our own tomatoes.”

  His lips still turned downward, but she could have sworn he was smiling with his eyes. “I can spare an extra two minutes so you don’t break your back.” He brushed his hands together a few times. “Is there anything else you need, Anna?”

  “Not a thing,” Mammi said, dumping a dead beetle from one of the quart jars. They’d obviously been sitting in the basement a long time. “Denki for your help.”

  Noah turned his piercing gaze to Mandy. She held her breath. “If you need anything else,” he said, “come get me. I’m happy to help.”

  “We will,” Kristina said. “Canning is hard work. We will definitely need more of your muscles.”

  Mandy merely nodded.

  Noah took his hat from the table and walked out the door. Kristina skipped to the window and watched as he tromped down the porch steps and disappeared around the side of the house. She pressed her cheek against the window. “He is wonderful. I want to marry him so bad.”

  Mandy bit her tongue. Kristina hadn’t heard a word she’d said.

  Kristina frowned. “But from now on, I’m not going to speak to him, not one word, until he apologizes for how terrible he was to me.” She pivoted from the window and ran down the hall.

  “Where are you going?”

  Kristina turned back and put a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. “There is a window that looks straight out where Noah is working. I’m going to spy.”

  “That’s in my room,” Mammi said, seemingly unconcerned that Kristina was planning to spy on Noah from her bedroom window. “Try not to wrinkle the curtains, dear.”

  Mandy gazed after Kristina with great concern. “Mammi, I don’t think Kristina should spy on Noah. It’s silly.”

  “Oh, it’s all right. Noah is a gute boy, good-natured enough to bear a little bit of teasing from Kristina. It’s just too bad Melvin Lambright isn’t here. He could have carried tomatoes for us and then taken you for a drive. It would have been the perfect way to get you two together.”

  Mandy already had a date lined up with Melvin. She had agreed to meet him at a benefit haystack supper next week. Mammi need never know. She wouldn’t be able to bear the disappointment when the date didn’t work out. Mandy sidestepped the issue like she always did. “I’m not really interested in Melvin. He’s almost thirty.”

  Mammi finished rinsing her bottles, dried her hands, and tapped her lips with her index finger. “Hmm. I see what you mean. It wonders me if you and Ephraim Glick would fit. He’s your same age, and that skin condition is completely cleared up.”

  “I’ll consider him,” Mandy said, wishing her mammi wasn’t so persistent. “There’s nothing more attractive than a boy without a skin condition.”

  In truth, there was nothing more attractive than Noah Mischler, but seeing that look on Mammi’s face, Mandy knew that now would not be the time to mention it.

  Chapter Seven

  “It wonders me what Noah is doing right now,” Kristina said as she jumped into the car.

  Mandy felt no need to respond as she slid into the backseat next to Kristina.

  Their driver, Peggy Lofthouse, glanced at them from her rearview mirror. “How’s your mom, Kristina? Surgery went a lot later than you thought.”

  “I hope it’s not too late,” Mandy said.

  Peggy shook her head. “I always stay up to watch Night-line .”

  “My mamm’s gallbladder came out just fine,” Kristina said, “but she had a reaction to the medicine. It made her heart go all funny so they have to keep her overnight yet.”

  “That sounds scary,
” Peggy said.

  “It was for a little while,” Kristina said. “But she seems fine now, and she’s none too happy about having to stay in the hospital for an extra night.”

  Peggy pulled onto the main road. “Better safe than sorry, I guess.”

  Kristina tucked her sweater around her neck. “Dat is staying at the hospital with her. Can you go get them in the morning?”

  “Sure,” Peggy said. “I’ll plan on it. He has my number.”

  Kristina grabbed Mandy’s knee and almost sent her to the moon. She had ticklish knees. “Where do you think Noah is? Do you think he’s in bed?”

  “It’s none of our business,” Mandy said, suddenly cross with her best friend. No wonder Noah didn’t want anything to do with Kristina.

  Kristina pulled out her phone. Seriously, that girl wouldn’t know what to do with her hands once she got baptized and had to give up her phone. “I’m going to text him right now and find out.”

  Mandy didn’t even protest. Didn’t even remind Kristina that Noah never answered her texts, that he had most likely blocked her number and would never even have an inkling that Kristina was thinking about him. Instead, she surrendered silently and fixed her eyes on the dark road. Home was only twenty minutes away.

  Kristina had wasted over an hour on Wednesday peeking out of Mammi’s bedroom window, spying on Noah and punching the keys of her phone. Mandy and Mammi had been able to hear Kristina’s giggling from the kitchen as they blanched and skinned tomatoes and chopped peppers and onions. Jah, Kristina had been a big help.

  She had only joined them in the kitchen when her feet got tired and her cell battery died. She dutifully helped measure spices and stir the sauce, although Mandy had sensed that her heart wasn’t in it. Her hopes had been dashed when Mammi informed her that they wouldn’t need to summon Noah to lift the stockpot off the stove or to help them pull steaming jars from the water bath.

  Noah hadn’t come inside the rest of the day, and basically, Kristina’s afternoon had been ruined. But they had managed to can thirty quarts of spaghetti sauce using Kristina’s recipe. It hadn’t turned out half bad.

  “After Wednesday, I don’t wonder if he’ll want to get back together,” Kristina said, studying her phone as if it held the secret to her happiness. “He hauled the tomatoes up from the cellar for us. Boys like it when they have to rescue the helpless girls. If you hadn’t insisted on carrying one of the bushels, we’d probably be back together right now.”