Then he realized that the woman behind the teens looked familiar, although she wasn’t dressed in Amish clothing. He looked closer, careful of traffic, and saw that it was Naomi.
Pulling over, he honked. She stopped, saw it was him, and when it was safe, crossed to the other side of the road.
“Like a lift?”
“That would be nice, thanks.” She got in.
“I almost didn’t recognize you.”
She glanced at her clothes then up again and colored a little. “I noticed some of the girls wore things like this when they didn’t want to wear swimsuits.”
He’d thought she was an Englisch girl at first. That would have been so much easier for them, he reflected. There wouldn’t have been any conflict over them dating.
However, he’d never have met her and become attracted to her if he hadn’t been driving her because she was Amish and couldn’t drive herself.
Besides, if he were honest he’d have to say that he’d been attracted to her because of her spiritual beliefs, her nature—all the things that she’d become because of her culture.
“You look nice,” he told her. “You always do.”
“Did you have a good time going deep-sea fishing?” she asked, clearly trying to deflect attention from herself.
“Great time. Caught a blue marlin.”
“One of those big fish with the huge fin on the back and the spear thing on its face?”
He laughed as he drove her home. “That’s quite a description.”
She turned in her seat and looked in the back. “Where is it?”
“You mean like am I having it mounted?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Yes, I guess so.” She tried not to shudder.
“You can relax. I let it go.”
“Too small, like the fish I released?”
“No.”
“Why? I don’t understand.”
Nick pulled into the driveway and stopped. “One of the crew members thought I was nuts to let it go. But I thought it was too beautiful to let it die, so I put it back.” He shut off the engine. “I guess I didn’t look like a ‘manly man’ or something, you know?”
“That’s silly.”
“I did catch some nice fish and thought I’d fry them up for dinner for us. Would you and Leah be interested?”
“She’s having supper with her friends.”
“Oh.” Nick leaned an arm on the steering wheel. “I guess that’s out, then.”
He watched indecision flit across her face. But he knew that a single Amish woman didn’t entertain a man, especially a single Englisch man, without someone else present. They didn’t need to have anyone comment on it.
“Maybe we could put it in the refrigerator for lunch tomorrow and cook it then?”
“Great idea. Why don’t we get cleaned up and I’ll take us to Troyer’s for the buffet tonight. I promise I won’t go back for thirds.”
“That’s good. I’d hate to see you bankrupt them before we leave.”
“Very funny,” he said, not making it out of the van before she got out on her own. “If they haven’t gone under with Daniel eating there, they never will.”
12
Maybe it was her imagination, but it seemed to Naomi that Nick was driving slower going home than he had on the trip down.
She glanced over at the speedometer and saw that, sure enough, he was.
“Nervous? I can drive slower.”
“How?” she asked, looking pointedly at the speedometer. He shrugged. “I didn’t know you were in a hurry to get back.”
“At this rate, it’ll take twice as long.”
She bit her lip. Why was she complaining? She was dreading going to see John. Then she thought, I wonder if Nick isn’t in a hurry to go back, either? He’d joked on the way to Florida that they should stop off at some roadside attractions, tourist things to see off the beaten path, and her grandmother had said if he was really interested maybe they’d do that on the way home.
But Nick said nothing about them now and Naomi wasn’t about to do so.
Nick checked the rearview mirror in preparation to change lanes and saw Leah watching him.
“Sorry, I’ll speed up.” A few minutes later he glanced over. “Better?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m driving the speed limit.”
She stared at him blankly for a minute, wondering why he was telling her that, and then realized she’d been so totally involved in her thoughts that she’d complained about him driving too slowly. He must think she was an idiot.
“I see. Good.”
Naomi went back to looking out the car window. She’d been so mixed up about what to do about John when she’d left Paradise. Now, on her way back, she knew deep inside that she didn’t want to be with him anymore. But she still didn’t know how to break up with him.
And why had it proven to be necessary? She’d thought John was the man that God had set aside for her. Even as other girls in her community had wondered—sometimes worried—that it was taking so long for God to send a man to them, she hadn’t.
When Mary Katherine and Jacob started seeing each other, then gotten married, it just confirmed to her that God’s will was manifest and all was working as it should.
Then one Sunday, a new man in the community came to the service, and just like the romantic novels she and her cousins had read years ago when they had a sleepover, he’d been perfect for her. He was handsome and charming, and it was kind of nice that he wasn’t someone she’d grown up with.
That had been a kind of bonus—her not knowing him from childhood. It made him a little … mysterious. Nearly always, the girls knew the boys from schul, and friendship made the strongest foundation for a good marriage.
It was different being with John, almost like being Englisch since they didn’t have all those years of knowing each other forever. They’d spent a lot of time learning about each other.
She told herself that must be why it seemed she couldn’t do anything right in John’s eyes. It hadn’t taken long for her to notice that when she packed a picnic lunch for them to enjoy on a drive in the country he said it wasn’t what he was used to eating. He complained that she wasn’t putting him and their relationship first when she refused to drop everything to go somewhere with him when he got off early. She wouldn’t spend enough time with him and needed to see her father, his new wife, and the family less. What a complaint; she had so little time with working so much at the shop that she seldom saw them.
And she made him so angry sometimes. He accused her of flirting when she was simply talking to a former classmate who happened to be male. Why, she didn’t even think of most of them as men. Often they were the boys who’d always pulled her pigtails and eaten her lunch and made fun of her every time they could. She really didn’t see any of them as having grown up much. And she certainly didn’t see them as possibilities for marriage.
She’d told John he didn’t need to check that she was at work. And she hadn’t forgotten her date with him that one afternoon. She’d simply been delayed while she and Anna were mailing some packages at the post office. She winced as she remembered how he’d stormed at her, saying that she’d hurt his feelings.
She rubbed at her forehead as she remembered the list of her wrongdoings.
“Headache?”
Her fingers stilled. “A little.”
“There’s aspirin and ibuprofen in the first-aid kit. Want me to get some for you?”
“Maybe when we stop next.”
How ironic, she thought. Nick wasn’t engaged to her but noted an action like her rubbing her forehead and asked if she was all right. She turned slightly and studied him. They’d spent a lot of the last two weeks doing things together, and there hadn’t been the tiniest complaint from him.
She blushed as she remembered what had happened instead—how he’d kissed her, cared about her when he found that her arm was hurt. And he’d been angry when he realized that John had hurt her.
“I could use some coffee,” he said. “How about you two?”
“That would be nice,” Leah said. She reached forward to pat Naomi on her shoulder. “Coffee always helps your headaches too, liebschen.”
Nick pulled off the interstate and located a restaurant. Once they were settled at a table, Leah excused herself to visit the restroom.
John stirred his coffee, then looked up at Naomi. “So how long have you been having headaches?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe six months.”
“About the length of time you’ve been with John?”
Naomi froze and carefully set her spoon down beside her plate. “I don’t want to talk about it.” She rubbed at her forehead again. When was the ibuprofen she’d taken going to kick in?
“Here y’all go,” said the waitress, setting down a plate in front of each of them, then setting Leah’s on the table.
“Maybe I should check and see if Grossmudder is okay,” Naomi said as she stood. “It’s not easy to get around on crutches.”
“I see her,” Nick said. “She’s making her way back now.”
He stood when Leah approached the table and held out her chair, then took her crutches to lean them against a nearby wall.
“I’ll be right back,” Naomi said, and headed for the restroom.
Splashing some cold water on her face helped. She wet some paper towels with cold water and held them to the back of her neck.
When she returned to the table, it seemed to her that Nick and her grandmother stopped talking suddenly, but when she looked curiously at them, she wondered if she was imagining it.
Nick, always the gentleman, stood and helped her with her chair.
Her grandmother patted her hand. “Try to eat. It might help.”
“It’s already getting better,” she told them.
“I think we should find a place to stay a little earlier tonight,” Nick said as he buttered his biscuit. “Let you get some sleep and get rid of that headache.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re looking a little peaked,” her grandmother said. She put the back of her hand against Naomi’s forehead.
Naomi moved away. “What are you doing?”
“Checking for fever.”
Shaking her head, Naomi began eating her chicken and dumplings. “I’m not sick. I just have a bad headache. I think we should drive for a while longer.”
So they did. The ibuprofen and the food helped—well, they helped her get drowsy.
“Why don’t you just give in and take a nap?” Nick asked quietly. “Leah is.”
Naomi looked back and saw that her grandmother was indeed sleeping. But she was half afraid to try to sleep. When she’d fallen asleep on the way to Pinecraft she’d had a nightmare.
Back then she’d been emotionally upset about John and she hadn’t had enough sleep. This time she felt rested from the time off, but she knew her headache had developed from the stress of thinking about seeing John again. She didn’t want to chance another nightmare.
“They must have put something in our food,” she said. “Aren’t you tired?”
“I’m fine. Got revved up on the coffee. I figure I’ll call it a day in about an hour and find us a motel.”
Night fell. Nick switched on the headlights.
She peered into the darkness ahead. “You can’t see very far in the dark, can you?”
“I can see as far as the headlights,” he told her. “I can make a whole trip that way.”
He glanced at her. “E. L. Doctorow. He’s a writer I admire. He said, ‘Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.’”
“I don’t know anyone like you,” she said quietly.
“Well, we’re all individuals,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t know anyone like you, either.”
“So you don’t think we Amish are all alike?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Just because there’s conformity to a dress code and behavior and religion doesn’t mean you’re not a snowflake.”
“Snowflake?”
“My mom always said everyone’s different.”
She smiled. “Like snowflakes. Or grains of sand on the beach,” she said, remembering the beautiful photo he’d shown her in the book that day.
“Right.”
He was silent for a long time. Then she saw him glance in the rearview mirror. Naomi looked too and saw that Leah still slept. A faint snoring could be heard from the backseat.
“I just want to say something.”
She straightened and looked at him. “What?”
“You don’t need to worry about—about what happened on the beach that day. When I kissed you,” he elaborated.
“I know what you did.” She compressed her lips. “What I did,” she added primly.
“It’s between us, Naomi. I’m never telling anyone.” He sighed, glanced at her briefly, then back at the road. “And I’m never doing it again.”
That was best. She knew that. But deep inside she realized that she felt … disappointed.
It was disheartening that she felt so attracted to Nick. The more she’d been with him, the more she’d realized that what she felt for him was so much more than what she felt for John. Even if John’s actions hadn’t caused her to reconsider their future marriage—well, it would have been obvious to her just how much she wanted to be with Nick.
Why couldn’t he have been the man God had set aside for her?
13
Naomi got into the van the morning after they returned and regarded Nick with a faint smile. “Well, long time, no see.”
He laughed. “Never figured you’d use that expression.”
“Yes, well, I’ve been hanging around with an Englisch man a lot lately.”
Leah joined them, climbing into the backseat and closing the door. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m looking forward to work today. Vacation was nice but it’s gut to be back.”
It was back to business as usual. Nick picked them up and then swung by to pick up Anna. Mary Katherine’s husband, Jacob, liked to take her to work these days.
Anna sat waiting on the front porch of her home and squealed the minute Nick pulled into her drive. She opened Naomi’s door and hugged her, then climbed into the backseat to throw her arms around her grandmother. Belatedly, she said hello to Nick and then clicked her seat belt.
“Hello to you, too,” he said, grinning at her.
Then the questions started. Nick tuned out the excited female chatter. The drive seemed over before it started—probably because he’d just made a two-day road trip so recently that anything less than that might seem short.
Nick turned down the street of the shop and saw a familiar male figure standing in front of Stitches in Time. He didn’t need to glance over at Naomi to know the moment she spotted her fiancé waiting on the sidewalk, a bunch of roses in his hand.
“Shall I go around the block?” he quietly asked her.
“Why would you go around the block?” Anna asked, breaking off her conversation with her grandmother. “What’s going on?”
“We’ll talk about it later,” Naomi told her.
She gathered up her purse and tote bag and looked at Nick. “Go ahead and drop us off. But thanks for the offer.”
Nick pulled to the curb and watched Naomi release her belt and get out.
“Have a good day,” she told him.
His stomach clenched at the despair he saw in her eyes. He wanted to protect her, shield her from pain, but he had no right to do so.
“Ya,” said Leah, giving Nick’s shoulder a pat. “We’ll see you later.”
“Nick?”
He met Anna’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “Yeah?”
“What’s going on?”
“Naomi said you’d talk later.”
She made a face at him and got out of the van, shutting the door with a little more force than necessary. Then she gla
nced over her shoulder and shot him an irrepressible grin.
Nick laughed and shook his head. That was Anna. Always curious. Always pushing. But never bad-tempered. He was a little surprised at how he’d missed her while he was gone.
He sat there in front of the shop, watching Naomi accept the flowers from John. Watching the man give her a chaste kiss on her cheek. And watching her shake her head and gesture at the shop.
There were other people Nick needed to pick up. A schedule to keep. But he realized he was waiting because he didn’t want to leave Naomi alone with John. Not after what he knew about him now.
Naomi could be heard saying she had to get inside for work. John argued with her but Naomi remained firm. When he reached for her arm, she backed away, and he didn’t pursue touching her.
Good thing. Nick had his hand on his door and would have intervened.
Nick could hear parts of their conversation because Naomi had rolled her window down. But he didn’t need to hear their voices or all of their words. Just one surreptitious glance at their body language and he could see that both were tense.
He sighed, knowing he couldn’t protect Naomi if she wanted to stay with John. When Naomi suddenly glanced over at him Nick pretended to be occupied with his clipboard. She was probably curious why he hadn’t left yet, since he usually had pretty full days with his business. He reminded himself again that he had other clients he needed to pick up. It was important to maintain his reputation for promptness.
Reluctantly, he set the clipboard down, checked for traffic, and got back on the road.
As he drove, he thought about how he and Leah had done a lot of talking about God’s will the past few months. She understood about his search for something more in his life, his desire to understand what God wanted of him.
All he could do at this point was try to be a friend to Naomi since he couldn’t be more. And he could pray for her.
Come to think of it, that was a lot. Feeling better about things, he continued on his route.
The Heart's Journey: Stitches in Time Series #2 Page 14