Suddenly he felt like the biggest jerk that had ever lived. He’d been so focused on how attracted he was to her, how much he wanted her, that he hadn’t thought about what she was going through breaking up with John. He hadn’t thought about what was good for her right now.
Determined to start thinking about her instead of himself, he touched one of her hands.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
He was so used being around the Amish, felt so comfortable with them, that he hadn’t thought enough about how Naomi would react to this attraction they had to each other. She hadn’t been raised like the girls he’d been around all his life—Englisch girls.
A kiss was serious. A big commitment. She’d just been engaged and that was as close to being married as it could get in her community. He’d taken her response to mean that she was attracted to him as much as he was to her, but the truth seemed to be that she was feeling overwhelmed by everything.
So he wanted more from her. And for a little while there he thought she wanted it too. It didn’t mean it was going to happen—at least right away.
Was he ready for marriage? Because that was the only step they could take.
A car passed them, sending a harsh beam of light slicing through the car. “I’m sorry if I’m pressuring you,” he said, starting the car again. “Look, I don’t want to lose you as a friend.”
“Friends don’t kiss,” she pointed out with a wobbly smile.
“Sure they do.”
“On the cheek,” she said primly. “Not like the way we did today.”
“Well, really good friends do,” he teased, trying to lighten the mood.
“Nick!”
“Well, okay, you’re right.” He pulled out and got the van on the road. “But you have to admit it was a really good kiss.”
“Stop making me blush.”
“I love to see you blush.” The interior of the van was dim so he couldn’t see the delicate rose tint that always suffused her cheeks when she blushed. But he had a good memory.
He sighed, knowing what was coming next. “Are you leading up to telling me we shouldn’t be kissing?”
“That’s right.”
“No kissing,” he muttered. “Aw.” Then it was as if there were a light that went on over his head. “That’s fine with me.”
“It is?”
He pressed his lips together, determined not to smile at how surprised—and maybe a little disappointed?—she sounded.
“Yes.” He gave her a surreptitious glance and saw the uncertainty on her face. “Remember, you were the one who kissed me today. I’m sure that I can restrain myself from kissing you.”
“Really?” She turned in her seat and he could feel her studying him. “I think you’re teasing me.”
“No, I wouldn’t do that,” he said in as serious a tone as he could.
“Nick, this isn’t funny.”
“No, it’s not,” he agreed.
He stopped for a traffic light and looked over at her. “But I don’t think I thought enough about what it meant to fall in love with someone like you. People from different religions get married all the time in my world. But it’s different in yours.”
The light changed to green. “I’m going to let you decide what’s next.”
“You mean if I kiss you again?” Naomi asked.
He pulled up in front of Leah’s house and shut off the engine. Turning in his seat, he took her hand.
“No,” he said slowly. “I’m willing to be friends. I hope you want more at some point, but I’m not going to pressure you.”
“Friends?”
Nick nodded.
He kissed her wrist and then got out and walked around to open her door. She sat there, not moving, looking stunned.
Finally, she moved, getting out and stumbling a little so that he had to reach out and steady her. Just as quickly—as if he had burned them at the contact—he snatched his hands back from her waist.
Dusk had fallen but Leah hadn’t left a light burning at the front door so the path leading to it looked dim.
“Wait,” Nick said, rummaging in the glove box. He found a flashlight and flicked it on, lighting the way to the door as he walked beside her.
She turned to say good-bye as she reached the door.
“Go make sure Leah’s okay,” he told her. “She’s usually at the front door when we pull in.”
She did as he asked, but just as she went inside Nick caught a glimpse of something moving out of the corner of his eye. Using a flashlight of her own, Leah was lighting her way from the neighbor’s house to her own.
“Naomi’s inside looking for you,” he said quickly. “I need to talk to you before she comes out.”
“Ya?” She looked at him with what could only be described as a wary expression.
“I’m sorry if I wasn’t polite earlier—when I didn’t want to talk,” he rushed to say. “Naomi and I talked. She knows how I feel about her. She told me she’s not ready for a relationship with anyone right now. We’re staying friends for now.”
“Really?” She peered at him. “Naomi agrees with that?”
“She’s good with it.”
Leah lifted her eyebrows. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“I see. Well, danki. I appreciate you telling me.” She studied his face. “I’m proud of you doing the right thing, Nick.”
“Oh, that’s me,” he muttered. “Good old noble Nick.”
Naomi reappeared in the doorway. “There you are, Grossmudder. I was looking for you.”
“I was next door visiting with Mary and her daughter,” she told Naomi. “Nick, want to come in?”
“No, thanks, I should be heading home. See the two of you Monday.”
They said good-bye and he walked back to the van.
Bandit, his ragtag cat, greeted him when he walked in the door. He fed him, threw himself on the sofa, and turned on the television. Using the remote, he scanned the stations without interest. Anything would do. Just so he didn’t have to listen to the sound of silence in the apartment.
16
Spring had sprung.
From the bench where she sat, Naomi couldn’t help smiling. If her teacher from years ago could hear her thoughts, she’d be wincing.
Everywhere she looked, flowers had burst into bloom. Birds built nests and squirrels squabbled in a mating ritual before one chased another up a tree. She walked into the shop, took one look at Mary Katherine, who fairly glowed, and immediately started a baby quilt—without telling her, of course. If she was right, Mary Katherine would tell them soon enough.
Even her grandmother had a distinct spring to her step and it wasn’t just because her ankle had healed nicely.
“I’ll be back in an hour. You three have a nice lunch,” Leah said as she turned the sign to “Out to Lunch” and locked the door behind her.
The three cousins looked at one another. “Well, that’s the third time Elam’s come to take her to lunch this week.”
“I guess it goes to show you that it’s never too late for love,” Mary Katherine said with a dreamy smile.
Anna tossed her knitting into the basket next to her chair and left the room without a backward glance.
“What’d I say?” Mary Katherine asked Naomi.
“Don’t worry about it,” Naomi told her. “She’s just a little moody.”
Getting to her feet, she placed the quilt on a nearby table and brushed little bits of thread from her skirt. “Let’s go eat.”
“I’m starved,” Mary Katherine said as she stepped away from her loom. She glanced at the quilt Naomi had set aside and her eyebrows went up.
“Is that for a customer or is somebody we know having a baby?” Then, when her question wasn’t answered, she looked at Naomi. “Oh, are you still on that?”
“I’m not saying a word,” Naomi said innocently. “But you know spring and the birds and the bees …” she trailed off meaningfully.<
br />
Mary Katherine rolled her eyes, but as they walked into the back room, Naomi saw her glance at the calendar on the wall and frown.
Naomi had no sooner pulled out the plastic container of sandwiches that Anna had brought than they heard a knock on the shop door.
“Can’t people read?” Anna complained, but she got up to see who it was. When she returned, she looked disconcerted.
“Well, what a surprise,” she began.
“Is it John Zook?” Naomi asked her, feeling a cold chill wash over her. “He was told not to come here.”
Anna held up her hand and shook her head. “No, no. It’s someone for Mary Katherine.”
“Is it Jacob?”
“No.” She stepped aside so Mary Katherine could see her surprise visitor.
“Daed!”
He held his hat in his hands and wore an expectant expression.
Mary Katherine jumped to her feet. “Is something wrong with Mamm? Is she ill?”
“She’s fine, just fine,” he hurried to reassure her. “I’m just in town for some supplies and thought I’d see if I could take you out to lunch.”
Naomi watched the play of emotions rush over her cousin’s face: surprise, uncertainty, joy. Mary Katherine had told them how her father had been trying to become a better father and husband since her mother’s heart attack.
Just looking at him now, Naomi could see that he was not the stern and overly critical onkel she remembered from her childhood—that he’d been just a short year ago.
“Well, that leaves the two of us,” Naomi said brightly after Mary Katherine left with her father.
“Are you really afraid John will bother you again?”
In the act of putting a sandwich on her plate, Naomi paused and frowned. “I wasn’t until you said someone was here.” She held out the container so Anna could choose a sandwich, then set it down on the table.
Anna got a bag of potato chips from the cupboard and opened them. “Mmm, nothing like a fresh bag of chips.”
“You’re addicted.”
“True. But look at you,” she said, pointing at the jar of bread and butter pickles Naomi brought to the table. “You can’t eat a sandwich without a pickle.”
“Guilty.”
“You’re not eating,” Anna observed a few minutes later. “Something wrong with the sandwich?”
“No, I like your egg salad.” She picked it up and put it down.
Anna set her sandwich down and reached for Naomi’s hand. “It’s going to take a while to get over him.”
“I know. That’s what I told—” she stopped but Anna had already gone on full alert.
“Told who?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Is someone already interested in you?” Anna leaned closer. “Who is it? Tell me.”
“You’ll drive me crazy.”
“I’ll drive you crazy if you don’t tell me.”
Naomi sighed. “True. But it wouldn’t be fair to … ”
“To?”
Shaking her head, Naomi pushed her plate away. “To the man. I can’t see him.”
“You mean you can’t see him until you feel you’re over John.” Anna leaned her elbows on the table, staring at Naomi with bright, inquisitive eyes.
Naomi hesitated. She could almost see the wheels turning in Anna’s head.
Anna clapped a hand over her mouth. “Naomi! He’s not married?”
“Of course not!” She looked heavenward. “What on earth do you think of me?”
“Well, you said you couldn’t see him and it’s not because you need more time.” She popped a potato chip into her mouth and frowned in concentration as she crunched. “What else could it be …” she trailed off. Then her eyes widened and she nearly choked.
Naomi pushed Anna’s soda closer and watched her cousin take a drink.
“Nick,” Anna gasped after she swallowed. “Oh, Naomi, you and Nick?!”
“What’s going on?” Leah asked as she walked into the room.
Anna glanced up, her eyes wide, then back at Naomi.
“Lunch,” she said brightly. Then, as Anna took in their grandmother’s pink cheeks and smile, she pulled out a chair. “Sit down and tell us about your lunch,” she told her slyly.
“Said the spider to the fly,” Naomi murmured, grinning as she watched Anna in action.
She knew.
Nick had felt that prickling feeling at the back of his neck ever since he’d picked up Naomi, Leah, and Anna, and now he felt it even more.
He glanced over at Leah but she was looking over some receipts from the shop. Naomi sat in the backseat but she was looking out her window. That was her usual behavior lately—anything to keep from making eye contact.
But Anna. Every time he checked his rearview mirror, she was staring at him. No, her eyes were boring into him.
She knew.
Ever since they’d come back from Florida Nick had waited to see if one of the cousins would say something, but they hadn’t. He’d finally assumed that Naomi hadn’t said anything to them.
But that had changed.
He wondered why Naomi had said something to Anna but kept his eyes trained ahead. A fine mist and wet roads made his attention vital this afternoon. A buggy rolled down the road just ahead. This was a passing lane but he didn’t want to risk an accident. Only when the buggy driver pulled to the right and gestured him on did he go ahead and pass.
“So, Nick, you and Naomi are losing your tans,” Anna remarked casually. But her expression in the rearview was anything but casual.
“You’re right,” he said, and he felt a flush stealing up his neck.
“Grossmudder, why didn’t you get a tan while you were in Florida?” she asked.
Leah turned in her seat and looked over her reading glasses. “I don’t see the value of sitting under the sun and baking.”
“So Nick—”
“Anna,” Naomi said in a warning tone.
“But—”
“Anna, for goodness sakes, stop it!” Naomi hissed.
She cast Nick a helpless look.
He heard whispering in the backseat—or rather Naomi chiding Anna in a lowered tone. Just bits and pieces of words could be heard, but he thought he could hear Naomi accusing Anna of conducting an inquisition.
Then it became quiet, and when he glanced in the rearview mirror, Anna wore a stormy expression and her arms were crossed over her chest. Naomi was gazing heavenward as if asking her Maker a question.
Unfortunately, his route dropped Leah and Naomi off first.
“Sorry,” Naomi mimed to him as she got out.
He nodded and shrugged. Obviously, he didn’t know Anna as well as she did, but she wouldn’t ruffle him. Sometimes family pushed each other’s buttons far worse than they did outsiders.
“Wait!” Anna cried, after Naomi and Leah left the vehicle.
She slid into the front seat and smiled at him as she shut the door.
Her smile reminded him of something…. Oh, yeah, that big-toothed fish that had terrorized Naomi in the creek in Florida.
“So, tell me about you and Naomi,” Anna invited as she fastened her seat belt.
“Anna!” Naomi peered into the open window and frowned at her. “Grossmudder, she’s just going to give Nick a hard time on the way home.”
Leah had stepped away, but now she walked over and gave Anna a stern look.
“It’s okay,” Nick assured them. “Anna doesn’t bother me.”
Naomi threw up her hands. “Come on, Grossmudder. He’s a man. He doesn’t think he needs our help.”
Nick grinned as he pulled back onto the road.
“So, what about you and Naomi?” Anna asked again. “And don’t tell me ‘What happens in Florida stays in Florida.’”
“Where did you hear that?”
She shrugged. “Daniel said it once.”
“Well, if there was something between us it would be private.” He used his most authoritative, quelling tone.
It had served him well when he’d had to get summer camp kids in line as a counselor.
“Save that tone for the camp kids,” she said. “Yes, I remember you telling us once about how you did that during summers to earn college money.” She continued to stare at him. “Come on, she’s my cousin.”
He made a turn onto the road that led to her house and pushed the speed up just a little bit.
She noticed. “Better watch out. Remember, there’s a speed trap along this road.”
He glanced at her. “Have you always been Amish?”
“You know I have.” She leaned closer, alert. “Are you thinking of becoming Amish?”
“No.” Regardless of what he’d been thinking—and what he hadn’t—it was none of her business.
“Really? You don’t think my cousin’s worth it?”
He pulled up in front of her house. “You’d make a great Englisch detective, you know that?”
“I’m just interested in what your intentions are toward my cousin.”
Getting out, he rounded the hood and opened her door. “Have a good evening, Anna. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.”
She stayed where she was. “Naomi’s been through a lot. If you hurt her—” she broke off, struggling for words. “If you hurt her—”
“I don’t intend to hurt her,” he said quickly. “I love Naomi and I think she loves me. But I told her we had to be friends.”
“You love her? Then why—”
He’d said too much. He’d been right about her interrogation techniques.
“Gut nacht,” he said, and held her door open wider.
She blinked and he realized he’d slipped into Pennsylvania Dietsch.
“I’m not done talking to you.”
“Yes, you are,” he said quietly. “I know that you love Naomi and I know that your concern comes out of a very deep place. You don’t want her to hurt the way you do.”
She unsnapped her seat belt and practically threw it aside. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I do,” he said, leaning on the door and watching her. “You’re stuck in your pain and you think it could happen to Naomi.”
“Don’t be telling me what I am,” she snapped, grabbing her purse from the seat.
“I’m not saying it to hurt you,” he told her quietly, as gently as he could. “I’ve watched you and I think you’re so busy hiding your pain over losing your husband so young that you can’t see that you need to take care of yourself first.”
The Heart's Journey: Stitches in Time Series #2 Page 18