“That might be—”
“Oh, sorry. I have a youth fundraiser to attend tonight. Totally slipped my mind. Actually, I should really be going now. See you around.”
“Okay, bye,” she called after him as he backed up his cart and escaped to the next aisle. Maybe he could do his shopping later, because if he ran into Heidi again that morning, he’d probably accidentally ask her to marry him.
Oh, Sam. You’ve really outdone yourself this time.
That evening Heidi made falafels for dinner. Sure, the deliciousness of her soon-to-be-famous butternut squash recipe called to her, but the deliciousness of a certain man called to her just a little bit louder. She bit in to the piping hot morsel and then promptly spit out the uncooked mush that had remained stuck in the middle. Her thoughts to drift to Sam.
He definitely felt the attraction, too, but something made him hold back. She hadn’t dated much in her life and had certainly never dated outside the faith, but she didn’t see why having dinner together would be a sin. And if she hadn’t take a giant chomp out of her bagel at the start of their conversation, she’d probably be supping with Sam now. Instead he’d invited himself over and then just as quickly uninvited himself. And now Heidi sat at home alone and lonely—even though just hours before she’d basked in the same solitude.
“We’re more alike than different,” she told Mr. Whiskers as she spooned the remaining undercooked falafels into his dish and started making Kraft macaroni and cheese instead. “We both pledged our lives to God. We both spend all our time serving the community, and we both love Louise and Brady to pieces. So what’s the problem?”
Mr. Whiskers seemed to think about this for a moment, but didn’t even bother to try to provide an answer. He also didn’t bother to so much as taste Heidi’s attempt at falafels.
“Well, that decides that, I guess. If he doesn’t want to ask me out on a date—at least not without immediately taking it back—then he doesn’t want to. I’m not going to force some poor schmuck to date me. No, that’s what my mother’s for.”
Mr. Whiskers gave her a pitying look and waited for her to finish cooking her insta-pasta and to give him his portion of that instead.
Thanks to the cat, at least she wouldn’t have to die alone…
Chapter 6
On Tuesday, Heidi had eaten undercooked falafels and pictured dying alone.
On Wednesday, she had made up with her mother and spent the day listening to all the old wives’ tales that surrounded catching the bouquet at a wedding.
Now it was the following Monday, and Heidi’s life had more or less returned to normal. Nine days had passed since she’d first met Sam, six days since she’d last run into him at the grocery store.
And nothing.
Why had she gotten her hopes up? Why had she wasted so much energy pining after some man when her community needed her to be her best, most attentive self?
The worst part of everything, of course, was that now she realized she actually did want the white picket fence and 2.4 kids, and all the rest of it that came with the American dream. What would this mean going forward? Would she need to make herself more open to her mother’s attempts at playing matchmaker, or could she secretly join J-Date and try to find a good man on her own?
Stupid Sam getting her hopes up and then crushing them beneath his heel just as fast.
Yes, maybe J-Date would be the ticket. She loved her mother, but she couldn’t take any more of Judith’s meddling. As always, enough was more than enough.
She wrote herself a sticky note reminder and placed it on her computer monitor, then raced out of the house toward her next engagement. Today she would be working a volunteer shift in the local soup kitchen. She’d decided to sign up when one of the board members had spread the word to nearby religious organizations that the kitchen was hopelessly understaffed.
Heidi had jumped at the opportunity to serve her homeless and otherwise destitute neighbors by providing a hot meal. She’d also rallied the women of the community in a clothing drive, thinking it would be a nice surprise if she showed up with a little extra to help out.
Well, little was putting it far too mildly. Although only a few days had passed since she’d first received the call to contribute, the ladies of the temple had completely outdone themselves by bringing in not just clothes, but purses, makeup, jewelry, hygiene items, and more.
“Just because they don’t have a place to lay their head, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have the means to put on their face,” one of the more flamboyant women had explained, and the others had all bobbed their heads in agreement.
It took some creative rearranging, but somehow Heidi had managed to pack everything into her tiny hatchback. She arrived early to make sure there would be enough time to get everything unloaded before her shift began. Another volunteer helped her unpack everything and then showed her the ropes.
“This is the serving line, and here’s the back kitchen... Oh, put these on!” She thrust a grease-stained apron and hairnet at Heidi, which Heidi eagerly accepted. She knew better than to scoff at having to wear the heinous things. If the kitchen’s many patrons weren’t too good to eat here then she wasn’t too good to serve it to them wearing the appropriate attire.
“You’ll be stationed here, and your partner for this shift should arrive any minute, but until he does, I’m happy to stand in.” The woman’s face was pale except for bright red cheeks. And although her skin seemed almost sickly white, energy burst freely from her as she took each hurried action with big, sweeping gestures. She rushed over to the sink and washed her hands, then smiled at Heidi. “Ready to serve some soup?”
Heidi smiled right back. “I’m always ready to serve in whatever way I’m needed.”
“Great, we could use more volunteers like you!” She hopped into place beside Heidi and picked up a ladle of her own. “The need lately has been tremendous as I’m sure you’ve heard. Oh, look! Here comes your shift buddy now!”
Buddy, indeed. Her shift mate was none other than the enigmatic Sam.
His face turned red when he noticed her. “Heidi, hi!”
“H—” Before Heidi could finish the single syllable greeting, the other volunteer had responded in her place.
“Oh, you two know each other? How cool! Then Heidi, you won’t mind showing Sam around, would you? I need to get going anyway.” Not even waiting for an answer, she set down her ladle and took off her apron and hairnet in a series of quick, fluid motions, then raced back toward the kitchen.
They both watched her go, then turned back to each other. “Hi, Sam,” Heidi said at last.
“Hi.”
“You already said that,” she pointed out.
“So I did.” He blushed and ran a hand over his head. Oh, that reminded her…
She retrieved a hairnet and apron for him then handed him a clean ladle, all the while trying to think of what she could say to make this situation less awkward.
But it was Sam who spoke next. “It’s nice to see you again.”
And now Heidi felt heat rise to her own face. Luckily, their first customer—could you call them customers when the soup was free?—arrived before either could say anything more to embarrass themselves.
The man who stood before them wore a thick coat despite the summer heat. He smiled from behind a scraggly beard. His eyes that had clearly seen too much for any one person to handle, but still he said, “Lovely day, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yes!” Heidi answered, then for whatever reason she decided to borrow a line from the box store greeter and said, “Thank you for coming in today.”
“Thank you,” the man responded with a grin. “It’s not every day a beautiful angel serves me my lunch.”
“Aww, that’s so nice. Come see me again if you want seconds.” She winked. “I’ll never tell.”
The man accepted a dinner roll from Sam, waved a final thank you, and headed off to find a table at which he could eat his lunch.
“Well, wa
sn’t that nice?” Heidi said.
Sam nodded. “Nice. And true.”
“Huh?”
“You are beautiful. Like an angel. That’s what I thought the first time I saw you, too. That’s what I think now.”
“Oh, uhh, thanks.” She opened the lid of the soup and stirred her ladle around inside, so she’d at least have something to do. Otherwise, she might wrap Sam in a huge hug, or worse, lean in to kiss him. Was it weird that she already felt as if he were her boyfriend?
“No need to thank me for speaking the truth.” He mirrored her actions, and they stood together stirring pots of soups that didn’t really need it.
Neither of them seemed to know what to say, so they fell silent again. Soon the lunch rush had started in full swing, which kept them both plenty busy as they served up food and chatted with the many men and women who relied on the kitchen to fill their bellies.
Sam spoke with each and every person who came through, treating them no differently than as if they had all the money in the world. And each person left their line with a bowl full of soup and a smile. This was the first time Heidi had interacted with Sam for more than a few brief minutes, and she liked very much what she saw.
This man who’d first attracted her eye now climbed right into her heart. And, well, she wasn’t going to ask him to leave. When their shift came to an end, she worried that Sam would flit away just as he had the previous two times they’d met, but instead he said, “For the past couple hours we’ve been smelling this delicious soup, and it’s made me quite hungry. Would you care to join me for a quick lunch?”
Yes, he’d asked her to share a meal with him, and this time he refused to take it back. Normally, he wouldn’t question Pastor George’s wisdom, but how could something that felt so right be wrong?
At the very least, he and Heidi could become friends and serve as emissaries to one another’s congregations. And maybe once he’d had more time to pray and sort through all these strange new feelings, he and Heidi could become so much more to each other.
The cafeteria had mostly cleared out now, so he and Heidi had their pick of the tables. They settled into the end of a long picnic-like bench near the kitchen.
“Nice digs, do you spoil all your dates like this?” Heidi laughed, but then abruptly stopped and began to fumble with her spoon. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. The humblest beginnings often lead to the most fulfilling ends. I - I mean date? Who said anything about a date?”
Sam probably should have jumped in to clarify that—yes—he, too, wanted this to be a date, but Heidi looked so cute as she stumbled for words. All he could do was stare at the beautiful woman before him, who was also kind, funny, and so uniquely herself that he could honestly say he’d never met another quite like her.
“Umm, I’ll just stop talking now.” Heidi laughed at herself once more and then pushed a spoonful of cream of chicken into her mouth.
Sam reached out to clasp her free hand, and a spark jumped between them just as it had the first night they’d met. His skin tingled and sent little shivers of happiness straight to his core.
He held hands all the time, constantly actually.
Whenever people came to him for prayer, which they did many times per day, the first thing he’d do is grab their hands and bow his head… So why did it feel so different when he joined them with Heidi?
Never matter, he needed to speak now before he lost the nerve. “Do you want this to be a date?” he ventured.
Heidi coughed. She put her spoon down, then squeezed his hand with hers. “Let me ask you a question. Do you believe that God provides signs to the faithful?”
“Yes, of course.” He nodded vigorously, loving that they could discuss God so freely with one another.
Heidi stirred her soup around and around in the tiny bowl, speaking more to it than him. “We’ve met three times completely by chance in the last week or so. Why would God keep sending us across each other’s paths if not for a reason?”
“I—”
Suddenly, she glanced up and fixed her eyes straight on him, speaking steady and with obvious conviction. “I like you, Sam. Very much. Despite my better instincts, I like you.” Oh, how nice it felt to hear that!
“And I like you very much, too.”
“Then I think that answers your question.” She took another spoonful of soup into her mouth.
Yes, that definitely settled it. They were on a date, and so far, despite the awkward hemming and hawing as to whether it was an actual, honest-to-God date, it was going quite well. But Sam had no idea what should happen next. He decided to be upfront about his inexperience and ask Heidi for a bit of guidance—after all, they were partners in this now.
“I’ll be honest. I haven’t gone on many dates. I don’t really know what to do or say.”
She chuckled and wiped her mouth with a thin paper napkin. “Don’t worry, I’m kind of a dating expert.”
“You… you do this a lot?” This revelation definitely surprised him. If she were such an old hat at this, then why was she, too, acting so shy and embarrassed?
“Well…” She shrugged and offered him a goofy look. “Don’t get the wrong idea, but my mother is forever fixing me up. On the other hand, when it comes to going out with a man of my choosing, you’re the first in a very, very long time.”
He couldn’t resist asking, “So that makes me special?”
“Very.” Heidi winked at him, and he winked back.
“So then, if you don’t like the men your mother fixes you up with, why do you agree to keep letting her?”
Heidi laughed. “You’ve obviously never had a Jewish mother.”
“No, but the women at my church are constantly trying to set me up, too, and I just find a way to politely change the topic.” He tore apart a roll and dipped one half of it into his soup.
“Ha! For my mother, there is no other topic. Well, not besides my age.”
Heidi’s phone began to buzz on the table beside them. She picked it up, laughed to herself, then held it up for Sam to see. “Well, speak of the devil.”
“Go ahead and answer it.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded and motioned for her to accept the call.
She hesitated but then picked up. The woman on the other end spoke so loudly that Sam heard every word, even though he tried his best not to listen.
“Hi, Ma,” Heidi said with a sigh.
“Heidi, where are you?” The other woman’s words were rushed as if telling of some crisis. He sure hoped everything was okay.
Heidi seemed far less worried than he. She sighed again. “At the soup kitchen, volunteering.”
“Alma Schwartz said she just saw you sitting there with some gentile.”
“Ma,” Heidi warned.
“So it’s true?”
Heidi spun in her seat to glance around the kitchen and cafeteria. “How did Alma Schwartz even see me? I didn’t see her. Do you have people spying on me now?”
“It’s just a coincidence, I assure you. But you haven’t denied it and I know you wouldn’t lie to your poor mother, so tell me everything.”
“Mom, you’re interrupting a nice meal. Can I call you later?”
“It’s that pastor fella from Louise’s wedding, isn’t it? I told you then, and I’ll tell you again now, he’s not right for you, Heidi.”
Sam’s heart sank to his belly, leaving no room for anything else—least of all soup. So her mother didn’t approve? He thought of the fifth commandment to always honor thy father and mother. It wasn’t like Sam to disrespect anyone, but he especially didn’t want to defy the mother of a woman in whom he was interested. Did this mean the honorable thing to do would be to step aside?
“How about you let me decide that?” She rolled her eyes and mouthed sorry to Sam, but he had already made up his mind.
“Heidi, you should listen to your mother. You know I only want what’s best for you.”
“I’ve gotta go, Ma. Talk to you lat
er.”
“Heidi, you can’t—”
But before the other woman could finish her protest, Heidi ended the call.
She frowned and stared down at the tabletop. “Sorry about that.”
“I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. Neither did I. What did I tell you about Jewish mothers? See now how I can’t just get out of it?” She reached for his hand again, but he pulled away and stood up. Though he wanted desperately to stay, he knew it wouldn’t be right.
“I should probably go. I’d hate to put a rift between you and your mother.”
She jumped to her feet and gave him a pleading look. “Sam, wait.”
“I’m sorry. This just seems so complicated. I…”
“Look, I’ll just turn my phone off. We were having a nice time. Let’s go back to how things were before she intruded.” She reached back down to the table to grab her phone, then made a big show of switching it off. But it just wasn’t enough, not now that Sam knew what their relationship could cost Heidi. He’d lost his own mother years ago, and would give almost anything to have just one more day with her.
He took a deep breath. Now he was frowning, too. “This is all new to me, Heidi. I like you very much, but I’m also confused about what it is that God wants for us. Can I call you after I’ve had some more time to pray and think this through?”
Sam felt like the worst guy in the world, but he also didn’t want to mess things up with Heidi before they could even begin. Love is patient, he reminded himself, and if Heidi is right for me, then she will be patient, too.
As hard as it was to walk away, that’s exactly what Sam did.
Chapter 7
Rage flew through Heidi’s veins. Judith Gold could speak of nothing else but how she wanted what was best for her daughter. Now that Heidi had finally—finally!—found a man she liked enough to pursue a relationship with, and—bam!—her mother had ruined that just as fast as she could. The kicker was she hadn’t even needed to be present to do so. Sam had fled as fast as his feet could carry him, and why wouldn’t he? No, Heidi didn't blame him one bit for wanting to dodge this crazy train before it plowed right into him, full speed ahead.
The Alaska Sunrise Romances: A 9-Book Sweet Romance Collection Page 53