Huckleberry Harvest (The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill Book 5)

by Jennifer Beckstrand

  He might even let her spy on him if she promised him a piece of snitz pie in return.

  His lips curled upward. A piece of pie and a look at those freckles.

  He had a thing for pie.

  And freckles.

  Chapter Five

  There were only so many amends she could make without an oven.

  Mandy clutched her plastic bowl, waited for Noah to knock on the door, and steeled herself to be alone, completely alone with Noah Mischler. She hadn’t been able to decide whether to be alarmed or relieved when Dawdi and Mammi had gone into town this morning, leaving Mandy by herself to let Noah into the house so he could hook up the new oven.

  On one hand, there would be some immensely uncomfortable silences while Noah fixed the oven and Mandy cleaned the floor. On the other hand, she would be able to apologize for the river incident yesterday without arousing Mammi and Dawdi’s curiosity.

  On the other hand, what if he yelled at her? Or called her names? Or refused to speak to her at all? He’d taken a dunking because of her foolishness. She fully expected him to scowl and tell her she should keep her superior hinnerdale out of the river. She disliked him wholeheartedly.

  She tested her knee by limping around the kitchen a few times. It was stiff and painful. If she concentrated hard on hiding her limp, Noah might not even remember she’d injured herself. She couldn’t hope that he’d forgotten the entire incident.

  Then again, he had risked his life to save hers. Reluctant as she was, she could not let his kindness go unthanked. But she’d rather not feel Noah’s wrath today. She already felt deerich, foolish, enough.

  She opened the door before he even knocked because she saw him coming from the window, and she’d rather not prolong her humiliation.

  He stood on the doorstep with his toolbox the size of a car, looking intimidating and suspicious at the same time. She’d seen him only yesterday, but he seemed to be better looking than ever. Maybe it was because his hair wasn’t dripping with river water and his face wasn’t smeared with mud. That might have something to do with it. He had his hat in one hand, and his light brown hair fell playfully across his forehead, as if the wind had blown it there. His brown, intelligent eyes gazed at her as if trying to decide if she were the enemy.

  “Is the stove here?” he asked, getting right down to business. No doubt he wanted to visit with her as little as she wanted to visit with him.

  “It came this morning.”

  With the bowl still in one hand, she moved away from the door so he could come into the house. He set his toolbox next to the fridge and stepped back to take a look at the new stove. He examined it for about ten seconds before bending over to retrieve something from his box. It seemed as if he were in a hurry.

  He wanted to get out of here as much as she wanted to get him out.

  But maybe she should give him her gift before he got too far into his work. He already thought she was a nuisance. Interrupting him would only annoy him more.

  She cleared her throat, which had dried up like a stale piece of toast. “Before you . . .”

  He glanced at her as if she’d just done a cartwheel in Mammi’s kitchen.

  She cleared her throat again and held out her bowl for his inspection. “I made this for you.”

  He stood and came closer, rubbing his fingers across his jaw and studying her bowl as if it might bite him. “What is it?”

  “I mean . . . it’s chocolate chip and . . . I didn’t have an oven this morning, so I made you some cookie dough.”

  “Thank you,” he said. It sounded like a question.

  “I can bake them for you after you hook up the oven, or you can take them home and bake them yourself.”

  He took the bowl and eyed her with heightened distrust.

  She tried to twitch her lips into a smile. It didn’t work. “I want to thank you for pulling me out of the river yesterday.”

  His expression might have softened around the edges a bit. “Don’t mention it.”

  “You saved my life,” she said. “I was terrified and exhausted. I knew I couldn’t hold on to that rock much longer. I’m very, very grateful.”

  “If you must thank someone, thank God. He showed me how to find you and gave me the wisdom to help.”

  “Oh, okay. I will. I mean, I already have.”

  He stared into her face with those dark eyes until she thought she might crack under the pressure of his intense gaze. “How is your leg?” he said.

  “Oh . . . fine. It’s stiff, but I can stand on it just fine.” She wanted to smack herself upside the head. He could see for himself that she was standing on it just fine. “They’re chocolate chip. The cookies are. Or the dough is.”

  “Denki. I like chocolate chip.”

  “Bake at 350 degrees for eight to ten minutes.”

  “Okay.”

  She swallowed the lump of pride stuck in her throat. “I have something to confess.”

  He pressed his lips together, and she could see the muscles twitch along his jawline. “Okay.”

  “The reason I fell into the river is that Kristina and I were spying on you.”

  His expression didn’t change. “Were you?”

  “She wanted to see you something wonderful. She is very much in love with you.”

  His jaw muscles twitched again.

  Mandy wrung her hands in agitation. “Not that I’m blaming Kristina for my own folly, but I was trying to be a gute friend. I’m embarrassed that she was able to talk me into such a childish, stupid scheme. I hope you’ll forgive me. It won’t happen again.”

  “I just want Kristina to leave me alone,” Noah said, with more patience than irritation in his voice. That surprised her a little.

  “I know. I’m sorry. Krissy is my best friend, and I want her to be happy. The spying was with the best of intentions. I didn’t know it would get out of hand like that.”

  He palmed the bowl in his hand as one corner of his mouth quirked upward. “You didn’t expect the giggling and the bird noises.”

  In mortification, she felt herself blush down to her toes. “Please don’t mention it. It was horrible.”

  “She doesn’t do a very good birdcall.”

  “When she started chirping, I decided to abandon her and hike back to the buggy by myself. Unfortunately, she pushed me in the river before I could leave.”

  Amusement flickered in Noah’s eyes. “She pushed you?”

  “She thought for sure you would come over to see what all the noise was about, and she panicked.”

  “Believe me,” he said, “it never mattered how loud she and her friends got. I was smart enough to know it would be hazardous to my health to ever actually catch her spying.”

  Mandy thought her eyes might pop out of her head. “You knew?”

  “I always know. I spent a lot of time outdoors this summer. She spied on me almost every day of the week. It almost made me want to take up quilting just so I could stay inside and out of sight.”

  Mandy clapped her hand over her mouth before a giggle could escape. She immediately felt disloyal to Kristina for wanting to laugh.

  Kristina’s broken heart was no laughing matter. But what had that girl been up to? Mandy felt a glimmer of sympathy for Noah. Was that why he’d broken up with Kristina? If what he said was true, Kristina had certainly made a pest of herself. He’d told Mandy on the first day they’d met that she didn’t know the whole story.

  She felt more ashamed than ever. Had she accused Noah unjustly?

  Nibbling on her bottom lip, she thought of poor Kristina. Her best friend had certainly made a fool of herself over a boy she loved, but who was Mandy to judge Kristina’s behavior? She had no idea how silly she would be if she were ever in love.

  And Noah had broken up with Kristina using a text message. His behavior was still inexcusable.

  But so was Kristina’s. Kristina might have been in love, but there were still certain acceptable behaviors toward boys, and spying on them was not an
acceptable behavior. She’d told Kristina as much yesterday when she took her home in the buggy, soaking wet and mad as a, well, as a wet hen.

  Kristina was fortunate that Mandy had come to Bonduel. Mandy knew how to fix things, make everything all better. She could teach Kristina the right way to attract a boy and the proper way to behave herself. In the end, Noah might decide he wanted her back. Mandy could be very persuasive.

  “I truly am sorry, but you have to understand that Kristina is not thinking rationally. What girl in love is ever rational?”

  At the mention of love, Noah’s expression hardened to stone. The trace of softness that she had seen only moments before disappeared. She should have left Kristina’s feelings out of it. She’d ruined the entire apology.

  He set the cookie dough on the cupboard next to the sink. “I’ll get to work on the stove. Denki for the cookies.”

  “You’re welcome,” she mumbled. She didn’t feel any better than before Noah had come. She shouldn’t have bothered making cookie dough. If Noah Mischler’s heart could have been touched, he would have shown it by now.

  She immediately grabbed the broom from the closet and began to sweep the great room. She promised Mammi that the floors would be spick-and-span by the time she returned home. Mammi had invited another set of boys over for dessert and games tonight. The floors had to sparkle.

  Noah knelt down, opened the oven door, and shined a flashlight into the interior. He took a wrench from his box and tightened something at the back of the inside. He looked as if he knew what he was doing, but Mandy couldn’t be sure. She wasn’t altogether certain that Noah wouldn’t blow up the house if he carelessly connected a pipe to the wrong thing. If he knew she was checking up on him, he might take greater care in hooking up everything the right way.

  Leaning on her broom, she knelt next to Noah’s toolbox on her good knee. She peered into the oven where Noah worked, unable to see a whole lot since his body was in the way.

  He sensed her presence and turned his head to frown at her. “Don’t like the way I’m doing it?”

  She felt a twinge of guilt for offending him, but better a little discomfort than a house fire. “I don’t want an explosion in Mammi’s kitchen.”

  He sat up and turned off his flashlight. “You promised not to spy on me again.”

  His accusation struck her nearly mute. “Oh . . . I wasn’t . . .”

  He sighed and slumped his shoulders. He didn’t seem angry with her. “You don’t think I’ll do a good enough job for your grandparents.”

  “I just . . . I don’t know you. Why did Dawdi hire you? Do you have any experience or training?”

  Fire flickered in his eyes, but he smothered it and growled in exasperation. “Here,” he said, handing her his wrench. “Come on this side, and I’ll let you do this part.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t need to do that. I just want to be sure . . .”

  “If you want something done right, you should do it yourself.”

  She dropped the wrench into his box and stood up. “No, no. I’m fine. Just do what you need to do.”

  He took hold of her hand and gently tugged her back down.

  Okay. He had nice, rough work hands. So. What.

  Cradling her hand in his, he retrieved the wrench from the toolbox and laid it in her palm. “This is a wrench,” he said.

  “Seven-sixteenths,” she replied.

  He raised his eyebrows and flashed a quick smile. Actually smiled. He had very nice teeth.

  She held her breath and commanded her heart to quit skipping about like a drop of water on a hot skillet. Who cared about Noah’s teeth? Nobody should care about anybody’s teeth. She didn’t even care if Noah had real teeth or false teeth. It was none of her business.

  “How do you know what size this wrench is?” he said.

  She spoke slowly and loudly to keep her voice from shaking. “It says so right on the side.” She pointed.

  He kept smiling while keeping hold of her hand as if she needed help lifting the wrench.

  She casually pulled her hand away. “With five sisters and two brothers, I tag along after my dat quite a bit. I helped my dat build a washhouse for my mamm. And my twin brother Max fixes old bikes and scooters and sells them. I help him out sometimes. I like to fix things.”

  “Okay then,” he said. He pulled the bottom drawer from the oven and set it aside. “Look under there and see if you can find the air shutter.”

  “Nae. I don’t need to.”

  “Cum,” he said. “A girl who builds washhouses should know how to convert an oven.”

  “Because I never know how many ovens I’m going to convert in my lifetime.”

  When he scooted away and made room for her, she could tell he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. This was all her own doing. She’d have to follow through.

  She lay on her side with her face toward the oven. Shining the flashlight, Noah crouched beside her and bent over until his head nearly touched the floor. “Do you see that shiny pipe sticking down from the top?”

  “Here?” she said.

  “Jah. Tighten it down about two turns, but don’t force it.”

  She did as he instructed, trying to keep her hands steady. She certainly did not want to be the one to blow up Mammi’s house.

  “Gute,” he said.

  “Do you want to make sure I tightened it enough?”

  “Nae. I trust you.”

  She turned and studied his face, only a few inches from hers. Was he being sarcastic since she’d made it clear that she didn’t like him? She couldn’t detect any scorn in his expression. He seemed content to let her do it.

  “Now, do you see the red cap to your left? You need to remove it with a crescent wrench.”

  She sat up, pulled a crescent wrench from Noah’s toolbox, and held it up for his inspection. “Three-quarters?”

  His mouth twitched as if he were resisting a smile. “I like you a lot better than I did five minutes ago.”

  She laughed softly as a warm liquid pulsed through her veins. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  He erupted into a smile. “Okay. If you feel good about that.”

  The room felt as if someone had turned on the new oven. If only Noah would stop looking at her that way, her temperature would definitely improve. She lay back down with the crescent wrench poised for action.

  “You need to remove the red cap. Give it a couple of twists. It doesn’t take much to get it off.”

  Mandy twisted the cap off, and Noah showed her how to invert the regulator to be ready for LP gas. When they finished underneath, Noah slid the oven away from the wall and stepped into the space behind it. “Now I need to put on the fittings and hook up the gas line.”

  He pulled the balsa wood cork from the hole in the wall he had drilled on Friday. “Could you hand me the Teflon tape,” he said. “Do you know what that is?”

  She found the yellow tape at the bottom level of the toolbox and passed it to him. “Of course I know what Teflon tape is.”

  He smirked. “Of course you do.”

  Mandy grinned with her whole face. “We both know how smart I am, but I’m wondering where you learned to install appliances. Did your dat teach you? Did you work on things together when you were growing up?”

  Noah’s eyes were trained on the tape while he tried to open the tightly wrapped package, and he acted as if he hadn’t heard her. She bent her head sideways to meet his eye. “Tell me about your dat. Is he as handy as you are?”

  Noah laid his arm across the top of the oven and turned his face from her. He let out a laugh, but there was only bitterness in it. “For a minute, I thought you were being sincere.”

  She furrowed her brow. What had she said to make him suddenly so resentful? “I am sincere.”

  He clenched his jaw and glared at her. “I don’t believe you.”

  “What . . . what did I say?”

  Clutching the tape in his hand until his knuckles turned white,
he said, “I’m so stupid. The cookie dough, the wrench, the apology. They’re all just more of Kristina’s tricks. She told you to ask about my dat, didn’t she? Did the two of you think it would be funny to humiliate me? To get back at me for hurting Kristina’s feelings?”

  Mandy wasn’t quite sure what she was being accused of so didn’t know how to defend herself. “I don’t want to get back at you.”

  “Then why are you dragging my dat into this?”

  Even knowing how disagreeable he was, Noah’s reaction nearly knocked Mandy over. They’d been getting along so well. She backed away and leaned against the counter near the sink. “I don’t understand. Is something wrong with your dat?”

  Her question seemed to heighten his agitation. “Why does everybody think something’s wrong?”

  “You don’t have to jump down my throat for asking a simple question.” Why was she trying to reason with him when what she wanted to do was wring his neck?

  And why was he so touchy about his dat?

  She crossed her arms over her chest to push down the hurt that threatened to bubble up. She didn’t really care why Noah had erupted like a volcano at the mention of his fater. As he had told her, it was none of her business.

  Still, she felt the need to defend herself. “Do you really think I would hurt your feelings just to get back at you for what you did to Kristina?”

  “What I did to Kristina?” He spat the words out of his mouth as if they were too sour to taste.

  “Do you really think I’m that petty?”

  Noah studied her face as if he were evaluating her sincerity. Taking a deep breath, he ran a hand across his eyes and seemed to wilt like a flower in the heat. “I’m sorry. It’s wrong of me to talk to you like this.” He turned his back on her, which in the small space wasn’t an easy task. “I don’t need any more help with the oven. I just want to be left alone.”

  She shouldn’t have given him that cookie dough. Noah Mischler was so prickly, he didn’t even deserve a chocolate chip, let alone a whole cookie.

  Mandy picked up her broom, walked to the corner of the room farthest from Noah, and swept as if all the dirt in the world were in that one little space. The floor had never been so clean.