Huckleberry Harvest (The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill Book 5)

by Jennifer Beckstrand

  Kristina appeared around the bend in the lane, walking her bicycle with an extra spring in her step and ringing her bell over and over as if she were playing a song. Apparently, she was in a very good mood. Mandy couldn’t decide if that was a good or a bad thing.

  Kristina waved her arm back and forth over her head as if she were trying to signal an airplane. “Yoo-hoo, Mandy.”

  Mandy followed Kristina’s lead and pretended there was nothing amiss between them, even though Kristina had accused her of vile betrayal only three days ago. “Hi, Krissy. How nice to see you.”

  Kristina’s gaze traveled to the roof where Noah was still trying to lay down all the shingles in a matter of minutes. “Hello, Noah,” Kristina chirped in that flirty, singsong voice that was sure to annoy him.

  Noah didn’t acknowledge her. The steady sound of his nail gun driving nails into the roof was all the response they got. Yost glanced at them and stretched an apologetic smile across his face. “We’re pretty busy,” he said.

  Kristina pulled her phone from her apron pocket and jiggled it in her hand. “Noah, I got your text,” she called, gushing as if there was something private and personal between her and Noah.

  Noah had texted Kristina? That was surprising. He certainly shouldn’t be encouraging her. She’d double her efforts if he gave her any reason to.

  There was nothing to do but distract Kristina and get her into the house as quickly as possible. Mandy couldn’t risk letting her best friend catch a glimpse of Noah’s injured face. Whatever the injuries were, Noah would be mortified if anyone saw.

  “Let’s go in the house,” Kristina said, before Mandy had a chance to suggest it. She cradled her phone in her hand as if it were a buplie, a baby.

  Mandy cupped her hand over Kristina’s elbow. “Jah. You can help me lay out some quilt squares. I’m making a top for Mammi.”

  Kristina marched into the house with purpose, as if she wasn’t just there for a friendly visit. As soon as Mandy closed the door, Kristina grabbed her hand and pulled her to sit on the sofa. “Come here, Mandy.” She was overjoyed about something, but Mandy could tell she was trying to temper her enthusiasm. She practically shoved her phone in Mandy’s face. “Look what Noah texted me. And don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Doubtfully, Mandy took the phone from Kristina. “I don’t see it.”

  Kristina snatched the phone away and pushed some buttons. “Here,” she said.

  Mandy studied the screen. It said, I need you to deliver a message to . . .

  Mandy turned to Kristina. “Who are you supposed to deliver a message to?”

  “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” Kristina said, not trying to mask the exasperation in her voice. “Don’t you even know how to use a cell phone?” She pointed to a tiny arrow on the keypad. “Push this, and the message will scroll down. You can’t see the whole message at one time.”

  Mandy pushed the arrow button and the words scrolled up the screen. I need you to deliver a message to Mandy for me. Tell her that I agree with you that a best friend should never betray a confidence. Tell her that I don’t want to talk to her or see her again, and I don’t want to be her friend.

  The room began to spin. Mandy found it nearly impossible to breathe. “I don’t understand,” she said weakly. What was Noah about?

  Kristina took her phone and flipped it shut. “You read it. It sounds plain enough to me. Neither of us can trust you.”

  She didn’t even know where to begin to try to understand what was happening. “But . . . why?”

  “He’s mad, Mandy. Real mad.” She patted Mandy’s hand, but Mandy didn’t even feel it. She was numb. “I’m your best friend. There is forgiveness in my heart. But Noah might never forgive you.”

  “Forgive me for what?”

  Kristina looked at Mandy as if she were an idiot. Maybe she was. “Noah doesn’t approve of you trying to steal your best friend’s boyfriend. He’s very honorable that way.”

  “He was never your boyfriend.”

  “And he was never yours, even though you kissed. He agreed with me.”

  Mandy’s stomach dropped at the idea that Noah had agreed with Kristina about anything.

  “He seemed particularly upset about the kiss,” Kristina said.

  Upset that they had kissed?

  Her heart skipped a beat. Nae. He must have been upset that Kristina knew about it. He hated when other people knew anything about his personal life. Did her telling Kristina feel like a betrayal to him?

  The room pitched about wildly. She felt light-headed and dizzy. Maybe she shouldn’t have told Kristina about kissing Noah, but at the time, she had wanted to convince Kristina that Noah didn’t love her. Horrible, horrible mistake.

  Noah was sensitive about such things, she knew, but to never want to see her again because of a careless word to a friend? It seemed so final, so extreme. She thought she meant more to him than that. More than to toss their relationship aside in a text message.

  She’d made a lot of mistakes with Noah, but she wasn’t about to roll over and play dead. She loved him, and she was going to fix this, for the both of them.

  Standing up, she grabbed the phone from Kristina.

  “Hey,” Kristina protested.

  “I need to borrow this,” Mandy said. “I’ll be back.”

  “Are you going to talk to Noah? He said not to, remember?”

  Mandy stormed out of the house. She would not let Noah break her heart in a text message, and she certainly wouldn’t let him do it without a fight.

  They seemed to do a lot of fighting. He was probably expecting it.

  Kristina burst from the house, ran down the steps, and followed so closely that she almost stepped on Mandy’s heel. “I’m coming with you. Noah is my boyfriend. He sent me the text.”

  Pretending Kristina wasn’t right behind her, Mandy marched around the corner of the house and climbed the ladder as if she lived on the side of a cliff.

  “Mandy, I don’t like ladders. Come back,” Kristina said. “I need you to help me up.”

  Feeling a twinge of guilt, Mandy ignored her best friend. Kristina, in all her annoying eagerness, had done nothing wrong, except maybe to fail to see how her behavior drove boys away. Mandy would fix things with Kristina later. Fixing things with Noah was an emergency. Surely she could leave Kristina waiting on solid ground in an emergency.

  Noah’s nail gun did not stop as Mandy got to the top rung and stepped onto the roof. She sucked in her breath as she tried to steady herself on the incline.

  The brothers were intent on their work, no doubt attempting to finish the roof in record time so they could leave this terrible place and never come back. Neither of them noticed her until she spoke. “Noah Mischler,” she said, trying to lend steadiness to her voice. She loved Noah, and she felt deep remorse for telling Kristina about the kiss. If she couldn’t convince him of that, all her hopes of happiness would come crashing down around her.

  He glanced at her, hesitated for a second, and then resumed laying shingles as if all the nails in the world still needed to be driven. Why he thought he could get away with that behavior was beyond her. Hadn’t he known her long enough to understand how persistent she was?

  If he wouldn’t come to her, she would go to him. She took a couple of steps on the steep incline, raising her arms to balance herself. He refused to look at her as she made her way toward him tottering unsteadily with every step. She was doing very well until she stepped on an errant nail and her foot flew out from under her. She squeaked in alarm as she fell hard on her backside with her feet dangling precariously over the edge.

  That got Noah’s attention. Frustration gathered on his face as he cast his nail gun aside, leaped to his feet, and took four giant steps to reach her. He slid next to her, hooked an arm around her waist, and held on tight as if she were a fence post and he was the cement anchoring her to the ground. “Mandy,” he hissed. “I told you to stay off this roof. You could have broken your neck.”


  Mandy panted for air and willed her heart to slow to a gallop. It felt so gute to be close to him, even if he was a little prickly at the moment. “You wouldn’t even look at me. You broke up with me in a text. I had to come up.”

  “And risk your life?”

  “For you, I’d risk anything.” She did not want to melt into a puddle of tears. She sniffed them back.

  His expression didn’t soften. If anything, the lines around his eyes could have been cut into his face, and the muscles of his jaw tightened as if his mouth were fastened shut. He slid his hand from her waist and wrapped his fingers around her arm with an iron grip. Pulling her to her feet, he steered her away from the edge of the roof and toward the ladder. “You need to get down. Your dawdi would be angry if you fell.”

  “My dawdi doesn’t get angry.”

  “Then I would be angry if you fell.”

  Kristina stood below with one foot propped on the bottom rung of the ladder as if gathering the courage to climb. “Stay down, Krissy,” Noah said. “Nobody is allowed on this roof except for me and my brother. Go, Mandy.”

  He didn’t release her arm. She knew he wouldn’t let go until she was securely on the ladder.

  Gute. She could be stubborn as well.

  “I came up here to talk to you. I’m not climbing down until you explain yourself.”

  His eyes darkened like a looming storm. “I don’t have to explain myself to anybody, least of all you. You’re a stranger to me. Stay out of my life.”

  An oppressive ache pressed into her chest. “Noah, please don’t push me away like this. Whatever it is, whatever I did, we can work it out. I’m ready to apologize over and over again. Please talk to me. Let me apologize.”

  Still holding on to her arm, he turned his face from her with an uncompromising lift of his chin. “I said everything I needed to say in that text.”

  Hadn’t she scolded him about this very thing already? He was so maddeningly headstrong. “I’m not going to let you break up with me over a text message. Your mamm would say it’s very bad manners.”

  He whipped his head around to look at her. “What do you know about my mamm? Don’t talk about my mamm.”

  His sharp reaction shocked her to the very core. What had she done? She lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry, Noah. I didn’t mean—”

  “Yes, you did. What do you know about any of us? You came into town thinking you could fix us, when all you’ve done is ruin our lives.”

  Noah glanced at Yost, who had abandoned the shingles and stared at both of them, his eyes brimming with concern. With her arms folded across her chest, Kristina eyed them from the ground with a smug frown on her lips.

  Mandy felt as if she might suffocate as the pressure on her lungs became unbearable. “I’ve . . . I’ve ruined your life?” Because she told Kristina about a kiss?

  Kristina grabbed onto the ladder. “I still love you, Noah. I promise I’ll never spy again.”

  Noah shook his head as if he didn’t have any disgust to spare for Kristina. “Get down. And don’t come up again.”

  “If you want me to go, you’ll have to push me off.” A fall from the roof couldn’t have hurt any worse than how she already felt.

  His expression was one of barely contained rage. If she didn’t know him so well, she might truly be afraid that he would push her off the roof. He swiped his hand down the side of his face and seemed to pull his anger deeper inside himself. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Then you can stay, but sit down so you don’t fall.”

  Mandy nodded. She’d rather speak to him without Yost or Kristina listening in on their conversation, but at least he was willing to talk.

  Once he saw her safely sitting on the roof, Noah stepped over her legs and onto the top rung of the ladder.

  Mandy couldn’t believe it. “What are you doing?”

  “If you’re not going to leave, I am.”

  Kristina’s face bloomed into all kinds of smiles as he quickly climbed down the ladder. She tried to grab his hand, but he stomped away before she could latch on. “Where are you going?” she said.

  Noah glanced in Mandy’s direction. “When she’s gone, I’ll come back.”

  Mandy thought she might be ill as tears sprang to her eyes. He might as well have shoved her off the roof. How had he come to despise her this much in three short days?

  He strode across the lawn, snapping for Chester to follow him. Was he going to walk all the way home?

  “Noah, wait,” Kristina called as she picked up her skirts and ran after him.

  He’d think he was being attacked, but Mandy was determined to chase him down right along with Kristina. She couldn’t let him go like this, not when there was so much to say. Not when her heart broke at the thought of losing him. She leaned over and clutched the top of the ladder and swung her foot onto the first rung. He had a head start. Would she be able to catch up to him and his long legs? And what would she do when she did catch up with him? She lifted her chin. She might break an arm, but she’d tackle him if need be.

  Whom was she fooling? She, together with every schoolgirl in Bonduel, couldn’t bring Noah Mischler down.

  She sighed in relief as Dawdi, oblivious to the tempest swirling about him, came out of the house and stopped Noah halfway across the yard. Noah was too polite to dart past Dawdi without acknowledging him. Kristina nearly bumped into him as he abruptly halted.

  Dawdi reached out a hand to him. “I’m glad to see you’re taking a break. Did Mandy give you the cookies?”

  “Um, nae.”

  By this time, Mandy had made it down the ladder. Dawdi motioned for her to come closer. “Do you have those cookies?”

  Still struggling to draw air into her lungs, Mandy took the small bag from her pocket and handed it to Noah. He wouldn’t look at her, but he pulled a cookie from the bag and took a big bite. “They’re delicious,” he said, as if he were loath to admit that Mandy knew how to cook.

  “I want one,” Kristina said.

  The muscles in Noah’s jaw twitched as he held out the bag for her. As if she hadn’t just witnessed the destruction of Mandy’s heart, she giggled as she made eyes at Noah and took a bite.

  Mandy stared at her friend in disbelief. Poor Kristina, so immature, so ignorant and insensitive. Could someone like that really have ruined all her hopes with Noah? Over a kiss?

  Granted, it was a stunning, head-spinning kiss, but it appeared that Noah had already forgotten it.

  Noah handed the bag to Dawdi. “I have to go home now. Yost will finish up.”

  Dawdi looked confused. “You walking?”

  “Jah. I need to clear my head.”

  “Okay then,” Dawdi said. “We will see you tomorrow. Mandy will give you some applesauce.”

  Noah nodded curtly, turned on his heels, and trudged down the lane.

  Dawdi patted Mandy’s shoulder. “That is one of the finest boys you’ll ever meet.” He raised his eyebrows. “Your eyes are watering.”

  She stood as stiff as a pillar. Was she just going to let him go? What would Dawdi think if she took off running after him?

  She watched Noah put distance between them with his long, fluid stride. At that moment, it didn’t matter what Dawdi thought. Without a second glance, Mandy sprinted down the lane and left Kristina munching her cookie. “Mandy!” Kristina called. “Wait for me.”

  “Don’t go, Kristina,” Mandy heard Dawdi say. “Mandy made lemon shortcake. Would you like some?”

  “Yes, but I need to . . .”

  “Best let Mandy have her say with him, don’t you think?”

  Kristina made no answer. She was probably having quite a time deciding if it would be better or worse to leave Mandy and Noah alone with each other.

  “If you don’t eat it now, sure as rain, one of Mandy’s special boys will eat it up in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”

  Mandy was too far away to catch Kristina’s response, but she didn’t hear footsteps behind her or a loud, obnoxious bell zoomi
ng in for an attack, so lemon shortbread must have been a temptation sufficient enough to keep Kristina from chasing the man she loved all the way down Huckleberry Hill.

  Noah must not have expected Mandy to follow. Up ahead, he kept a steady pace, but he didn’t run like a man being chased. Wonderful gute. She’d have a chance.

  She got close enough to ambush him. “Noah,” she said breathlessly. “Please stop. I’m not going to give up until you hear what I have to say.”

  To her surprise, he stopped in the middle of the lane, dragging his feet in the gravel and sending a cloud of dirt into the air. He didn’t say anything, just frowned resentfully and folded his arms, patiently awaiting her explanation.

  His rigid posture and harsh expression called forth fresh tears, and she made no attempt to staunch them. She might as well try to hold back the Wisconsin River with her hand. He really looked as if he despised her, and she couldn’t bear his contempt.

  “Please tell me what I’ve done to hurt you.”

  “You won’t leave me alone. That’s what you’ve done.” He started walking again.

  She stepped in front of him as her profound pain gave way to anger. “Don’t dismiss me like that. After all we’ve shared with each other, don’t you dare dismiss me.”

  He scowled right back. “Don’t tell me what to do. I’ll never allow you to tell me what to do again. And I’ll certainly never trust you.”

  “I’ve only wanted to help.”

  “You don’t really want to help. You want to be right.”

  “That’s not true. I care for you. I want—”

  “You told Kristina that we kissed.” He spit the words from his mouth like a bitter pill.

  Mandy closed her eyes and shook her head. She was going to be sick. “I did. But she wouldn’t—”

  “I bet you had a gute laugh about it.”

  “No. I would never. How could I laugh about that? I will treasure that kiss until the day I die.”

  “That sounds like something Kristina would say. Funny and insincere.”

  Mandy stared at him with her mouth wide open. Noah’s emotions frequently boiled over, but it wasn’t like him to be cruel or react fiercely.