Matt placed his palm on the hood of Fletch’s car. “You know, this is a real nice car. You wouldn’t be willing to sell it would you?” The tone of Matt’s voice clicked in Fletch’s mind. Of course. The practical joker had been at work. Fletch shook his head at his own thickness. “You had to have put a really cheap price on it. I must have gotten a dozen or more calls today.”
Matt grinned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Fletch reached into his car to the passenger’s seat and withdrew a shopping bag. “Well, here’s your payback.” He thrust the bag at Matt. “You wear this, and I’ll call it even.”
With a surprised expression, Matt cautiously accepted the gift. He held the T-shirt up in front of him and started laughing. The T-shirt featured pictures of a wolf and three little pigs and bore the message “Big Bad Wolf.”
“Never saw this one. Where’d you get it?”
“I noticed it at the feed store when I was buying my muckers. Then when you showed up every day wearing a funny shirt, I couldn’t resist it the next time I had to go in there for Vic.” He didn’t add that it had been marked down 60 percent, which might be indicative of Matt’s poor taste. Fletch patted his car, acting as if he’d known what Matt had been up to all day. “Trying to blow my house down.”
Still examining the shirt, Matt admitted, “I like it. But I hope it doesn’t scare the girls away.”
It probably will, along with all your other T-shirts.
Fletch grew serious. “You know I’ve been thinking about what your dad said in there about the loan for the new barn and equipment. I remember hearing about a thing called hoop barns, tent-like structures that are cheaper than the metal barns most factory farms use. It might be a way for you to start your expansion.”
“Thanks. But all I need is a good contract with an integrator company. I’m going to work on that next.”
“You think? Maybe Vic had a point about getting his letter now before more of the herd is infected.”
“I guess there’s more than one way to go about it. But the integrator companies require the same documentation a bank does. And I want to be better prepared the next time I go face a bank officer. It’s demeaning to get turned down cold.”
“I’ll see if I can scrounge up some information on the hoop barns. At least look at it, won’t you?”
At Matt’s frown, Fletch realized he’d just stepped on the other guy’s testosterone. “I hope I wasn’t out of line, just now.” He shrugged. “It’s just another angle.”
Matt still frowned, and Fletch figured he’d better just shut up before he dug himself in deeper.
“You have a thing for Lil?”
The question hit him like a sledgehammer, forceful and unanticipated. Matt could be as blunt as his sister, and the disapproving tone of his voice made Fletch squirm. Had Matt seen them kissing in the front yard? “Well …”
Matt tossed the shirt over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes.
Fletch took off his ball cap and tapped it against his jeans. “I guess I do.”
“I haven’t figured out if Lil’s unhappy because she doesn’t want you chasing her or if it’s because she thinks you’re toying with her. It better not be the latter.” He took the shirt down and opened it up again. “Big bad wolf, huh? I hope that’s not a theme with you.”
Fletch felt his face heat. If it had been, that was long before he’d met Lil. “Of course not!” But then he remembered their kisses.
Matt’s expression softened a bit.
“The thing that’s troubling both of us is that we go to different churches.”
“Dad wasn’t happy about me leaving the Conservative Church. I can’t blame Lil if she wants to do the same thing, only the timing is tricky.” Matt tossed his shirt over his shoulder again. “I don’t like to see Lily get down in the dumps.” He glanced at the house. “This family’s got enough of that already. I don’t want it to rub off on her.”
“I’ll back off if she wants me to.” Fletch swallowed, wondering if he could or would really do that.
Matt nodded. “Fair enough. Thanks for the shirt.” He started to walk away.
What a strange character, Fletch thought. Most practical jokers aren’t hotheads. “So how long is the ad going to run?” Fletch called.
Matt looked back with a triumphant grin. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Getting in his car and starting the engine, Fletch grimaced. That hadn’t gone well at all. First delivering the bad news of the infected herd then getting called out for dating Lil. And now having to head over to the farm shelter.
Fletch had never felt so powerless. “I understand, Marshall, but if I do that, it could place Vic in a precarious situation, and I still have an entire term to finish with him. He can make it so that I fail the class.”
“Oh I think that’s an exaggeration. It’s such a simple thing. More simple than the last thing I asked ya. Let me see, help me here, do ya remember the last thing I asked of ya?”
Fletch switched the phone to his other ear. “I don’t believe you ever asked me to do anything,” he admitted, feeling lower than a worm.
“No kidding? This is the first thing?” Marshall drawled in his southern accent. “Well that surprises me. And we’ve known each other for years.”
Fletch squirmed like a spider under a giant thumb, pacing to the sliding glass door of his apartment. “Will I be able to see the film before it’s available for public use?”
“Well sure, Fletch. We can arrange that. Your commitment and integrity is commendable. That’s why I … well, why I like you so much.”
Fletch felt his face burn with humiliation. Marshall had never manipulated him like this that he could remember. But how could he object to one request, even if it wasn’t quite on the up-and-up? Buddy sidled up to him and stared out the sliding glass door. Fletch heard himself relenting, “If I can see the film and hear the narration, I guess I could raise any objections later.”
“Just trust me, Fletch. I won’t do anything to harm ya.”
“I wouldn’t want to harm Vic’s practice. Actually, he warned me not to do any video taping.”
“Maybe ya should be more discreet. Just so there won’t be any misunderstandings.”
“I suppose,” Fletch whispered.
As if in tune with his master’s feelings, Buddy lifted his nose and gave a mournful howl.
Exhausted from spending the day at Michelle’s, Lil entered the Landis kitchen and stopped short. She didn’t know if she’d ever take such a sight for granted again. Mom stood over the sink, paring potatoes. Her apron was tied in a perfect bow that rested just below her newly slim waist. Lil swallowed, hoping her mom’s first day alone had gone as well as it appeared.
“I’m home.”
Mom dropped her peeler and turned, wiping her hands on her apron. “You look awful.”
Lil smiled, thinking how their places had taken such a reversal. “Thanks.”
“Seriously, I know how exhausting it is over there.”
“Yeah, and it’s not going to get any easier for Michelle.”
With concern, Mom asked, “What do you mean?”
Lil hung her purse on a peg and wiped her hand across her sweaty brow, knocking her covering askew. “She thinks she’s pregnant.”
“What!” Mom exclaimed. Then she put her hand to her mouth and started laughing.
Lil couldn’t help but catch the joy in the situation, too, for they all loved babies, despite the work they created. “I know. Well, it’s not for sure. She’s making Tom pick up a pregnancy test at the store on his way home from work.”
Mom shook her head. “Such modern conveniences. Won’t be necessary. A woman knows such things. If she thinks she is, then it’s probably so.”
“I suppose. What can I do to help?”
“You can wash the broccoli. I’m making a broccoli salad.”
Lil headed to the refrigerator to get the broccoli that her mom had brought ba
ck from Michelle’s garden. “Are these from the second growth?” Lil asked, staring at the small, tender shoots.
“Yes. So tell me about Fletch.”
Lil jerked her gaze up to her mom’s, surprised because their date was before her mom had come home from Michelle’s. That meant that her dad must have told her about it. She guessed it must not be troubling him too much if he’d discussed it with Mom. He usually tried to keep things like that from her. “You heard about our picnic?”
“So that is why the picnic basket was moved? No, I’ve seen how you look at each other.”
Lil didn’t know when her mom had seen them together, but that hardly mattered. “I really like him.”
“And he goes to Matt’s church?” She had learned that when Matt brought him to supper.
“Yes.”
“Are you seeing him again?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t suppose you’ll look to me for advice, the kind of mother I’ve been to you lately.”
“That’s not true, Mom. I always welcome your advice.” But I have to make up my own mind.
Mom placed the potatoes in water and dumped the peelings into the trash. “Hand me the potato pot?”
Lil reached in the cupboard beside her for a medium-sized pot and handed it to her mom.
“All I know is I want you to be happy. But then there is also duty to consider. I only wish happiness were not so elusive.”
Lil was grateful that her mom had remained philosophical, because if Mom forbid her from seeing Fletch or even cautioned her not to see him, she would have become defensive, like she had with her dad. “Thanks, Mom,” she said. “But I already invited him to go with me to Katy’s on Saturday night. Maybe we can talk more about it after that?”
Instead of a worried expression crossing her face, Mom’s eyes brightened. Lil figured it had something to do with the promise to confide in her again.
CHAPTER 15
Fletch opened the passenger door for Lil and placed the dessert she had made in the backseat.
“You sure you don’t want to take Jezebel?” she teased.
“Maybe next time. That is, as long as you don’t mind riding in a car that’s up for sale and could get sold right out from under our noses.”
He watched his petite date slide into the seat. He walked around the front of the car and wiped his clammy hands on his jeans. In the car, he turned on the air conditioner to combat the hot, sultry evening. The soothing breeze which came from the vents played with the fringes of Lil’s hair. He splayed the steering wheel and gave her a smile. The fiery highlights in her hair made it a color that needed an exotic name description other than brown, like he’d described to Marcus. It was shiny and beautiful. His heart swelled with joy to be alone with her again.
Lil smiled back at him. “So what’s this about putting your car up for sale?”
“Maybe you ought to ask your brother about that.”
“Okay. Which one?”
“How about Matt, the prankster?”
“Uh-oh.” Her blue eyes twinkled. “He pulled that on my cousin Jake when he first bought his truck.”
Fletch’s mind flashed to a red Dodge he’d seen on a vacant corner he’d passed on his way to the farm shelter. Someday he would own a truck like that. First he had to get his diploma and a real job. “What kind? He still have it? ’Cause the offers are wearing me down.”
“You can ask him yourself. Tonight.”
“Common ground. That always helps. So, are your friends going to give me a hard time?”
Lil tilted up her cute freckled nose. “Maybe if we keep sitting here and show up late.”
With a grin, Fletch put the car in gear and brought it around the circle drive. “I wouldn’t want to disappoint you and get on everybody’s bad side.”
She smiled. “Thanks.”
He nosed onto the road. “Which way?”
“Turn right. The doddy house isn’t far.”
“Doddy house?” He remembered she’d told him about it before, but it had only sparked his curiosity.
Over the next several miles of narrow country roads edged with deep weedy ditches, Lil told him all about the doddy house. She talked about her childhood vow and her few months living there with Katy. As she talked, he tried to imagine three Conservative Mennonite, ten-year-old girls huddled around a campfire.
When she finished, she gave him a sideways glance. “You think that’s dumb?”
“Are you kidding? I think it’s sweet.”
He was about to add like you, only her arm flew out. “Turn! Turn!” she cried, pointing at the lane directly in front of them on the right.
He whipped the wheel and slammed on the brakes, veering off the drive and clipping the ditch with a bump, before they stopped.
“Sorry about that.” Her Dutch was thick and apologetic. “Wasn’t paying attention.”
“We’re okay,” he said, feeling like she really must have a penchant for destroying cars.
“Just pull around back. That’s it.” She pointed proudly.
A small, white-sided house with a blue roof and a cute porch that ran the entire length of the front sat at the end of the lane. “Looks like a dollhouse,” he commented. Then his eyes swept over the rest of the farm. It was nice. Something about the country drew him. He spotted Jake’s black truck and let out a low whistle. Involuntarily, he turned off the ignition, startled to notice Lil reaching for the car door. He tore his thoughts from the truck and caught her left hand.
“Wait.”
“What?”
For some reason, his dad’s Pygmies came to mind, and the ceremony they performed for luck before they went hunting. He knew that being in God’s plan wasn’t about luck at all, and he wasn’t sure why the memory had struck him, but since it had, he decided to have some fun with it.
“What?” she repeated.
He nodded toward the house. “These are your best friends, right?”
Lil nodded. “Yes, best in the world.”
“Then I think this calls for a good-luck kiss.”
Her eyes lit up with surprise. “I never heard of those.”
“What? But it’s our tradition.”
Lil pointed at herself, then Fletch, then back at herself. She shook her head. “We don’t have any traditions. This is only our second date.”
“Exactly. But it won’t be our last, so let’s start the tradition.”
She tapped her chin, as if trying to decide. “What will this good-luck kiss be like?”
He turned sideways in his seat, resting his left arm on the steering wheel. Considering that he’d just seen a couple of females peek out a window with a green roller shade, he figured it would be pretty chaste. “Oh they’re very short. Nothing like the ones we had before.” His heart tripped when she blushed. He liked how the rosy glow swallowed up her freckles. He really liked that he was the one who caused it. He stared at her mouth. “Just a mere brush of the lips.” He curled his finger, inviting her closer.
Breathless, Lil unfastened her seat belt and inched closer. He leaned forward, closing the distance between them. Good for his word, only moments later, he drew back again. Even though it was a brief encounter, she looked breathless. Her freckles returned.
“Good luck, then,” she said, pulling away.
But Fletch grabbed her hand. “Wait. That was for your luck.”
She grinned. “And why do I need luck?”
“You need the most because they’re your friends.”
She laughed. “On one hand you are so right. But on the other hand, that doesn’t even make sense.”
Rather than argue, he brushed her lips, which stilled against his touch. Then he released her.
“See. It worked.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
He beamed. “Because now I don’t feel like I need any luck.” It was true. A little assurance went a long way. Not that he was shy about meeting people. It was more about winning Lil over—not botching his
chance with her.
He jumped out of the car, and the hot, humid air struck him like a wall. He stuck his head back inside. “Don’t move.” He liked that she allowed him to open the door for her. He didn’t want to miss a second of their time alone or an opportunity to touch her soft little hand again.
When he opened the door, he reached for her. “Let’s go, before it wears off.”
She glanced at their hands. “You sure a hand squeeze couldn’t have done the same thing?”
“Probably, but it wouldn’t have been as much fun. Don’t you think?”
She wrinkled her nose. “You’re right. I haven’t had that much fun since I accidently put salt on my cinnamon toast.”
Sassy-soft. That’s what she was. He’d never known anyone like her. She was the most intriguing little thing. But his thoughts shifted when a man about his own age opened the door. He offered Fletch a friendly smile and firm handshake.
Lil gave Jake a hug and made the introductions.
During this interval, Fletch didn’t miss the look that passed between Lil and Jake. He remembered that she once referred to Jake as a friend who was as close as a brother. Oddly, it gave him a twinge of jealousy. He wondered if Jake felt it, too, or some brotherly protective emotion. Was the friendly demeanor only on the surface? She seemed to be giving Jake the eye, warning him to behave. As if Fletch needed Lil’s protection. He saw the moment that Jake acquiesced.
“My wife, Katy, is in the living room, talking to Megan. Come on. They’re anxious to meet you.”
Lil rolled her gaze to the ceiling. “Chump and blabbermouth,” she muttered.
Fletch glanced at her with amusement, pleased that she’d been talking about him to her friends. Pleased to see Lil squirm with embarrassment. Surely that was a good sign.
As soon as they entered the living room, Megan and Katy quit talking and shot to their feet. Jake’s wife was beautiful with a black ponytail and exotic features. Megan was just as pretty, only she was the exact opposite with long blond hair and a sweet face. No three women could be more different in appearance, yet more striking.
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