Aimee (A Time for Love Book 3) (3 page)

“Close enough.”

Charlene seemed pleased at the remark, and Aimee decided not to say anything to spoil her friend’s sudden good mood. They reentered the conference room, and Edwina pointed them to the door at the far end.

“Have a pleasant evening, ladies,” she said. “I’ll return for you at midnight.”

“Return for us? I have a watch. I can tell time,” Charlene grumbled, but Aimee was already pushing the door open.

Aimee stepped onto hard-packed dirt and looked around. She was in a large, high-roofed barn that smelled of hay and, more faintly, horses. Hay bales were stacked along one wall, and at the far end, a trio of elderly men were tuning their musical instruments, which appeared to be a fiddle, a banjo, and a cello. She glanced back and could see the conference room, but as soon as Charlene followed her through, the conference room door disappeared, and she could see the side wall of the barn.

“Hello!” A skinny young man in overalls and a plaid shirt stepped around a stack of hay bales and smiled at her. “Adams or Woods?”

“Woods,” Aimee answered.

“She’s yours,” the young man said over his shoulder.

He moved over to Charlene, and another man stepped from behind the hay bales. He was taller and stockier than the first man, and he stopped a few feet from Aimee.

“I’m Josiah Holmes,” the first man said. “And this is my friend Frank Elkins. It’s a real pleasure to meet you, ladies. We’re having a barn dance tonight on account of Frank and I are fixing to go off to war, to show Europe how Americans fight. Come on,” he told Charlene. “You can watch me hang the bunting.”

“I can help you hang the bunting,” Charlene told him, and they gathered up armfuls of red, white, and blue fabric and headed to the front of the barn.

Frank stood with his arms folded in front of him and shuffled one foot through the hay strewn on the ground. Aimee studied him. He wasn’t as handsome as Dana’s new husband Benjamin, or as polished as Tish’s fiancé Lucas. Instead, he had broad shoulders, muscular arms, and chiseled, all-American features with a light dusting of freckles. Dimples flashed when he smiled shyly. He probably played football in high school and had cheerleaders hanging all over him. Aimee smiled back.

“Do you like music, Miss Woods?”

“Aimee, please. Yes, I like music.”

They continued to stand next to the hay bales. The fiddler had finished tuning his instrument, and he was playing a series of scales as he warmed up.

“Do you like music, Mr. Elkins?”

“Frank, please. Yes, I like music.”

Aimee tried to think of what to say next. It had been too long. She’d never liked first dates. Her stomach always twisted into a knot, and her mind went blank. What had she been thinking? Why had she thought going to A Time for Love was a good idea? It was too soon. She wasn’t ready. She might never be ready. She should just go home.

“Do you like kittens?”

“Excuse me?”

“Kittens. My cat just had kittens. Do you want to see?”

“Sure.”

He led her to the lone stall at the back of the barn. It was empty except for a small pile of hay in the corner. He motioned for Aimee to stay back, and they watched as the hay moved slightly. Finally a tiny, gray and black striped head poked out of the straw, disappeared, and reappeared with two other kittens.

“They’re about a week old,” he whispered. “Want to hold one?”

“Yes.”

Aimee’s mother had never allowed pets in the house, and Tom had allergies, so Aimee had actually never held a kitten. Frank scooped two tiny balls of fur from the hay and handed one to her. The fur was unbelievably soft, and she copied Frank’s motion as she gently stroked the kitten’s fur. The kitten squinted up at Aimee and then nestled into her hand.

“It’s precious,” she said. “I don’t know much about animals. It seems so fragile.”

“Life’s fragile,” Frank said. “Sometimes I feel like a kitten.”

It seemed a strange image for someone so large and muscular. “In what way?” Aimee asked.

“The farthest I’ve ever traveled is Atlanta, once,” he said. “I like it here on the farm, and I figure me going off to war is like turning this baby kitten loose in the midst of a buffalo stampede. I won’t know which way to go, and I’m likely to get trampled.”

“You’re scared?”

“Yes. I’m not brave like Josiah or the other boys that are signing up. I don’t want to go off to some foreign country and live in a tent. I especially don’t want to die.” The tips of his ears turned red, and he bent to set the kittens back in the hay. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. You must think I’m an awful coward.”

“Not at all. I think any sane person should be scared at the thought of war.”

“Thank you for saying so.”

He began walking back to the area where they’d left Charlene and Josiah. A few other couples had arrived, and the musicians were playing a lively tune. Josiah spotted them and grinned. “Come on, Frank! The caller’s here!”

A man who could have been the fiddler’s twin took his position on a wooden box beside the musicians. A woman stepped up beside him and looked out at the small crowd. “Before we get started, thank you all for coming, to give my son a proper send-off when he goes to teach those Germans a lesson!”

Everyone cheered, and she added, “We’ll be bringing out the refreshments soon, but meanwhile, form your squares, and Caleb here’ll tell you what to do!”

Josiah claimed a spot on the open floor and motioned for the others to join him.

“I don’t know how to square dance,” Aimee told Frank, since it appeared that was what they were about to do.

“It’s easy. I’ll show you what to do,” he said.

The music started, and Caleb called out the moves in a sing-song voice. At first they were simple, and Frank whispered instructions to Aimee or led her through the moves. The steps grew more complex, and Aimee kept tripping over her feet. She had to admit she enjoyed the feel of Frank’s strong arms when he swung her around or steadied her when she got off balance. Finally, as the couples lined up for a reel, Aimee touched Frank’s arm.

“I’m going to sit this one out,” she said. “But you go ahead.”

She nodded towards the group of women standing near the musicians. Several of them had been watching the dance floor, clearly hoping someone would ask them to dance.

“No, I’ll stay with you.”

“I don’t mind, really. I’d like to watch and see how it’s done. And any of those women would love a dance with you.”

“If you’re sure?”

She nodded and then felt suddenly alone as she watched him walk away.

As Frank approached the group of women waiting to dance, a young redhead in a black and white dress rustled her skirt, but he walked past her to an older woman standing near the back. Her face lit up after Frank spoke to her, and he led her onto the dance floor.

Aimee watched as they moved down the line of couples. Josiah and Charlene were still dancing. Josiah was leading the way between two lines, men on one side and women on the other, and Charlene was matching his energetic pace. In fact, her friend was dancing surprisingly well, and Aimee applauded as she and Josiah reached the end of the line and took their places while the next couple began their progression.

After two dances, Frank returned the older woman to the group. She collapsed onto a hay bale, laughing, and Frank made his way back to Aimee.

“If you’re not ready to dance again, how about some refreshments?” he suggested.

The woman who’d welcomed everyone, along with two helpers, was setting out food on a trestle table outside the barn. She smiled when she saw Frank, and he stopped beside her.

“Mrs. Holmes, I’d like you to meet my date, Aimee Woods. Aimee, this is Josiah’s mother.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

Mrs. Holmes was a trim, fortyish woman with hair pulled back in a neat bun. Her smile was friendly, but before she could speak, one of her helpers interrupted with a question about where to place the platter of watermelon wedges she held.

“Please excuse me,” Mrs. Homes said. “I hope you two have an enjoyable evening.”

Aimee nodded. She and Frank filled their plates with ham, potato salad, pickles, homemade bread and jelly, and sliced tomatoes. Frank’s plate was piled so high, Aimee didn’t see how he could possibly eat it all. Blankets were spread on the grass beyond the tables. Frank claimed one near a lantern hanging from a stake in the ground and set his and Aimee’s plates down.

Frank shoveled the food in his mouth as if he hadn’t eaten in days and was finished before Aimee had done more than nibble at her potato salad and bread. He bounded back to the table and returned with his plate piled almost as high as before, this time topped with a huge slice of coconut cake. By the time Aimee finished eating, he’d cleared his second plate. He set their dirty plates in a barrel filled with sudsy water and asked Aimee if she’d like to take a walk.

“Sure.”

They hadn’t talked during the meal, and Frank didn’t speak now as they walked behind the barn and across a field to a low bench beside a small garden. He sat down, and Aimee joined him.

“Did you like the dancing?” he asked.

“Yes, it was fun. But I’m not very good at it,” Aimee answered.

“It takes practice.”

The silence was slightly awkward. Was Frank regretting the date? Hoping it was almost over? Aimee didn’t have a watch, but she would guess it wasn’t close to midnight yet. She tried to think of something to say and happened to glance up at the sky, where an impossible number of stars shone in the clear night air.

“I’ve never seen so many stars!” she said.

“Amazing, isn’t it? Sometimes I like to lie in the hayfield and just stare at the sky.”

“I could watch a sky this beautiful for hours.”

The stars in the Big Dipper seemed larger and brighter than usual, as if they’d somehow come closer to the earth, or as if the lights of St. Louis that normally interfered with stargazing had completely disappeared. Frank pointed out the North Star, and they took turns naming all the constellations they could think of. Once they ran out of names, they both watched the sky, until Aimee suddenly realized she was leaning against Frank and moved away from him.

He glanced at her. “I’m supposed to tell you my views on marriage,” he said after a minute.

It was too dark to see, but Aimee was sure his ears had turned red again.

“The Bible says a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, but I don’t think of myself as a king. To me, being married means the husband and wife always have someone to help them out. There are lots of things I’m not good at doing, like writing letters or sewing seams or doing sums. It would be nice to have someone who could help me with things like that. And I could chop wood, repair the wagon, and feed the animals. All the things I’m good at doing. And anything we’re both bad at doing, well, I figure we’d still do a better job together than alone. Like when you have two horses pull a wagon. If one falters, the other keeps going.”

“So you want a wife to do your math and help you pull a wagon?” Aimee asked.

“No, of course not! We wouldn’t actually pull—Oh, you’re teasing me,” he realized.

“A little. Actually, it sounds nice to think of having someone who’s around to help you.”

Tom hadn’t always been. He’d expected Aimee to show up for him, but he’d missed her college graduation. He hadn’t picked her up from her recent dental surgery. She’d had to call Tish to drive her home. He hadn’t visited the hospital when her mother had an ulcer removed or gone with her to the funeral of her favorite great-aunt, and he’d often disappeared at cleanup time while they were running their catering business. In fact, she was beginning to recognize that he’d been somewhat self-absorbed throughout their relationship, but she had never called him on it. She didn’t want to think about what that said about her.

“Did I say something wrong?” Frank asked, and Aimee realized she was frowning.

“No, not at all. I was just thinking about someone I used to date. My ex-fiancé, actually.”

“Fiancé? You were engaged before?”

“Yes. But that’s not really a first date topic.”

They sat in silence for a minute until Frank asked, “Are you ready to go back to the dance? We can just watch if you’re still tired.”

“I think I might give square dancing another try,” Aimee said. “As long as you don’t mind the occasional stumble or wrong turn.”

“I’ll be there to help,” he promised.

He offered her his arm, and she tucked her hand through it as they walked back to the barn. The darkness of the night still amazed her, and she made a note to talk to Charlene about how A Time for Love had achieved it. Maybe they were in some enormous warehouse space, and the whole night sky was a carefully created illusion. Then they were joining the new dance that was forming up, and she was too busy to think.

The crowd on the dance floor was thinner, since many of the couples, including Josiah and Charlene, had moved to the refreshment table. Aimee felt less self-conscious with fewer eyes on her, and she managed a couple of half-decent rounds before the caller announced that the next song would be the evening’s final dance. Couples drifted back inside, and the floor was once again full when the caller sang, “Bow to your partner! Bow to your corner! Now promenade!”

All the moves seemed to click with the melody, and this time Aimee felt like she really was dancing instead of moving in hopeless confusion. Her skirt swirled around her as she moved. Frank swung her left, she ducked under his arm and grasped Josiah’s hand just as Charlene reached for Frank. Once the dance was over, everyone applauded, and the musicians took bows.

“That was some mighty fine dancing,” Frank complimented her. “No one would know you’d just learned tonight.”

“Thanks!”

Aimee’s cheeks felt flushed, and she was suddenly warm. She fanned herself with one hand, and Frank took the hint.

“I’ll go see if there’s any lemonade left.”

Charlene joined Aimee and stretched her arms. “That was quite the workout! I can skip Pilates tomorrow.”

“What’s Pilates?” Josiah said from just behind Charlene. She tried to explain, but the chatter in the barn was too loud. They made their way outside, while Aimee found a hay bale to use as a seat while she waited for Frank.

“He won’t marry you, you know,” a voice said in her ear.

Aimee looked up. “Excuse me?”

It was the redhead who’d clearly wanted Frank to ask her to dance. “I don’t know who you are or why you’re here, but you should know, you’re wasting your time. Frank Elkins isn’t the marrying kind.”

The bite in the redhead’s voice startled her. Aimee tried to form a question, but Frank reappeared holding two glasses of lemonade.

“Evening, Priscilla.”

“Frank,” she nodded and, head high, stalked out of the barn door.

“Don’t pay any attention to anything Priscilla says,” Frank said as he sat down beside her. “She’s a terrible gossip.”

“I think she likes you.”

“She may have, once. We went out for sodas a couple of times, sat together at a church picnic, when she was seventeen. She wanted to start courting, but I wasn’t ready. She’s had a bee in her bonnet ever since.”

“Ever since? If you don’t mind my asking, how old are you?”

“Twenty-four. Almost twenty-five. Two years older than Priscilla.”

He was too polite to ask her own age, so Aimee told him, “I’m twenty-seven.”

She’d never felt like that was old until after she broke up with Tom and thought about all the years she’d wasted. She’d always pictured herself married with at least one baby by now.

“You don’t look it.”

“Thanks.”

The crowd was leaving the barn, and several friends called out goodbyes to Frank. He’d introduced her to a few of the couples during the evening, but she couldn’t remember any of their names. She just smiled and waved, and soon they had the barn to themselves.

“Thank you for being my date tonight,” Frank told her.

“When do you leave for the Army?” Aimee asked.

“I’ve got my physical in two weeks.”

“Good luck. Stay safe.”

Aimee felt a pang of genuine anxiety until she remembered this whole date was a setup by A Time for Love. An excellent, very authentic setup, but it wasn’t like Frank was actually going to fight a war. But she could pretend as well as he could.

“Thanks.”

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

They chatted about their families in the flickering light from the lanterns that were beginning to go out. When Frank pulled out his pocket watch, he saw it was almost midnight.

“Mrs. Darby will be here soon,” Frank said. “Thank you for spending the evening with me.”

“My pleasure,” Aimee said and meant it. Frank’s good manners and unaffected attitude had made the date easier than she had expected. Impulsively, she leaned over to hug him. He stiffened at first but then returned the hug. “I truly enjoyed it.”

“Me too.”

Aimee didn’t have anything else to say, so they sat quietly, shoulders brushing each other’s, watching the lantern flicker, until Edwina appeared. She wished the men good night, escorted the girls back to the conference room, and reminded them that they were supposed to organize the next date.

“Do you want to do another double date?” Aimee asked Charlene as they exited A Time for Love’s parking lot.

“Is that what you want?”

“If it’s okay with you.”

“Sure.” Charlene shrugged. “I’ll call you tomorrow, and we’ll plan everything, okay?”

A Time for Love’s rules specified the date they planned could only involve the two couples, which Aimee thought was a bit unfair, considering the barn dance had involved a small crowd. But she would play by the rules. She worked on the menu for the meal she planned to cook, while Charlene agreed to plan the entertainment. They decided the date would be at Charlene’s, since Aimee’s apartment was still half-filled with boxes, and her temporary roommate Mandy might return anytime. But Aimee had the better-stocked kitchen, so she’d need to prepare the food at home and then reheat and add the finishing touches at Charlene’s.

Aimee knew she was oversensitive about her background. Tom had spent a semester in France his junior year of college, and he’d done a summer cooking class in Italy, followed by a summer spent touring Europe. He’d often reminded Aimee how provincial she was, how she just didn’t have his experience in fine cuisine. Was she paranoid to think Edwina had set up a barn dance for her first date because she thought Aimee was too unsophisticated for anything more upscale? Aimee didn’t know, but she intended to use this date to show Frank she wouldn’t embarrass him in a fine restaurant.

For the men, she would’ve chosen steak or lasagna, comfort food. But since she knew Charlene was very health-conscious, she decided to start with a spring salad with raspberry vinaigrette that was her own personal recipe, grilled chicken brushed with herb butter, and homemade pasta primavera. She’d serve berries and crème fraîche for dessert, with mint iced tea and Italian bottled water to drink.

“I’ll buy the groceries,” Charlene offered.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Aimee said. “I can get them.”

“Do you know how much it would cost to have the meal catered? You’re providing the labor and the expertise. I’ll provide the ingredients.”

Aimee wanted to refuse. She realized Charlene was just trying to help, since she knew Aimee’s finances were tight without Tom to pay half the bills, but knowing her friend thought she needed help stung her pride. But she had to be realistic, so she nodded. “Thank you. What’s our entertainment? I’m planning to dress up a bit.”

“Dress up all you like,” Charlene said. “The barn dance didn’t exactly allow for much conversation, so I’m planning some get-acquainted games and music if we run out of things to talk about.”