Breath of Spring (9 page)

“Matter of fact, I am.” His face took on the rakish glow she recalled from when he used to pull her close and pluck off her
kapp,
as they sat hidden away, kissing in somebody’s cornfield. “I’ve got a really
gut
job now, and my own apartment. Not all that far from here.”

Annie Mae heard the suggestion that slithered between his lines, like the serpent that had led Eve into temptation. She cleared her throat loudly. “Glad to hear it. Happy for ya—”

“You don’t
look
happy, Annie Mae,” he countered in a low voice. “I hear you’re waiting tables, of all things.”

Regret and shame stabbed at her heart as she glanced away. “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do,” she replied in a thin voice.

“Wanna ride?”

Oh, but she could hear the siren call of a fast car roaring down the road with laughter spilling out its windows. Annie Mae also heard Levi and Cyrus Zook holler when someone called them back to the house for the midday meal. And she couldn’t miss the way Nellie, Hannah, and Katie watched her to see what she’d do next. Yonnie was considered the wildest, fastest,
baddest
Mennonite boy around—which was exactly why she’d always adored him. “Better not,” she replied after a too-long pause.

“Huh. You know you
want
to see what this Spyder’ll do.”

“Spider?” Annie Mae gazed longingly at the low, sleek car. In her heart, she sensed it was every bit as dangerous as a spider, too, but that didn’t erase the memories of how her heart had pounded gleefully when Yonnie had tromped on the accelerator of his previous rattletrap car.

“C’mon, babycakes. Once around the block and I’ll bring you right back.”

Annie Mae pressed her lips into a tight line as she studied the way his blond hair shifted in the wind . . . how his eyes narrowed slightly and glimmered with the challenge she’d never been able to resist. “Sorry. Gotta go in now and—and see who the two new preachers are,” she said, even as her body refused to move.

“And what’s
that
supposed to mean?” he teased her. “They’ll be exactly the same men when you get back from a ride. And since you’re not a member of the church—still in your
rumspringa
—it’s not like anybody can get after you for being a little late to eat your dinner—which is baloney sandwiches, most likely.”

Annie Mae squeezed her interwoven fingers until they throbbed painfully. Never mind that the common meal in Willow Ridge was always hot and tasty, thanks to cooks like Miriam, Naomi, and the Hooley sisters. Hadn’t she just been thinking she didn’t fit in here anymore, when along came this fine-looking fellow in a classy car? Like the answer to her lonely prayer?

“Just got these wheels yesterday. Wanted
you
to be the first girl to ride with me.”

Annie Mae watched Nellie, Katie, and Hannah as they headed across the Brennemans’ yard toward the house, the backs of their black coats and bonnets all in a row against the snow. What would it hurt to go for a spin . . . just once around the block?

But when her sister turned to gaze at her again, Annie Mae exhaled the tempting thoughts that had almost eroded her resolve. “
Denki,
but I’ve gotta go,” she said. “
Gut
to see ya, Yonnie.”

Before he could change her mind, Annie Mae pivoted and resolutely started toward the house. Of
course,
the Brenneman boys, Jonah Zook, and the Kanagy brothers were just coming out of the shop with Andy, so they couldn’t miss who was standing out in the road, tormenting her.

“Is that steam comin’ out of Yonnie’s ears?” Seth Brenneman teased. “Lookin’ hot, hot,
hot!
”

“Boy howdy, ya wouldn’t see
me
turnin’ down a chance to ride in that car—or to drive it,” his brother Aaron remarked.

Annie Mae glowered at their knowing grins. “Go right ahead with Yonnie, then! Who’s to stop ya?” she retorted.

“Annie’s got a boyfriend, Annie’s got a boyfriend,” Jonah Zook taunted her in an off-key singsong.

No danger of it ever bein’
you
, either
, Annie Mae thought as she hurried past the clutch of fellows. Even though he was a year older than she was, he’d never been on a date or taken a girl home from a Singing, that she knew of.

As she reached the door to Naomi’s kitchen, Annie Mae heard the squeal of tires and the whine of a revved-up engine racing away. She sighed loudly and tried to compose herself before going in to help set the tables for the common meal. Why did she feel as if she’d just missed her last chance to have any fun? And why did Yonnie Stoltzfus have to be so cute, and so well-off, besides? It just wasn’t fair....

Adam surveyed Thursday’s lunch offerings on the Sweet Seasons buffet table and then took a seat at Bishop Tom’s customary corner table. The café’s noonday crowd looked a little smaller today, maybe on account of the low gray clouds that promised a snowstorm. “Looks like there’s a creamy chicken soup with lots of veggies, and a bean stew concoction, along with meat loaf and the usual fixings,” he reported. “And it’s my turn to buy.”

“Nope, that’s not happenin’,” Tom insisted. “Long as you’re workin’ at my place, your meals’re on me, Adam. It’s the least I can do for the way you’ve made my ceilings and walls look like new again, and how the kitchen cabinets and drawers all open and close real smooth.”

Adam shrugged. Because Tom’s married daughters had taken a lot of the larger furnishings after their
mamm
had died, this job was relatively easy—and even though he was second-coating everything, the painting was going faster than he’d figured on. “Ever ything needs to be just right for when Nazareth moves in,” Adam teased. “You’ll have to get back into the habit of keeping the little woman happy, ain’t so?”

“
Jah,
there’s that,” the bishop said with a chuckle. Then he nodded in the direction of the kitchen. “And here comes the other little woman we love, ready to take our orders. Get extra to take home for your supper, if ya want.”

Adam glanced up as Annie Mae approached their table. She looked fresh today, well-rested and maybe wearing a new dress in a shade of blue that accentuated her eyes. His reading glasses were perched on the end of her nose, and as she poured their water, she nodded toward the laminated menus that were wedged between the sugar shaker and the ketchup bottle.

“Got a new menu today, fellas,” she said. “Rebecca suggested we spruce them up to look more like the website—and Miriam’s added a few new items, too. The double cheeseburger with bacon’s been a big hit.”

“Say no more,” Adam replied with a laugh. “I’ll take one of those, and I’m getting some soup and stuff from the buffet.”

“Coke with that?” she asked as she scribbled on her order pad.

Adam paused. How had Annie Mae known he would prefer something different from his usual hot tea to go with that cheeseburger? “
Jah, gut
call. Doesn’t hurt to change things around every now and again, ain’t so?”

Annie Mae’s mysterious smile made him think twice. “We’ve all gotta do that,
jah,
” she murmured.

“And I’ll be loadin’ up on the buffet today,” Tom chimed in. “Miriam’s beef and bean stew’s one of my favorites.”

“Help yourselves, then,” she replied, “while I tell Naomi to get goin’ on Adam’s burger.”

As he followed the bishop to the steam table, Adam waved at Miriam and Naomi in the kitchen, and gave a nod to Rebecca as she waited on a couple of English farmers who were regulars. He’d tried to convince Matthias to come here for lunch, but his brother preferred to snack on whatever they had in the fridge.
Would do him
gut
to get out more, and he’d be eating better
—

The low rumble of a powerful engine made Adam glance outside. He frowned. Last Sunday he’d seen that same fancy blue car pull up alongside the Brennemans’ shop while they’d been selecting new preachers—and he’d watched as Annie Mae had scampered out to greet its driver, too.

When the engine revved before it shut off, Bishop Tom turned around, as well. “Here comes trouble,” he murmured as Yonnie Stoltzfus unfolded his tall frame from the low-slung driver’s seat. “But ya can’t fault his eye for a fine-lookin’ car.”

“No doubt he’s come back to visit with Annie Mae,” Adam replied under his breath. He wanted to remark about the allure of fast cars and forbidden vehicles—but who was he to judge Yonnie, when he was still cleaning up the vintage motorcycle stashed in his barn? He’d wanted to confide in Bishop Tom about how he needed to get rid of the bike as well as the guilt trip it was still taking him on, but he hadn’t found the right moment to discuss it this past week while he’d been painting.

When the bell above the door jingled, Yonnie paused to take in the dining room and its occupants. Adam studied Yonnie as he dipped up his chicken soup from the steam table. The infamous Mennonite Romeo looked lean and mean in his dark leather jacket. His dramatic English haircut was really short on one side with a wing of blond hair dipping down over the other eyebrow.

A panther on the prowl,
Adam thought as he picked up some packets of crackers. But he couldn’t tell Stoltzfus to go back where he came from . . . and it wasn’t like he could lay any claim to Annie Mae’s affections, either. It was no concern of his if she took up with—

A loud crash made everyone look toward the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room. Annie Mae had dropped the two big haystack salads she’d been carrying, and her face was turning the color of the tomato wedges that waddled across the floor. Lettuce, ground beef, hash browns, and melted cheese were strewn over the broken plates at her feet.

She never reacts that way when she sees
me
,
Adam thought. Yet he quickly set down his soup bowl and strode over to help her.

“Oh, but I’ve gone and made a big mess,” Annie Mae wailed.

“Don’t ya worry about it, dearie. I’ll get ya two fresh salads made up in a jiffy,” Naomi called from the kitchen.

“And I’m right behind ya with the broom,” Miriam said as she bustled out. “Every one of us drops something now and again, honey-bug.”

Adam extended his hand to a stricken Annie Mae. “Step away from that broken glass,” he suggested quietly. “And maybe step away from what Yonnie’s doing to you
,
too, before you get hurt.”

What had possessed him to say that? When she gripped his fingers to step toward him, Adam suddenly wanted to pull her closer, into the protection of his arms. Anybody could see how Yonnie was pulling Annie Mae’s strings to the point that she lost track of her better judgment.

Yet when she glared at him over the top of his reading glasses, she seemed anything but grateful. “I can handle it,” she muttered as she stepped away from him.

By the time Miriam had mopped and Annie Mae had returned to the kitchen for two fresh salads, Yonnie had chosen a table on the far side of the café from where Adam and Bishop Tom were sitting. The Mennonite’s smug smile didn’t sit well with Adam, and neither did the way Annie Mae fluttered over to his table . . .
like a moth to a flame
.

“Much as ya don’t like it, she’s gotta figure things out for herself, son.”

Tom’s remark cut through Adam’s dark thoughts and he exhaled loudly. “It’s like watching two cars—or a truck and a horse-drawn rig—entering an intersection at the same time, and you can’t stop the crash you know is coming,” Adam muttered.

“Best thing to do is let go and let God handle it His way,” the bishop reminded him gently. “He gave us free will, knowin’ it would either keep us on the path to salvation . . . or lead us to perdition.”

Adam nodded, but he didn’t feel so good about that last option. As he ate his soup, which was loaded with chicken chunks and vegetables, he tried not to watch the way Annie Mae’s face lit up as she took Yonnie’s order . . . how she flirted back when he complimented her . . . how she all but
skipped
to fetch her next orders when Naomi called out that they were ready.

The double cheeseburger with bacon she brought him was the most awesome sandwich Adam had seen in a long while. He grabbed Annie Mae’s hand as she turned to go. “Be careful,” he pleaded quietly. “Yonnie and his cousins have been known to get girls in trouble, and you don’t want to be another notch on his bedpost. You’re better than that, Annie Mae.”

Disdain clouded her face as she snatched away her hand. “I guess that’s my beeswax—and none of yours,” she retorted. “Can I get ya anything else?”

Jah, a zipper for my lips,
Adam thought, but he shook his head.

“You can tell Miriam her beef and bean stew’s the best ever today,” Bishop Tom said with a smile. “And never forget that all of us are prayin’ and wantin’ the best for ya, now that you and Nellie are on your own.”

Annie Mae’s scowl could’ve curdled the cream in Tom’s coffee. With a roll of her eyes, she tossed their bill on the table and stalked off to fetch more plates that awaited her on the pass-through counter.

Tom chuckled ruefully. “There’s no figurin’ women, Adam. They’ll pretty much do what they’re gonna do, and we men can either tromp down on them and pretend like we’ve got control, or we can—again—let the
gut
Lord handle it for us. I could tell ya all about losin’ Lettie to that English fella, but I think ya see my point.”

Adam nodded, wishing he hadn’t lost his appetite for the fabulous double burger draped in cheese, which melted down over its three bacon slices. But he would eat every bite of it. Annie Mae Knepp would
not
ruin his lunch—or his life.

“Since when do you wear glasses, Annie Mae?” Yonnie teased. “Or do I drive you to such distraction that you can’t see straight?”

Annie Mae laughed out loud. “You and your talk. Fulla hot air—and full of yourself, you are.”

“So maybe I’d like some company. To keep from becoming totally self-centered.” His light green eyes widened as he let his suggestion sink in. “C’mon, Annie Mae. When’s your day off? We could go out riding. Like we used to.”

Her heart fluttered like a wild bird trying to escape a cage. Months she’d gone without a date. It was wearing on her to work day in and day out, even if her savings account was growing steadily with each weekly deposit.

“All work and no play makes Annie a dull, dull girl,” Yonnie hinted.

“Miss? More coffee, please?”

The English voice behind her brought Annie Mae out of her rose-colored fog. She pivoted, grabbed a carafe from the coffeemaker, and refilled all the cups around the dining room to give herself time to think. Rhoda was off this afternoon, helping Andy move boxes into their new apartment in the clinic building, and Rebecca was over there with them, setting up the Internet for her graphic design business.

See there? Those girls take time off, yet you haven’t once asked Miriam for a break.

But she didn’t want Yonnie to think she would drop her waitressing duties at his every whim, either. As Bishop Tom and Adam headed toward the checkout, Annie Mae stepped behind the counter to settle their tab. “Everything cooked to your likin’ today, fellas?” she asked breezily. Then she pointed down into the glass pastry case. “Miriam just baked those chocolate chip brownies about an hour ago, and the monkey bread’s fresh, too.”

Bishop Tom laughed and waved her off. “Naz’ll be over this evening with dinner for me—she’s stayin’ with Ira and Luke until we get hitched in a couple weeks,” he added. “But why don’t ya wrap up a loaf of that monkey bread. Looks like somethin’ to get Adam and me through the afternoon while we’re puttin’ my downstairs rooms back together.”

As she tucked a loaf of the cinnamon-scented confection into a cake box, Annie Mae could feel Adam gazing at her—ready to deliver another lecture, most likely—so she didn’t look at him. “There ya be, Bishop. Let me get your change—”

“Nope, you keep the extra. Saves me walkin’ back to lay it on the table.” Tom’s eyes crinkled as he smiled at her. “You’ve got a real gift for servin’ folks, Annie Mae. Could be Miriam’s business is boomin’ partly because of the way ya take care of your customers.”

“See ya tomorrow,” Adam added as they went to put on their coats. “That bacon cheeseburger was the best I’ve ever had.”

Annie Mae gawked at the bishop’s generous tip. His compliment lingered like the aroma of Miriam’s baking clung to her clothes when she left the café each day. And while Adam, too, sounded polite and encouraging . . . their good intentions drifted away like the steam rising from the coffee she poured for Yonnie a few moments later. “So what’ll ya have?” she asked him. “The meat loaf special’s awfully
gut,
and Miriam’s sugar cream pie would be to your likin’, as I recall.”

“You remember all the right things about me, sweet thing,” he murmured as his eyes narrowed alluringly. “I didn’t really come here to eat, but a slice of that pie would give me a chance to watch you
move,
wouldn’t it? And lose the specs.”

On her way to the fridge in the kitchen, Annie Mae slipped the reading glasses into her apron pocket. Naomi, Hannah, and Miriam were all filling orders, so she plated a piece of the cream pie and hustled out of the kitchen before they could quiz her about Yonnie. Oh, but the smile on his face was a sight for her lonely eyes as she set his dessert on the table and then fetched the coffee carafe.

“So how long do you figure to be waiting tables?” he asked as she refilled his mug.

Her eyebrows rose. What could he mean by such a question? “Long as it takes,” she replied breezily.

“Your
dat
’s really ticked off that you didn’t go with him to start his new colony,” Yonnie continued in a conversational tone. He cut the tip off his slice of pie. “Me, I was surprised you defied him that way, but impressed that you took your stand, too. I admire a girl who shows some backbone . . . not to mention such lovely body parts as—”