Something Old (18 page)

With a sigh, she watched him go, sorry she’d hurt him. She stepped inside the dark interior of the house.

“Do you love him?” came a startling voice out of the darkness.

Katy clasped her heart. “Karen! Don’t scare me like that. Why are you still up?”

“To answer the phone. It was Lil.” Karen offered, pulling back the curtain and looking outside. “I told her you weren’t home yet, and she didn’t seem happy.”

Katy pushed her sister’s hand away from the curtain. Hadn’t she told Lil not to call? Maybe she hadn’t heard her above the din of the hand dryer.

“So do you?” Karen repeated.

“No. Why are you standing in the dark?”

“I—”

“Were you spying on me?”

“I—”

Suddenly Katy thought better of having this conversation so near their parents’ bedroom door. “Come upstairs.”

“If you don’t love him, then why were you kissing him?” Karen whispered before they’d even reached the landing.

O
n moving day, ominous purple clouds swallowed the sky. Everyone involved in the move met at the Landis farm, where the furniture was stored in the barn. Katy’s car was packed to the roof with clothes, and the rest of its interior resembled a bag of puzzle pieces vying for space. Her new upright vacuum cleaner rode shotgun, and stacks of bedding filled the seats. She crawled out, careful that everything remained wedged in place, and eyed Megan. “I can’t believe that leather couch your mom found at a garage sale. What can we do to thank her?”

“Just let her come see the place sometime.”

Lil strode away from the place where David and Jake were loading furniture and joined Katy and Megan.

“Maybe we should have a parents’ night and make dessert or something,” Katy suggested.

“Nah!” They all protested, giggling and then shivering when a fierce gust whipped through the yard. It forced the girls into a huddle then rolled on across the farm’s barren fields.

Katy straightened her covering, watching the swirling snow and debris. “Wow, glad my car door wasn’t open.”

“Careful,” Jake yelled.

Looking over to see if the warning was for them, Katy saw Jake nod at David to move slightly to the right as they maneuvered a table onto the bed of his truck. Jake must have felt her gaze, because he glanced over. “We’ve almost got it, if you girls want to go on over and meet us at the doddy house in a few minutes?”

The scene drew her curiosity, Jake and David working together. Jake winked and brushed his gloves before heading back to the barn. David trailed behind. When he saw that Katy was watching them, he made sport of Jake by mimicking his walk for a few strides, probably to get even for Jake’s ordering him around like a hired lackey.

As if David didn’t know how to keep things nice, she thought, having always admired that part of his personality. But so far, the two were at least remaining civil enough with each other to have packed their first load of furniture. Katy dismissed their antics and looked back at Lil, thinking about the day’s work. “It was great of Jake to take the appliances over earlier this week.”

“I love that stainless steel GE stove.” Lil did the garbanzo shimmy.

Katy didn’t know the difference between a GE or a Viking, but as long as they had sparkling drip pans and working ovens to cook Lil’s mouthwatering dishes, they suited her. Grinning at Lil’s enthusiasm, she started toward her car. “See you over there.”

When everybody reached the doddy house, the unending trips to the cars began. Katy started with the boxes in her trunk—kitchen and household odds and ends her mom had donated—and was sweating by the time she had to struggle with the piles of clothing still on their hangers. Nearly colliding with Megan on the path of freshly laid plastic floor covering—her genius idea—she cried out, “Look out, green bean, or I’ll squish ya.”

Megan’s arms had just been emptied, and she pointed. “Here come the beds.”

Every time the guys appeared, Lil became the moving director, which was fine with Katy because Lil had an eye for furniture placement. In this case, Lil’s job was easy because the girls had already imagined and reimagined it together many times.

“Last load,” David informed her, setting some long pieces of bed support at his feet so that he could take a break. “Feeling pretty excited, huh?”

Jake tried to pass them while balancing similar bed braces on his shoulder. With an irritated huff, he said, “Blocking the way, guys, for us working fellows.”

Ignoring him, David smiled at her. “I’ll put the beds together next.”

“Great.”

Just then Jake reappeared. “I’ll help you unload your car if you want.”

Glancing uneasily at David, she told Jake, “Sure, my sweeper’s out there yet and one box in the trunk that was too heavy for me.”

“Done.”

“Show me which bed’s yours,” David said, vying for her attention. “Want to help hold the rails in place while I fasten them together?”

“Sure.”

After following him into the bedroom and hanging up their coats in the closet, she pointed at a white headboard. “Start with that one. My dad made it. And my little brothers painted it.” She’d always admired the white iron set Mrs. Beverly had in her guest room. She tried to get a similar look using wood. Excitement bubbled up inside her that her dream was coming true. But she covered it by saying, “Guess they were eager to get me out of the house.”

“I doubt that.” She did, too. In fact, the parting with her family after breakfast had been emotional and had left Katy, her mom, and Karen all teary-eyed. David set the frame in place. “Okay, hold that piece.”

She knelt next to her hope chest on the warm, restored-wood flooring and involuntarily smoothed her gray skirt around her. To dispel the intimacy of the situation, she blurted out, “You know how to use that tool?”

Working the screwdriver, David grunted, “I’ve worked on a lot of farm equipment.”

“You like fixing stuff? Working on equipment?”

“Nope, like driving—”

“Fast cars,” she finished for him just as Jake strode into the room and witnessed the flash of familiarity and ensuing laughter that passed between her and David. She glanced up at Jake’s face, and his disapproving sneer pierced her with shame. But a flash of anger quickly followed her guilt, because it was Lil who’d asked Jake to help them move, or maybe he’d volunteered. Either way, if Jake and David hadn’t helped, their dads could easily have done the work. She didn’t need to
use
them. The remembrance of David’s accusation from the night at the restaurant made her eager to finish with the bed assembly.

With her free hand, Katy tugged Jake’s sleeve. “Hey, can you hold this for David?” As soon as she touched him, an awareness of his masculinity surfaced old memories and emotions. “I’m going to go help the girls organize the kitchen,” she mumbled, backing into her hope chest.

“Don’t you think Lil will want to do that?” Jake protested, as he reluctantly replaced her hold on the sideboard.

No ready reply came to her mind so she just fled the room. Let them glare at each other. She bit her lower lip, knowing Jake wouldn’t appreciate serving as David’s helper. Thankfully, the moment she stepped into the kitchen where Lil and Megan were unloading boxes, the atmosphere lightened.

“We have food, too?” Katy couldn’t believe how much their parents had chipped in to make their empty doddy house a real home.

“We’ll need some groceries, but we won’t starve, either.” Lil lifted a small carton. “There’s cocoa mix and popcorn, here. The guys have been working hard all day. Should we bust some out?”

“Let’s unpack that last box first,” Katy replied. “Maybe then the boys will be done with the beds. Gotta make sure we got a place to sleep tonight.”
Using them again? They volunteered,
she snapped back at her conscience.

“We can always sleep on mattresses.” Lil turned to Megan. “And you have to stay over our first night.”

“You sure? I didn’t bring any bedding.”

Lil gave Megan a playful shoulder bump. “We’ll squeeze you in.”

“Awesome.”

Katy glanced fondly at Megan. Guess Tyler wasn’t the only one who used that word. It must be common at the college.

Megan flipped through the microwave’s instruction manual, and by the time the last box was unpacked, she had it figured out and was explaining the workings to Katy, who gave Lil the joy of operating the cookstove first.

“I smell popcorn.” Jake’s thick Dutch accent preceded him and David into the kitchen.

“Sit and enjoy our first meal,” Katy motioned toward the drop-leaf table by the window. The boys and Megan settled in, allowing Lil and Katy to serve them. Katy passed out small wooden bowls, old ones that had been made on her father’s lathe, then took a chair between Jake and Megan.

When Lil was finished serving, and there weren’t enough chairs for everyone to sit around the table, David jumped up and offered, “Sit here.”

“Katy can sit on my lap,” Jake urged, reaching over and tugging her sleeve.

“Stop it,” she hissed, jerking her arm away and glancing up at David, who was acting the gentleman. His expression, however, had darkened.

Lil solved the problem by plopping uninvited on Jake’s left knee. “Thanks, chump.”

He grinned, supporting her with a hand at her waist, and David slid back into his seat by the window. He glanced out under the dark green, Amish-style window shade. “It’s snowing. A storm’s been brewing all day. But I’m in no hurry to go. I can always stay over at Ivan’s. ‘Fraid you girls are going to have to get used to looking at my ugly face. I’m at Ivan’s a lot.”

Sensing the silent tension coming from Lil and Jake’s chair, Katy dipped her smaller bowl into the larger, then offered, “More popcorn, anyone?”

Lil jumped up, “I’ll put on more water.”

Jake tipped back his chair and stretched his arms lazily. “Let it storm. I’m too tired to move. You gals are slave drivers. I’m ready to hibernate for at least a month. The living room floor will do fine. I’ll just roll up in that rug over there and be snug as a bear.”

Noticing with worry that the snow really was blanketing the ground, Katy said, “Oh no, you don’t. We won’t be getting any of that started here.”

“Well, you’re letting him hang out,” Jake lowered his arms, and his chair snapped back to the floor. “And I’m family.”

“Your truck too wimpy to plow through a few snowdrifts?” David baited.

“Yeah, pretty wimpy. Maybe in the morning when you go out to do your daily car washing, you can start my puny engine for me. You know, warm it up.”

He sneered at Jake. “Puny like its owner?”

“I worked circles around you today, and—”

Katy stood. “Stop it. Both of you.”

Megan snatched the empty popcorn bowl from the table and placed her hand on Jake’s shoulder. “I’m sure you guys both know that we won’t be having either of you stay over. But we can’t thank you enough for all your help today.” She speared Katy with a warning look.

“Megan’s right. We do appreciate your hard work today, but you guys need to quit the bickering. As far as I’m concerned, it’s juvenile.”

Lil flicked a dish towel at Jake’s chest. “Hey, juvie, I’ll wash. You dry.”

Katy rolled her gaze heavenward. So much for herding the guys out. She could tell Lil was giving Jake an excuse to be the last male to leave. Doing her part to get them both out the door, Katy started toward the bedroom for David’s coat. With frustration, she heard him clomping down the hall behind her. He followed her all the way into the walk-in closet.

“I’m not leaving before he does.”

She flicked on the light and wheeled to face him.

“I don’t trust him.” David abruptly pulled her close.

She wiggled free and placed a hand on his chest to separate them. “Stop it.”

The golden star in his eyes flickered. “Why?”

She shrugged completely out of his embrace and looked at the floor, rubbing her palms over her arms. “Because we’re not—”

“I’m sorry,” he interrupted. “It’s just that jerk out there acting like he owns you.”

“Forget about him.”

David’s shoulders relaxed, and he nodded.

She saw that as a good sign but wanted to make sure he wasn’t getting the wrong idea. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up.” She hurried on before he could interrupt again. “I’m not looking for a relationship with either of you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have moved in here.”

David rubbed his chin, studying her.

“Katy?” Lil strode into the bedroom and stuck her head in the closet. “Oh whoa.” She quickly exited.

Katy whipped David’s coat off its hanger and flung it at him, scurrying after Lil. “Just getting David’s coat.”

In the few moments she’d spent in the closet, the house had grown darker. She snapped on a light in the living room. “Thanks again for helping,” she told him.

David shuffled to the entry. “See you girls at church tomorrow?”

Katy opened the door and peered out. “As long as we’re not snowed in.”

“And if we can find an alarm clock,” Megan added.

Jake pulled on his coat. “Use your phone.” He glanced down the hall where Katy and David had just emerged, then looked at Katy. “We have an extra coatrack I think my mom will donate. I’ll bring it over.”

She blushed at his insinuating observation.

“Thanks again, guys.” Megan waved as they departed.

Just before she closed the door, Katy thought she overheard David challenging Jake to a race. Surely not on these slippery roads? Nah, impossible. Even for those juveniles. She leaned against the door, only rousing from her thoughts when Megan asked, “Wanna make up the beds?”

That night they used Lil’s extra set of pale blue flannel sheets for Megan’s top bunk, and Katy loaned her a hand-sewn comforter. She snuggled under white crisp sheets and turned on her side to face the bunk bed, a night-light softly illuminating the room.

“Can’t believe you sleep with a night-light,” Lil teased.

“Don’t want Megan falling out of bed,” Katy shot back.

Lil looked overhead. “This reminds me of summer camp that first year. Remember?”

Feeling a lump in her throat, Katy murmured, “How could we forget?”