The Heart's Journey: Stitches in Time Series #2 (10 page)

Pinecraft Park seemed like it was the place to be. Dozens and dozens of Amish and Mennonite visitors swarmed the place playing shuffleboard, chatting in groups, and just generally enjoying the balmy temperature. Back home in Lancaster County it was in the thirties, and even colder in other parts up north.

Nick dropped Leah and Naomi off at the courts and had to drive around and around to find a parking place. When he returned, he found Leah sitting on one of the wooden benches that surrounded the court, her foot propped up on an upside-down pail someone had found.

And Naomi was deep in a discussion with Daniel Kurtz, Ida and Caleb’s son who he’d met back in Paradise. Daniel was a big strapping blond Amish guy who seemed to be paying a little too much attention to Naomi as far as Nick was concerned.

Nick’s stomach sank. Which was really stupid when he thought about it because he had no claim on Naomi. After all, she was engaged to John Zook. Was he going to be jealous of two men now?

He strolled up casually. Daniel appeared to recognize him. He stood and offered his hand.

“Nick, right? You have a transportation company in Paradise? Are you enjoying your vacation?”

“Having a great time.”

“
Gut
. So glad you could drive Leah and Naomi down.” He waved a hand at the bench. “Saved you a seat.”

They watched the action for a while. The Amish loved sports, enjoying volleyball, basketball, and softball—back home and here. The shuffleboard court seemed especially popular, and not just with the older crowd.

“Naomi’s catching me up on what’s happening back in Paradise. We went to
schul
together.” He gave a heavy sigh. “Says she’s engaged.”

“It’s not flattering to have you acting like that when I know you were interested in my cousin Mary Katherine,” Naomi pointed out.

He grimaced. “Sorry. But think how I feel. We have a small Amish Mennonite community here, so when all the visitors come down during the winter I try to meet someone. But they’re only here for a week or two and then they go back home. It feels like my time is spent with the ‘tourist of the week.’”

“Someone
female
,” she inserted, grinning.

“I’m ready to get married,” he said earnestly. “Maybe you know someone. Look around,” he told them, gesturing at their surroundings. “What could be a more beautiful place to live?”

Naomi had to agree. What she’d seen of Florida so far was lovely. The sky seemed a more vivid blue here. There were warm temperatures and flowers blooming in the midst of winter. It was truly paradise.

Thinking of the word made her think of home—Paradise, Pennsylvania. And John. She hadn’t talked to him since she came here. Nick had offered her the use of his cell phone on the trip—and since—and Leah had taken him up on the offer
and checked in with Mary Katherine and Anna at the shop during business hours to see how things were going.

But even though Nick looked curious at her refusal, he said nothing.

“Excuse me,” Daniel said as he stood. “Mary Graber said she’d bring her niece tonight after she came in on the bus.”

Naomi saw an older woman gesturing from the other side of the court. Beside her stood someone Naomi’s age. The young woman smiled shyly at Daniel as he hurried over to her.

“That’s tough about Daniel. I hope this girl isn’t the latest ‘tourist of the week.’”

The crowd shifted as games ended and new people took to the court. Naomi felt a prickling at the back of her neck, as if the hairs rose. It was the strangest feeling—as if someone was watching.

She glanced around but no one seemed to be paying attention. People chatted with one another as they watched the shuffleboard action and generally milled around. A man’s hat bobbed as he walked behind the line of spectators, but she couldn’t see his face. Naomi frowned and then shook her head. Must have been her imagination, she decided.

“I think I’ll take a walk,” she told her grandmother and Nick.

He dragged his attention away from a game. “Mind if I go with? I have a hankering for some ice cream at Big Olaf’s.”

“Who says I’m going that way?”

“Don’t be silly,” he said. “You need ice cream.”

He rose and turned to Leah. “What can we bring you?”

“Maybe a root beer float?”

“Turning wild and crazy there, Leah,” he said, and her chuckle followed them as they walked away.

Nick slid a glance at Naomi as they moved through the crowd. “You okay?”

“Fine.”

“You looked a little rattled there for a minute when we were at the court.”

Naomi shrugged. “I thought I saw someone I know, that’s all.”

He scanned the crowd. “It wouldn’t surprise me. A lot of people here came down from Lancaster County. I’m getting better about recognizing what area of the country they come from by the clothing.”

Naomi’s prayer covering was made of a rather delicate material that was translucent so that her hair showed beneath, and it had a back that was shaped rather like a butterfly. The
kapps
worn in other parts of the country were opaque, sometimes with a sort of cylindrical shape made of stiff, tucked cotton.

There wasn’t a lot of difference in the men’s clothing, she noted: dark pants, shirts, suspenders. Children wore a miniature version of their parents’ clothing, and since it was so warm here, many of them ran barefoot.

“Looks like we have a wait,” Nick told Naomi as they neared Big Olaf’s. “Do you want to go someplace else?”

He saw her eyes widen as a young boy walked past with a strawberry sundae. The strawberries were a rich, deep red, and huge.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “It looks like it’s worth the wait. And the line’s going fast.”

When their turn came, they ordered—the strawberry sundae for Naomi, a banana split for Nick, and Leah’s root beer float—and then they walked back to the shuffleboard court to enjoy them.

Nick’s cell went off and he set the banana split down on the bench between them to take it. One of Nick’s drivers had an important question about work that was soon resolved.

Nick started to put the phone back in his pocket and then turned to Naomi and Leah. “Would either of you like to call home? The shop’s still open.”

“Maybe tomorrow,” said Leah. “I don’t want Mary Katherine or Anna to think I’m checking up on them too often.”

She continued to drink her float and they heard a gurgling noise as she sipped the last of it. Grinning, she set it down. “My, that was good. Makes me remember my childhood when my
mamm
made them as a special treat for us.”

Nick turned to Naomi. “Would you like to call your fiancé? I can get his number at his work, if you like.”

“No,” she said quickly, a little more quickly than he expected.

“Okay.” Tucking the phone in his pants pocket, he picked up the banana split and resumed eating.

There it was again, he thought. The quick snap of Naomi’s head as she turned to look at something to the far right, her eyes scanning the crowd.

“What is it?” Leah asked, looking curiously at her granddaughter. “Naomi?”

“It’s so strange,” she said. “I feel like someone’s watching me.”

“I don’t see anyone doing that,” Leah told her.

Nick glanced around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. “Do you want me to take you home?”

She shook her head. “No, it must just be my imagination.”

“Maybe it’s because we’re not usually around so many people at one time,” Leah offered, patting her on the back.

“Maybe.”

But even though she brushed off the offer to take her home and seemed to go back to watching the shuffleboard players and eating her sundae, Nick noticed that she was merely
stirring the ice cream and strawberries on top until it was a melted puddle in the dish.

Nick finished his split and disposed of the container in a nearby trash can. He took his seat again and looked at her sundae. “You gonna eat that or stir it to death?”

She laughed. “It was a little too much for me, I guess.”

“Here, I’ll finish it for you,” he said.

“I’ll go get you another spoon,” she said, starting to rise.

He gave her a look. “I’m not afraid of you having cooties.”

“Okay,” she said, sitting again.

But maybe he shouldn’t have spoken so soon. As he put the spoon in his mouth, he thought about how she’d slid the utensil between those perfect pale pink lips of hers and tried not to let his reaction show on his face. He didn’t want to shock Naomi’s sensibilities.

The strawberries were tart on his tongue, a contrast to the sweet vanilla ice cream. He wondered if the taste lingered on Naomi’s lips.

“So have you been to the beach yet, Nick?” Leah asked him.

“I was thinking about going tomorrow. You two want to go with me?”

“I have plans with Ida.”

“Naomi?”

The beach. She’d never been to one. Never seen an ocean.

Nick saw emotions chase across her face: desire, longing.

“C’mon, it’ll be fun.”

Leah nudged her. “Go. You’ve never seen the ocean.”

Nick knew that an engaged woman—especially an Amish engaged woman—had to avoid all appearance of inappropriateness. “You don’t have to worry about me chasing you up and down the beach.”

She regarded him primly. “I know that.” Sighing, she nodded. “I’d love to go.”

Naomi slipped out the front door, trying not to wake her grandmother.

Nick was standing beside his vehicle and opened the door for her. “Leah didn’t change her mind about going?”

“No.”

“Shuffleboard wasn’t too much for her last night, was it?”

“No, of course not. She’s been good about sitting with her foot up on something.” She got in and waited for him to get in his own seat. “But I have to admit I was worried she’d try to play a game when I first heard that she was going to go there.”

He started the car. “Is that why you came?”

“No. I realized I was being overprotective. I went because I wanted to see what was happening.”

“Hot spot of Pinecraft from what I hear.”

She fastened her seat belt and sighed. “I’m so looking forward to this.”

He’d dressed casually on the trip, foregoing his usual white dress shirt, dark pants, and subdued tie. Instead, he’d worn khakis, polo shirts, and sneakers.

Today, he wore a pair of baggy knee-length shorts and a loose tank top. And a Miami Dolphins cap and leather sandals. He looked relaxed and comfortable.

Meanwhile she was sitting here in her usual dress and black stockings and shoes, already feeling a little warm.

He got in his seat and handed her a cup of coffee from a take-out place before starting the engine.

Surprised, she took it and found that it was fixed just the way she liked—extra milk and sugar. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“Got donuts too,” he said, gesturing at the bag on the seat between them.

“Well, that’s certainly worth getting up early for,” she said, opening the bag to peer inside.

“And this is all nothing compared to your first glimpse of the ocean.”

He glanced down at her legs. “Oh, I hadn’t thought …” he broke off and frowned. “Listen, I bought you something, but maybe you need to go back inside and change.”

“I’m not wearing a bikini to go to the beach,” she said tartly.

Nick laughed. “I know that.” He handed her another bag with the label of a gas station chain.

She pulled a pair of flip-flops from the bag. Her eyes widened. “I’ve never worn sandals like this.”

“Later, you’ll see nearly all the women and the teens and kids wearing them,” he told her. “It’s really warm here still, so you won’t want to wear shoes and your—um—stockings.”

She studied him in the growing light. “Why Nick, are you blushing?”

“’Course not,” he said. “Men don’t blush.”

“Uh-huh. Whatever you say. I’ll be right back.”

She slid out of the vehicle and ran inside, where she kicked off her shoes and pulled off her stockings and then slipped on the flip-flops. It felt strange at first to feel the plastic thong between her big toe and the next one, to feel the bounce of rubber beneath her feet. And how cool they were. It could be addictive to feel the breeze across your bare toes.

She was grinning when she returned to Nick.

“Looks like you like them.”

She looked down at her toes and wiggled them, then felt herself blush when Nick glanced over. Even though she went barefoot a lot growing up, and even did so now when she was at home, it felt almost immodest to wear these after having her feet cooped up in shoes for months now.

It was continuing to grow lighter outside. “We’re on the west coast of the state so obviously the sunsets are supposed to be better here than the sunrises. I don’t know about you, but I think a sunrise on a beach after the weather we’ve had in Pennsylvania is going to be pretty great.”

Nick parked and they headed to the beach, Naomi carrying her coffee and the bag of donuts, Nick with a blanket he kept in the van. Seagulls flew overhead and followed them, one with a beady eye fixed on the donut bag. She breathed in the scent of the ocean and felt her heart beating faster with excitement.

He was so right about how she’d feel when she caught her first glimpse of the ocean. The water glimmered like a milky opal stone, pink and blue and green, growing blue as the sun rose. Nick spread the blanket on the dry sand and they sat. He opened the bag and offered her first choice of the donuts. She chose a plain cruller with cinnamon sugar and he pulled out a big chocolate frosted bar filled with cream.