The Way to a Man's Heart (The Miller Family 3) (12 page)

“It’s Kevin’s truck now. I sold it to him.”

Emma heard the timer go off on the stove, signaling that her muffins were done. “If you will excuse me, I have to tend to something in the house.” She slipped out from under her husband’s arm and hurried inside.

She didn’t want to spend another minute on the porch in her untidy dress while James’ former prom date stole surreptitious glances at her.

Why are his friends looking him up after five years?
This was Holmes County. They probably saw plenty of Amish people every day.

Maybe it was her imagination, but Kim seemed to possess more interest than normal for someone supposed to be “just a friend.”

L
eah trotted the horse all the way home from Mrs. Byler’s that day. She hurried to fix supper, tried to hurry her family through the meal, and rushed to clean up the kitchen. She couldn’t wait to try the new cheese in the recipe she was inventing. And the results were better than expectations.

Peach Parfait Supreme was light and creamy, sweet yet tangy, with firm ripe peaches that melted on your tongue and left only a delicious memory. It was a slice of summertime—perfect alone or topped with vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt. She had baked up two pies that night with some Georgia peaches purchased from the fruit seller in Wilmot. Her family had raved and devoured the first pie that night. April had gushed over her sample slice the next day and then took the remainder of the second pie home to her family. On Leah’s next baking day, she made an even half dozen. The recipe would only improve once Ohio peaches were ready to pick.

Now today was Thursday, and if Jonah Byler didn’t stop by the diner soon, there would be no pie for him to try and report back to his mother. She should have baked one extra to set aside for Mrs. Byler.

She shouldn’t have let Daniel, Steven, and John have second helpings during the inaugural week of Peach Parfait Supreme. She was sure they only did so to get on her good side.

And she shouldn’t let all their attention puff her up like a crowing barnyard rooster. It was only pie. But everyone who tried it seemed to truly like it.

Later during the lunch rush, the bell over the door jangled to announce another customer. Leah didn’t even turn her head as she delivered a full tray of plates to a booth. Everyone seemed to have a special request that day:
More pickles, please. Could you grill my burger a little more? I’d prefer the dressing on the side instead of already on the salad.
And every place at the counter had remained occupied since breakfast. Daniel and his friends took up three stools and didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry. They dawdled over cheeseburgers and chips while offering updates from their blacksmith shop, furniture factory, and farm, respectively. Leah was too busy to pay much attention, but she nodded and added a few comments to be polite.

Half an hour later, she crossed paths with April while carrying a tray of dirty dishes to the dishwasher. “I’m surprised you didn’t want to wait on Jonah yourself,” April said.

“What?” Leah squawked. “He’s here? When did he sneak in? Where is he sitting?”

April faced her. “That’s four questions in one breath. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you rather like the guy.”

“Liking has nothing to do with it,” Leah said, tucking a stray lock under her
kapp.
“I just want him to try my creation and report back to Joanna.” She pulled off her soiled apron and slipped on a fresh one in under three seconds.

“You’d better hurry. Last time I checked there’s only one piece left. And he’s sitting in his regular spot.”

Leah swallowed hard, feeling as though the radio had announced tornados were headed their way. She charged through the swinging door and headed straight for the refrigerated display carousel. The last piece of Peach Parfait Supreme sat forlornly under plastic wrap.

In the few moments it took to reach the pie a customer’s voice sang out. “Say, Leah, I’ll take another slice of your new recipe. It wasn’t bad at all.”

Leah pivoted. The speaker was the elderly
Englischer
who had been their very first customer. The buttons on his work coveralls were already straining from his exceptional appetite.

Leah looked past him toward the last booth. Sure enough, Jonah Byler was poring over
The Daily Budget.
“Mr. Rhodes,” she whispered. “I was saving the last piece for somebody. Would you mind terribly if I gave it to him?”

Rhodes swiveled on his stool in the direction Leah had been looking. He wheezed with laughter. “Sure thing. I was young once. At least my wife tells me we were. Can’t remember much about it.”

She smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Rhodes. How about some Dutch Apple Crumb on the house instead?”

“Done!” Rhodes looked pleased with the bargain. Leah served up his pie and then hurried toward Jonah’s booth with the dessert special before someone else wanted it.

She set the plate down on his table with a clatter. “Hello, Jonah. Nice of you to drop by.”

“What’s that?” he asked, barely glancing away from his newspaper.

“My Peach Parfait Supreme—the new recipe I made with the specialty cheese I bought from your
mamm.”
She felt giddy with anticipation.

“Sure, I remember, but I’m really full, Leah. April heaped up my sandwich with ham and cheese like she was trying to fatten me up. Extra macaroni salad too.” He flashed a smile over the newspaper. ‘I’ll try it another time. Really, I can’t eat another bite.”

She felt deflated, as though he had actually poked a hole in her. “Jonah, please, just sample a forkful and I’ll wrap up the rest for you to take home. I would like your mother to try it. I practically had to wrestle this piece away from another customer.”

“Someone requested this slice of pie, but instead you brought it to a person who hadn’t ordered it?” His tone of voice was maddeningly soft and conversational.

“Pretty much. I wanted
you
to try it.”

“All right. I’ll taste a bite once the sandwich settles a little.” He glanced at her before returning his focus to the newspaper.

Leah’s level of annoyance ratcheted up a notch. “Jonah Byler, would you please put the paper down and pay attention to me?” As soon as she said the words, she felt vain and bold, but it was too late to recall her hasty words.

He folded
The Daily Budget
in half, set it aside, and focused his sea blue eyes on her. “You don’t need my attention, Miss Miller,” he said calmly. “You’ve been getting compliments from plumb near everybody else all morning.” He nodded in the direction of the counter. Her three regular Amish customers were sneaking peeks at them over their shoulders.

Leah prayed for the floor of the train car to give way beneath her feet. “Sorry. You’re right,” she mumbled. “I’m acting like a child. You would think I’d found the cure for a deadly disease or something.” Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment while the back of her throat burned. She picked up the plate of dessert but Jonah grabbed her hand.

“Please leave it. I do want to try it, and I’m sure my mother will be curious.”

The touch of his fingers was more than she could bear. She pulled her hand back as though stung by a bee. “I’ll get you a small box.” She walked to the kitchen with legs turned to rubber and then delivered a Styrofoam container on her way to another table. Fortunately, April then sent her to the kitchen to start more coffee and iced tea.

Shame from her foolish, prideful behavior washed over her like a dense fog. The more she thought about her actions, the worse she felt. Tonight she would pray long and hard to be delivered from herself. Her job was changing her, and not for the better.

“Leah?” April called from the doorway. “Jonah needs you at the cash register.”

Leah looked up from measuring loose tea. “Could you please ring up his bill? I’m in the middle of something.”

“No, I can’t. He wants to speak to you.” She let the door swing shut to circumvent further argument.

Seeing no recourse, Leah trudged to the small counter by the door. Jonah stood waiting with his trusty newspaper folded beneath his arm. The pie box was nowhere in sight.

“May I help you?” she asked. “Where’s your bill?”

“I already paid April. I wanted you for two other reasons.” He waited a few seconds until she finally met his gaze. “First, I ate a bite of pie and then another, and pretty soon the piece was gone. You’ll have to bake more and see that my
mamm
gets some from the next batch. It was very good.” His grin filled his entire face.

“Danki,”
she said weakly without a fraction of her earlier enthusiasm. “What was the other thing?”

“This,” Jonah said, tapping a notice in the paper with his finger. “This Saturday is the summer draft horse sale in Mount Hope. They’ll be auctioning off all kinds of Belgians, Percherons, and crossbreeds. It’s the second biggest horse sale of the year.”

Leah waited patiently but had no comment on the subject.

“Were you planning to attend?” he asked.

“Absolutely not.” She wrinkled her nose. “Horses make me sneeze and my eyes water—at least their dander does. You saw what happened when I was in your barn. I try to stay away from large numbers of farm animals. Why do you ask?”

“I need to pick up a pair of work horses, maybe four if the price is right.
Dawdi’s
team is almost as old as he is,” he joked. “But I’m not a good judge of horseflesh. My knowledge is confined to dairy cows.” Again he waited for a reply that didn’t come.

Jonah, who apparently wasn’t daunted by anything, forged ahead. “April tells me your
bruder,
Matthew, knows his stuff when it comes to things equine.”

Leah nodded, feeling her palms start to sweat.
Is Jonah about to
ask me to attend the auction with him? “Jah,
that’s true. Matthew has been riding bareback since he was five years old and can get a horse to do anything but wash dishes. He works over at Macintosh Farms as a trainer.”

“That’s what I hear. So do you think he will go to Saturday’s sale?” He shifted his weight to the other leg and leaned on the counter. The movement brought his face that much closer to hers.

“If he doesn’t have to work, he’ll be there. He’d rather be near horses than just about any person he knows.”

“Since I’ve never met him and you say he’s not the most sociable sort of fellow, do you think you might tag along to introduce us? And ask him to help me find the right pair? I don’t want to buy a couple of nags to match the pair
dawdi
already has.” He tipped back his straw hat. “I’d be much obliged, and you wouldn’t have to give me that free cup of coffee you owe me.”

Leah closed her eyes for a second. “You probably think I’m an awful person, or at least the most forgetful one you’ve ever met. Truth is, from the time I arrive I’m so busy I forget everything else other than cooking and serving customers.” She smoothed her damp palms down her apron, hoping nothing would prompt shaking hands. “The other day a customer asked what color my eyes were, and I had to think about it before answering.”

She forced a giggle, but his laughter filled the diner and drew the attention of several patrons. “Your eyes are the richest shade of brown—dark and warm, like polished walnut.”

“Jah,
well, I gave him a short answer compared to all that.”

“What do you say, Leah? Will you put up with your allergies on Saturday and introduce me to your
bruder?”

Strangely, the whole diner had turned graveyard quiet after his question. “I have to work on Saturday,” she said in a tiny voice as that notion occurred to her. She tried unsuccessfully to ignore the butterflies taking flight in her stomach.

“Maybe if you ask real nice, April will let you leave after the breakfast rush. She seems to like you for some reason. The auctioneers sell farm equipment and carriages first and don’t sell horses until the afternoon.”

“I tend to grow on people,” she said.

“I’m finding that out.” His smile revealed perfectly straight teeth.

The quiet in the normally noisy diner grew deafening. Leah backed away from the cash register. “Could you wait here for a minute? I’ll go ask her right now.”

She pushed open the swinging door with more force than necessary and nearly smashed her boss against the wall.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were there,” Leah said. “You weren’t listening in on my conversation with Jonah, were you?”

“Well, I was curious why the guy had adjusted his hat three times while waiting for you. Besides, I learned eavesdropping from you.”

Leah blushed.
“Jah,
I remember. Well…what do you say? Can I have time off to attend the horse sale?”

“Hmm…let me think a moment,” April said, laying an index finger across her cheek.

“Please? I know Saturdays are busy but maybe your sister can help out this one time.”

“I’m teasing you!” April threw her arms around Leah’s neck. “Of course you can go. You’ve worked so hard for weeks. You’re even baking on your day off. I’m so happy Jonah asked you out.”

Leah’s head snapped back. “He didn’t ask me out. He asked me to go to a stinky horse sale so he can meet my
bruder.”
She straightened her
kapp,
which was knocked askew from the hug.