Chapter 4
Amy could not believe that her mother had suggested such a crazy idea. The idea that she and Jones would get married? That was ludicrous, although there was a part of her that had to admit that there was a certain rationalism there that she couldn’t deny.
After all, she and Jones could get married. They practically lived together anyway. They didn’t sleep at each other’s houses, but they did everything else together. Always. Other than his job, which half the time she was there with him anyway.
And he was always helping her. Her parents were his parents, which... That’s what made everything weird. She had never thought of him like a brother, but that’s kind of the way he was. But there was something there that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She’d never quite acted like he was her brother. She didn’t quite feel the same way about Jones that she felt about her brothers.
Honestly, she would have said that she liked Jones more. But that was actually kind of playing into her mother’s hand, and almost agreeing with her, when Amy knew that she absolutely could not agree to this. Unless Jones thought it was a good idea. And then, at that point, she supposed they could talk, but until then, it was her job to fight this. Jones was too easygoing, and her family could kind of ramrod things through, especially if they thought they were right. She ought to know, she was the poster child for that.
No one had said anything since Roland had left, when Robert came running into the kitchen .
“I’m up!”
“Are you ready for breakfast?” her mother asked as he came running around the dining room, doing a lap around the table before ending up in the kitchen in front of his gram.
“I’m starving!”
Roland always got the kids up before he went to work. And from what Amy had seen, Robert woke up running. The other two kids weren’t quite that bad, but Robert didn’t seem to ever stop.
She wasn’t quite sure how the teachers got him to sit still in school. He wasn’t a bad kid, he was very obedient, but he was constantly moving.
“I’m ready to put them on the griddle. Are you dressed?”
“I was too hungry to get dressed!” Robert said, sounding like he was begging for food.
“It’ll take you exactly three minutes to put your school clothes on. Now go do it, and then we’ll sit down.”
When she had been growing up, they had been homeschooled. Typically their mom did a Bible lesson while they ate, and after they got to Robert’s age, one of them had always been assigned to make breakfast, so she didn’t often see her mom in the kitchen cooking breakfast.
And she had never been told that she had to change her clothes first. She could stay in her jammies all day if she wanted to when they homeschooled.
No adults had said anything when all three kids tramped out, hearing the pancakes were about to go on the griddle.
“I’m back!” Robert said, running again, holding something green and leafy in his hand.
“What’s this? What’s this?” he asked, running into the kitchen and stopping at the counter in front of the griddle, holding up the piece of greenery he had found .
“Oh goodness. That must have fallen off the doorpost,” her mom said, looking over at the doorway where the hall met the living room. “You just put it on the counter, and I will put it up later.”
“But what is it?” Robert insisted.
“That’s called mistletoe.”
“Mistletoe?” Marissa said, looking curiously at the piece of greenery in Robert’s hand.
“Isn’t that the stuff if you stand underneath it, people are supposed to kiss or something?” Lucas said. He was the oldest and possibly the one who was most aware of the fact that his mom was dying. He wanted to help with everything, and Judd had been taking him under his wing, taking him along to help with any odd jobs that he picked up, including blowing leaves out of their own yard. He even paid Lucas for it, and there was a bit of maturity about Lucas just in the week since he’d started hanging out with Judd.
It was crazy what adult interest could do for a child.
“That’s what’s supposed to happen,” Marjorie said. “But it’s usually only around Christmastime, and it’s mostly for decoration.”
“It’s how our town got the name, Mistletoe Meadows.”
“Let’s see if it works!” Robert yelled, running around and climbing up on the back of Amy’s and Jones’s stools, holding the mistletoe over their heads.
“Now you have to kiss!” he said, waving the mistletoe around.
“Get down before you fall,” Amy said, laughing but feeling awkward with Jones for the first time in her entire life. Even her mom suggesting that they maybe should get married hadn’t made her feel as awkward as Robert saying that they needed to kiss.
But rather than obeying, Robert started talking louder. “It’s not working! You need to kiss. That’s what this is supposed to do. It means to kiss!”
“Yes! You have to kiss. It’s the rules!” Marissa said .
“Gram, tell them they have to do it. That’s what the mistletoe is. It means that you have to kiss,” Lucas said, looking to his gram to solve the problem.
Amy wanted to tell him that she was a little bit too old for her mother to be telling her who she should and shouldn’t kiss, although she didn’t want to say that. She didn’t want Lucas to think that she wasn’t going to obey her mom if her mom told her to do something. Of course she would. Her mom wouldn’t command her to do something ridiculous, and Amy believed that no matter how old a person was, they should honor their parents. A lot of times, that meant doing what they wanted you to, even when you didn’t want to or were old enough to not.
But she didn’t have a chance to say anything, because all three kids were talking over each other, arguing about the mistletoe, and whether it worked or not, whether or not their gram should step in. The noise was almost deafening.
“Maybe we’d better do this, just to keep your mom from losing her mind,” Jones said, leaning close and whispering low, loud enough that he could be heard over the voices but not so loud that if she disagreed, he would look like a traitor.
She jerked her chin, and then she called out, “Fine. Watch closely, guys, because we’re only going to do this once.” Then, she gave Jones a look that said she was sorry for her family, a look she’d given him a million times in the past. Anytime they did anything terrible, she was always the one who had to apologize, but when they did something good, Jones pretended like he was one of them.
It wasn’t fair. But they’d had a good time laughing about it over the years.
The kitchen quieted down, and she leaned forward, intending to give Jones a quick peck on the lips. But she didn’t want to hammer him with her nose, so she slowed down just in time, and their lips touched softly, almost sweetly.
It wasn’t the kiss she had intended. Not at all, she thought as she slowly moved her head away, wondering if Jones felt the same shocking...was that the right word? Shocking feelings that she did. They were very unexpected.