Chapter 18
— chapter eighteen
Jeremy had been standing in the living room for fifteen minutes. During that time, he’d turned to look out the window at least ten times.
Ten times.
And still there was nothing. No sign of Becca at all. What if she’d changed her mind about coming over again? What if she’d decided not to show up and he never heard from her again?
It had been a month since she’d come over the first time. Sure, he’d seen her some, but not all that much. Sometimes not even once a week.
As the minutes passed, his thoughts continued to spiral.
What if Becca had changed her mind about dating an Amish guy?
What if she was getting ready to break up with him?
What if he’d thought she liked him as much as he liked her, but she was only leading him on?
He knew some girls did things like that.
Unable to help himself, he turned to stare at the grandfather clock against the wall. It was twelve minutes after four. She was twelve minutes late.
A lot of people probably ran ten minutes late. He knew that. But somehow twelve minutes seemed different. Like it was on the way to fifteen minutes late, which was pretty much a sign that she wasn’t coming over at all.
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he turned. Started pacing. Anything besides standing in front of the window like a little kid waiting for a friend to come over to play.
“Did she text you?” Kurt asked as he walked into the room.
He’d forgotten to look. Pulling out his phone, he swiped the screen and tapped on the message icon. Nothing from her. “Nee.”
Kurt sat down on the couch. “I bet she’s on her way. No one’s supposed to text while driving, you know.”
“I know.”
“If you know, then sit down and take a breath.”
Even though he kind of felt like arguing—just to have something to do—Jeremy sat on the chair closest to the fireplace.
“Better?”
“Nee.” Gathering his courage, he said, “I think asking Becca to come over here again was a mistake.” He’d offered to spend time at her house, but she put him off, always saying that it wasn’t a good time.
Then she’d gone quiet, saying she had midterms and needed to study. Only after he continued to reach out did she finally agree to come to his house.
But maybe she’d only done that because she was tired of him bugging her. Maybe she never intended to come over again and this was her way of breaking up with him. Didn’t girls do stuff like that? He turned to face the window.
“It wasn’t a mistake.”
Kurt’s response was typical. Four words, each uttered with certainty. No doubts. Usually his eldest brother’s confidence reassured him. He had been a big source of comfort when their mamm was sick.
But now, Kurt’s know-it-all attitude was grating on him. “You don’t know if it is or if it isn’t a mistake, Kurt. You don’t know because you don’t know Becca.”
“You’re right. I don’t.” Kurt propped one of his feet on the edge of the coffee table.
“But I know you, and you’re good at reading people.
Becca wouldn’t have come over the first time if she didn’t want to.
You wouldn’t have asked her to return if you didn’t think she’d been happy here the first time.
Settle down. You’re overthinking everything. ”
“I don’t think so. Something’s changed.”
“You don’t know that.” He waved a hand. “There’s no telling. She might have had schoolwork.”
“Maybe,” he allowed.
Kurt crossed his arms over his chest. “I think you’re looking for problems where there aren’t any. Don’t you remember how Russell was when he decided to study for the GED? He was stressed out. Any time one of us bothered him, he went nuts.”
He’d forgotten about that. “He really did.”
“If Becca said that she had to study for exams, she probably did.”
“I guess you’re right.” Plus, it wasn’t like Jeremy would’ve been able to help her. He hadn’t thought about English, science, or math since he graduated the eighth grade.
“I am.” Kurt looked smug, like he’d just solved all the problems in the world.
But they hadn’t solved anything. “I hate that I’m sitting here looking out the window. I bet I look desperate.”
“Wait somewhere else if you want, but you’ll still be sitting around waiting.”
“What did you do when you went out on dates?”
“Before Katherine?”
“Obviously.”
A new wariness filled his big brother’s eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, did you always pick up the girl?” Kurt had also gotten his GED and his driver’s license, but he’d done all of that after meeting his future wife.
He’d never had a hard time learning anything, so he passed all those tests easily.
But Jeremy seemed to recall that Kurt hadn’t had as easy a time with social norms.
For the first time, Kurt looked uncomfortable. “No.”
“No? What did you do? You let her pick you up?” Yeah, he sounded like he couldn’t believe that, but it was true.
Kurt wasn’t brawny like Russell, but he was really strong.
He also had a way about him that said he was in charge.
Always. He couldn’t imagine Kurt ever letting his date drive him around.
“Believe it or not, that happened. More often than not, though, I met the girl I was dating somewhere.”
“Where? Like at a restaurant?”
“Yeah. Or at a friend’s house. At a park.
I didn’t know what I was doing.” Looking amused at himself, Kurt continued.
“You’ve got to remember that Katherine is Mennonite.
When I first met her, I was still in rumspringa and about seventy percent sure I would stay Amish.
But then I became close to some guys who were Mennonite and could drive.
And Katherine could too. It was all a little awkward for a while, but Katherine didn’t mind. ”
Katherine oozed almost as much confidence as Kurt did. Becca was a different sort of person, though. Maybe she didn’t want to be the only driver in their relationship. “I wish I knew how to drive.”
“You got time for that. If you decide to go that route.” Looking almost hesitant, Kurt added, “It’s . . . it’s different in the outside world. There’s a lot more choices. That doesn’t make things easier, though.”
“How so?”
“If you decide to go English, I’ll tell you more.” After a beat, he grinned again. “Here she is.”
Turning back to the window, Jeremy saw Becca climb out of the back seat of a sedan. Her phone was in her hand. She said something to the driver, looked at the house, and then clicked on something on her phone as the car drove away. “What do you think she’s doing?”
“My guess is that she just got an Uber to drop her off, and she’s giving him a tip or whatever,” Kurt said as he got to his feet.
“She doesn’t have money for that.”
“Maybe it was a friend? I don’t know.”
“Will you stay around? In case she needs a ride home?”
“Sure.” Heading out of the room, Kurt said, “Now, go let her in. I told Daed I’d hang out with him in the kitchen.”
“Okay. Thanks.” He reached the door just as Becca knocked on it. Taking a deep breath, he pulled it open. “Hi.”
“Hi. I’m so sorry I’m late.” Looking like she might cry, Becca said in a rush, “The girlfriend who was going to bring me ended up having to do something else. I had to call an Uber. And then I had to keep looking at my phone to help him get here because half the places in this town don’t show up on the GPS. ”
“Sorry you had to do that.”
“Yeah. Me too. But . . . I didn’t want to not come over.”
“I was worried that you changed your mind.”
“I didn’t change my mind.”
Walking inside, she looked around like there was something interesting to see as she shrugged off her jacket. He took it from her and hung it on a hook next to the door. “I forgot. Do I need to take off my shoes?”
“Do you want to take them off?”
“No.”
“Then keep them on.”
She giggled. “You’re so funny, Jeremy.” Looking around, she lowered her voice. “Where’s your dad?”
“He’s in the kitchen.”
“Like last time?”
“Yeah, but this time he’s not with Russell.” He added, “My brother Kurt came over.”
“I kind of like how your brothers come over to hang with your dad.”
“Yeah, me too. Come on, I’ll introduce you to Kurt.”
“All right.” She took a deep breath, like she was attempting to brace herself. As if Kurt was going to find some fault with her.
“Hey,” he whispered. “I promise, Kurt’s over here to hang out with my daed, not judge you.”
“Okay.”
When she looked down at her clothes as if there was something wrong with her jeans, tennis shoes, and gray hoodie, Jeremy wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a half hug. “Stop worrying. You look fine.”
She took a deep breath. “My parents asked if you guys had candles everywhere. You didn’t last time, but it was earlier in the day. You don’t, do you?”
“Nope. We’re more propane and battery power around here.” As a distant memory came to mind, he added, “When my mother was alive, we had a bunch of candles, but that was because she liked how they smelled.”
“I like how candles smell too.”
He grinned at her as they walked down the hall. They could hear his father and Kurt talking. Kurt sounded like he was telling their daed a funny story, which would probably make his daed happy. Kurt was good that way.
When they walked in, both his daed and his brother stopped talking and stood up to greet her.
“Hiya, Becca,” Daed said. “It’s gut to see you again.”
She smiled. “You too, Mr. Keim.”
“Becca, this is my oldest brother, Kurt. He’s married and has two kids.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” She held out a hand.
“I’m pleased to meet you too,” Kurt said as he shook her hand.
“Now that you’re here a second time, you might as well call me Evan, Becca,” his daed said.
“I’ll try.” Her eyes darted to a serving platter on the counter. It was a deli tray heaped full of stuff.
“Daed, where did that come from?” Jeremy asked.
“Walnut Creek Cheese. I asked Kurt to pick it up so you and Miss Becca here could have a snack.”
His daed’s “snack” could have fed twenty people. Jeremy looked at his brother in confusion. “I didn’t see you bring it in.”
“That’s ’cause you were out in the barn doing chores.”
“Oh.”