Chapter 29
— chapter twenty-nine
Several days had passed since Leanna gave Evan his walking papers. Since then, he’d turned into a stalker.
Okay, that wasn’t exactly right. But he did kind of feel like one. Now he passed by Leanna’s farm before work and after too. Just on the off chance that she’d be out for a walk.
He hadn’t seen her.
Just the day before, he’d taken himself to Brenneman’s, armed with the fib that he “just happened to be walking by,” but to his surprise the restaurant was closed.
Last night, he’d even considered visiting the bookmobile on Saturday. He didn’t like to read, but he could browse titles while keeping an eye out for Leanna. Figuring that would somehow blow up in his face as well, he started moping around.
And eating frozen pizza.
On Thursday afternoon, Russell stopped by. After catching up a bit, his son sat down with him and had a slice of pizza too. “This ain’t bad, Daed,” he said after he tried a bite.
“I agree. It might only be fundraiser pizza, but it’s tasty.”
Ten minutes later, the back door opened again. Jeremy entered with Becca by his side. When he saw Evan and Russell eating pizza, he frowned.
Then for some reason, he glared when he spied the liter of Mountain Dew on the table. “Daed, you have to stop eating like this. And what’s with the soda?”
“I like it.”
“Russell, you shouldn’t be encouraging him.”
Russell held up his glass of water. “I’m not. I’m drinking water.”
Ignoring his suddenly judgmental son, Evan smiled at Becca. “Hiya, Becca. Would you like a slice of pizza? It ain’t bad.”
“Ah, no, thank you, Mr. Keim. I just had a sandwich.”
“Jeremy?”
“Nee, Daed. And you shouldn’t be eating it either.”
“There’s nothing wrong with eating pizza. I bought this one from a Mennonite fellow who stopped by the other day.”
He rolled his eyes. “I know, Daed. I was sitting in the living room, remember?”
“What’s the problem, then?”
“You bought five pizzas, and you’ve already eaten three of them.” He frowned. “I’m pretty sure that’s a new liter of soda too. Your teeth are going to fall out.”
“Oh, settle down. My teeth are fine. I’ve seen you drink plenty of soda over the years.”
Russell grinned at his brother. “Pick your battles, Jeremy.”
Reaching for Becca’s hand, Jeremy said, “Daed, I’m sorry about Leanna, but sitting around here eating pizza and being miserable ain’t helping things much.”
“I know. I’m just biding my time until I pay Leanna another call.”
Becca smiled at him as she pulled out a chair. “I like how you said you were biding your time. I think that sounds like a good thing.”
Evan wouldn’t have thought it possible that a teenage girl could calm his nerves, but she had. Ignoring Jeremy’s judgmental frown, he lifted his glass of soda and gave her a little salute. “You have a way about you, Becca. Danke.”
Looking pleased, she folded her hands on the table. “You’re welcome.”
Jeremy sat down next to her. “Tell us again about what happened when you went over to her house. Edmund was there?”
“He was. And he weren’t real pleased to see me, either.”
Russell grinned. “I bet he was good and angry, Daed. What did he say?”
After taking a fortifying sip of soda, Evan went over his conversation with Leanna one more time, doing his best to leave nothing out.
When he was finished, Russell looked thoughtful and Jeremy was wearing the same disappointed expression that Evan had probably been wearing when he was standing on Leanna’s front porch.
“So that’s why I’ve decided to wait awhile before visiting her again. What do you think I should do instead?” he asked.
“I don’t think there’s anything you can do,” Jeremy said at last. “She’s upset with you.”
“That is a fact,” Evan murmured as he bit into another slice.
Russell glanced at Becca. “You’re a girl. What do you think? Do women hold grudges a long time?”
She frowned. “I don’t know. Sometimes?”
“That doesn’t help much,” Jeremy said.
Becca shrugged. “I know. But I don’t think you should give up hope, Mr. Keim. My mother doesn’t usually stay mad at my dad for much longer than a week.”
“That’s a gut point. I’ll go back over there in a day or two.”
Jeremy smiled at Becca. “See, it’s good you came over. Want to go sit in the other room?”
“Sure.”
Watching Jeremy and his girlfriend walk out of the kitchen, Evan whispered, “I think your brother is in love.”
“I was just thinking that same thing.”
“Sorry you came over just to eat pizza, Russell.”
“It’s fine. I didn’t come over here for the food anyway.” Looking pleased with himself, Russell added, “Now I have more information to tell Trip and Kurt. Jeremy is in love and our father finally got his head back on straight.”
Evan chuckled. He supposed that was today’s silver lining. He was now a hundred percent committed to a future with Leanna, and he’d do whatever it took.