Chapter 3 #2
The potluck was for the entire community, and Elaine managed to make a chicken, broccoli, and cheese casserole from the groceries that had been delivered.
But when it came time to go, she claimed to be too tired.
Then she said to both girls, “I expect a full report in the morning over breakfast about everyone you see.” Joanna was pretty sure Elaine meant a full measure of gossip.
Daniel decided to stay with Elaine.
As Joanna carried the picnic basket and Mandy walked beside her, someone called out her name.
She turned. Adam rode a bike toward them, grinning from ear to ear.
He’d called out her name—not Mandy’s. Joanna couldn’t help but return his smile.
There was something about Adam Slaybaugh that brought a jolt of joy to her heart.
When he reached them, he jumped from the bike and took the basket.
“You can’t carry the basket and ride the bike too.” Joanna reached to steady the bike.
“Nee, I can.” But when he tried, his knees bumped against the basket, which hit the handlebars. He laughed and stood.
“When did you learn to ride a bike?” Joanna asked.
“As a boy. Our district didn’t forbid them.”
“I’ll push the bike.” Joanna reached for the handlebar.
“Can you ride?” Adam asked. Before she could answer, he added, “Give it a try.”
She shook her head.
“Come on,” he said. “Mandy and I won’t tell anyone.” He grinned again, as if challenging her. “Besides, you’re in Pinecraft.”
Joanna actually had ridden a bike before.
Her older brother Leon had one while on his Rumspringa, and he had taught her how.
She swung her leg over the bar, positioned her right foot on the pedal, and pushed down with her left.
The bike wobbled, and she shifted her weight as she grasped the handlebar a little tighter.
A few more pushes on the pedals and the bike stabilized.
“Look at you!” Adam jogged alongside her.
Joanna glanced over her shoulder at Mandy, whose eyebrows were arched. Joanna slowed the bike and called over her shoulder, “Want a turn?”
“Nee.” Mandy’s voice was firm.
Joanna slowed more and hopped off the bike. Steadying it with one hand, she reached for the basket with the other. “I should walk with Mandy.”
As she reached for the basket, Adam said, “Only if you go canoeing with me later.”
She smirked. “Only?”
His face reddened. “There’s a creek by the park. My friend has a house on the creek and a canoe docked nearby.”
Joanna glanced back at Mandy, who was only a few steps behind, and then said to Adam, “We’ll see.
” Canoeing with Adam did sound like fun.
But why? She was interested in Jacob, not Adam.
Jah, she had wanted to be Adam’s friend that night in the van, but he’d rejected that idea. Had he changed his mind?
Mandy caught up with Joanna. Adam continued to chatter away until they reached the park.
He pointed to the grassy area on the other side of the volleyball court, where a group of barefoot women played.
All of them were dressed in blue and purple dresses and some wore heart-shaped Lancaster County Kappa.
Fifteen minutes later, Mandy yawned several times while they ate, and then didn’t want to get pie. “I’m going to go back to the cottage.”
Joanna took both of their paper plates and stood. “I’ll go with you.”
“You can stay,” Mandy said.
Another girl, about their age, stood and said to Mandy, “I’m walking back too. We can go together.”
The girls came off the volleyball court and one of them called out to Adam, “I’m ready to get that ice cream cone you promised.”
He glanced from Joanna to the girl and back to Joanna.
Was ice cream Adam’s predictable move when it came to asking someone on a date? “Who is that?” Joanna asked. The girl looked familiar.
Adam’s voice was deep and low. “Ruthie.”
Joanna took a step backward as her stomach lurched. Ruthie from Spartansburg. Adam’s girlfriend who he’d broken up with at Emily’s wedding. Had Ruthie followed him to Pinecraft?
She exhaled. Why the reaction? She reminded herself again that she was interested in Jacob—not Adam. Ruthie didn’t matter. Nor did any other girl Adam dated. She got the idea he’d gone out with a lot more people than she had.
“Go get your ice cream,” she said to Adam. “I need to go back to the cottage with Mandy anyway.”
The next day, Daniel hired a driver to take the four of them to the beach.
Joanna had been to the Maryland shore one time as a child with Mammi Lu and Dawdi Marcus, and she’d seen photos of tropical beaches in books, but the sugary white sand of Siesta Beach exceeded her expectations.
Groups of palm trees swayed in the breeze.
The gentle waves of the Gulf of Mexico rolled in, one after another. The salty air filled her senses.
Elaine and Daniel brought chairs to sit on, and Joanna and Mandy kicked off their flip flops and ran across the warm sand.
Joanna turned toward the east, her face pointed at the morning sun.
She closed her eyes for a moment. Sea gulls squawked in the distance.
A child yelled. The warmth of the sun bathed her face.
“What’s wrong?” Mandy asked.
“Nothing.” Joanna opened her eyes. She lifted the hem of her dress above her knees and started toward the waves. She’d never felt so alive. So joyful. So carefree.
Mandy followed.
After wading for an hour, they turned back toward Mandy’s grandparents. Adam sat on the sand next to Elaine. Both were laughing.
“Ugh,” Mandy said. “She’s probably gossiping with him—about me. For some reason Mammi thinks Adam would be a better match for me than Caleb.”
“Why?”
“Honestly?”
Joanna nodded.
“Because of his grandparents’ business. You work for them—you know how successful they are, moneywise.”
Joanna hadn’t thought much about Ike and Becky’s finances. They didn’t flaunt their wealth, and they always had her on a strict budget when it came to supplies. Neither Becky nor Ike ever talked about their profits, not that anyone in the district did. It went against the Amish way.
But besides all that, they were very generous with all kinds of people. Becky was always sending the team to help Amish and Englisch neighbors alike, whether it was patching a roof, fixing a school porch, or repairing a fence for an older couple.
Mandy crossed her arms over her chest. “Mammi thinks I’d have more security if I married Adam.”
Joanna recoiled at Elaine’s meddling. Mammi Lu would never do such a thing. Besides, Mandy and Caleb were getting married. The time to meddle, if there was such a time, had passed. And Caleb was perfect for Mandy. “Does Adam know what your grandmother is thinking?”
Mandy wrinkled her nose. “I hope not.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
Mandy shook her head but then smiled. “You could keep Adam occupied while we’re here. As a friend of course, but maybe Mammi Elaine will think he’s interested in you.”
It was Joanna’s turn to wrinkle her nose. “But what if word gets back to Jacob? I don’t want to risk my relationship with him.”
“The only person who would say something would be my Mammi, and I don’t think anyone would believe her anyway.”