Chapter 16
If Bonnie could’ve tiptoed, she would’ve.
Past Sophia and Carol, out the front door, and down the street.
The shop usually served as a place where she could take her mind off her troubles.
Today her troubles visited her at the store.
Instead of fleeing, she went to the clearance shelves closest to the shop’s front windows. This would be a perfect spot to build the new display of Elijah’s toys.
“Hey, what’s with you and Elijah?”
Sophia must have eyes in the back of her head.
She wheeled around by the coffee bar so she faced Bonnie.
“He ran out of here looking like a wet towel that somebody just ran through the wringer.”
“He brought in a few more of his toys.”
Bonnie lifted the seat on her rollator.
She laid some spice-scented candles in its pouch.
Winter and the time for cozy scents and warm candles had passed.
“Then we priced his merchandise.
That’s it.”
“Sure it is.”
Carol swung on her crutches to a table usually reserved for customers who decided to take a break from shopping to have a pastry and a cup of coffee.
“Soph told me how you didn’t want to come into the shop when you saw Slowpoke outside.
Was he—Elijah, not Slowpoke—at the frolic? What happened? Did you two talk?”
“I took him and Declan some coffee and eppies.
That’s all.”
The hand-fired clay candle holders could go to the storeroom as well.
Along with the embroidered hand towels with their sledding themes.
Their vendors could take them home the next time they came into the store.
“Nothing the least bit interesting.
Not like your buggy ride with Ryan, Carol. Tell us everything in minute detail. Don’t hold back.”
“Jah, tell us, tell us.”
Sophia was easily redirected.
For now.
“What did you two talk about? Did you hold hands? Did you—?”
“Hey, hey, hey, hold your horses.”
Carol held up both hands.
Her fair cheeks turned a deep scarlet.
Her eyes shone.
“That’s kind of personal, don’t you think?”
“Oh, come on.
I’ve told you everything about me and Matthew.
Your turn.”
Sophia wheeled to the table.
She tugged the plate holding Carol’s blueberry muffin out of the woman’s reach.
“I’m holding your muffin hostage until you spill the details.”
“Jah, and there aren’t any more, as I’m sure you noticed.”
Bonnie pushed her rollator to the bar so she could pour herself a cup of coffee.
“I wanted to pick up some pastries from the bakery, but Sophia wouldn’t let me.
Just so you know.”
“Okay, fine.”
Smiling, Carol took a sip of her coffee that was more milk and sugar.
She knew exactly what she was doing.
Prolonging the suspense.
“He drove us out to the stand of pines on his daed’s farm, the deep one that runs along the fence on the dirt road—”
“We know where it is, and then?”
Sophia nibbled on Carol’s muffin.
“This sure is a tasty muffin.”
“Stop eating my muffin.
We pulled into a clearing and parked.
Then we talked and talked.
That’s all.”
“Talked about what?”
Bonnie set her coffee on the table.
She turned her rollator around and sat on the padded seat.
“Was it hard to think of something to say? That’s what I always worry about.”
“Not with a talker like Ryan Beachy.
With men like him you just have to ask a question and they run with it.
We talked about his daed’s health.
Luke’s better after the quadruple bypass.
About working the farm with his brother Andrew. Corrine and Henry expecting triplets—what a blessing that will be.”
Carol sucked in a breath.
“Can I have my muffin back now?”
“Wait a minute.”
Sophia held the plate away from her friend’s reach.
“Surely he asked about you.
What questions did he have? Did he say anything about the crutches or the spina bifida?”
“Nee.
It’s old news.
Boring news.”
Carol’s nonchalance matched her grin.
“It’s like he doesn’t even think about it.
He sees me, not the crutches.
Like I see me.”
“You’re right.”
Bonnie stirred her coffee.
She stared into the murkiness.
Her SMA was old news too.
Did Elijah see it that way? Or did he have reservations that kept him from asking her out? Or did he simply not see her as more than a business owner? “Is he coming by again?”
“He is.
Next Saturday.”
Carol clapped.
Then she paused, hands lifted.
“And guess how we sealed the promise?”
“Nee.”
“Yep.”
“He kissed you?”
Sophia beat Bonnie to the answer.
“Wow.
On your first date.
Matthew didn’t kiss me for almost three months.
I was beginning to think he never would.”
“We kissed each other,”
Carol corrected.
“I might have been the one to lean in first.”
“Have you no shame?”
Sophia put both hands to her cheeks in mock horror.
“Shameless hussy, that’s what they would call you in a romance novel.”
Carol took a pretend bow.
“Guilty as charged.”
“So?”
“So what?”
“Was it as gut as I said it would be?”
“Again, that’s personal.”
“Come on, turnabout is fair play.
I couldn’t stop talking about Matthew.
Your turn.”
Sophia clasped her hands and held them up as if begging.
“It’s wunderbarr, isn’t it?”
Carol and Sophia were so happy, so excited.
They were having fun with it.
Sophia as much as Carol.
They were good friends who wanted wonderful lives for one another.
Bonnie swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. She was thrilled for Carol, just as she’d been thrilled for Sophia. It was the first step in what could be a long or short road of courting. But taking that first step was everything.
Bonnie didn’t need a kiss—not immediately, anyway.
Not really.
It would be nice.
But the closeness, the feeling of being with someone special, a man who thought she was special, that would be amazing.
It would be everything she could possibly want. To share in the possibility of happily ever after. To share in the inevitable trials along the way. To share in the winter season as well as the spring.
“Why so quiet?”
Carol’s question broke Bonnie’s reverie.
“Just thinking, wondering.”
“Do you think I should’ve waited to kiss him?”
“Nee, I think it’s wunderbarr.”
Bonnie picked her words carefully.
“Now that you’ve spent an evening with him and kissed him, do you still feel the same way about him? Was it everything you imagined it would be?”
“Better.”
Smiling, Carol captured her muffin and plate.
“Before, I was nervous.
I kept imagining myself freezing up.
I imagined that he would turn out to be dull or big on himself, even though I’ve talked with him plenty of times.
I imagined tripping and falling on my face. Once we actually started talking, it was just two people chatting about ordinary things, but time flew by. We talked for two hours.”
“And then you kissed.”
“And it felt like a dream.
Then it felt like we were the only people in the whole world who’d ever done it.
It felt like we made a pact.”
Her expression beatific, Carol stared into space.
Carol had a chance at her dream.
Her tomorrows held brighter, more hopeful, more certain promises.
That didn’t mean Bonnie’s couldn’t be just as bright and hopeful.
She had the store.
She had a purpose in life—to give other folks with disabilities a place to earn their keep.
That was a worthy purpose.
Such a life would be good. Better than good.
Different than she’d expected, but still good.
Time to get back to that purpose.
Bonnie rose.
“Hey, you’re not getting off that easy.”
Carol touched Bonnie’s arm.
“You still haven’t told us why you and Elijah were arguing.”
“We weren’t arguing.”
“Why didn’t you want to come in the store, then? Why were you giving Elijah the cold shoulder?”
“I wasn’t giving anyone the cold shoulder.”
Bonnie sank back onto her rollator.
“Besides, it’s stupid.”
“Let us be the judge of that.”
Arms crossed, Sophia leaned back in her chair.
“What happened?”
“Nothing happened.”
Carol adopted a pose similar to Sophia’s.
“We’re waiting.”
“Elijah’s mudder had the Coblentzes over to the Millers’ for supper Sunday night.”
“How dare she!”
Sophia elbowed Carol.
Both women giggled.
“She also hired Kathryn to work in the combination store.”
“Ah.”
Carol pursed her lips and shook her head.
“Kathryn will be at the Millers’ farm several days a week.”
“Jah, but Elijah will be on the road auctioneering,”
Sophia pointed out.
“Plus it’s not Elijah’s fault.
Elizabeth is prone to matchmaking.
Everyone knows that.”
“And everyone knows she’s gut at it.”
Bonnie swept crumbs from the table into her hands.
She deposited them on Carol’s plate.
“Toby and Rachelle.
Micah and Layla.
Declan and Bethel.”
“You honestly believe she brought all three couples together?”
Carol snorted.
“No one is that gut.
Except Gott.
His plan.
His timing. He doesn’t need a mudder to meddle in His business.”
All true.
And yet ...
“Patience told Mary she thinks Kathryn likes Elijah, and she’ll be right there under his nose.”
“The question is, does Elijah like her?”
Sophia thumped on the table.
The coffee mugs rattled.
“Oops.
My point is Elijah came here to the shop instead of opting for the combination store where Kathryn is working.
Which means he’ll come here regularly. Maybe that’s because he wants to see you.”
“It’s because he wants to sell more toys faster and for more money.
It’s a gut business decision, and he wants to have his own business.”
“All true, with the added attraction of you.”
If only.
“He’s never shown any interest in me.”
“Can you say shy? Shy doesn’t even begin to cover it.
He’s so shy, he shakes when he talks to a stranger.
Yet he manages to talk to you.”
He had managed.
Quite well at the farm.
“I suggested he practice calling an auction in front of me.
He got all prickly about it.”
“He’s afraid of freezing up in front of you the way he did with the crowd.”
Sophia’s tone suggested Bonnie was a silly goose if she couldn’t see that.
“He doesn’t want to be embarrassed again, but especially not in front of a girl he likes.”
Wishful thinking on Sophia’s part.
“Hogwash.”
“Nee, it’s not.
And what is hogwash, anyway? Hogs don’t wash themselves.”
“Stay on track.”
Carol frowned at Sophia.
“Bonnie needs to apologize to Elijah.”
“Why? For what?”
“For pressuring him.
For acting like you’d rather he call auctions than follow his heart.
For embarrassing him when he had to say no.
Besides, you always get prickly about people wanting to help you.
Maybe he feels the same way. You don’t get to be irked that he doesn’t want your help.”
The bell over the front door dinged.
Bonnie swiveled.
A swarm of girls whose sweatshirts signaled they were from the nearby college chattered their way into the store and dispersed around the jewelry and hand-embroidered blouses.
They would eventually make their way to Matthew’s leather purses, billfolds, and jewelry, followed by candles and soaps.
The noise increased fourfold.
Bonnie stood.
Carol snagged her arm.
Bonnie glanced back and said, “I know.
Apologize.
Don’t give up.”
Carol smiled up at her.
“One date doesn’t make me an expert on love.
But I do know Gott’s timing is perfect.
That one date was enough to convince me.
It’s not about romance; it’s about sharing your life with someone who loves you and who you love back.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Carol and Sophia knew Bonnie better than anyone in the world except—maybe—her mother.
“Danki for sharing your night with us, Schweschder.”
“You also have to believe you’re worthy of his love.”
“I do.”
“Nee.
You think no man will marry you because of the SMA.”
Bonnie couldn’t deny it.
“You’re wrong.”
“We have customers.”
Carol let go of her arm.
“There’s so much of you to love.
Gott made you in His image.
Think about that.
Remember that.”
What would Carol think if she could read Bonnie’s thoughts? The mighty, powerful, omnipotent, omniscient, and all those other O words, God wasn’t traversing the universe pushing a rollator.
Maybe He made Bonnie in His image on the inside, but the rollator thing, that was the result of a fallen world in which there was disease.
Thanks a lot, Adam and Eve.
Mostly Eve.
Or mostly the serpent. Plenty of blame existed to go around.
What remained in the end? Questions Bonnie shared with no one.
What was God thinking, letting Adam and Eve run amok in the garden? Why didn’t He kick that serpent out before he changed the entire course of human history?
“I see the wheels turning.
What are you thinking about, friend?”
“Nothing worth saying.”
Nothing that wouldn’t get her sent to hades for all eternity.