Chapter 21
Creak... creak... creak...
Daisy stared blankly from her seat on the porch swing, the creaking sound hammering in her ears. She’d finally gotten over
the shock of seeing Maynard on Perry’s doorstep, but that was all she’d gotten over. She was still sad about Lady dying, despite
knowing that butterflies didn’t live long. Getting attached to a butterfly had never been a possibility, never mind shedding
tears over her.
And then there was Perry. She could still feel the warmth of his rough palm against her cheek, see the tenderness and understanding
in his eyes, experience the tingling sensation throughout her body as they kept their gazes locked. She shouldn’t have kissed
his hand. She shouldn’t have wanted to kiss him either. Really, really kiss him.
But she didn’t regret either one.
“Your onkel needs to fix this swing.”
She glanced at Maynard sitting next to her, only a few inches separating them. They came out here after eating supper with
her family, at Grace’s suggestion. The swing was definitely made for two.
“It creaks really loud.” He scratched behind his ear.
“ Ya ,” she said tightly. After they left Perry’s, Maynard explained that he had arrived in Marigold a few minutes ago by taxi. “You didn’t call me back when I left a message yesterday morning, and you ignored my other calls. You’ve been acting seltsam , Daisy. I didn’t have a choice but to see for myself if you were all right.”
“You could have asked Mamm ,” Daisy mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. She was keyed up, uncomfortably so, like she’d been robbed of something
beautiful.
“Your mamm isn’t very talkative.” Maynard stepped onto the gravel driveway.
Talk about pot and kettle. During supper tonight, Aenti Rosella had been uncharacteristically quiet too. Daisy knew why. Mamm and Aenti weren’t going to make things easy for her and Maynard.
Creak... creak... creak...
Daisy glanced at the sunset, at the two squirrels chasing each other around the yard, at the weeds growing at the edge of
the driveway near the road—anything to keep from looking at Perry’s house and wondering what he was doing right now. After
he answered the door and she said Maynard’s name, Perry had been friendly to him and hastily ushered the two of them outside.
Which he should have, considering the compromising position they’d just been in. He also didn’t seem the least affected by
their almost kiss.
She found that most confusing of all, enough that she was sure she’d imagined he’d wanted to kiss her. That made more sense
than him actually wanting to kiss her. He’d just affirmed their friendship Saturday night. Her cheeks heated. Of course he
didn’t want to kiss her. Now came the regrets. Oh boy.
“Well.” Maynard ground out the word like he was a decade older than Ferman. “We should both get to bed. First bus leaves at
six thirty in the morning.”
She popped up from the swing. “I’ll reserve the taxi for you.”
He touched her arm, stopping her. His eyes widened as if he’d shocked himself with the gesture, and he quickly withdrew his hand. “Already took care of it.” He got to his feet, the swing swaying behind him. “You should pack tonight.”
“Pack?”
“ Ya . You don’t want to leave it to the last minute. We could miss our ride.”
“Maynard, what are you talking about?”
He frowned. “Going back to Dover.”
“ You’re going back to Dover,” she said, still not following. “I have more than three weeks left of my visit.”
His frown deepened. “But I thought you missed me.”
“I... I do.” Why was it so hard for her to say those words? “I’m just not ready to geh home yet.”
Maynard took a step forward. “I’m ready for you to come home.”
Daisy paused, waiting for a shiver, tingle, spark, something to happen inside her now that he was finally giving her undivided
attention.
“I already took two days off to come get you. I have to get back to work.” He put his hands on his hips, his eyeglasses slipping
down his nose a little. He looked her up and down. “There is something wrong with you, isn’t there?”
She lifted her chin. “ Nee . I’m the same maedel you’ve always known. And honestly, Maynard, you haven’t seemed all that worried, until you brought up work.”
One reddish eyebrow lifted. “You’ve been gone a long time. How was I supposed to feel?”
“You missed me then?”
His brow furrowed.
“It’s an easy question, Maynard. Did... you... miss... me?”
“ Ya ,” he said, still looking befuddled. “I missed you. I want you to come home.”
There it was. A small spark in her heart, a minuscule tickle in her tummy. She dropped her arms and moved closer to him. Perry
had been right. Playing hard to get worked. Maynard was finally admitting some feelings for her. And although she should leave
well enough alone and wait until they were in Dover where they would have genuine privacy to have “the talk,” she needed more.
She took his hand.
Maynard glanced down at their entwined fingers, seemingly terrified.
She moved closer to him, closer than she ever dared. “Kiss me, Maynard.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” She tilted her head to his. “Kiss me.”
“Here?” He dropped her hand. “On the porch?”
“ Ya .”
He stumbled, the swing hitting the back of his thighs as his gaze darted around. “But what if someone sees us?”
“So? Let them see.”
He grimaced, lowering his voice. “This isn’t appropriate, Daisy.”
It wasn’t, and she should back off right now. While she’d had eighteen months to pine for him, he was still sitting in the
friend zone. But she couldn’t stop as despair gripped her. What if she had misread their relationship all along? What if her
confidence that God had brought them together was misplaced? What if I was wrong?
She took a step toward him. If he wasn’t going to do it, she was. She had to know if she had made a huge mistake—
Maynard’s arm shot around her waist. He pulled her against him... and kissed her.
***
Perry froze, his heart tumbling to his knees as he stood on the patio facing the Hershberger home. After Daisy left with...
him , he was alone. He’d taken Lady to the butterfly room and set her on the glass case, his stomach in knots. He wasn’t sure
he would be able to mount her on a board and add her to his collection. Not now, possibly not ever.
And when he walked out of the room to his empty house, his mood darkened. When the silence he’d always craved became too much,
he decided to sit on his back patio for a while, expecting that Daisy andMaynard would be inside the house.
Instead, he saw the exact moment Maynard took her in his arms and kissed her. Not just once, and not for a quick second. It
was a full-on kiss.
Like the one he’d intended to give her.
He turned around, feeling sick. All this time he’d called Maynard an idiot. I’m the stupid one. He’d been wrong. Ferman was wrong. His mother was wrong, because he had caught the doubt in her eyes when he told her that
there was nothing between him and Daisy.
And like the fool he was, he’d let his guard down.
Perry stalked back into the house, anger coursing through him. Not at Daisy, though. She’d always been honest with him about
her feelings for Maynard. She’d even insisted she loved him when he asked her.
He stilled, standing in the middle of the dining room. She’d been honest... until today. Until the kiss on his palm, her
soft, vulnerable words afterward, the desire in her eyes when she basically asked him to kiss her. Was all that a lie?
“...She only thinks she loves him.”
Ferman’s words hit him like a battering ram. He knocked them away. They weren’t true. She had no idea what a tiny kiss would
do to him. The ache in his chest intensified as he thought about Ruby, or more accurately how their relationship started.
In the beginning, she had looked at him the same way Daisy did. Like he was special. Like she loved me.
No. Ruby almost looked at him the same way. He knew now that she’d never managed to reach his soul.
Daisy had.
He jerked off his boots, then his socks and his shirt. He didn’t have to worry about lack of privacy anymore, and he needed
a shower for a variety of reasons. But no amount of mental scrubbing would erase Daisy from his mind and heart. That would
take time. He knew that all too well. I’ve been here before. And it hurt worse the second time around.
His hands went to his waistband as a knock sounded at the door. He froze, seeing the doorknob fall to the floor with a bang.
What in the world? Then the door opened... to Daisy.
***
Daisy stood in front of Perry, her chest heaving as she gasped for air, partly because she ran straight over here after Maynard
kissed her, and partly because—triple whoa—Perry was shirtless again. Oh, and then there was the surprise of the doorknob
falling out of its hole again, but that was the furthest thing from her mind as she battled to disengage her gaze from Perry.
She seemed to have a knack for catching him without a shirt... and she wasn’t about to complain.
“What are you doing here?” he growled, grabbing his shirt off the floor and yanking it over his head so hard she thought he would burst the seams. When he finished, he was glaring at her.
“I—” Her words disappeared at his ferocious look. She was here to tell him she was wrong and had almost made a horrible mistake.
When Maynard kissed her, she felt nothing. Less than nothing, if that were a thing. And when they parted, it was if scales
had fallen off her eyes. From the ungainly way he moved away from her, he agreed.
“Um,” he’d said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “That was...”
“Terrible,” she supplied.
“Ya.” His awkward expression eased. “You should stay here.”
She nodded, relieved. “I’ll pay you back for my ticket.”
“ Nee need. I’m sure I can get a refund.” He paused. “I really did miss you, Daisy.”
“Me, or my peach pie?”
“Both.” He half smiled.
For the very first time, she was at ease with Maynard Miller. There was no wishing for things to be different. No forcing
something to happen. Every single thought she had about her and Maynard being a couple vanished. Poof, it was gone. And she’d
never felt better.
When he went inside to pack, she faced Perry’s house, grinning. She had been totally wrong, wrong, wrong , about Maynard, but the incredible, delightful emotions now washing over her were oh so right. She loved Perry. She didn’t
have to kiss him to know, she just knew, deep in her heart. In her soul. And she couldn’t wait to tell him. Even if he didn’t
return her feelings now, he might in the future if they spent more time together. Now that she was free from Maynard, they
could do just that.
As sure as she was that God hadn’t set Maynard apart for her, she was even more positive Perry was the one .
But now he was shooting visual daggers at her. His burly arms crossed over that incredible chest of his and he continued to stare at her. Hard.
“Maynard’s leaving in the morning,” she squeaked out.
Crickets.
She wanted to go to him, but his black look pinned her in place. “I... stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re mad at me.” The last time she had only thought he was upset with her. She was sure of it now.
He dropped his arms, and for the briefest of seconds his expression softened, only to turn icy again. “I’ll ask you again.
What are you doing here?”
“I came to talk to you. To tell you—”
“I don’t care.”
Her eyes widened. This was a side of him she’d never seen before, and she didn’t like it. “What’s wrong?”
“ Nix ,” he said sharply and went to the door, his bare feet slapping against the wood floor. He picked up the doorknob and shoved
it back, then opened the door wider. “Get out.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Or how harsh he was being. Something must have happened... oh no. Her whole
body went cold. “Did you see—” She didn’t have to say the words. His glacial demeanor said it all. “I can explain—”
“How could I have been so stupid.” He scrubbed his hand over his face, his words muffled. Then he looked at her. “How could
I have been so wrong about you?”
“Perry... I don’t understand—”
“I think you do. Because I’m not buying your innocent act anymore. That’s what it was, ya ? An act to string me along so I fell in love with you? And now you’re here after you kissed another man?”
She blanched. She didn’t comprehend half of what he said, but she could easily clear up the Maynard part. “If you’ll just
listen to me—”
“Leave, Daisy. Now. If you won’t geh , then I will.”
He was serious.
And she was numb. She hung her head and dashed past him, hugging her arms, fighting tears as she ran back to Grace’s. Not
only had she been wrong about Maynard, but about Perry too.
That mistake hurt most of all.
***
“You can’t leave.”
Daisy folded the last of the three dresses she’d brought with her, ignoring Grace’s plea. Maynard was in the guest room, and
since it was almost eight thirty, she was sure he was asleep. That was fine. She’d wake up extra early and tell him she was
going home with him. Not to be with him. Her horrendous interaction with Perry didn’t change the fact that there was nothing
between her and Maynard, and that included friendship. Once they were back in Dover, they would go their separate ways, and
she was perfectly fine with that.
“Did you hear me, Daisy?” Grace took the dress from her. “Maynard isn’t the man for you. That was obvious the moment I met
him.”
“I know that now.”
Grace blinked. “You do? Then why are you leaving with him?”
She took the dress from her cousin and refolded it. Grace wouldn’t understand, and she didn’t want to tell her what happened
with Perry. She couldn’t stay here, not when she knew he detested her. She pressed the dress to her chest, her heart splitting
in two.
“Daisy.” Her cousin gently took the dress from her and led her to the side of the bed. “I’m sorry. Did you and Maynard have
a fight?”
Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she neither confirmed nor denied Grace’s assumption. Better to let her cousin think this was about Maynard and not Perry. Then her sorrow got the best of her. “Why am I such a dummkopf , Grace?” She bent over and sobbed.
“Oh, Daisy.” Grace put her arms around her. “You’re not dumm . Love is complicated.”
“It’s not for you and Kyle. Or your parents. Or mine, or—”
“Stop comparing your situation to anyone else’s.” She reached over and took a tissue off her side table and handed it to Daisy.
“And just because something looks easy, doesn’t mean it is.”
Daisy sat up, honked into the tissue, and wiped the bottom of her nose. “It’s nice of you to try to cheer me up.”
“But it’s not working.”
She shook her head. “It’s not just that I was wrong about Maynard.” And Perry. It was apparent to her now that when she went to talk to Perry, she had started doing the same thing with him that she’d
done with Maynard—assuming he was the one and rationalizing how she could make that happen. “I never should have presumed
to know what God wanted for me. I can see that so clearly now. Why couldn’t I see it then?”
“I don’t know. God’s ways aren’t ours. We all know that.”
Grabbing another tissue, she said, “At least Mamm is going to be happy.”
“I doubt it. Not when she sees you like this.”
“I’ll get it together before I leave.” She wasn’t sure how, but she had to. She didn’t want Maynard to see her cry, and she
absolutely didn’t want to tell him a single thing about Perry Bontrager. They would spend hours riding home together. If she
was lucky, she could sleep during some of them.
“You could always stay,” Grace said hopefully.
Daisy shook her head. Not with Perry next door. Even if she didn’t see him every day, she would know he was there. She wouldn’t be able to sit under the tree and do her cross-stitch without thinking about the time he had touched her ankle trying to catch a white admiral. And if she saw a painted lady, she would completely fall apart. Poor Lady. Oh no, she was crying again. “I’m sorry,” she said, pressing her eyes with the heels of her hands, trying to keep her tears
at bay.
“Don’t be.” Grace handed her the whole tissue box. “Cry all you need to. I’ve cried over Kyle a time or two.” She leaned forward.
“News flash. Guys can be insensitive sometimes.”
Daisy managed a light chuckle, although she had no idea how. Perry was heartless earlier, but he had reason to be after seeing
her and Maynard kiss. Before that, he was the kindest, smartest, and most generous person she’d ever met. “I just hope...”
she whispered thickly.
“Hope what?”
She wanted to tell Grace, but she couldn’t. Although she didn’t mean to, she had hurt Perry deeply, and not long after he
had told her about his breakup with Ruby. She knew how hard it had been for him when they broke up because he had cared for
her at one time...
Daisy sat straight up, the tissue box falling off her lap. Pieces fell into place like snowflakes hitting the ground during
a blizzard. Why would Perry be that upset to see her kissing Maynard? He was the one who had helped her with her Maynard problem, and he’d encouraged her several
times to write and call him. He’d even given her the sage advice to play hard to get. That had gotten Maynard’s attention
more than anything she’d ever done on her own.
“Daisy?”
Grace’s voice sounded distant as she continued to think about her interactions with Perry. “ We’re friends, ya ?” He said that to her, and she’d said it to him. It was true. She would live the rest of her life believing that, for the past two weeks they had become, without a doubt, the best of friends. Then the final barrier crumbled as she realized the truth that she hadn’t seen until now.
All this time she’d been fretting about deceiving others. She had deceived herself most of all.
All the wonderful feelings she’d experienced and tried to deny when she was around Perry came to the fore. How she felt sitting
on his lap, and when she was in his arms the other night. How she couldn’t resist kissing his palm or wanting him to kiss
her. The words he’d just said when he sent her away—the ones that had been a blur because she was so determined to set things
straight with him about Maynard.
“I fell in love with you...”
Daisy felt hot. Then cold. Then hot again, and she stayed that way. She might not be a dummkopf , but she was clearly clueless and oblivious. Perry loved her. She did suspect that his declaration might have slipped out
in anger, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. He loved her, and she definitely loved him.
She resisted the urge to give in to her emotions, though. Just because she wanted something to be true, didn’t mean it was.
Or should be. She smiled and turned to Grace. “Can you help me unpack?”
“But...”
She went to her suitcase and yanked out the three dresses she’d neatly placed inside earlier. She wasn’t going back to Dover,
not until she and Perry had a conversation. It might be for the last time, and if it was, she would deal with it. “I’m staying
in Marigold.”