Chapter 22 #2
“I was actually thinking that it was cute. And maybe that you’re easy to please.”
She smiled at him before she tossed her cup in the trash can. “I don’t usually think of myself as all that easy to please, but with ice cream, I guess I am.”
When they were walking back to their bikes, he took a deep breath and said, “Would you tell me what was bothering you now?”
Her expression flared before she nodded. “Yeah. It’s silly, but when we were looking around, I realized that I’ve been missing out.”
“Missing out on ice cream?”
“Yeah, but not just that.” She lowered her voice. “I don’t want to sound spoiled or anything, but sometimes I wish that things were different, you know? Like going out for an ice cream was a part of my life. Sometimes I really wish my parents would’ve done things differently.”
“There’s nothing wrong with thinking that.”
“Sure there is. I mean, it’s not like going out for ice cream is important.”
What was sad was that she was acting like it was a special treat. “I get it, but sometimes you just want to have fun.”
Becca froze before nodding. “Yeah. That’s it exactly. I feel like I’ve got all this baggage, and I have no idea why you want to hang out with me.”
“You’re kidding, right?” When she frowned at him, he added, “Becca, you’re the sweetest girl I’ve ever met. Plus you’re gorgeous. And now, just hearing you talk about how you wish you could have gone out for ice cream more often? Well, it gets me.”
“Because it sounds so pathetic?”
“Because it is so different from the other girls I know.”
“Even Amish girls?”
“Even Amish girls sometimes want to do things and go places, Becca.”
“Yeah. Right. Sorry.”
“Hey. How about we stop apologizing to each other so much?”
“I’ll try. But I’m not promising you anything.”
“Fair enough.”
Later that evening while he was doing his chores, Jeremy thought a lot about Becca at the ice cream shop and how she said she was fine when she really wasn’t.
But mostly he thought a lot about how she could be so happy with something so simple.
And that, for some reason, made him think about his daed and Leanna.
He wasn’t sure what to do about them, but he was pretty sure that he needed to do something. The only one of his brothers he’d gotten ahold of had been Kurt. He hadn’t been helpful. All he’d said was that Daed and Leanna would work out their problems sooner or later.
Jeremy didn’t think that was going to happen.
“Son, just spit it out,” Daed said after dinner when they were washing and drying their dishes. “All evening you’ve been looking like something’s on your mind.”
“Okay, but you might say it’s none of my business.”
His father frowned. “I’m listening.”
Half certain that he was going to regret saying a word, he said, “Me and Becca saw Leanna Mast at the nursery today.”
“What nursery?”
“Weaver’s.”
“You and Becca went to the garden center on your date?”
“Yeah. She wanted to apply for a job. We stopped before we went to get custard. Anyway, we saw Leanna at Weaver’s.”
“I see.” His father’s expression looked even more strained. “Did you speak to her?”
“Jah.”
“And?”
“And she told me how you two weren’t seeing each other, Daed.”
He frowned. “I don’t see why she decided to share that with you.”
“I reckon it’s because I asked when she was coming over again, and she said she probably wouldn’t be.”
“I see.”
“Daed, she seemed pretty upset.”
For a split second, his father looked pretty upset too. And then he put his mask back on. “I’m sorry that you got in the middle of our problem. Hopefully it didn’t mess up your time with Becca.”
“You know it didn’t. I’m worried about her.” And him. But how did he tell him that?
Leaning against the counter, his daed sighed. “Jeremy, what I should probably do is tell you that what happened between me and Leanna is none of your business. Because it isn’t.”
“But you aren’t?”
“I don’t want you thinking that I went out of my way to hurt her feelings or anything. It wasn’t like that. It’s just . . . ” He paused, then blurted, “Leanna wants to have a child one day. If she marries again, she wants to have a baby.”
“She does?” Jeremy felt his cheeks heat.
“Jah. One day. If God’s willing.”
As awkward as he felt talking about this with his father, Jeremy still didn’t understand. “What’s the problem?”
“Ah, the problem is that I already have four sons. Four grown sons. I even have four grandchildren.”
“Jah, Daed. I know.”
“Jeremy, what I’m trying to tell you is that the last thing I want in my life is a baby.”
“Not even for Leanna?” He got it, but his father was a good daed. He’d always acted like he liked having a lot of kids.
“It’s not like a new bicycle or even a new puppy, son. A child is a lifetime commitment. It’s a lot of things. Diapers, bottles, toddler mess.” He waved a hand. “It’s a lot.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
“It absolutely is. Parenthood is for the young. For someone younger than me.”
“So that’s why you broke up with her.”
“Yeah, but I was being honest, Jeremy.” Averting his eyes, his father continued.
“I felt bad for hurting her feelings, but I’m glad that she and I could be honest with each other.
That’s a blessing, right? It’s better to be able to be honest from the get-go instead of keeping secrets.
” Standing up a little straighter, he added, “I think in the long run, Leanna is going to be very happy that I was so clear.”
“Yeah, it sounds like you were really clear about what you wanted.”
His father winced. “I promise, when you’re older you’ll understand. I didn’t want to give her false hope or anything.”
No, it just sounded like he’d been kind of mean.
Oblivious to how Jeremy was feeling, his father patted him on the shoulder. “So that’s what happened. Don’t worry. It has nothing to do with you.”
“Yeah. Okay, Daed.”
Watching his father sit down next to the fireplace, Jeremy knew one thing for sure and for certain, and that was that his daed had been an idiot.
He was going to have to talk to Kurt again. And get the rest of them on board too. All he had to do now was figure out how to talk to his brothers and come up with a plan without their father getting wind of it.
He decided to try calling Russell again. He closed his bedroom door and fished out his cell phone. Luckily, Russell answered on the first ring.
“Hey, Jeremy. What’s up?”
“I need your help.”
“What happened?”
Taking a deep breath, Jeremy started talking.