— chapter one #2
She turned back to him. Noticed that his brown eyes were light. Leaning toward hazel. “I am Cynthia Byler. Most everyone calls me Cindy, though.”
He held out a hand. “It’s good to meet you.”
She shook it gingerly. She would have preferred not to touch him. But his grip was gentle. Nothing like Adam’s used to be.
It was the second time in this gym that she thought of her husband. She sometimes went days without thinking about Adam. Why was this happening?
Ignoring Monroe’s concerned expression, she placed her hands over her face and breathed deep. Attempted to clear her head.
“Hey, are you all right?”
Quickly she put her hands back down. “Of course. It is gut to meet you as well, Monroe.”
“Sorry you had to wait so long, Mamm,” Nora called out as she hurried forward with her backpack on her back over her thick green dress. “But did you see how good that spike was of mine?” Her happy expression faded as she turned to face her. “Wait, what’s all over you?”
Aware that Monroe was still standing there and no doubt eavesdropping, Cindy lifted her chin. “Chocolate glaze.”
“Wow, Mamm. It’s everywhere.”
“Believe it or not, it was worse.” Touching her eyes, she added, “For a moment, I could barely see.”
Sweet Nora’s expression filled with sympathy. “Let me guess . . . Rachel struck again?”
“Your guess is correct.”
“She’s a menace, Mamm.”
“She’s a nice young woman. But she is accident-prone.”
“What’s on Mamm?” Danny asked Nora.
“Chocolate. From Rachel.” Nora shrugged as if Cindy wasn’t standing directly in front of her and Monroe couldn’t hear every word that was being said. “At least she smells good. Kind of.”
Her embarrassment was now complete. “Danke, Nora.” Turning to her son, Cindy added, “Hello, Danny.”
“Hi.” Looking her over from head to toe, he frowned. “You should have said something. We wouldn’t have made you wait if we’d known you were covered in chocolate.”
“I’m glad I got to watch your game. Besides, there’s nothing you could’ve done. I’m afraid the accident happened hours ago.”
“I guess not. At least you got to meet Mr. Cross,” Danny said. “Oh. Mamm, this here is Roy.”
The fifteen-year-old. “Hello, Roy. I’m Danny and Nora’s mother.” She prepared herself for a moment of awkwardness when he realized what a mess she was.
His pleasant expression didn’t fade a bit. “Hiya, Mrs. Byler. It’s nice to meet you.” He smiled at her, but his gaze almost immediately darted to Nora, who was gazing at him like he was one of the seven wonders of the world.
Nora had a crush on Roy! The sight shook Cindy up a bit. Summoning what she hoped was a friendly expression, she said, “It’s gut to meet you, Roy. And, children, I’m sorry, but we should go.”
Nora nodded. “I’m ready.”
“See you later,” Danny said as he started toward the door.
“See you. See you tomorrow, Nora,” Roy said.
“Okay. Bye, Roy,” Nora said in a soft, sweet voice.
Nora was blushing. Great. She had a crush on an older boy.
Appalled, Cindy glanced at Monroe. His lips were pursed, but he looked more amused than horrified.
Why, he probably saw nothing wrong with his son flirting with a girl who was two years younger than him. She was going to have to put a stop to that. Her mind began to spin as she headed to the gymnasium’s door.
“Hey, Cindy?” Monroe called out.
She stopped. Turned back to him. “Jah?”
“I hope you have a good evening.”
“Danke. You as well.”
She put her head down as they walked out the door. Picked up her pace as the chilly air enveloped them.
By the time she reached the buggy, Nora was already standing next to Vanderbilt and kissing his nose. The horse was leaning toward her. Nora had always been the horse’s favorite.
“Let’s get going, children.”
“I’ll drive the buggy, Mamm,” Danny said.
Happy to give him the control, she allowed him to get in the driver’s side. Then she untied the leads and helped him back Vanderbilt out of the covered space. Only after Danny turned the buggy so it was facing forward did she climb in on the other side of Nora.
Ten minutes later, they were halfway home.
“Mamm, you sure smell like chocolate,” Nora teased.
“Believe me, I know.”
Her daughter continued. “I can’t believe you were standing with Roy’s daed.”
“Why? He was waiting for the game to end too.”
“Did you like Mr. Cross?”
Like? “I didn’t speak to him enough to have an opinion, child.”
“Oh. Well, he’s been nice to Danny and me. Every time we see him, he says hello.”
“That’s gut.” It didn’t seem unusual, though.
Danny chuckled. “Nora’s only saying that because Roy really likes her, Mamm.”
“He shouldn’t.” The last thing Nora needed was to be thinking about a boy.
Nora stiffened by her side. “How come?”
“You’re too young to like a boy, Nora.”
“Nee, I’m not. A lot of girls have boyfriends.”
“You don’t need to be one of them.”
“Mamm, come on. Even the girls who decided to stay in the Amish school have beaus.”
She knew. Long ago, she’d been a teen with a crush too. “I realize that, but it isn’t a good idea, Nora. You should put Roy out of your mind.”
“That’s impossible.”
Danny snickered.
Cindy didn’t feel like laughing, though. “Nora, mind your manners.”
“Mamm, I’m allowed to have an opinion.”
“Hmm.”
“Are you always going to be like this?”
“Like what?”
“You know, mean to men?”
What was her daughter saying? “I wasn’t mean to anyone.”
“You know what I mean.” Nora paused. “You know. Are you always going to push men away because of Daed?”
She was pretty sure she was starting to sweat again. “We are not going to talk of your father,” she bit out. It was difficult to even say that much.
“That’s what you always say.” Her daughter sighed in a way that let Cindy know exactly how she felt about that.
Cindy knew she needed to say something. She needed to defend herself. And, yes, chastise her daughter for being so mouthy. But she was suddenly too tired to do even that.
Ironically, even though she was very relieved that her husband was no longer hurting her, there was a part of her that missed the way he would tell the children when it was time to stop pushing. It was so difficult to be the only parent of two teenagers.
After the silence stretched the entire time Danny drove the buggy through the intersection, he spoke. “Come on, Nora. Give her a break. You know why Mamm feels that way.”
“I know. But Roy isn’t like him.” Lowering her voice, she added, “He’s not like Daed at all.”
“I don’t want to talk about this, daughter.”
“We need to, though. Danny and I are almost fourteen. We’re not little kids. You can’t keep pretending that we’re not going to want to be in relationships.”
Cindy inhaled sharply. Felt like jumping out of the buggy. It would be better than what was currently happening, which was that she was trying not to cry.
Though, she wasn’t sure why it mattered.
Her tears had never made a lick of difference when Adam was alive. They certainly weren’t going to help her now that he was gone. All they would do was upset her children.
She sure didn’t want to do that.