Chapter 4
Adam stood on the white sand, watching Joanna run through the waves.
When she turned toward him, he waved. She shaded her eyes with her hand and then grinned.
She wore a lavender dress that was wet at the hem, and the ties of her heart-shaped Kapp bounced on her shoulders as she started toward him.
Her hair appeared lighter in the sunlight.
Her dark blue eyes, which reminded him of the kaleidoscope Mammi Becky had given him when he was a child, glimmered over her rosy cheeks.
She radiated happiness, something he hadn’t seen in her previously.
Not that she’d seemed unhappy before—she’d just seemed serious and overly aware of everything going on around her.
But now she appeared to be truly enjoying herself.
She was even prettier than she’d been the day before.
As the girls approached, Adam asked, “Do you two want to go see the house I’m working on? It’s only a half mile from here.”
Joanna squinted. “How did you know we were here?”
He grinned. “I have my sources.”
“You girls should go with Adam.” Elaine smiled coyly. “Make hay while the sun shines.” She laughed.
Mandy rolled her eyes.
Elaine said, “Come back in an hour or so and tell us all about it. Then we’ll have our lunch before we leave.”
Joanna playfully put a hand on her hip. “Why would we want to go look at the house you’re working on?” Being sassy looked good on her.
Adam grinned again. He said, “Well . . .” drawing out the word, “I don’t know if Mandy would want to, but I assume you would. I heard you’re still working for my grandparents.”
“Who told you I’m still working for your grandparents?”
He hesitated and then said, “Ruthie.”
Joanna had both hands on her hips now. “How would she know?”
“She has a cousin who lives near Strasburg.”
“Oh.” Joanna wrinkled her nose. “Your Mammi Becky didn’t tell you?”
“Nee.” She hadn’t mentioned Joanna once in any of her letters. Adam had assumed she wasn’t working for his grandparents anymore.
“So do you want to go?”
Joanna nodded as Mandy shook her head.
“Go along,” Elaine said, motioning to Mandy. “The walk will do you good.”
Adam took off toward the parking lot. Joanna, in two strides, caught up with him, while Mandy trailed behind a few steps.
Wanting to choose a subject both might be interested in, Adam asked, “What have you been reading lately?”
Joanna glanced at Mandy, who answered, “Nothing right now. I’ve been busy.”
“How about you?” Adam asked Joanna as she slowed her pace, apparently so Mandy would catch up with her.
Joanna patted the bag hanging from her shoulder. “Sense and Sensibility.”
“What is it about?”
“Two sisters who are very different from each other. One’s self-controlled while the other is impulsive.”
Adam’s face grew warmer, and he hoped it wasn’t red. “Do you think I’ll like this one if I liked Little Women?”
Joanna slowed a little more and Mandy caught up. Then she asked, “What did you like about it?”
“I enjoyed reading about the sisters and how they all interacted. And their friendship with Laurie.”
Joanna gave him a side-eye glance.
His face grew hot as he remembered he’d told her women and men couldn’t just be friends. He quickly added, “Of course, once he’s grown he falls in love with Amy.”
Joanna stared at him for a long moment, making him feel restless, and then said, “Then I think you would like Sense and Sensibility. I’m almost done. I’ll leave you my copy.”
Even though it was only a half mile, Adam was hot and sticky by the time they reached the three-story house that sat across the road and above the beach.
Mandy appeared to be even more overheated than he was.
Her face was bright red. But Joanna was fine, probably because she’d pulled a bottle of water out of her bag and sipped it the entire way.
Joanna passed the bottle to Mandy, but she declined to take it.
Adam punched the code into the keypad on the brick post next to the wrought iron security gate. Mandy walked through first, followed by Joanna. All three stopped in the driveway and took in the property.
Adam adored the house; it was his favorite of those he’d worked on so far. It had a large wraparound porch, massive palm trees on each side, and a courtyard with a swimming pool in the back.
“I’m the only one working today,” Adam said.
“But you’re not working.” Joanna gave him another sassy smile.
He liked this Joanna, but he still rolled his eyes, hoping to encourage her playfulness. “I’m on my lunch break.”
She tipped her head. “A rather long one.”
He shrugged, hoping it wasn’t obvious how much he was enjoying being with her.
Joanna asked, “What kind of work are you doing?”
“Clean up.” Adam pointed to the front door and started toward it. “I’ll give you a tour.”
Joanna linked her arm through Mandy’s, and they followed Adam across the driveway and up the steps to the porch.
Adam punched in another code as he explained the house had four bedrooms and three bathrooms and was over four thousand square feet.
“The front faces the Gulf and the back is on a canal.”
He led the way through the brick entryway and up the stairs to the large living area, which had windows that looked over both the ocean and the canal.
Drop cloths covered the floor, and ladders and paint buckets were scattered around the room.
He opened the sliding glass door onto the deck overlooking the back and motioned for Mandy to go through first. Then he followed Joanna.
She pointed to a sailboat headed toward the Gulf. “That looks like so much fun.” One of the people on the boat, a young woman wearing a sundress, waved. Joanna waved back with enthusiasm, while Mandy barely lifted her hand.
Adam continued the tour, going through the bedrooms on the main floor and then the massive kitchen with a huge stove, two refrigerators, and two dishwashers.
“What a great house to raise a family in,” Joanna said.
Mandy shook her head. “It’s way too fancy.”
“Jah,” Joanna said. “But it’s spacious and in such a beautiful setting.”
Adam laughed. “I think it’s more of a party house than a kids’ house.”
“Every house should be a kids’ house.” Joanna gave him an impish smile.
“I always like to imagine the family who will buy a property,” she said.
“And what kind of home they’ll make out of it.
” She stepped to the window above the sink that looked over the deck and the canal.
“Imagine working in this kitchen while your Kinder played on the deck.”
“Nee,” Mandy said. “What kind of life would this be for kids? No fields to run in? No animals to care for?”
Mandy had a point, but Adam appreciated Joanna thinking about children regardless of the setting. He always thought of the family who would occupy a house he worked on too. That’s what it was all about—creating a home. Joanna got that.
After he took them to the lower level, with another view of the canal, they walked outside into the courtyard and the pool area and then around the side of the house, where the driveway led to a three-car garage.
Joanna pointed to the dumpster. “So that’s your tool of the trade?”
“Jah.” He grinned. “Teamwork requires a variety of roles and implements.”
She nodded. “I’m just joking. I’m the team member who cleans the toilets in the rentals back home.”
Adam’s heart skipped a beat. If only he’d stayed in Lancaster County to work with Joanna. He’d been impulsive to leave the way he had because she’d hurt his feelings, and in the dark of night no less.
“Could we sit for a few minutes?” Mandy asked. “In fact, could I stay here? Joanna, would you ask Mammi and Dawdi to have the driver swing by and pick me up?”
With alarm in her voice, Joanna asked, “Are you all right?”
“Jah. Just overheated.”
Joanna held up her water bottle. “I’ll fill this for you.” Then she said to Mandy. “You’re probably dehydrated. We were on the beach for a quite a while, not to mention the walk.” Joanna turned to Adam. “We should go get Daniel and Elaine.”
“All right.” He opened the door back into the house as he said to Mandy, “You should sip the water and wait on the front porch. There’s more shade. I’ll give your grandparents the address.”
Adam set a fast pace on the way back to the beach, and Joanna met it stride for stride. “I hope Mandy’s okay.”
“You’re probably right about her being dehydrated,” Adam answered, even though he felt anxious about her too. “We see it here all the time, especially the first day or two. People have traveled for an entire day and then aren’t used to the warmer weather. It’s a bad combination.”
“Do you think I should have stayed with her?”
Adam shook his head, although he wasn’t certain. “She has water and shade. She should be okay. I’ll come right back—she won’t be alone for long. You can direct Elaine and Daniel’s driver to the house if needed.”
Joanna nodded and then said, “Denki for the tour. No surprise, but I’ve never seen anything like that house. It’s beautiful.” They talked about it for a few minutes and then Joanna asked teasingly, “Where do you live? In a house like that?”
He laughed. “I rent half a room in Pinecraft, in a two-bedroom cottage with three other guys.”
“How did you get to the beach?”
“I rode the bus, with my bike.”
“With your bike?”
“Jah. There’s a rack on the bus.”
Comically, Joanna glanced around at the multimillion-dollar houses on both sides and then up and down the road. “Where’s your bike now?”
“I locked it up by the restroom at the beach. It won’t take me long to get back to Mandy.”
Was Joanna increasing the pace? Adam adjusted his to keep up with her. “Want to go canoeing tonight on the creek?” he asked.
“What about Ruthie?” Joanna was marching now.
Adam quickly said, “She’s just a friend.”
Joanna increased her pace even more. Her voice grew louder. “You said men and women couldn’t be friends, except now, apparently, they can be?”
He started to jog to keep up. “Well, sure, if neither wants more of a relationship.”
“Ruthie doesn’t want to court you?”
His face grew even warmer. Ruthie did want to.
“Sounds like a double standard to me.” Joanna certainly didn’t hold back.
Adam was getting more and more out of breath. “She’s just a friend, I promise. Want to go canoeing?”
Joanna ignored his request but turned her head toward him. “Can I just be your friend?”
He shot her a wry smile. “What do you think?”
When she didn’t answer, he asked, “How about that canoe ride?”
She looked straight ahead again. “Not if we can’t be friends. Besides I’m courting someone back home.”
Adam’s breath hitched. “Jacob?”
“Jah.”
“For how long?” Adam heard the unmistakable quaver in his own voice.
Joanna tilted her head as she said, “A while.”
Adam felt a pang of jealousy. It sounded as if Joanna had started going out with him right after they first met. Right after she’d told Adam she wouldn’t court him without being his friend first.
Adam turned sideways in the street and sidestepped as he asked, “Is Jacob your friend?”
“Jah.”
“How long have you two known each other?”
“Eight months.”
Still sidestepping, he asked, “So the same amount of time as me?”
“No. I’ve known you for five days in Pennsylvania, and now two days here. Eight months versus seven days.”
He laughed and then stumbled. As he caught himself and faced forward again he asked, “Are you always so literal?”
She increased her speed even more. “Jah. Literal—and serious.”
He laughed again. “I take it you’re the in-control sister as opposed to the impulsive one in the book you’re reading. It seems you always have a plan.”
She grinned. “You’re a fast learner.”
He couldn’t help but smile at her response, although he wished she’d known him—instead of Jacob—for eight months. But he wouldn’t say that.
Sirens wailed, growing louder. Both an ambulance and a fire truck came toward them, and they quickly stepped to the edge of the road.
“Oh no.” Joanna put her hands over her ears. “What if it’s Mandy?”
“We’re almost to the beach,” Adam said as the emergency vehicles passed by.
“I’ll get my bike and ride back to the house.
” Joanna began to run. She was faster than Adam would have thought possible.
He took off after her. “There’s a phone booth by the restrooms,” he called out.
“Get Daniel to call for their ride.” He rattled off the address.
When they reached the restrooms, Joanna waved and veered off toward the beach.
Adam reached Mandy a few minutes later. She was fine.
The ambulance and fire truck were parked a block down the road.
Adam felt embarrassed that he’d reacted with fear to the sirens.
Thinking it through, he was surprised Joanna had reacted the same way.
She seemed so calm and collected, as if she’d be good in an emergency. But the sirens had scared her too.
Joanna reached the house before Daniel and Elaine. Adam was shocked to see her, until he realized she’d run back. “Are you all right, Mandy?” she asked, gasping for air, as she reached the porch.
“I’m fine. Just embarrassed,” Mandy said from the corner. “I’m not used to the heat.”
When Daniel and Elaine arrived, Joanna, her voice low, asked Adam, “Does the canoe come with life jackets?”
“Jah.” Adam tilted his head toward her.
“Oh gut. I changed my mind.”