Chapter 6
Adam didn’t see Joanna again during her time in Pinecraft even though he looked for her every day at both the beach and the park. He saw Elaine once and Daniel a couple of times. He didn’t have enough courage to ask where Joanna was. He knew how much Elaine gossiped.
The truth was, Adam found Joanna as appealing—more so, even—as he had eight months ago. She was more confident. More talkative. And more fun. The one day, well, most of the day, that he’d spent with her while she was in Pinecraft had been his favorite day since Emily and Noah’s wedding.
Over and over, he kept thinking about their canoe trip on the creek and their plunge into the water. And their time in his cottage. Why had Ruthie shown up? It didn’t matter. Joanna was courting Jacob Byer. They’d probably be married by the next time he visited Lancaster County.
A couple of weeks later when he went into the ice cream shop, the server grinned and said, “You’re Adam Slaybaugh, right?”
“Jah,” he answered.
“I have something for you.” He reached under the counter and pulled out a brown package. Adam quickly opened it. Sense and Sensibility. There was no note, not even a short one. But obviously, Joanna had left it. “Denki,” he said to the server, tucking it under his arm.
As he finished the novel, he felt gutted by the happily-ever-after ending. No other girl he knew compared to Joanna. He was tempted to write a thank-you note to her but decided not to. The less he thought about Joanna Grebel the better.