Something Old (26 page)

The sedan’s driver door opened, and David jumped out, tall and perfect as ever. He saw her at once and started toward her car. Tucking the inside of her cheek gently into her bite, she turned off the ignition and stepped outside to face him. “Thanks for the valentine.”

He nodded as if it embarrassed him and that he was sorry he’d left it. “Just home from work?”

“No. Church. Going over some stuff with Jake.” She carefully watched his reaction, wanting to let him down easy, knowing that was impossible. Once she attended the basketball game, news of her date with Jake would be all over church. Better to tell David in person. “We’re dating.”

There was an awkward silence. David tilted his head. “Guess his valentine was bigger than mine?”

She gave him a contrite smile. “Older.”

His eyes narrowed, and his mouth contorted into an uncharacteristic scowl. “So you’re going to give the jerk another chance?”

“I think he’s changed.”

He crossed his arms and glanced at the doddy house, his expression softening. “And you’re not going to invite me in for popcorn?”

“Maybe sometime when Lil’s home.” She hoped they could remain friends, especially since he was often visiting at Ivan’s, but that depended upon him.

Resignation dimmed his eyes. Then they took on a hateful glint. “Think I’ll pass on that offer. Popcorn’s irritating, the way it gets stuck in your teeth, you know? Don’t know what I ever saw in popcorn in the first place. Not when desserts are so plentiful. Think what I want is something real sweet, creamy, and rich. Something that melts in my mouth.” He turned abruptly and strode toward his brother’s house, leaving her face to turn hot as a stove’s burner.

J
ake’s feet left the ground, his body made a smooth arc as he soared upward, and then his arms suddenly smashed down, slamming the orange ball through the hoop. Some pigeons fluttered in the barn rafters, and Katy shot to her feet with a squeal, clapping just as she had for his previous four baskets.

As the players ran to the opposite end of the court, she settled back onto the bale of hay she shared with a slim blond girl named Mandy, who was Chad Penner’s girlfriend.

“He’s good,” Mandy commented, following Jake with her gaze. A twinge of pride warmed Katy. She glanced sideways. Mandy’s eyes followed Jake up and down the court. Or was she watching Chad, who was guarding him?

Jake and Chad had been best of friends yet always challenging each other. Naturally, Jake was a showstopper with his love to perform. Most likely, the show was part of his scheme to woo Katy, but he was also attracting the attention of all the other females inside the barn.

She hated the jealousy that erupted inside her, that desire to possess and control him, even quell him. She’d first felt it when he’d started falling away. She hadn’t been able to keep him then, so the familiar grinding in the pit of her stomach also carried a foreboding.

She should flee before he hurt her again. Only she had no place to go since Jake claimed he was here to stay, winning back the community. That made her a part of the spectacle, with everyone waiting to see if she would take him back, too. When Jake winked a roguish blackened eye at her, Katy wished she hadn’t allowed their fragile beginnings of a relationship to go public.

Mandy caught the flirtatious gesture. “Glad to see you two back together.”

“Excuse me?”

“You belong together.”

Thoughts shot through Katy’s mind:
If he dumps me it will be even more humiliating this time. If I lose him, the pain will be even worse than it was before. What am I doing here?
With the realization that she was a long way from trusting Jake again, she shrugged, “We’ll see.”

Everyone inside the barn was paired off, and some were even engaged to be married. Most of the girls were older than Katy and had never been as close to her as Lil and Megan, yet they were more than casual acquaintances. There were few strangers and even fewer secrets within the farming community of Plain City, Ohio, especially for those worshipping together in Katy’s small Conservative congregation.

Her hands involuntarily worked tiny bits of prickly chaff from the bale of straw as she watched the guys pound the floor and dart from one end of the barn court to the other. The basketball bounced and flung at various levels of skill. A calico cat suddenly sprang onto her bale and looked at her as if the act surprised the creature, too. Katy rubbed its head, and it tentatively climbed onto her lap.

She wasn’t fond of cat hair, and this one had a thick, partly matted coat, but the creature’s need drew her and provided a pleasant distraction from the true object of her heart. She quietly stroked the cat’s head, and when she eased off, he nudged her hand. Maybe she needed a cat at the doddy house. Lil adored animals, had always taken in strays at the farm. Vernon Yoder hadn’t allowed cats at their place because their hair was a nuisance in the woodworking shop, hard to remove from a wet, stained surface.

“What happened to Jake’s eye?”

Katy had arrived at the game after it had started and hadn’t talked to Jake alone yet. She shrugged, “Probably a construction accident.”

Jake commanded her attention with a flamboyant dunk. When he landed, the women heard a loud ripping sound. Katy’s hand flew to her mouth in amusement, sure he was in trouble. He made the timeout sign with his hands and backed over to the far side of the barn. When he entered the court again, he had a shirt tied around his waist.

With a giggle, Mandy said, “Serves him right.”

“I know.” So Mandy had noticed that he wore his pants too tight. Unexpectedly, her jealousy swung to its opposite extreme, where she no longer wanted to flee but wanted to stake her claim before somebody else did. As David had implied, there were plenty of available girls willing to be sweet. But Katy wasn’t playing a game, at least that had never been her intention.

The cat leapt down and rubbed its matted fur along the bales. She watched it go and brushed hair off her skirt, realizing the little creature had used her for warmth and affection and moved on.

Later at the bonfire, Katy watched Jake poke a roasting stick into the crackling flames. Their shoulders touching, she asked, “What happened to your eye?”

“Pillow fight.”

She grinned. A fleeting picture of the church construction site, however, brought several real possibilities to her mind. Softly, she said, “Now that I’ve decided to tolerate you, I want you to take care of yourself.”

His eyes caressed her. “I like that.”

She dropped her gaze, then noticed the fire lapping at the hot dogs and pushed his arm. “Look out.”

He jerked the stick from the fire and stared at the charred meat. “Guess these are ready. Let’s go fix them.” She followed him back inside the barn to a long, metal folding table laid out with buns, hot dog relishes, and paper products. As they fixed their plates, he said, “Hey, about that nanny job you lost? I found another job for you. If you’re interested. It’s one that might help us both.”

Turning back toward the barn door, she replied, “No. I’m not cleaning your room.”

He followed her with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t want you to. And I’m not joking. It’s a real job.”

“Oh yeah? What is it?”

They sat on a bale to eat their dinner. “With my gram’s Alzheimer’s, she can’t be left alone anymore. My mom just needs a break. Would you be interesting in sitting with her sometimes? For pay, of course.”

“I’d be happy to help for free. I can organize some others to help, too. I’m sorry the church hasn’t recognized the need before now.”

“That would be too confusing for Gram. Mom mentioned hiring someone. I don’t think she’d feel free to go out, otherwise. I’m sure she can find someone else, if you don’t want to do it.”

It would be good to work for someone within the church; that was what she’d been hoping for. This wasn’t a housekeeping offer, but maybe it was God’s provision until she found another job. She didn’t miss the irony of moving from babysitting kids to babysitting grandmas. “Why don’t I give it a try and see how it goes?”

“Great. I know Mom won’t have any qualms about leaving Gram with you.”

“I’ve always liked your grandmother. She was one of my favorite Sunday school teachers. Such a great storyteller, and she had so much energy, keeping the boys in line.” Katy watched the cat return and rub against Jake’s jeans. “Will she know me?”

“Probably not. But sometimes she remembers more than other times. We can’t figure out why. The good thing is, she’s usually happy.”

“I’m sorry she has the disease.”

He shrugged, obviously unable to express his grief. He dropped the mewing creature bits of his hot dog, and it ate greedily. “Are you getting a phone soon?”

The question startled her, and she worked it out in her mind as she spoke. “Lil doesn’t need one with her cell phone, so I’d probably have to pay for it. As you know, we didn’t put in a phone line.”

“I meant a cell phone.”

Instantly, Katy’s spirit rose up in resistance against the unnecessary technology. “I don’t think so.”

“It might come in handy with work. Or for emergencies.”

She nibbled at her lip, her mind conjuring up possible emergencies. “We’ll see.” Then she thought of the perfect solution. “You can always call the Millers if you can’t get a hold of me through Lil.”

His expression was clearly frustrated, yet he didn’t argue.

Katy’s hands grew sweaty. It was the third week into the relationship and marriage sermons, and Brother Troyer had finally broached the topic of the prayer covering. He now directed them to open their Bibles to 1 Corinthians 11:3–16. Only the sound of ruffling pages broke the awesome silence pervading the sanctuary. The pages of Katy’s Bible wanted to stick, but she finally found the passage where the apostle Paul clearly stated that a man should worship with his head uncovered and a woman with her head covered.

As Katy followed along, she realized the passage was not as clear as she had remembered it. The verses contained riddle-like prose, and to her great dissatisfaction, the preacher zeroed in on its most troubling portions. Was a woman’s hair her covering? Next he touched on what the bonnet symbolized. Even at that point, he had more than one opinion. By the time she rose for the benediction, she felt angry that he hadn’t given the congregation clear direction. Instead he had debated the meaning of the passage, playing both advocate and challenger, and had left the matter open-ended. His parting remark admonished them to consider and pray over God’s intention. She thought a preacher was supposed to shepherd his flock. Surely the sheep didn’t know where to go on their own.

With frustration, she moved into the foyer where another kind of confusion took precedence. Folks were fumbling with babies and umbrellas. Some women waited while their men hunkered down and made a run through the downpour to bring their cars around. Katy’s focus on the sermon had been so intense she hadn’t even realized it had started raining. She gazed out and sighed. Her umbrella was useless from its location on the rear floorboards of her car.

Just as she was mustering up the courage to make a dash for her car and comforting herself with visions of Lil’s bean soup simmering back at the doddy house, the back of a young man’s perfectly combed brown hair caught her attention. A tincture of mixed emotions drew her to a halt. She froze.

She had hoped to put off her first meeting with David since his humiliating set down, but the tiny room was too crowded for her to shrink back. She watched him determinedly weave through the foyer toward the door. When a family blocked his path, he glanced up and around. When his unfortunate gaze met Katy’s, he flinched. Quite abruptly, he turned and shot through the first opening that led him out into the storm.

Katy gave a gasp. His brief shunning didn’t trouble her as much as what she had just glimpsed. David’s face was no longer perfect. Battered, with swollen lips, his face bore an ugly bruise on his cheek where his dimple normally played. With a sinking heart, she knew it was no coincidence that both her pursuers sported facial contusions. Why hadn’t Jake told her the truth about his black eye? Mennonites didn’t fight or brawl.

Already emotional over the sermon, this new revelation fed her churning stomach. Jake hadn’t been at church so she couldn’t question him. She had seen Ann Byler, so most likely his grandmother was having an off day and he’d stayed home with her.

Sucking in her lower lip, she nodded thanks to a considerate door tender and sprinted for her car. The rain streamed down her face in blinding torrents. The storm pelted her covering. The wind tore it loose. Her hand flew up to catch it. Rain drenched her hair, but she hardly cared. Emotionally, she was drowning. From her first job with the outsiders, she’d started sinking. In every direction, waves swelled. Wind clawed. Decisions loomed. Everyone tossed life preservers at her, but she didn’t know which one to grab. If she chose wrong, she was going to drown.

S
ome smart person started the saying that time heals. Or was that in the Bible some place? Katy didn’t know, but she supposed it was true because even an hour had done wonders for her emotional state. So had the heat that flowed through the doddy house, carrying with it the welcoming aroma of Lil’s hearty bean soup. Dry clothing and a securely pinned covering also contributed to a better perspective.