“I guess this one won’t make it to any of our customers.” She glanced at Matthias. “Would you like it?”
The grin came back. “Are you sure?”
She laughed. “I certainly don’t need to eat any more cookies.” She tugged at the apron that always seemed to get twisted, but Matthias didn’t seem to notice. He had taken a bite of the soft sugar cookie and was chewing it with his eyes closed.
“Delicious. Just like the ones Grossmutti made when I was a boy.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
He finished the cookie and leaned over to look into the display case again. Besides the sugar cookies, there were chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal raisin, as well as chocolate cupcakes decorated with orange and red frosting leaves.
“You must have folks who stop by here just for the baked goods.”
Ada nodded, her face growing warm from his praise. “The tourists pass the word on to their friends. And plenty of the local folks stop by, too. I have several orders for pies for Thanksgiving this Thursday.”
Matthias glanced at the clocks as one wheezed, getting ready to strike eight o’clock.
“I had better get to work. It’s almost time, and I don’t want to be late on my first day.”
“There’s a door to the workshop back there.” Ada pointed past the clocks to a hallway. “You can go that way.”
As Matthias disappeared down the hall, Rose came into the shop from the showroom. Most of the furniture was displayed in the large building attached to the shop.
“Who was that?” Rose hung the feather duster next to the cash register and flipped the light switch. The lights on the cash register display blinked as the power turned on.
“Dat’s new employee in the workshop, Matthias Yoder. He opened the door for me when you were nowhere to be seen.”
“I was dusting. But if you needed help, why didn’t you come in the back way?”
Ada shrugged. “I always come in this way.”
Rose straightened a Christmas ornament on the display. “You just want to be able to watch Amos come to work.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Ada checked the supply of bakery bags and dry-wax tissues to handle the baked goods.
“If you came in through the workshop, perhaps you would actually be able to talk to him.”
Her face burned at the thought. “That would be too forward. I could never do that.”
“You’ll never get his attention sitting in the store all day.”
Ada scooped some ice melt from the container under the cash register and opened the front door. Rose was right. But how did a girl make a boy pay attention to her? She watched the white crystals bounce on the ice, making sure she scattered them evenly. She would never be as bold as some of the girls. Some of them would actually drive their pony carts past a boy’s home in the summer, hoping to attract his attention. She scattered the last of the ice melt and went back inside.
“How did you get Johnny to notice you?” she asked as she replaced the scoop.
Her sister shrugged as she leafed through the receipts from yesterday’s business. “He just came over to talk to me at the Singing one night.”
Ada leaned on the bakery case, her chin in her hand. Rose was pretty, and her dresses were never too tight. She never slipped on the ice, or spilled her drink at McDonald’s, or even said something she wished she could take back. No wonder Johnny had snatched her up as soon as he saw her. They had been going steady for nearly six months now, and Ada was sure they would be getting married next fall. Then Ada would be the only one of the four sisters still left at home.
She sighed. The way things looked, she would always be the sister living at home.
When Matthias reached the house he shared with Mamm on the north side of Shipshewana, he coasted into the driveway on his bicycle, his chin buried in his coat collar. Leroy’s other employees, Amos and Vernon, had both said they would be driving their buggies tomorrow. Snow was in the forecast, and it was time to put the bicycles away for the year. But Matthias would have to continue to rely on his.
He opened the door to the small barn and wheeled the bicycle in. The cow had already come in from the pasture, and Matthias didn’t blame her. It was cold out there this evening. He worked his stiff fingers to get some feeling back into them, then poured some feed into the cow’s manger.
The cow was older, but still a good milker. His brother-in-law Simon had loaned her to Mamm when he bought this place for her last week. Simon’s family had a dairy farm, a big sprawling place down near Millersburg. When he had married Sally, Matthias’s oldest sister, twelve years ago, Dat had been happy that she would always be well provided for. Matthias’s other sisters, Marian and Elizabeth, had also married well.
A year after Elizabeth’s wedding, Dat had decided to move to Wisconsin in search of more opportunities for Matthias.
Matthias stripped the last drops of milk from the cow’s udder, pushing away the regrets. Thinking of the what-ifs was Mamm’s favorite pastime, but he was determined not to fall into that same rut. He had a good job now, and things would slowly improve. Although Mamm had already stated that they wouldn’t be buying another horse and buggy. Not after what had happened in Wisconsin.
The kitchen window shone with a welcome glow as Matthias fastened the barn door and headed toward the house with the pail of fresh milk. Clouds filled the sky, blocking the after-sunset glow, and flakes of snow danced in a gust of wind—big clumping flakes that clung to the tree branches. Matthias opened the kitchen door.
Mamm stood at the stove, stirring green beans in a
