“Sure.” Amos shrugged and pushed another cookie into his mouth. He glanced at the clock as he stood up, putting a fourth cookie into his work apron pocket. “Got to get to work.”
“I’ll leave the rest here on the table,” Ada said as Amos and Vernon walked toward their workbenches. “You can have more later.”
Matthias took a cookie from the plate as Ada’s voice faded. She stared after Amos and Vernon, but they paid no attention to her.
“It was nice of you to bring the cookies.” Matthias bit into the treat, the sugary outside giving way to the tender molasses cookie. “This is delicious. I think I like this one better than the sugar cookie I had before.”
The corners of her mouth quivered a little as she rubbed her palms on her apron. “They’re only molasses cookies.” Her long dark eyelashes glistened as they brushed her cheeks. “Nothing special.” She walked back to the door that led to the store, her shoulders rounded.
Matthias watched her through the door’s window until she disappeared into the furniture store. After growing up with three sisters, he knew girls could be moody sometimes, but he didn’t remember Ada ever being upset about anything. Even during math, if she had made a mistake on a problem she was working on the chalkboard, she would only laugh it off and try again. He took a second cookie, then made his way to his workbench just as Leroy came into the shop.
The older man clapped his hand on Matthias’s shoulder. “How are things going, Matthias? You seem to be settling into the job.”
“Jah, for sure.” Matthias turned to Leroy. “I appreciate you giving me this opportunity to work.”
“You’re a skilled wood-crafter, just like your father was. I have a proposition for you.” He led the way to a different workstation where the bench was filled with carving tools. “Many of our customers like special touches on their furniture. Things like this.”
Leroy handed a table leg to Matthias. It was made of oak with dark mahogany inlaid in a narrow band that followed the grain of the oak from the foot to the top, where the leg would be fastened to the table. Matthias couldn’t resist running his finger along the dark stripe. The inlay was flawless. The mahogany and the oak were wedded together as if they had grown that way.
“This is beautiful.” He handed the leg back to Leroy. “Who crafted this?”
“Your father.” Leroy stroked the smooth wood. “He did this one as a sample, and we had many orders based on it. But after your family moved to Wisconsin, I had to take it off the sales floor. I couldn’t find anyone else who was interested in trying to duplicate it.”
Matthias glanced across the workshop. Amos and Vernon had turned on their power saws and were cutting lengths of wood to the specified sizes for the furniture, just as Matthias had spent the last week doing. His hands ached to do finer work. Hand work. “I would like to try, if that’s all right.”
Leroy chuckled. “That’s what I hoped you would say.” He gestured toward the tools on the bench. “Try it out. See what you can do.”
“I can’t promise I’ll finish anything today.”
“I don’t expect you to. This is an experiment. If you can do it and like it, we’ll both be happy. If not, you can always join Amos and Vernon again.”
Nodding his thanks as Leroy went to his office, he turned to the workbench and picked up a chisel. The wooden handle was smooth to his touch, worn by hours of use. His Dat had used and loved these tools and had crafted beautiful furniture with them. Matthias had learned to appreciate woodcarving from him and spent every spare minute with his knife and a block of wood in his hands. His heart thudded as he examined the table leg. Could he hope to duplicate Dat’s skill?
He rummaged through the scrap bin until he found what he was looking for, a nice piece of oak and a sliver of mahogany. Taking it back to the workbench, he spent the rest of the morning experimenting with the tools, seeking the best way to work with the wood to make it yield to the vision he had in his mind.
The time passed unnoticed until Amos and Vernon turned off their power saws, signaling that it was noon and time for lunch. His stomach growled, reminding him that it had been hours since he had eaten Ada’s cookies, and he reluctantly left his work. He rolled his shoulders as he walked to the table in the corner of the building with his lunch box. After the break, he would have to remember to sit on the stool Leroy had provided for him.
Amos and Vernon sat at the table already, their lunches laid on the table, the last of the molasses cookies in Amos’s hand.
“Those cookies were pretty good,” Vernon said. He unwrapped his sandwich.
“Better than any you could make.” Amos popped the last of the cookie in his mouth and unwrapped his sandwich. “You should think of giving up the bachelor life, Vernon. Marry a girl like Ada and you’d be eating well for the rest of your life.”
Vernon blushed, glancing at the door. Leroy’s office was empty, and Matthias figured the boss had gone to his house across the driveway for his dinner.
“Ada’s too young for me. You know that.” Vernon took a bite of his sandwich. “Besides”—he spoke around his mouthful of bread and peanut butter—“I’m too old to get married.”
Matthias took his sandwich from its wax-paper wrapping. Turkey and mayonnaise on white bread. He took a bite as he listened to Amos and Vernon.
“What about you?” Vernon asked, giving Amos a soft punch on his shoulder. “You should marry Ada.”
Amos shook his head. “No way,” he said, using the Englisch phrase. “I don’t want to be saddled with a tub like
