“So . . .” And what else was there to talk about again?
“Isn’t it exciting about Mallory’s baby?”
He was happy for a change of subject, but not that subject. He grunted. “I guess.”
She yawned and closed her eyes, sinking lower in her chair. “Agatha is beside herself to become a grandma.”
“Well, I’m excited, too.”
She opened one eye and peeked at him. “You are?”
“About Memorial Day weekend.”
The eye shut again, and she blew out a breath through pursed lips. “Oh.” Her tone was guarded. “Have you talked to the kids lately?”
“I left another message on Evi’s phone a couple days ago.” He covered one hand with the other and squeezed to crack his knuckles. “She hasn’t called back.”
“I’m sure she will.”
“She acts like . . . like . . .”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know.” He set his hands back on the arms of his chair in frustration. “Like nothing’s changed.”
Hannie was silent for a minute, and he stared down the hill at the activity going on at the farm below. Of course things had changed. Everything had changed. The fact that he was sitting here with Hannie watching his old life hum along without him was proof enough of that, wasn’t it?
“It’s great that you’ve been spending time with those other kids.” Hannie proceeded slowly, with caution. “And that you’ve been helping out around the house and everything. But none of those things change the issues between you and Evi.”
He thought back to the strange look Hannie had given him when Rae had talked about Community Hope. He’d brushed it off at the time, unsure of what it meant. Now, though, he pulled it back out and examined it. Had Hannie been thinking about Evi?
“How is anything supposed to change if she won’t talk to me?”
Hannie opened her eyes and sat up. Wisps of her hair fluttered in the evening breeze. “I’ll talk to her about coming.” She gave him a half smile. “As you have already seen today, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve for dealing with young ladies.”
He smiled back. “You came along just in time. I was going to leave her crying in the barn.”
“No you weren’t.” Her voice was tender. “You’re getting soft in your old age.”
Her tone, her teasing, the soft, rosy glow of her skin all pulled at him, capturing him. He lifted his hand and moved it slowly, warily, to cover the distance between their chairs. It came to rest on hers, her warm, silky skin like fresh cream skimmed off the top of an unstirred milk tank.
She sank back in her chair again. Closed her eyes once more. And didn’t pull away.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
Kylee crumpled a Snickers wrapper and threw it at Rae’s face. “Why do you keep looking over there?”
Rae jerked her head back toward the lunch table, heat rushing to her face.
Kylee turned around and made a show of scanning the room. “Who are you staring at?”
Rae sucked in her lips and stared at her turkey sandwich. It hadn’t been David she’d been watching. She hadn’t talked to him in over a week, except for an awkward hi or two in passing. No, she’d had her eye on Morgan. He was an enigma she couldn’t help but ponder.
“I was just thinking.”
Kylee smirked. “Okay, sure.”
Rae snuck one more glance at the boy with the black hair. She’d tried talking with him at Community Hope, but he never said more than two words at once. Whenever she said hi to him in the hall, he acted like he didn’t hear her. What had she done that made him treat her as if she had the plague? And why was he in the program if he didn’t have bad grades?
“Are you daydreaming about David?” Kylee wiped the crumbs clinging to her fingers on the sleeve of her coat. “Why won’t you talk to him?”
Rae cringed. “I can’t.”
“He’s not going to bite.”
“He hates me now.”
“Oh, please.” Kylee waved her words away. “He still gives you puppy-dog eyes when you’re not looking. You’re killing the poor kid.”
Rae frowned. She didn’t want David to suffer. He was cute and nice and a good friend. He’d been doing his best to be a good sport and act like everything was fine between them. But she knew it wasn’t. She’d hurt him. Wouldn’t her talking with him make things worse? After dinner the other night, Gerrit’s wife had said she might have to give David some space.
“It’s a dumb rule, anyway,” Kylee continued. “I had my first boyfriend when I was ten.”
It wasn’t so much the no-dating rule that was the problem. It was how she let David believe she didn’t want to go out with him whether there was a rule or not. But after feeling like her insides were turning into a black hole every time she looked at him for the past week, she was pretty sure she did want to. Mrs. Laninga had said relationships require a lot of work, and she’d have to decide if David was worth it.
When she pictured his face, she was sure he was. But when she pictured what Mom’s face would look like if she told her about him . . . her certainty wavered.
Stick to The Plan. Stick to The Plan.
“Even if I asked my parents to make an exception, it’s too late.” Her shoulders slumped. “He’s not going to ask me again.”
Kylee crossed her arms. “Then you ask him.”
“But my parents—”
“Your parents don’t need to know. Tell them you’re going to my house.”
“I’m not going to lie to them.”
“Oh, like you’re”—she made air quotes with her fingers—“not lying to them about failing Driver’s Ed.?”
She hadn’t technically failed. Yet. After only missing the pass mark by two points last week, Mr. Fletcher was willing to give her one more chance at her final drive tomorrow. “I haven’t told them yet. It’s not a lie.”
“Fine.” Kylee crossed her arms. “Then just be miserable. But don’t come crying to me when David starts liking someone else. I wouldn’t turn him down.”
Rae sat back like she’d been
