“I can’t imagine the two of you having anything in common.” Veronica twisted her hair into a knot on the top of her head,then picked up a clip from the table beside her and secured the long tresses.
“You’d be surprised.” Memories of the movie, popcorn, and lemonade rose to the surface of his mind.
“Well, well . . .” Veronica’s mouth twitched with amusement. “I think you have a crush on this girl.”
He laughed. “A crush? Isn’t that some eighties word? I said she’s interesting.”
“That’s how it starts.” She picked up her drink and chugged the last of it. “Although, to fit into your world she’d have toditch those frumpy clothes and the horse and buggy.”
“She’d never fit into our world.” Jayce couldn’t tell Veronica how much he longed for the lifestyle Evelyn lived. “Besides,I don’t even know her. Not really.”
Then why did it feel like he’d known her a lot longer than a few days?
Veronica lifted herself from the couch and strolled straight to the vodka bottle on the kitchen counter. She was unscrewingthe lid but paused to look out the window. “Hey, I think your girl is back.”
Jayce peered out the window.
“Is that her in that buggy pulling in?”
He waited a few seconds to be sure. “Yeah, that’s her.”
Veronica grinned before walking back to her glass. “Better go see what she wants.”
Jayce had no idea. She’d been rather cold when she dropped him off. Maybe she was here to see Lizzie or Esther.
Only one way to find out.
“Yeah, I guess so.” He scratched his cheek as he walked to the door, but before he opened it, he turned to Veronica. “Hey. Don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with on Monday—during the dive. They can get someone else to do it.”
She shrugged but didn’t look at him as she filled the glass with vodka. “It’ll be fine,” she said as she added a splash ofcranberry juice.
“Okay.” Jayce stared at her for a minute, but she didn’t look up. “I’ll see you around tomorrow, or for sure on Monday.”
He left the motor home and strode to Evelyn’s buggy. She was just sitting there, making no attempt to get out.
When he got to the buggy, he took in her olive skin, her high cheekbones, and the way her green eyes twinkled. She was gorgeousin all the ways Veronica wasn’t. It was a weird comparison, but Jayce had seen Veronica without makeup. This girl didn’t havea smidgen of anything on her face. She was just naturally radiant.
“You here to see me?” He felt a flutter in his stomach.
“Ya, as a matter of fact I am.” She reached down and lifted Jayce’s sunglasses from the seat beside her, then pushed them towardhim. “You left these. I didn’t know if you had another pair.”
He had several, but he took the sunglasses. “Thanks.” Pausing, she sat with a curious expression on her face. “You wanna comein?” He nodded over his shoulder at the inn. “Although, my dad and his group are having a meeting in there that you mightfind offensive. Their language isn’t always the best.”
She shook her head. “Nee, I’m not staying. But I am offended about something.”
Her eyes changed color right before him, slowly losing the twinkle and darkening as her lips thinned. Jayce wasn’t good at reading women, but there was no mistaking Evelyn’s expression. She was mad.
“Uh-oh,” he said, cringing. “What did I do?”
She raised her chin slightly, but her bottom lip trembled. “I-I feel like you judged me. And you don’t know me well enoughto judge me.”
He stuffed his hands in his pockets, his emotions flitting about in an unusual way. “That’s funny, because I felt like youwere judging me.”
“I wasn’t judging you.” Her lip stopped trembling, but her eyes retained their green color, void of twinkle. “Only Gott can judge us.”
“I think we both agree on that.” He rocked back and forth in his flip-flops, hands still in his pockets. “I think we’re botheredabout the same thing. I know you got me thinking about things. Sometimes a healthy debate or conversation can be good.”
Her eyes softened a little. Jayce waited for a response.
* * *
Evelyn recalled what her mother had said in the kitchen. Jayce was proposing the exact thing her mother said to avoid—moreconversation about God and relationships. Now that she was confronting Jayce, going as far as to say he had offended her,she couldn’t find the words to back up her statement.
“Look . . .” He ran a hand through his gorgeous long hair. “The last thing I want to do is offend you or hurt your feelings.”
“Jayce! We need you in here.”
They turned toward the porch.
“Be there in a minute.” Jayce held up a finger, then turned back to Evelyn. “I have to go.”
“That’s fine. I said all I came to say”—she nodded to the sunglasses he’d tucked into the collar of his T-shirt—“and to bringyour shades.”
“No. It’s not fine. I want to talk about this some more.” He spoke with such a sense of urgency, it touched her. “I know tomorrowis church for you, and I have to work on Monday. Can we talk Monday night?”
Everything logical in Evelyn’s mind told her to say no. “Okay.”
Jayce’s eyes brimmed with eagerness, and Evelyn knew she was in dangerous territory.
He nodded past the inn. “There’s a pond down there. Watch the sunset?”
It sounded too romantic to pass up, and the fact that she’d thought about romance should have prodded her to say no.
But again she said, “Okay.”
Ten
Monday morning brought a flurry of activity to The Peony Inn, and Esther hoped a nap would come early for her and Lizzie.Not only were Mr. Clarkson, Jayce, Hal, Jesse, and Giovanni present for breakfast, but other members of their group came inand out. Each time Esther went into the dining room, platters and bowls were empty. Some
