He grinned. “Exactly what I told her. She doesn’t seem to be persuaded.”
“Maybe I’d better leave before she gets in here,” she said, hurriedly spooning the eggs onto a platter and grabbing the toast from the oven. “Everything’s ready. You two can just help yourselves. Tell Maisey I’ll stop by later.”
Richard caught her arm when she would have spun toward the door. “Oh, no, you don’t. You’re not leaving me alone to explain what I did to run you off.”
“But we can’t let her go on thinking that something will happen between us. Just imagine how disappointed she’ll be if we let her get her hopes up.”
“Then we can just sit here over a nice breakfast and explain to her perfectly sensibly that we are wrong for each other. That ought to clear it up so there will be no misunderstandings down the line.”
To Anna Louise’s deep regret, his matter-of-fact approach to the problem irritated the daylights out of her. Of course, he was right. They had nothing in common. They had no future. But he didn’t have to sound so darned pleased about it.
“Well,” he prodded, “isn’t that the best way to handle it?”
“I suppose.”
He gave a little nod of obvious satisfaction. “Good, we’re agreed. You can tell her.”
Anna Louise regarded him indignantly. “Me? She’s your grandmother. Besides, it was your idea. Why do I have to tell her?”
“Because she’ll listen to you. After all, would a preacher lie?”
Not if she could help it, Anna Louise thought grumpily. She might, however, slug a man, given enough provocation. Richard Walton was unwittingly providing almost enough. In fact, she found his certainty over their unsuitability downright insulting. She could hardly tell him that, though.
“We’ll both explain,” she finally compromised. “I’ll tell her why I could never be interested in a cynical, impossible man like you and you can fill her in on why you object to me.”
His gaze narrowed. “Impossible?”
“That’s one of the kinder things I can think of to describe you,” she shot back, satisfied by the dull red flush in his cheeks. Good, he was almost as irritated as she was.
“You know you’re playing with fire, don’t you?” he said, his voice suddenly low and entirely too calm.
Anna Louise’s stomach flipped over. Still, she kept her gaze even with his. “Am I?”
He took a step closer. Her pulse skittered wildly. He reached toward her. But before his fingers could make contact with her cheek, he lowered his hand and backed away as if he’d sensed the white-hot heat of a flame. Anna Louise’s heart pounded so hard she could hear the rush of blood. Then, when she realized there would be no more, the dull ache of disappointment settled in.
“Blast,” he muttered under his breath. When he looked at her again, his expression was shaken. “I’ll be painting the barn, if Maisey needs me.”
“Coward,” she said to his retreating back.
He turned and shot her a rueful look. “You’d better be glad I am, Pastor Perkins.”
The screen door slammed shut behind him.
“Well, phooey,” Anna Louise said to his back, wishing she could give voice to a more emphatic reply. The man only called her Pastor Perkins when he was trying to point out the differences between them. Whether it was for her benefit or his, she wasn’t quite sure.
For reasons she didn’t care to examine too closely, she wasn’t one bit delighted to discover that Richard Walton had the willpower to resist her. She regretted more than she could say that his hand hadn’t quite caressed her cheek, that he hadn’t dared a single kiss.
Knowing that, she had to wonder exactly which one of them was the bigger fool.
CHAPTER SIX
Anna Louise’s mood was thoughtful as she drove home from Maisey’s. As it had turned out, Richard’s grandmother hadn’t asked for any explanations about his absence from the breakfast table and Anna Louise hadn’t offered any. Now that she thought about it, Maisey had actually seemed downright upbeat when she’d discovered that her grandson had taken off. Maybe she’d figured her scheming was paying off, if it had Richard on the run.
Fortunately, Anna Louise didn’t have a lot of time to worry about it. Luke Hall’s oldest boy, Jeremy, and his girlfriend were coming in to talk about wedding plans. It was going to take every last bit of Anna Louise’s persuasive skills to convince them they were too young to even consider getting married.
As she drove up to the church, she found Jeremy already pacing on the front lawn. Tall and gangly, his blond hair slicked back, he’d done his best to look grown-up in nice, navy blue pants, a dress shirt and a tie. It must have been an old shirt because the collar seemed strained around his neck and the too short sleeves revealed his bony wrists. Still, she complimented him.
“You look very handsome, Jeremy. Where’s Maribeth?”
“She should be here in just a minute. Her ma made her baby-sit this morning, and she was running late getting back.”
“Well, I’m glad we have a few minutes alone. Come on inside and let’s talk.” She led the way into her office, which had its own entrance at the side of the parsonage. She pulled an extra chair around from behind her desk and sat down. Jeremy remained awkwardly standing.
“Sit down, Jeremy.”
“I’m just a mite nervous, Pastor Perkins,” he admitted. “It’s not every day a man makes plans to get married.”
“No, it’s not,” she agreed, then seized the chance to play up his apparent nervousness. “Are you sure this is something you’re ready to do?”
Troubled eyes met her gaze. “Why, sure,” he said, but his voice lacked conviction. “Me and Maribeth, we’ve been planning this ever since we were kids.”
“And how old are you now?”
“I’m eighteen,” he said, standing a little taller.
“And Maribeth?”
“She just turned seventeen, right after graduation. She’s real smart. She skipped the third grade.”
Anna Louise bit back a
