as she washed her hands. “Sam’s never coming back. He said so the last time we talked.” She dried her hands on a dish towel.
The screen door slapped shut. Rose Anna walked in carrying a basket of food. “Sorry I ran late getting here.”
Lavina and Mary Elizabeth exchanged a glance. Mary Elizabeth couldn’t remember a time when Rose Anna was on time. Their mudder even joked that Rose Anna had been born three weeks past the due date the doctor had given her.
They helped Rose Anna unpack the food. Waneta left them to find Amos.
“Mary Elizabeth’s got a new boyfriend,” she singsonged.
“Oh?” Lavina looked at Mary Elizabeth. “A new boyfriend? Details, please.”
Rose Anna smirked as Mary Elizabeth frowned at her. “Really, Rose Anna, we’re not in schul anymore.”
The screen door slammed again. Mary Elizabeth looked over and saw that Sam and David had just walked in.
* * *
There was an old saying that if you eavesdropped you might not hear something gut.
Sam figured there was some truth to the saying when he walked in and overheard the Zook women talking about Mary Elizabeth having a new boyfriend.
The only thing he could do was pretend that he hadn’t heard, and so he headed down the hall to the downstairs bathroom to wash up.
“I’m sure they were just joking,” David said as he crowded into the small room with him to wash his hands.
Sam looked up and met his bruder’s gaze in the mirror over the sink. “Doesn’t matter.” Sam picked up a towel and dried his hands.
“Nee? The two of you saw each other for a long time before you left home.” David took the towel from him and dried his hands.
“Yeah, well that was then. I haven’t seen her since then. Well, until recently.” He started to walk out of the room but stopped when David put his hand on his arm.
“You know she cares about you.”
“Yes, well, it’s time she found someone else. I’m not coming back. I told her that.” He stared at the door frame rather than meet his bruder’s eyes. “Listen, I need to leave. I have something to do.”
“Have lunch first.”
“Nee, I need to –”
“If you leave now they’ll know you heard.”
Sam hesitated. “You’re right.”
So he stayed for lunch and pretended he hadn’t heard the women talking. He kept his head down, concentrating on the cold baked chicken, potato salad, and big glasses of iced tea. Truth was, he was hungry after a long, hot morning working in the fields. And he and John were not only not gut cooks, sometimes they had little money for food.
“Have more potato salad,” his mudder urged. “You look like you’ve lost weight.”
“Don’t fuss at the boy,” his dat muttered. “Maybe he’s not hungerich.”
Sam looked at him and their gazes locked. David had told Sam that their dat had changed a lot and he had to a large degree—Amos didn’t use to get through a day without shouting or ordering his sohns around. But there were times like now when he’d look up and find the old man scowling at him, his thick black brows beetling over his dark eyes, making him feel like a kind.
His mudder passed him the dish of baked beans and then the bowl filled with corn on the cob.
“I can’t eat more,” he protested.
“We’ll send some food home for you and John so you’ll have it for supper.”
“Maybe he likes Englisch food better,” Amos said. “Fancy restaurant food.”
“Hardly,” Sam said. He hadn’t been in a restaurant in ages. Well, he and Peter had gone to a pizza restaurant recently. But Peter had treated him. So he schur wasn’t spending money on fancy restaurants.
As he ate, he listened to the conversation around the big old kitchen table and thought how different the atmosphere was from when he lived here. His mudder had always chattered to lighten the mood, while his dat sat at the head of the table and glowered and been as unpleasant as possible.
Lavina seemed to fit in well with his family. His dat actually smiled at her and complimented her cooking. He was happy for her and not a bit jealous of her or David. But oh, how he wished a meal had been this pleasant. He never would have left if it had.
“Sam? Mary Elizabeth tells us Leah may have you and Peter help her with the renovations on her new shop.”
He glanced up and saw Mary Elizabeth watching him from her seat across the table.
“Ya. Peter’s working up a bid.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “I should be going. I’m supposed to meet him to help him with it this afternoon.” He glanced at his bruder. “Don’t worry, I’ll still be helping you most Saturday mornings.”
“I appreciate the help, but if you need to work for Leah to earn some extra money I understand.”
“Family comes first,” Amos said bluntly.
“Here, Amos, have the first piece of pie,” Lavina said, handing him a plate.
How like his mudder Lavina seemed at that moment. Back when he lived at home his mudder was always trying to avert a blowup between his dat and one of his sohns.
Amos started to say something, and Lavina turned to Rose Anna. “Would you get the ice cream?”
“There’s ice cream?” Amos asked, clearly distracted from whatever he had been about to say.
“Ya,” Lavina beamed at him. “You know I always have ice cream for pie.”
“I’ll get it,” Rose Anna said, getting up and walking to the refrigerator.
Sam realized that it was the first time Rose Anna had said anything since they’d all taken seats at the table. He wondered if she missed John today . . .
He hadn’t liked making excuses for John not being here today to help. The fact was that John wasn’t sick. And when he got home they were going to have a serious talk.
He scraped up the last bite of potato salad, ate it, then wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “Well, I’d better get going.”
His mudder jumped up and pulled plastic containers out of a cupboard. “Take some leftovers home for you and John for supper.”
Amos scowled but said nothing. Sam rose and put his plate and silverware in the sink.
Lavina sliced two pieces of pie. “Here, Waneta, give me a container so we can send home some of the pie.”
“Danki, Mamm, Lavina.”
Waneta handed him a bag loaded with plastic containers. “Tell John I hope he feels better. Call me if you need me. John always used to get terrible colds this time of year.”
“I will, Mamm. I’ll be here with him next Saturday.”
Or else, Sam thought.
He pulled up in the parking lot of the apartment complex just as Peter drove his buggy in.
“Hey, good timing!” he called as he walked over from the visitor parking space. “Whatcha got there?” he asked, gesturing at the bag in Sam’s arms.
“Leftovers for our supper tonight.”
“Great! When do we eat?”
Sam fumbled his key in the door lock.
Peter slapped him on his shoulder and chuckled. “Relax, I know you meant for you and John.”
He breathed a sigh of relief