Seasons in Paradise. Barbara Cameron

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СКАЧАТЬ been baking pie.” Waneta smiled at her.

      “Didn’t take you long,” Amos said, giving his fraa a fond look.

      Sam couldn’t believe his eyes and ears.

      Supper done, he thanked the women and joined the men outside as they talked about what they’d do the following Saturday. A short time later, Mary Elizabeth came out of the haus and gave him a questioning look. He excused himself and pulled keys out of his pocket.

      The rain had stopped but storm clouds hung over the area.

      They walked without speaking to the pickup truck. He opened the passenger-side door and she slid inside.

      As he started the truck, he gave her a cautious look. Seemed to him that when a woman said she wanted to talk, it usually wasn’t a good thing.

      * * *

      Mary Elizabeth glanced around the interior of the truck. “Looks familiar,” she said simply as she snapped her seatbelt into place.

      “Bought it from David,” he told her. “He’s letting me make payments.”

      He put the truck in gear and backed out onto the road. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

      Tension fairly radiated from her, as palpable as the storm clouds overhead. Her body was stiff in the seat, her chin thrust out. She cut her eyes at him, and the hurt and anger in them blazed at him.

      “Are you ever coming back?”

      “Well, that was blunt.”

      And cold. The rain had chilled the air, and now her tone seemed to make the interior of the truck even chillier. He switched on the heater.

      She folded her arms across her chest. “That’s me. Blunt Mary Elizabeth.”

      True, he wanted to say. But he didn’t. She wasn’t beating around the bush, so he knew he needed to hear her out.

      “I told you at Christmas I was just back for that night,” he said carefully. The roads were wet and slick, and he didn’t relish a confrontation driving her home.

      “You’ve been back since then. So I thought maybe . . .”

      “I’d want to come back to stay?” he finished for her. The meal he’d enjoyed felt like it was turning to lead in his stomach. Why couldn’t she let this be?

      “Ya.”

      He tried to think what to say. As the silence stretched between them she fidgeted.

      “Never mind. I guess I have my answer.”

      He looked for a place to pull over and after he found it, turned to face her.

      “Where would I go, Mary Elizabeth?” he asked, feeling pinned between a rock and a hard place. “If I moved back to the community, where would I live?”

      He heard the bitterness in his voice but he couldn’t hold it back.

      She stared at him, speechless.

      “Don’t say I could move in with David and Lavina. That wouldn’t be fair. And I don’t have the relationship with my dat that David does.”

      “But you could.”

      He shrugged and turned his gaze to look forward. “We talked about this months ago when you got David to drive you to talk to me. We didn’t get anywhere then and we’re not going to now.”

      “Because you’re too stubborn.”

      “Me? Not my dat?”

      “He’s changed.”

      “With David. Not with me.”

      “It’s not that you don’t want to come back,” she said quietly. “You don’t want me.”

      She opened the door and slipped from the truck before he could stop her.

      “Mary Elizabeth! Where are you going?”

      “What do you care?” she shot over her shoulder as she ran across the street and started walking back home. “Go home, Sam. Go home and have a happy life.”

      Frustrated, torn, he glanced back at the truck. He wanted to follow her, but he’d left his keys in the truck. He ran back to it, started it, and after checking for oncoming traffic, did a U-turn and followed her.

      “Get in. I’ll give you a ride,” he called through the open passenger window.

      “Nee, danki,” she said stonily, refusing to look at him.

      “Mary Elizabeth!”

      He slammed on the brakes, and the truck slid a little before gaining traction. Pulling over on the side of the road, he shut the engine off and yanked the keys out of the ignition. She had a head start on him, but his legs were longer and ate up the distance. He grasped her arm, and she spun around and tried to smack it away.

      “Listen, be reasonable.”

      Her mouth worked but no words came out. “I don’t want to be reasonable,” she said finally, glaring at him.

      “Like that’s news,” he blurted then was instantly sorry when he saw the shock on her face.

      Lightning flashed.

      “Look, be mad but be reasonable and get back in the truck,” he demanded. “It’s not safe out here for you.”

      The sky opened up then, pouring rain down on them.

      Her shoulders slumped. “Allrecht. But I’m not talking to you anymore.”

      She stomped back to the truck and climbed inside.

      Sam got back in and realized she was shivering. He reached into the back, found a blanket, and tossed it at her. “Use this so you don’t catch a cold.”

      “Danki,” she said between clenched teeth as she wrapped it around herself before fastening her seatbelt.

      And that was the last she said as he drove her the short distance to her home.

      He barely had a chance to stop before she was yanking free the seatbelt and sliding out of the truck.

      Sam watched her run up the walk, then the stairs to the front door of her house. She went inside without a backward glance.

      Furious with himself for the way things had gone, he slammed his hand against the steering wheel then yelped with pain. Of course he’d hit it with his injured hand. It started bleeding again. He grabbed a bandanna lying on the seat beside him and wrapped it around his hand and gingerly drove home.

      John sat in the recliner, dozing as the television blared. Two beer cans sat beside the chair. They’d talked about his drinking before.

      But as he СКАЧАТЬ