A Perfect Amish Match. Vannetta Chapman

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       Chapter Three

      Noah made a point of avoiding Olivia Mae after lunch. His brothers had had a hearty laugh over the fact that he’d thought she was married. How was he to know? What kind of matchmaker couldn’t find herself a husband? It would be like owning a buggy shop but no buggy. Regardless, he thought it best to avoid her.

      It wasn’t so terribly hard.

      He played baseball. She sat with the women under the hickory tree.

      He had more dessert. She seemed to be avoiding the snack table.

      He saw her take two young girls into the sheep pen, then coax one of the new lambs over and show them how to pet the babes so that the mother wouldn’t be frightened. He’d almost walked over to her then, just casually, to tease her about being a shepherdess. He’d even remembered a sheep joke that he thought would make her laugh.

      But she’d said something to the girls, and they’d hurried out of the pen and toward her grandfather. At least Noah supposed the old guy who was gesticulating wildly was her daddi. Olivia Mae and an older woman—her grandmother?—had helped him into the house, and then he hadn’t seen her again for a while. He’d almost put the idea behind him—of having a talk with her and setting her straight—when he literally bumped into her coming out of the barn and carrying a large ice cooler.

      She juggled the ice cooler, and he plucked it from her hands.

      “Leaving so soon?”

      “Ya, Daddi’s tired.”

      “I can carry this for you.”

      She cocked her head and stared up at him.

      He squirmed under her inspection. Why did she make him feel like his hat was on backward? “Since I almost ran you over, seems like the right thing to do.”

      “All right. Danki.”

      They talked about the weather as long as anyone possibly could and then fell into an awkward silence. Her buggy would be the last one in the line. Why had he offered to carry the cooler? It was obviously empty and weighed practically nothing. Fishing around for something to say, he remembered her standing in the sheep pen.

      “Where do sheep go on vacation?”

      “What?”

      “Where do sheep go on vacation?”

      “I’m sure I have no idea.”

      “The Ba-a-aa-hamas.”

      The look on her face was funnier than the joke.

      “Do you do that very often?”

      “Do what very often?”

      “Tell jokes when you’re nervous.”

      “Who said I was nervous?”

      “It’s sort of obvious.”

      They’d reached her buggy. She opened the driver’s-side door, fished around inside and pulled out three bungee cords. He strapped the cooler to the back of the buggy, as he tried to think how best to answer her question.

      “I’m not nervous exactly. It’s only that I wanted to say something to you, and I wasn’t sure how to bring up the subject.”

      “Oh. All right. I’m all ears.”

      “I’m afraid we started off on the wrong foot.”

      “How so?”

      He knew she knew what he was talking about, but obviously, she wasn’t going to make this easier for him. He leaned against her buggy and crossed his arms. “I didn’t mean to dismiss what you do. Obviously you provide an important service to our community.”

      “You mean my knitting?”

      “Nein. I do not mean your knitting. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

      Now she smiled at him—a perky got-you smile that had him shaking his head. Was that why she wasn’t married? Because she was feisty, with an attitude and a sense of humor? Perhaps she had the idea that she didn’t fit into the submissive Amish-woman mold, though his own mother was the same in many ways. Regardless, the fact that Olivia Mae was not married was not his business.

      “I’m talking about your matchmaking.”

      “Oh, that.”

      “Yes, that.”

      “You’ve decided it’s an important service?”

      “It could be. I see that now.”

      “Englischers have dating sites and apps on their phones,” she pointed out.

      “I СКАЧАТЬ