Eva Miller stepped off the Elite Coach bus and inhaled the fresh, clean air of the Gulf of Mexico. Amazed that such a warm, sunny place as Pinecraft, Florida, existed after she’d left the February snow of Campton Creek, Pennsylvania, Eva smiled. And coughed.
Had there ever been a time when she didn’t cough or sneeze or feel like she couldn’t breathe? Constant allergies and respiratory problems had plagued her all of her life.
She missed Mamm, but the doctor had suggested some time away from the brutal winter temperatures and the heavy winter snow. “Let’s send you to Florida for a while, Eva. You need to get completely well. This last bout of bronchitis caused pneumonia and we sure don’t want that to happen again. You and your mamm are always talking about your aunt down there. I say go and visit her, rest and enjoy the fresh ocean air.”
So here she stood after a trip that had lasted close to fifteen hours. She’d left last night, slept on the bus and was now wide awake at one in the afternoon. And hungry. Her breakfast had been the last of the snacks Mamm had packed in a small lunch box.
But she had to wait for someone to pick her up.
Her aenti Ramona Bauer had been so excited when she’d received Mamm’s letter, she’d called the phone booth located on the main road in Campton Creek and left a message for them. “Ja, kumm, both of you. I’d love that.”
Her aenti lived in Pinecraft year-round and had been inviting them for years. But Mamm didn’t want to visit Florida or any other state for that matter. She loved her tiny home and had never remarried after Daed died when Eva was a toddler. Helen Miller was a homebody who loved to knit, read her Bible and a few novels and sew clothes for other people.
“I have sewing orders to complete, Eva. You’ll have to go alone. Can you do that?”
She could do that, she’d assured her mother.
Eva had read many books about adventure and romance, and she longed to see the world. This would be a start if she didn’t get sick again. And if Mamm would agree. Which she finally had.
“Only for a couple of months, Eva,” Mamm had said after the doctor suggested the trip and Eva had wanted to get here and soon. “I do not like this idea, but I want you well. It’s time to try something we haven’t done before. I’ve always heard that sunshine and fresh air can help allergies and as the doctor would say, respiratory problems.”
Eva had packed her medicine, some sanitized hand cream and wipes and the vitamins the doctor told her to continue taking. “Vitamin D and sunshine will help and eat a lot of fresh oranges while you’re there,” the doctor had suggested.
Sunshine. Oranges. Fresh air. The ocean. And in her mind, maybe more than a couple of months.
She smiled and took another breath, her eyes closed, the sense of peace inside her heart mixed with the anticipation of a true adventure.
Then she heard a man calling her name.
“Eva? Eva Miller?”
Eva glanced around to see several Amish on bicycles that looked like big tricycles with baskets attached. Where were the buggies? And who had called her name?
Tanner Dawson glanced around the busy bus station. The Tuesday run had arrived, and a group of Amish from Pennsylvania had filed off the bus. But which one was Eva Miller?
“You can’t miss her,” Romana Bauer had told him when she’d asked if he’d pick up her niece Eva. “She has the prettiest light brown hair and such sweet blue-green eyes, like my sister’s. She’s a bit frail and she’ll be shy, so be kind to her, Tanner.”
“I’m always kind,” he’d told his friend in a gruff tone while he tried to smile.
Romana loved to match people and she’d been trying to match him up with a new wife for years. But he had no desire to remarry. He’d lost the woman he’d loved, but he had a beautiful daughter to keep him busy and happy.
Right now, he only wanted to get Eva to her aenti’s house so he could get back to his shop. Dawson Department Store wouldn’t run itself. He’d left his cousin Martha in charge, and she was a bit scattered at times, but gut at selling his handmade driftwood products and beach supplies to all the tourists. Not so gut at being careful with the pieces he made by hand and sold. He’d forbidden her to go into his workshop. He’d hired a part-time Amish youth to help him carry and deliver the delicate driftwood pieces to customers all across Sarasota and the nearby islands. James was hardy and eager to learn wood crafting, and Tanner was eager to teach him.
Doing another scan, he noticed one lone young woman holding an old blue suitcase, her eyes wide and an unusual blue-green. Tanner moved through the crowd of people hugging and laughing as they reconnected. The Amish who lived here year-round often had relatives coming to visit during the winter when they didn’t have crops to tend to, or if they wanted to get away from the cold and snow for a while.
This girl looked too fragile to lift hay bales or pick and preserve vegetables and fruit. She probably couldn’t saddle a horse either. But they didn’t have horses around here anyway.
“Eva?” he asked in a tentative pitch as he approached her.
“Ja,” she said, her voice raspy and uncertain. “Who are you?”
The directness startled him, but Tanner didn’t let her see that. He frowned—something Ramona and Martha told him he did a lot. “I’m Tanner Dawson. Your aunt sent me to get you.” Grabbing her suitcase, he added, “Let’s go.”
He heard her winter boots hitting the pavement behind him. “Slow down,” she called, sounding breathless. “Are we going to a fire?”
He nipped the smile that tried to escape and turned to face her. “Neh, but I have work to do.”
“I’m sorry,” she replied, a tad of spunk showing in her eyes. “I could have walked to my aenti’s house.”
“Neh,” he replied. “Ramona asked me to come and fetch you. She said you were special and would need a ride.”
“I’m nothing special,” she replied, her words meek. “But where is your buggy?”
“Here,” he said, pointing to the golf cart. Not that he played golf, but this was the best kind of taxi around this small Amish community sitting in the middle of Sarasota. “This is my buggy.”
Eva balked and stared at the cart and then at him. “Is it safe?”
“As safe as any horse and buggy,” he replied, his patience slipping away with each ticking second. “Or do you really want to walk with this suitcase?”
“Where should I sit?” she retorted, giving him his answer.
“Right here on the front seat, by me,” he replied after placing her suitcase in the backseat. And instantly wished he hadn’t said that with such force. “I don’t bite,” he added.
She climbed up onto the black vinyl bench seat and gave him a solemn stare. “Are you sure, because you’re as burly as an old bear.”
His lips twitched but he let the smile slide away. “I’m a very busy man, is all.”
“Then get this thing moving. I’m starving and I don’t like rude people.”
“I wasn’t rude.” Was he?
“You weren’t pleasant either, were you?”
Not used to such blunt talk, Tanner glanced over at her, aware of how close they were, being squeezed into this tiny cart. “Let me start over then. Hi, I’m Tanner. It’s gut to meet you, Eva Miller. How long do you plan to stay in our paradise?”
She turned to slant her gaze toward him. “Well, if everyone here is as grumpy as you are, probably not long.”
Eva had never met such a rude man. But then, she rarely met up with any boys or men, other than the ones she and Mamm would see at church. She’d attended youth functions and singings, but she wasn’t the type to flirt. Her rumspringa had been disappointing since she hadn’t gone out much and she sure had not acted up the way some friends had. Neh, she’d only visited her girlfriends and dreamed about finding a boy to walk out with. Some of her friends did that, and some took things too far. She stayed so sick, she could only take small amounts of any fun and games. She might not be the life of the party, but she did know rude when she saw it. This Tanner person wasn’t pleasant at all.
“Here we are,” he said a few minutes later.
The cart whizzed on so quickly, she’d forgotten to chat with him. Or maybe she didn’t want to chat with him. Studying the rows of white cottages lined up along her aenti’s street, she loved how the palm trees swayed in the wind, and she enjoyed the beautiful blooming vines and flowers in each of the neat yards. The scent of a thousand blossoms assaulted her and the mild temperature felt so wunderbar gut. This town was like another world compared to the winter she had left. It was late February and still snowing there, while here flowers were already beginning to bloom.
“Aenti lives in a beautiful place,” she said, almost to herself.
“Indeed, she does,” Tanner replied, looking up at the lacy white porch posts and matching railings. “She keeps it clean and welcoming.”
Eva did feel welcome now, knowing her aenti would soon greet her and get her away from this burly man.
Ignoring him, she took in the cottage. Two white rocking chairs sat on one side of the door; a small wicker table containing a small pot of orange flowers sat between them.
“I can’t wait to see the rest,” Eva said.
Tanner shook his head, his expression blank. “She loves her little haus. She has a tearoom in the back, for the tourists.”
“You don’t like tourists, ain’t so?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“You seem to make it very clear, ja.” Or maybe he just didn’t like her, which made more sense. She was a Plain Jane, a sickly woman who’d missed out on love.
“I don’t like people and that is so.”
Giving him a shocked stare, she asked, “What made you that way? I’ve never heard of someone who doesn’t like others.”
He shrugged. “I don’t like being around all the tourists, but I have to admit I make my living off their purchases.”
“Then you should be grateful Gott gave you a business and people to buy things from you, ain’t so?”
“I reckon I should at that,” he said with a bit of humility.
Eva hopped off the cart and tried to grab her luggage, but Tanner did the same, their hands touching.
Feeling a tingle of warmth shooting up her arm, Eva tugged at the handle. “I have it. Denke.”
Tanner didn’t let go. “I can carry it in, Eva. I don’t mind.”
Eva held tight. “I wouldn’t want to keep you from work.”
“It’s not a bother,” he said in what could have been another annoying drawl. Then he took the suitcase and lifted it like a feather and started up the steps.
Eva followed, hurrying to catch up. She was about to give him a piece of her mind when the door flew open and Aenti Ramona came running down the stairs.
“Eva, you’re here. Kumm, kumm. It’s so gut to see you. Look how you’ve grown. You’re so pretty. You’ll be tanned and glowing before the week is out.”
Tanner stoically carried her suitcase up the few steps to the porch, his stony face unreadable. But Aenti ignored that and hugged Eva tight. “I’m thinking you’re hungry. Tanner, let’s get my girl fed. You can join us.”
“I need to get back—”
“Nonsense. I made a special meal. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes with peach pie for dessert. You’ll stay.”
Tanner’s expression wavered between panic and the need to eat. “I guess I’m staying then,” he said, not smiling at all.
Would it be such torment to be around her, Eva wondered.
And why should she care? She’d be gone sooner than later, and she’d probably never see Tanner what’s-his-name again.
She hoped.