You didn’t have to see me home, Ben,” Tricia said as they hopped off the shuttle and started walking down Kaufmann Avenue. “The SCAT stops very close to the Orange Blossom Inn. I couldn’t get lost if I tried.” Gesturing with her hand, she said, “Plus, it’s very safe here. I never worry about walking alone around Pinecraft.”
“I know where the SCAT stops.”
When Ben didn’t expand on that, she peeked up at his face. “So, you must realize that I am perfectly capable of getting on and off a shuttle by myself.”
“I know you are perfectly capable of doing just about anything you want to do.” The corners of his lips turned up. “After all, you’re the girl who traveled all the way to Sarasota, Florida, without telling your aunt you were coming.”
Tricia was beginning to regret ever telling him that. Ben was so responsible he couldn’t seem to wrap his head around the idea that she would do something so impulsive. Still, she kept their conversation on target. “So . . .”
“So, I like seeing you home.”
Deliberately, she kept her gaze forward. No way did she want him to see how much his words affected her.
“Besides, Tricia, I wanted to get out of there.”
“You did?”
“Oh, jah. You saw how crazy my haus was.” He shivered, making her grin. “All those little girls running around? William going crazy? Furniture and boxes and my daed acting like it was gonna be perfectly possible to organize it all in about six hours? I needed a break.”
She giggled. “Your daed did act like he was going to have everything organized in no time.”
Ben nodded. “That’s his way.” He shook his head in exasperation. “He’s not a big fan of sitting around. Sometimes I think he resents having to sleep.”
“Perhaps I should point out that we were just sitting outside eating sandwiches for the last hour. I thought it was a lot of fun.”
“That was fun. That was great. Thank goodness for Emma Keim. If she hadn’t come along with her girls and that picnic basket I don’t think my daed would have let us stop yet.”
“Emma is really nice. And boy, can she cook. Almost as good as my aunt Beverly, and that is saying a lot.”
“Especially those deviled eggs. I could have eaten five of them,” he said as he pressed a hand on her waist to guide her around a pair of tourists taking pictures of some flowering orange-blossom trees.
When they got back on track, the delicious fragrance of the blossoms permeating the air, and warmth from his touch still fresh in her mind, Tricia glanced up at him again. “Emma’s girls are cute, too,” she added, hoping to keep her focus on their conversation and not on just how happy she was to be spending more time alone with him. From the moment she’d practically run into him in the hall outside his room at the inn, there had been a connection between them that was special. It seemed as if they always had things to tell each other.
She was so glad God had brought them together.
He chuckled. “Jah. They were girly and busy and squealed a lot. I’ve never really been around little girls that much and I don’t think I could handle being around them all the time, but I thought they were mighty cute. Especially little Annie. She was a lot of fun.”
“She liked you. She kept edging closer to ya.”
“I was glad. She’s funny, telling me about her beagle, Frankie.”
As they passed a large family with six or seven kinner, Tricia noticed how both parents looked kind of exhausted, like they were counting the minutes until bedtime. Which got her thinking. “Why do you think Emma and her girls came over?”
Ben looked down at her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean Emma went to a lot of trouble.”
“They were simply being neighborly.”
“Jah, but your family is not in her neighborhood. Your farm is a ten-minute SCAT ride away. She had to load up all the food and keep track of three little girls all the way to your haus.”
As they turned down Burky Street and began to pass house after house framed by bright flower beds, Ben seemed to consider her words. Then he shrugged. “I think you’re overthinking things, Tricia. Emma brought us a welcome meal. I bet she brings lots of families food all the time. Plus, you know, her dog ate our pizza the other day.”
“Well, I’ve lived here in Pinecraft a few months now and I’ve never seen her do too much besides be with her girls. And chase Frankie, of course.”
Ben didn’t even smile at her mention of Frankie. “I’m sure Emma was only being nice.”
“Of course,” Tricia said quickly, though she didn’t really believe that. She’d seen how Emma kept glancing at Ben’s daed. And how Jay’s eyes had softened when Emma smiled, and then how hard he’d tried to hide it. “I’m sure they’re simply glad to meet each other because they have a lot in common.”
Ben stopped right in front of Winnie Sadler’s house. Mrs. Sadler’s cat, Serena, looked up from her nap on the front porch, then flipped onto her side. “Wait a minute. Are you saying you think they like each other?”
“Maybe,” she hedged. Though she thought the idea of Jay and Emma liking each other was rather sweet, it was now obvious that Ben didn’t care for the idea. At all.
“Tricia, my father is a widower,” he said.
“I know.” She shrugged. “I only meant that I think it’s nice that they met each other, since Emma is a widow and all.” She bit her lip. Had that come out completely wrong? Had she just made it sound as if she thought it was good that Jay and Emma had lost their spouses?
“You know, my mamm only passed away a year and a half ago.” Ben looked so appalled and his voice so pained, that Tricia wished she could navigate a conversation as well as she could the shuttle stops.
Feeling worse than terrible, she backtracked quickly. “Ben, I’m so sorry. I’ve been really insensitive,” she said in a rush. Here she’d been so thankful for their connection and the way they were able to converse about most anything, and she’d ruined it by saying too much. “Please forgive me. And forget I said anything, too. Actually, let’s forget everything I said.”
Reaching out, he pressed his palm to the center of her back. “Hush, Trish,” he said gently. “You don’t need to apologize. I’m sorry for snapping at you. You were only speaking your mind.”
She sighed in relief as she realized that he wasn’t mad at her. She hadn’t messed everything up.
“Nee, I was being silly. Again, I’m really sorry. I’m sure your daed and Emma are just friends. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Actually, there’s everything good about that.” Ack! She was talking too much. She had to stop herself from blabbering on about things she knew little about.
Ben sighed. “You’re right. There isn’t anything wrong with my father making a friend. I mean, look at us.”
Tricia forced herself to smile brightly. After all, she had practically brought this on. “Jah, look at us! We hit it off right away.”
She ached to tell him just how glad she was that they were friends, but she didn’t want to scare him off. Then, of course, there was the fact that she didn’t want to simply be friends with Ben Hilty. She already knew for a fact that she liked him a lot.
“We did—well, we ran into each other right away.”
“Hey, I had a whole lot of towels stacked in my arms. I could hardly see where I was going.”
“But that didn’t stop you from walking down the hall like your feet were on fire.” He chuckled. “The moment we collided, they all fell in a heap at your feet.”
“And you helped me pick them all up . . . and place them in the linen closet.”
“I was using any excuse to be around you a little longer.”
“And I was glad you did,” she admitted. She’d relived those first few moments between them a hundred times. It had been like she’d known something momentous had just taken place.
Ben pressed his hand to her waist again as they turned left toward the inn, passing right by the Palm Grove Mennonite Church with the beautiful flowering tree gracing its front yard. “I’m glad we met, Tricia.”
“Me, too.”
“My grandmommi always used to tell me that the Lord shines on us even when we aren’t looking for his rays of light. I guess that’s what happened when we met. I wasn’t looking for anything special but there you were, at our inn.”
“The Lord does know everything we need,” she said with a smile.
“You know, I never thought about my daed being lonely, but maybe he does get lonely every now and then,” he said slowly. After a pause, he continued, sounding more reflective. “Mark and me, well, we don’t spend a lot of time with him. Not anymore.”
“At least he has William.”
Ben shook his head. “William is a handful. Managing him takes the patience of a saint. If I were my father, I would want a break from my little bruder every now and then.”
“I’m sure your father misses your mamm.”
“I’m sure he does. My mother . . . she was great.” He looked at her again. “Let’s not talk about my parents anymore.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
When he looked down at her this time, there was a new, mischievous look in his eyes. “How about we talk about when I’m going to get to see you again.”
She bit her lip before deciding not to play any games. “I want to see you whenever you have time to see me.”
“It’s as easy as that?”
“Well, as easy as a SCAT ride,” she teased. “And, as long as I am not working.”
“I’ll see if I can pick up William from school sometimes in the afternoon.”
“If you do that, stop by the inn and say hello. Or maybe I’ll see you at church? Here in Pinecraft, because of all the tourists, we all go to the Amish church instead of worshipping in other people’s homes. Maybe we could meet there one Sunday? I mean, if you’d like to meet there.”
“I’d like that,” he said as they stopped in front of the inn. “I’ll be seeing you, Tricia. Count on it.”
She smiled at him before walking up the steps. “I already am,” she murmured to herself.
FOR THE REST OF the night, Tricia replayed their conversation over and over, reflecting on how fast things between her and Ben were happening . . . and how she didn’t want it to be any other way.