Faithful to Laura (8 page)

When she went downstairs, she saw Sawyer standing at the doorway. Today his entire outfit was Amish, from his straw hat to the pegged jeans and dusty, worn work boots. The only trace of English she saw was his short haircut. A flicker of curiosity passed through her. Just how Amish was he? Then again, why did it matter?

“Ready to go?” he asked.

She nodded, pulling her coat over her navy blue dress. “You didn’t have to pick me up.”

“I know.” He smiled at her, a crooked, boyish grin. “I figured you’d need a ride.”

She wasn’t about to be sucked in by his charm. Or his kindness. “Next time I’ll walk,” she said, and strode past him and out the door.

Sawyer blinked and looked at Emma. “Was it something I said?”

Emma shrugged, frowning. “I don’t see how. That was kind of rude, though.”

“It’s okay.” He’d been rude when he first came to Middlefield too. Rude and bitter. Considering what Laura had been through, he couldn’t hold her attitude against her.

“I’m sure she’s nervous about the job,” Emma said.

“Could be.” But he thought there was more to it than just nerves. “See you later, Emma. I’ll bring Laura back this afternoon.” He paused. “If she’ll let me.”

“I’m sure she will.
Danki
for giving her the job, Sawyer.

She’s barely left the house since the accident.”

“It wasn’t my doing. Lukas approved of it.”

“You came along at just the right time.” Emma looked at him. “God’s timing.”

Sawyer wasn’t so sure of that, but he nodded anyway. He hadn’t grown up attending church, and it had taken time for him to understand that this community attributed everything in their lives to the Lord. Their belief that God guided everything confused him. How could that be possible? That theory left so many things unexplained. Like his parents’ death.

He walked toward the truck. Laura waited by the passenger door. He left it unlocked. Why hadn’t she gotten inside?

Maybe she was waiting for him. When he opened the door, she lifted her brow but got in without a word.

The chance of her letting him take her home seemed increasingly remote. Didn’t matter. He’d try anyway. He jumped in the truck and turned the ignition on. His foot slipped and he revved the engine. “Sorry.”

She nodded and kept looking straight ahead.

He yanked the truck into reverse. This was going to be a long ride.

Laura was surprised that Sawyer opened the truck door for her.

And what were he and Emma talking about? She wanted to ask but forced herself not to.

“Fine morning, don’tcha think?”

“Ya.”
He didn’t speak with the long Southern drawl she was used to. More nasally. But pleasant. Appealing.

Laura shifted in her seat. She folded her hands in her lap and turned her face toward the window. Big tall trees dotted the yards along the road. The last of autumn’s leaves hung from spindly branches. The landscape resembled winter in the south more than fall. It was colder here too.

“So what’s Tennessee like?” Sawyer asked.

She flinched, his voice jerking her out of her thoughts.

“Cold. Wait, no, it isn’t. I was just thinking that it’s cold here.

Colder
here, I mean.” She bit her bottom lip.
Stop rambling
.

“Oh.” He turned left. “Different from Ohio, then?”

“Ya.”

“What’s different other than the weather?”

“Is it all right if we don’t talk right now?” She cringed at her own impoliteness. She never used to be curt. Now she had to work at not being downright rude.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t pry. I know what it’s like to be homesick.”

“I’m not homesick.” But she didn’t sound convincing, even to herself.

“I like living here,” he continued, “but when I first came, it took a long time to get used to a new place.” He pulled into a driveway next to a large white house with a simply landscaped lawn. The sign on the side of the building read Byler and Sons.

“We’re here.”

“Already?” Emma was wrong. It wouldn’t have been that far of a walk from the Shetlers’. The ride was unnecessary.

Emma must have known that. Surely Sawyer did too.

As soon as he turned off the ignition, she scrambled out of the truck and waited by the front door of the shop. He was close at her heels and opened the door.

The chemical scent of varnish hit her first, followed by strong undertones of different kinds of wood and sawdust. Her family ran a bakery, but her cousins worked construction, so the smell was familiar.

She glanced around the room. Two Amish men were hard at work. One on the stocky side, with dark brown hair and a long beard. The other man was tall and wiry. Curly sandy-blond hair poked out beneath his straw hat. His light brown beard was shorter, only a couple inches past his chin.

Sawyer motioned for Laura to follow him farther into the shop. They stopped near a table in the middle of the spacious workroom. He gestured to the shorter man. “My father, Lukas.

And that’s his brother, Tobias.”

They were brothers? They didn’t look anything alike.

“Gut mariye.”
Lukas came toward her, his hand extended.

She shook it, feeling the calluses on his palm against her skin.

“Glad to have you here.”

“Ya,”
Tobias said from the back of the shop. “Lukas’s head would have exploded if he had to do any more office work.”

Lukas shot his brother an annoyed look. “Don’t listen to him.”

Despite herself, Laura almost laughed. They might not look like brothers, but they sure acted like them. Seeing the family bond caused an ache inside. And she’d just told Sawyer she wasn’t homesick.

“Can you get her started? Tobias and I are finishing up that hutch. Got a customer from Cleveland coming out day after tomorrow.”

Sawyer nodded before glancing at Laura. “Let me show you the office.”

She trailed him to the back of the woodshop and into a small room that had a door with a window in the upper half so you could see through to the shop. Sawyer held the door open and stood aside to let her pass.

One quick scan of the room and she could see the office was already organized. Lukas might not have liked doing paperwork, but from what she could tell he had kept on top of it.

“Everything you need is in the desk. Pens, pencils, paper.

Order forms, invoices, all that stuff. There’s a solar calculator in the top right drawer.”

He walked to a three-drawer filing cabinet next to the desk.

“Files are in here. You can hang your jacket or coat on one of the pegs.” He gestured behind him to the row of wooden pegs nailed to the wall. Then he opened the middle top drawer and pulled out a spiral-bound notebook. “Everything you need to know is in that book. My Aunt Ruth put it together a few years ago. Still, if you have any questions, just ask any of us.”

She nodded, flipping through the book and taking in the neat handwriting. “Looks like organization runs in your
familye
.”

“I might agree, except that you haven’t met my Aunt Elisabeth. Organization is not her thing.” He chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll meet everyone soon. They all drop by here from time to time. We’re pretty close.”

She heard the touch of satisfaction in his voice and buried her gaze in the notebook. She didn’t want to know about his family, only about the job.

“I’ll let you get to it.” He stopped in the doorway and looked over his shoulder. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Laura nodded but didn’t look at him. She pulled out the chair, pretending to be consumed by the contents of the notebook.

The door shut with a click. She breathed out and rubbed her fingers across her forehead. The job would be easy. Ignoring the homesickness wouldn’t. The same held true for Sawyer and his
daed
and
onkel
. All three seemed genuine. Kind. She hadn’t thought there were any kind men left in the world.

“Think she’s going to work out?” Lukas asked as Sawyer walked back into the workroom.

Sawyer nodded. “She seems sharp. Eager to do the job.” She also seemed eager for him to leave. That socked his ego a bit.

Lukas ran a brush thick with clear lacquer along the side of the hutch. “I wonder how long she’s going to stay.”

“What do you mean?”

“Has she moved in with the Shetlers permanently?”

Sawyer shrugged. “I’m not sure. I didn’t ask her.” He probably should have, before he hired her. But she’d seemed so eager to have the job he didn’t want to tell her no.

“If she has plans to
geh
back home, we should find out.” He paused. “Then again, as long as God sees fit for her to stay here, we’ll appreciate her work.
If
she does a good job.”

Sawyer shot a glance toward the office door. Through the glass he could see Laura already at work. “I think she will.”

C
HAPTER
7

Laura glanced at the clock on the desk. Like everything else in the office, it was plain and unadorned. Nearly five. The day had passed quickly. She rose from the chair and stretched. Straightened the ribbons of her
kapp
. Picked her dark blue coat off the peg and slipped it over her shoulders. When she opened the door, she nearly slammed into Sawyer.