Made with Love (23 page)

“Yes, the posters are nice. My friends at Sarasota Salvage are going to love them too,” Noah said. “Which reminds me.” He turned to Lovina. “I need you to go through this place and pick out anything you think will work for the shop, or anything you want to keep.”

“Oh no. All these items are yours.” Lovina peered up at him, her eyes growing serious. “We made an agreement. You would do all the remodeling work in exchange for the items in this warehouse.”

There was a smudge of dirt on her cheek, and Noah wanted nothing more than to reach down and wipe it with his thumb. Did she realize how beautiful she was? Didn't she understand that her passion about this place was one of the reasons that made her so?

His chest warmed with attraction for her, and he cleared his throat, trying to keep it at bay. “I told you I'd do it in exchange for items in this warehouse. I didn't mean every item. There are some things that I think will be wonderful in the pie shop.”

“Oh, like what?” Grace asked. She was the youngest of the sisters, and her joyful exuberance was hard to miss.

Noah motioned for them to follow, and he took them to one corner that held all different types of chairs. There were a number of items that he knew could work for the pie shop, but there was one that stood out from the rest. He pointed to the small bench that was part seat and part drawers.

Grace brushed it off with a rag in her hand. “What is this?”

Noah chuckled. “I'm not surprised you haven't seen one of these before. It's an old telephone seat. Probably from the 1960s. Back then the phones had cords—not like our cellphones—and people used this to sit on while they talked. It was also a way to display their phones.”

Hope peered at him curiously. “And this is something we can use for the pie shop?”

“Ja.” He pointed to the front door. “I thought it would be good for the waiting area.”

“Waiting area? Will we really need that?” Lovina asked.

He smiled at her. “Where is that faith you are known for, Lovina? When there is a crowd waiting for a table or to pick up a to-go pie, they'll need someplace to sit.”

She glanced from the telephone bench then to the door, and then to the bench again. She kneeled before it. “Oh, and we can put menus in these drawers. People can read the descriptions of the pies while they wait.”

He smiled and snapped his fingers. “Now you're talking.”

Then he turned to her sisters. “Would you two be able to go through these chairs and things and see what grouping you think might work?”

Both of them nodded excitedly.

“Can we take some of them up there and move things around, seeing what looks good?” Grace asked. “Maybe I'll even take some photos on my phone and upload them to our Facebook page.”

Noah's jaw dropped. “Facebook page?” He hadn't been on Facebook before himself, but Jill from Sarasota Salvage had shown him some of the things he'd found for her displayed on her page.

“Well, Lovina may bake the best pies you've ever tasted…” Grace tapped the side of her head. “But I have some business sense that I think will help her. Social media is a wonderful way to get people to find out about you. I'm working on a logo now, and Joy is working on some aprons—” Grace paused and her eyes widened. She bit her lip and looked to Lovina. “I…I wasn't supposed to say anything.”

A smile filled Lovina's face, and she shrugged. “What? I have no idea what you're talking about.” She winked at her sister. Then her gaze turned to Noah, and he was once again swept up in the dark brown of her eyes.

“So is it all right?” she asked. “If they move those things up there?”

“Ja, but just so you know they won't be able to stay there. Over the next week we're going to put up a wall, splitting this large area in two. This half we're on will be a bakery, and the back half will be storage for now. The kitchen will go up in the middle…” He pointed to the area, showing them where that would be. “And then we're going to clear everything out of this side. Most of the big stuff will be gone, and we'll store what's left in the storage area. I want to be smart about going through these things. I want to do some research about the value of some of these items.”

“You seem to know a lot about old stuff,” Grace commented, looking intrigued. She wrinkled her nose. “How old are you?”

He laughed. “I'm twenty-seven, but I grew up around all types of vintage items, or ‘old stuff' as you say. My dat has an auction yard up in Illinois. Dat's pretty much seen at least one of everything made since the industrial revolution, or so he likes to tell people. And my father always told me not to rush into any sale. People often lose something valuable in an effort to make a quick buck. Sometimes people don't know what they have until they lose it.”

“So what's going to be the first step after everything's cleared out?” Grace asked.

Noah could tell that her mind was already moving ten steps ahead. Maybe she was already thinking about photos she could post on Facebook.

He looked to Lovina, and she seemed interested in the answer too. “See this concrete?” He tapped his foot on the floor. “It's going to be cleaned, sealed, and stained.”

“Stained?” Lovina's brow furrowed and he knew she was thinking back to the white and light gray-checkered pattern he'd drawn in the sketch for her.

“Ja. I've done stained concrete before, and I've seen it done a
lot in newer homes or remodels. When it's done it'll look like tile, but it'll be cheaper and more durable.”

Grace looked to Noah and then to Lovina. She pointed her thumb at him. “Sister, where did you find this guy?”

“God sent him to me,” Lovina said simply, and her eyelashes fluttered with her words.

Grace nodded in agreement. “I have no doubt about that. No doubt at all.”

The two younger sisters picked up chairs and moved toward the front door. But they only got a few feet before Gerald and Atlee came to the rescue, taking them from the young women and insisting the chairs were too heavy.

Lovina laughed. “I was wondering how long it was going to take before those guys exerted some muscles in order to get my sisters' attention.”

“Ja, me too. And it took longer than I thought.” Then Noah took a step closer to her, realizing that it was the first time all day when they'd been alone—well, alone if one counted the building filled with over a half a dozen people in various stages of work. He tilted his head, studying her face. “How are you doing? I'm sure this is a lot to take in.”

“I'm doing well, but I could hardly sleep last night. Part of me was so excited to get started, but another part of me worries, even when God reminds me again and again that this is all part of His plan.”

“I understand. Investing all your money from two years of work is a big risk, but I'm going to do my best to make sure you succeed.”

Noah extended his hand to her—palm up, wanting her to place her hand in it. Lovina looked at his hand, and for a second he wished he hadn't been so bold. His hand was the large, rough
hand of a laborer. It wasn't pretty to look at, but he wanted her to know they were in this together.

She showed tenderness in her eyes, and her cheeks grew pink. His heartbeat sped up, and he guessed that hers did too.

Still, he waited. Finally she placed her hand in his. It was warm. Soft. Noah blew out a heavy breath. “You have all the right instincts about this place. You shouldn't be afraid, Lovina. I'll do my best…and I'll make sure the guys do too. I believe in your dream. I believe that God placed it inside you.”

She bit her lower lip and nodded, and from the look in her eyes he knew she needed to hear those words. He had a feeling she'd need to hear them over and over again as the days went on.

He squeezed her hand, holding it a moment longer, and then something over his shoulder caught Lovina's attention. Lovina's face blanched white, and she quickly pulled her hand away.

Startled, Noah turned slowly, and that's when he saw her. Lovina's mem stood in the doorway, and her eyes were on them. He couldn't see her expression from this far away, but he could tell by her arm-crossed stance that she wasn't happy.

Lovina stepped back. “My mem is here. I—I didn't know she was coming. I'd better go.” She took another step back and then looked around at the warehouse, as if suddenly overwhelmed by the poor state of the place.

Noah wondered for a moment if he should follow. If he tried to explain that he was only attempting to encourage Lovina it would probably do no good. To be fully convincing he'd need to tell Anna Miller that his only concerns for her daughter were for this place—to help her remodel the warehouse into a pie shop—but deep down he knew it wasn't true.

Taking a deep breath and sending up a quick prayer for favor from Lovina's parents, Noah turned back to the new windows,
knowing he had a lot of work to do to get them into place. It was already a great first step with the old ones out. Everything was brighter now that the light was able to come through.

He was thankful that Lovina couldn't look into his heart as easily. Or her mem. Because with each day that passed Noah knew he was falling in love.

Eighteen

Before we speak we should think twice or perhaps keep on thinking.

A
MISH
P
ROVERB

A
nna Miller slowly made her bed and smoothed the covers, scouring her brain to think of what she could do to get herself out of the house today. John was already up, either drinking a cup of coffee at the kitchen table or poking at Hope's potted plants in the backyard. Maybe he was outside talking with Noah Yoder about the progress on the pie shop. The young man had a habit of stopping by every morning before he headed to the warehouse, taking time to chat with John over the white picket fence up front. Most mornings Lovina would join them, her cheeks as pink as the roses blooming in front of the house.

Anna shook her head. She didn't know what she was going to do with her husband and daughter. When they set their minds on something they set after it with diligence. Then again, it was a trait she saw in all of her daughters. Just as determined as Lovina was about turning that old building into a pie shop, Hope was determined on learning how to make something grow in this
southern climate. When in the world did the people in her family get so stubborn?

She could also hear Lovina humming away in the kitchen, and she wondered if her eldest daughter was going to be spending a lot of time home today. That could be a problem. It was easy to excuse herself from helping at the warehouse when Lovina was working there, but how was Anna going to face her daughter in her own kitchen?

Anna finished making the bed, and then she moved toward the small mirror above her dresser to check her kapp. Try as she might, Anna couldn't make herself comfortable with what Lovina was doing. In the weeks she'd been working on the warehouse, Lovina had all but ignored the interest of Thomas Chupp, and instead she took on the doe-eyed look of a young woman falling in love. With Noah Yoder, of all people! How hard it had been for Anna to keep her mouth shut about the whole matter.

If Anna's mother had taught her anything it had been not to say an unkind word. And Anna hadn't. She'd held her tongue, and the only way she'd been able to do that was to keep herself far from Lovina's work at the warehouse.

In the last few weeks she'd visited every sick person she could think of—even those she'd heard were just coming down with a cold. She'd taken part in a sewing frolic with the excuse of getting items ready for the Haiti auction in January. But now…what would she do if Lovina was going to spend the day at home?

Lord, give me patience and help me hold my tongue.

She shuffled out of the bedroom and the aroma of baking pie shells greeted her. Usually it was a welcome aroma, but today it simply caused a knot in the pit of her stomach.

Lovina was humming as she entered. Outside John was indeed chatting with Noah Yoder at the front fence, and Anna forced a smile.

“It's a good day for pie,” Anna chirped with a cheerfulness she didn't feel.