Close to Home by Emma Miller

Chapter 7

"Dangerous?" Menno asked, playing along.

"Did I tell you about the time she pushed me out of a tree and broke my arm?"

Mary knew by the tone of his voice that Caleb was teasing, but she wanted Menno to know what really happened. "That was an accident," she said. "I fell out of the tree because a wasp stung me. I hit him on the way down."

"She fell on top of me and broke my arm."

"I was seven," Mary said. "We liked each other then."

"Then?" Menno seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their banter.

"It was a long time ago." Caleb grinned at Mary. "Bygones be bygones. How about if we kiss and make up?"

"You're fresh." Mary gritted her teeth. Another moment and she'd be tempted to break his head. "What would your wife think if she knew you talked that way to respectable women?"

Menno made a face. "He doesn't have a wife. Didn't you hear? Susan left him for a boy with a pickup and a mobile home with a big-screen TV. Didn't even tell him that she had changed her mind. He had to hear about it from his deacon."

Mary didn't know what to say. Her mouth felt suddenly dry. Caleb hadn't married...hadn't taken over Susan's father's big dairy farm in Virginia. How was that possible? 

She had cried when she'd heard he'd gotten married, which had made no sense to her. She was still angry with him, how could she be upset that he was married? And now, it wasn't even so...

"Mary Glick!" Martha came down the house steps. "Are you going to stand there all day? We need help in the kitchen. No one's started the chicken corn soup yet."

"I've got to go." Mary looked down at the grass, then up. "I'm sorry about your Susan, Caleb. Really." And she truly was. All she could think of was how hurt he must have been, how ashamed at being stood up in front of his friends and family.

Not that she should feel sorry for him, considering what he'd done to her. But it was difficult to remain resentful when he was smiling at her with that cute, crooked grin. Had his eyes always been that blue? She turned to go.

"Wait." He stepped in front of her. "Tonight, there's a singing at Mel King's. Are you going?"

"Going with Miriam and Dorcas, ain't you?" Menno reminded her.

"Maybe," Mary admitted. Why did Caleb want to know? He couldn't be considering asking her to sit across from him at the singing and games.

"I'd like to drive you home after," he said, as if reading her thoughts. He was grinning again. At her. "If you're not already spoken for."

Suddenly her heart was pounding again, this time with a sense of panic. She spun on her bare heels and walked away. "Go pound nails, Stutzman..."