A Love Made New (18 page)

“Isn't Asa in the
haus
waiting for you?” Sadie asked.

“
Ya.
I saw that these cans needed straightening, so I thought I'd do that before I went back inside.”

“Abigail, Aden straightened those cans this morning.”

Abigail could tell. When Aden straightened stock, he straightened it perfectly. She wondered if he even pulled a ruler out to make sure each can was a certain space away from the edge. Abigail forced a smile and said, “Oh. I hadn't noticed.”

Sadie frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“Wrong? Why would anything be wrong?”

“
Yer
forehead is wrinkled,
yer
cheeks are red, and you keep touching
yer
mouth.”

Abigail relaxed her forehead. She couldn't do anything about red cheeks and she had no idea she was touching her mouth. She
had been thinking about the kiss, though. It was impossible not to. “I'm a little warm, I guess.” The understatement of the year.

“Hmm. I thought it was chilly in here.” Sadie pulled her sweater around her body. “You can
geh
back to the
haus
. As you can see, it's a slow
daag
.”

“Where's Aden?”

“In the office. He's looking over paperwork from a gas company.”

Abigail nodded. Although Sadie was good with money, she was trusting Aden to decide which offer for the gas rights on their property was the best one. Aden had taken his time, which Abigail had appreciated. “Are you sure you don't need any help?”

“
Nee
, I don't. Besides, you're being rude to Asa.”

That was true. A stab of guilt went through her.
Don't be such a coward.
She could walk into the kitchen and pretend what had happened between them never happened. She'd tell Asa she didn't need his help with her books anymore. Sadie could help her, which was true, and she would when she caught up with the store's paperwork, which seemed endless. Abigail would put an end to spending time with Asa. She had to. She didn't trust herself to be alone with him, not after that kiss.

She mentally went over what she would say to him as she went back to the house. “Asa,” she said, walking into the kitchen, putting her hand on her abdomen to steady her nerves.

But he wasn't there. She looked at the table. Her box of receipts was empty and put in neat stacks. The notebook was open on the table, and as she neared, she could see that he had organized the top page into columns. Debits. Credits. Expenditures. He'd also written down each receipt. He'd done all this in twenty minutes? She glanced at the clock. She'd been gone almost an hour.

She peered at the notebook. There was a folded sheet of paper sticking out from under it. She pulled it out and opened it.

Receipts organized and recorded. It's a start. In more ways than one.

Abigail's eyes widened as she caught his meaning. She sat down at the table. What was she going to do now?

D
uring the next week, Abigail didn't see Asa. Not that she expected to. He was busy working at Barton Plastics, and she was busy with her job at the store and weaving and knitting when she wasn't working there. Sadie was happy to see that Abigail was taking the bookkeeping seriously. “I'm glad you decided to write down the items on the spreadsheet,” she said after Abigail had rung up a customer who bought one of Sol's birdhouses.

“I know. I should have been doing it more consistently before now.” Which was true. But she had forgotten to do it before. Or more accurately, she couldn't be bothered. But after seeing what Asa had done with her own receipts, she realized it would be a lot easier to keep up with everything if she focused on keeping good records.

It's a start . . .

Her face reddened as she remembered his note, then remembered the kiss. It was nearly a week since he'd kissed her, and she was in her room working on a rag rug, this one a little more
colorful than she'd made before. She'd ordered the fabric last week, and the light pinks, blues, greens, and yellows would be perfect for a baby or child's room. As she wove she tried to focus on the rug and not on Asa, or his kiss, or the way she felt as he had showed her in the mirror what he liked about her.

She had a hard time believing he was serious, mostly because it didn't make sense. It's not like they were friends growing up. Or that they had spent enough time together for there to be a connection between them. But their kiss had proven there was.

After working on the rug for an hour, she glanced out the window. The sun was shining. It had been such a snowy, cold, and dreary winter, including this whole month of March, that she couldn't resist standing by the window and basking in the sunlight. There was plenty of snow on the ground, but it was melting, and the icicles that hung from the roof were steadily dripping. She glanced at the small clock on her bedside table. Lunchtime.

She went to the kitchen and started preparing lunch for her, Sadie, and Aden. She wasn't a good cook like Joanna. She was barely a passable one. But Sadie and Aden had been very busy this week and she had taken over the meal preparation. Today they were having leftover vegetable soup and cheese sandwiches.

She'd set the soup pot on the stove when she heard a knock on the back door. It was Sol. She opened the door and let him in. “Hi,” she said, then went back to the stove in the kitchen. She adjusted the heat underneath the pot.

“Hi.” He didn't come far into the kitchen, as was Sol's usual way. She glanced at him again. Was he waiting for an invitation? “Do you need something?”

“Sadie mentioned that Asa Bontrager was helping you with
yer
bookkeeping.”

Abigail paused, then nodded. “
Ya
.”

“How's that working out for you?”

The kiss flashed in her mind and she almost let out a sigh. Checking herself, she said, “He knows what he's doing.”
He sure does . . .

Sol's brow furrowed. “Think he'd mind giving me some advice? I haven't had time to keep track of
mei
books—been too busy making the birdhouses.”

“Sure. I know for a fact he'd want to.”

“If you see him before me, could you let him know?”

Abigail didn't plan to see him at all, but she nodded. “
Ya.
Do you want some lunch?”

He shook his head. “I just dropped off a few more birdhouses. I usually eat lunch with
Mamm
anyway.”

Abigail smiled. She appreciated Sol's devotion to his mother. “If you ever change
yer
mind, you're welcome anytime. Rhoda too.”

“
Danki
.” His mouth quirked in a small smile and there was a little life in his green eyes. He was nice-looking. But nothing compared to Asa.

She had to throw up a mental stop sign. And she had to figure out how to get Asa out of her mind.

Sol left, and Abigail continued preparing lunch. She was setting out bowls when she heard another knock on the back door and gripped the edge of a bowl midair. She set down the bowl, walked through the mudroom, and saw Asa. What was he doing here? He waved at her through the door's window, but she couldn't move. She also couldn't let him stand outside. When she opened the door, a gust of cold wind blew in. It might be sunny outside and spring on the calendar, but winter wasn't ready to let go. “Why aren't you at work?”

“Hello to you too.” But he grinned as he said the words and shut the door behind him. “I took half a day off.” He peered around her shoulder. “Something smells delicious.”

“I'm making lunch—”

“
Gut.
I'm starving.”

“I don't remember inviting you to stay.”

His grin widened. “You haven't asked me to leave either.” Then his smile dimmed. “You're not, are you?”

He looked so earnest and worried she forgot her nervousness. “
Nee.
You don't have to leave.”

He walked inside and slipped off his coat. When she took it from him, he moved toward her and she instinctively backed up to the counter. Surely he wasn't going to kiss her right here in the kitchen when Sadie could walk in on them at any time? And if she was so worried about that, then why was she licking her lips, preparing herself for his kiss?

But he didn't. He kept a respectable distance between them, despite the fact that she could see he wanted the same thing she did.

“Maybe this isn't such a
gut
idea,” she said.

“So you
are
avoiding me.”

She held on to his coat. “
Nee.
We've both been working. That's not avoiding.”

“You haven't been over to see Joanna this week.”

Usually she tried to visit Joanna at least once during the week. The bad weather this winter had kept her off that schedule, but that wasn't the case this week. She'd kept her distance from her sister for a good reason. “How do you know I haven't seen her?”

“Because I went by each evening to see if you were there.”

Her breath caught.

“Don't worry. They didn't know I was there for you. I have a standing invitation to supper over there. It's nice not to have to eat alone.” He took one step forward. “But every night I hoped you would be there.”

Any other time she would appreciate such straightforwardness. But this was too overwhelming. “Asa,” she said, her voice sounding raspy and dry. She swallowed and tried again. “I think we should forget what happened the other day.”

“Did you want
yer
receipts organized another way?”

“I'm not talking about that and you know it.”

He nodded and took off his hat, then ran his fingers through his dark hair, which fluffed up the locks and made him look irresistible. Was he doing that on purpose? She turned away. “Sadie should be here any minute.”

“Is that
yer
way of warning me not to kiss you?”

She jerked her head toward him. “
N-nee
—”

“Don't worry. I'm not going to. I did want to talk to you about it, though.”

She folded his coat over her arm, hugging it tightly against her. “Why do we need to talk about it?”

“Why not?”

Because I want you to kiss me again.
“Because it's weird . . . talking about kissing. People don't talk about stuff like that. It's too . . . personal.”

He took another step toward her, and out of the corner of her eye she could see him lay his hat down on the counter. “I don't want you to think I
geh
around kissing just anybody.”

That thought had crossed her mind. She was sure he'd had plenty of girlfriends in the past. Someone as kind and fun to be around as he was probably had every woman in Shipshewana after him.

“Actually,” he continued. “You're the first
maedel
I've ever kissed.”

She rolled her eyes. Did he really expect her to believe that? When she and Joel first kissed, it had been awkward, mostly for her because she had no idea what she was doing. Kissing Asa had been different. There was more tenderness, more . . . everything. Which made her think he had a
lot
of experience. But when she looked at him, doubt crept in. Gone was the easy confidence he'd had when he first arrived. He seemed bashful. Even a little lost. She realized he was telling the truth. “I'm
yer
first kiss?”

“
Ya
.”

“But I thought . . .” She couldn't admit she was thinking he was some kind of Amish ladies' man. “I'm surprised, that's all.”

“I'm glad it was with you. And I know you're still getting over Joel and I don't want to push you, but I can't be anything but honest with you. I care about you. I want to spend time with you. I want to date you. I want to be
yer
boyfriend. I want . . .” He paused. “I want . . .”

The kitchen door opened and Sadie came inside. “Something smells
gut
.” She looked at Asa. “Hi,” she said, looking a little surprised. “I didn't know you were here.”

Asa took a step back and smiled as if he hadn't said some of the most amazing words she'd ever heard. “I wanted to ask Abigail if she needed any more help with her record keeping.” He looked at Abigail. “Right?”

Abigail slowly nodded. Apparently he didn't mind telling a little white lie to Sadie. Which was good since Abigail's mouth couldn't form a single word.

“What a great idea,” Sadie replied. “Whatever you said to her last week is working. She's recording all the sales now so we
can keep better track of inventory, and she's like a new person behind the cash register.”

Asa glanced at Abigail, a twinkle in his eye. “Is that so?”

“
Ya
.” Sadie sat at the table. “You're staying for lunch, then?”

“If it's all right with Abigail.”

“
Ya
.” At least she could say that. She left the kitchen to hang up Asa's coat, still reeling from what he'd told her.

When she returned, Sadie and Asa sat at the table and started talking about accounting. It wasn't long before the conversation went over her head and she focused on serving lunch, which was better than thinking about her confused emotions. She put Asa's bowl in front of him, but he barely noticed.

“So you're looking at outside investments?” he asked Sadie, who at least touched her spoon when she glanced at her bowl.

“Not necessarily. More like expansion, and allowing more cottage industries to be featured in the store. It's not all about the money.”

“What system are you using to keep track of the different accounts?”

Abigail put the plate of sandwiches on the table and then sat down as Sadie explained some kind of accounting system that sounded complex and detailed. But Asa was listening with rapt attention. He was interested in what Sadie was saying, and she seemed eager to talk about it.

Abigail cleared her throat. “Lunch is ready. Soup's probably getting cold.”

They both looked at her as if her words had brought them out of some accounting dreamland where everything was numbers and lists and balance sheets and dollar signs. She bowed her head in silent prayer. Then they began to eat.

Sadie and Asa continued their conversation during the meal until Abigail's eyes glazed over. While Asa was talking about things she didn't understand and, honestly, thought were as exciting as watching a mopped floor dry, she noted his enthusiasm. He really did have a passion for bookkeeping, and it didn't matter that it didn't make sense to her. She liked seeing him fully engaged, confident and knowledgeable. There was so much to admire about him. His intelligence, his ability to be there when she needed him, and his honesty. She had been on the receiving end of betrayal. She wouldn't go through that again.

Perhaps with Asa, she wouldn't have to. But it wouldn't be wise to get involved with him. She had to follow her mind, not her emotions. She didn't understand why he was interested in her. She didn't have beauty or brains. Not that she was stupid, but she wasn't as bright as him. Why, out of all the women in Birch Creek and Shipshewana, had he chosen her to kiss? To date? It didn't make sense.

Sadie finished her soup and sandwich and stood. “I better get back to the store.” She looked at Abigail. “Do you mind if I take Aden's lunch to him? He wants to redo the tool display again, and he's been spending the morning taking measurements. When he gets like this I can't get him to take a break to eat. I figure if I take the food to him there's a fifty-fifty chance he'll eat it.”

“Sure.” Abigail found a thick plastic bowl with a lid and poured soup into it, then set a cheese sandwich on top.

“
Danki
,” Sadie said. As she headed for the mudroom, she added, “I appreciate the ideas, Asa. I think it will really help make the accounting more streamlined.”