Sarasota Dreams (60 page)

Charles steeled himself against his own emotion to be strong for Pop. “Don’t do this to yourself. Remember that the Lord is in control, and He chose to send her to safety. Now He wants us to pick ourselves up and do what we have to do to bring some normalcy back to our lives.”

Pop cleared his throat and stared straight ahead for a few seconds. “Normal has changed for us.”

“And that’s what we wanted, right?”

“Yes.” Pop closed his eyes again, only this time Charles could tell he was praying.

When they got to the Yoders’ house, Mrs. Yoder ran outside, clearly eager to tell them something. Her eyes were lit up, and she was smiling, so Charles assumed the news was good.

“We found a small house for you to rent,” she said. “It’s a few blocks from here, and you will be within walking distance from almost anything you need.”

“That’s good, but I wonder how long it’ll be before we can sign a lease. The insurance company needs to investigate before they give us any money.”

Mrs. Yoder continued smiling. “You don’t have to worry about that for now. We’ve already taken up a collection for the first month’s expenses, so you can move right in.”

Charles almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Most of the people in this community had modest incomes, so their generosity had to come from deep in their hearts.

“We can’t accept something like that,” Pop said, although he was clearly as moved as Charles was. “It’s too much.”

Mrs. Yoder appeared crestfallen. “But this is something we do for our own. Don’t let pride prevent you from accepting something the Lord wants us to do.”

Charles stepped closer to his father. “Pop,” he said softly, “I think we should accept.”

“I’ve never … Well, no one has ever been that generous with us, first of all, and secondly, I’ve always been the one to do the giving,” Pop admitted.

“That’s all the more reason we should take what they’re offering,” Charles said. “I remember you saying how good it felt to give to others.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right, and my pride is too big for my own good.” Pop swallowed hard, looked at Mrs. Yoder, and forced a smile. “Thank you.”

Mrs. Yoder beamed with joy. “We love serving.” A momentary cloud seemed to hover, and she added, “Most of us do, anyway.”

The grand opening for Fresh’s Yogurt Shop was on Saturday. Although Ruthie had mastered the machines and learned all about the ingredients so she could answer customers’ questions, her nerves were frazzled.

Mother tried to calm her during breakfast. “You’ll do just fine, Ruthie.”

“What if I spill something or I dump a cone of yogurt onto someone?”

“I doubt that’ll happen, but if it does, think of the worst thing that can happen.” Mother had used this throughout Ruthie’s life, but it still didn’t ease her worries. “Now go on to the shop. We’ll be praying for you.”

As Ruthie left the house, her thoughts wandered to her date with Charles. She couldn’t remember ever having such a wonderful time. The art museum was delightful, but even better was the feeling she got from simply being with Charles. He looked at her in a way that reminded her of how Papa looked at Mother, and the mere memory of it made her tingle. She felt safe and secure with Charles, even though they were in a place she’d never been. Ruthie had always had trouble adapting to new situations, but this one time was different. She sighed. Too bad the evening ended on such a sad note.

Ruthie had to walk past her family’s souvenir store on the way to Fresh’s, so she looked inside. Papa leaned against the counter talking to some men, and again, Rosemary was nowhere in sight. Acting on impulse, she pushed the door open and walked in. She had left the house a half hour early, so she had a little bit of time.

The men instantly stopped talking when they heard the bell on the door. Papa looked up at her and tried to smile, but she could tell he was unhappy about something.

“Is everything okay, Ruthie?” Papa asked.

Ruthie nodded. “I’m on my way to work. We have our grand opening today.”

Papa lifted a yogurt shop flyer from the counter and showed it to her. “I’ll hand these to all our customers today. Business should be good—at least on your first day.”

“I hope so,” she said, although a part of her wanted no one to walk through the doors. “I just wanted to stop by and see you since you left before I got to the breakfast table.” She leaned around the counter and looked toward the office, the door barely ajar. “Where’s Rosemary?”

Papa pointed. “She stays in the office most of the day. I try to get her to come out, but she doesn’t like being on the sales floor.”

Ruthie understood how Rosemary felt, but she suspected there was something more to Rosemary’s reluctance to help customers than shyness. “Does she come out when you have to leave?”

Papa nodded. “Ya. That’s the only time she does though.”

What Ruthie wanted more than anything at the moment was for Papa to tell her he needed her to come back and that it was all a mistake to send her to another job. But he didn’t. She’d just have to put in her time, and hopefully he’d ask her to return when he was satisfied that she had enough experience away from the family business.

“Have a good day, Ruthie, and don’t worry. You’ll do just fine.”

Right before she got to the door, the men started talking again. When she overheard one of the men lambasting Papa for being so welcoming to the Polks, her stomach churned. She’d already heard about how a small handful of people from the church had gone to the authorities and claimed they had reason to believe the Polks had set the fire.

Anyone who spoke to Charles, Mr. Polk, or Mrs. Polk for any amount of time and got to know them would know that wasn’t true. There was no doubt in Ruthie’s mind that they were sincere in their quest to learn about the Lord. She’d also seen Charles’s face when he heard about the fire, and based on how lost he suddenly appeared, he clearly had nothing to do with it.

Ruthie arrived at Fresh’s at the same time as Zeke, another part-time worker, who was just as nervous as she was. “Part of me wants to be busy, but if we’re too busy, I’m afraid I’ll mess up,” Zeke said. “But I suppose we should pray for a successful grand opening so we will be able to keep our jobs.”

The thought that she didn’t want to keep this job flickered through her mind. Papa had tried to explain how she needed to get out and experience something besides their family business for a while, but she didn’t get the point. Why change something that didn’t need to be changed? She also had a bad feeling about Rosemary. She’d overheard Papa telling Mother last night that he always had to go over the books after Rosemary finished because she made so many mistakes. Ruthie had seen Rosemary in action, and she knew that Rosemary was competent in math. She didn’t think Rosemary was sabotaging the shop, but her mind and heart obviously weren’t in what she was doing.

Fortunately, early morning grand-opening business trickled in slowly and gradually increased over the course of the day. By midafternoon, they were packed, but Ruthie had gained enough confidence to handle the crowd. She even enjoyed helping customers decide what flavor to choose. Fortunately her boss encouraged them to offer samples.

Mr. Fresh staggered the workers’ breaks, letting two of them take off fifteen minutes at a time. She was glad she had her break with Zeke. She’d known him since high school, when his family moved to Sarasota from Tennessee. Zeke’s family was different from most of the other Mennonites in Pinecraft, and he had a way of making Ruthie laugh. As they sat in the back room talking, he cracked a few jokes then asked her if it was true that she was seeing the Polk boy. The way he asked was matter-of-fact rather than accusatory, so she didn’t mind answering. And he always had a silly grin that she found endearing.

“He seems like a nice enough guy,” Zeke said. “But I find it interesting he’s trying to break in at a time in his life some of us are trying to get out.”

Ruthie tilted her head in confusion. “Break in?”

“Ya, break in to the simple life. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be out there in the world.”

“That’s what rumspringa is for,” she said.

“My parents never went for that, and I didn’t want to upset them since my father has a bad heart.” He dropped his crooked grin as he reflected. “I don’t recall you having rumspringa either.”

“I never had the desire,” Ruthie said. “We better get back to work so the others can have a rest.”

Her shift was supposed to end at three, but Mr. Fresh asked her to stick around another hour if she didn’t have any other commitments. “You’re doing such a good job, Ruthie. The customers like you.”

He couldn’t have said anything to make her happier. Her last hour on the job flew by.

Mr. Fresh approached her with a wide smile as she took off her apron. “You did a wonderful job, Ruthie, and I hope you work here for a very long time.”

She smiled back. “Thank you, Mr. Fresh. I did the best I could.”

“Customers appreciate your quiet demeanor. You’re not pushy and they trust you.”

That small amount of flattery brightened her day. She hung up her apron and started her walk home. As she drew near her family’s store, she slowed down a bit but decided not to stop. Papa was inside talking to a customer, and she was pretty sure she could see the light on in the office at the back of the store, meaning Rosemary was still there. Papa never left lights on that he wasn’t using.

Mother glanced up from weeding the front flowerbed when she got home. “Oh hi, Ruthie. How was your first day on the job?”

Ruthie stopped and talked about the grand opening and how the crowd had been steady. Mother seemed pleased as she went back to her weeding. Ruthie went inside to wash the stickiness off her hands, arms, and face from the frozen yogurt that had splashed on her.

She still hadn’t heard anything about the Polks’ house. Mother might know something, so she decided to ask her.

Charles drove his pop to Penner’s, where they picked up Mom. Mr. Penner had told her she didn’t need to come to work, but she said she needed something to get her mind off the fire. She came out to the car looking haggard. “I take it you had a rough day,” Pop said.

She closed her eyes and leaned back against the backseat. “I don’t know why I thought working would help me get my mind off all we’re going through. Seems like everyone who came in today—at least the locals—asked what we planned to do.”

Pop glanced at Charles. “Tell you what. I’ll take you back to the Yoders’, and Charles and I will go look at the house we’re about to rent.”

Mom’s eyes opened as she bolted upright. “What?”

“The people from the church found us a house to rent, and they’re getting it ready for us. I’m surprised no one told you.”

Mom rubbed her forehead. “They might have, but the way I’ve been all day, it wouldn’t have registered unless someone came right out and handed me a set of house keys. Tell me about it.”

“All we know is that some of the people from the church found us a house, and they’re getting it ready for us to move into.”

“Did you get the insurance money yet?”

“No, not yet,” Pop said. He explained how generous some of the families were by paying all the house-related expenses for the first month. “I plan to pay them back, of course, but at least we won’t have to worry about things for a few weeks.”

Mom sat staring out the window in a daze as Pop told her that the fire marshal had promised to expedite the investigation so they could deal with the insurance company and move on with their lives. “What if they find something suspicious?” she asked. “Will we have to prove our innocence?”

“Don’t worry so much, Lori,” Pop said. “Let’s continue to pray about it and trust that the Lord will protect us.”

“I don’t want to go back to the Yoders’ now,” Mom said. “I’d rather go with you and Charles.”

Charles made a quick decision to do something he’d been wanting to do all day. “Tell you what. The two of you can go to the house, and I’ll visit Ruthie. I’d like to see how her new job went.”

Mom and Pop agreed, so he drove straight to the new frozen yogurt shop, where he got out so Pop could take over at the wheel. After Mom got in the front passenger seat, he closed the door and waved as they pulled away from the curb. Then he went inside to see Ruthie at her new job. But she wasn’t there. Frustration welled in his chest. Seeing Ruthie could make all his worries seem less … well, less worrisome.