Orchard of Hope (23 page)

He had hinted he might the day before when he’d stopped by the courthouse. He hadn’t said he would. She hadn’t asked him if he would, but there was some kind of unspoken promise between them. And then he hadn’t.

She’d walked three extra turns around the field until the sun had gotten higher in the sky and hotter. The heat was merciless now. The night before she’d put a bowl of ice on a tray in front of the fan to try to cool off her apartment enough that she could sleep. And this morning the grass out in the outfield was extra crisp under her feet. Every time she passed home plate she said a little prayer. “Please, Lord, send us some rain, and bless David wherever he is.”

She’d wanted to pray,
Let David come to the park today
, but she hadn’t. That didn’t seem to be a proper prayer.
Bless
David. Be with David. Thank you for David.
Those sounded okay and she’d been praying them for months. But she felt uncomfortable asking for David to love her. Maybe her mother was right and she shouldn’t be chasing after a preacher. Maybe it was unseemly. It had surely been unseemly the way she had demanded David kiss her that morning last week. He’d come out to the park to walk with her a few times since then before he had to start taking Jocie to school every day, but there had never been the first sign that he might be thinking about kissing her again.

At least he did still seem to want to talk to her. He came by the courthouse every day. Sometimes twice a day. She hadn’t gone by the newspaper office to see him. Mostly because Zella was about to drive Leigh crazy wanting to know every detail of what was happening between David and her. And some things a person didn’t necessarily want to tell. Some things a girl just had to hold close to her heart and savor. And she had all week long, and then this morning when she’d been so sure David would come walk with her, he hadn’t. The doubts began to seep in.

Maybe David thought she was unseemly. Ungainly. Too fat. Ugly. Pushy. Maybe he’d noticed how she sometimes snorted when she laughed. Leigh had always hated doing that, but sometimes a snort just came out right in the middle of a laugh. The only way she knew to stop it was to not laugh, and that seemed a little severe. She liked to laugh. But sitting there on the old wooden stands with splinters poking into her legs, she felt more like crying than laughing. Until she saw the dust following the car up the road to the ball field. She stood up and then sat back down. Should she climb down and go meet David as if he’d come calling at her house? Or should she stay where she was and wait for him to come up to her? Why did she have to worry about every move she made? Why couldn’t she just do what felt right?

She knew the answer to that. If she did what she wanted to, she’d climb off the bleachers, run to meet David, and throw her arms around him. But she remembered the worry about being unseemly and held herself back. David had told her straight out that she wouldn’t have to ask for a kiss the next time, so she just had to force herself to wait.

David pulled the car up right beside the bleachers, opened the door, and got out. The dust cloud the car had raised drifted up and over the field and the bleachers. Through it, Leigh could see Wes in the backseat of the car. Leigh forgot about being coy and climbed down off the bleachers as fast as she could. When she got to the ground, David was there waiting.

“Is something wrong with Wes?” she asked, looking past David toward the car. Wes stuck his hand out the open window to wave at her.

“You mean besides the usual mashed leg and Jupiter stubbornness?” David smiled and didn’t wait for her to answer. “No. We’re just on the way to the office. I wanted him to check over the press.”

“Oh, good. I was scared something was wrong. I mean, I don’t know why you’d be coming out here to the park if something was wrong.” Leigh looked at David. “I guess I might not know why you’d be coming out here to the park anyway. It’s not exactly on the way to the newspaper office.”

“Wes insisted.”

“Oh,” Leigh said. “And why did he do that?”

“He thought you might still be here walking.”

“Was he planning to walk with me or something?”

“More like ‘or something.’ He’s playing Cupid.”

Leigh could feel her cheeks going red, but it was so hot, David might think she was flushed from the heat. “So, you’re only here because Wes wanted you to come?”

David reached over and laid his hand on Leigh’s cheek. He dropped his voice to where only she could hear. “No, that’s not right at all. I wasn’t here earlier because Wes needed me to have coffee with him. I’m worried about him. You’ll understand when you see him. But Wes, he must read minds or something, and he knew he’d kept me away from seeing you so he insisted we come. He said you might be waiting for me.”

Leigh put her hand over David’s on her cheek. She could feel her heart beating. His touch was almost as good as a kiss. “I guess he can read minds long distance too.”

“I’m glad you were still here,” David said. “I was thinking. Maybe we could go out and get something to eat tonight.”

Leigh’s heart did a somersault. “That would be great.”

“I could drive over to Grundy and meet you somewhere or come by your parents’ house if that would be better.”

“No, no. I’ll be back in Hollyhill by then,” Leigh said quickly. She still needed time to convince her mother that David was the perfect man for her. She didn’t want her mother’s disapproval to put a damper on this first date. A real “he asked me out” date and not something she’d just pushed him into doing.

“There aren’t many restaurants in Hollyhill,” David said.

Leigh heard reservation in his voice. “Are you worried about people seeing us together here in town?”

David smiled. “No. I just wanted to take you somewhere nice. Zella says I need candles on the table.”

“Zella reads too many books. Anywhere would be fine with me. The Grill. Hillside Drive-in. Peanut butter sandwiches at the
Banner
.” Leigh stopped talking and made a face. “Gee, I probably sound too eager.”

David laughed. “You sound just perfect. Makes an old man like me feel good, but we can probably do better than peanut butter at the office. Let me think on it today and surprise you.”

“I like surprises,” Leigh said. “Good surprises anyway.”

Then David surprised both of them by pulling her close to him in a hug and kissing her quickly on the lips. It was a good thing he offered her a ride home after that. Her legs were way too weak to do much walking.

24

Jocie dusted and swept as fast as she could, but it was still nearly noon before she pumped up her bike tires and headed for the
Banner
office. As she pedaled down the road, she kept an eye out for her father. She wouldn’t have been surprised to meet him and Wes on the way home. She pedaled faster and prayed the chain on her bike wouldn’t slip off.

It just wasn’t fair. She was supposed to be there at the office when Wes went back to work. She could have done the dusting any time, or Tabitha could have surely dusted this one time. But Aunt Love never asked Tabitha to do anything. It was as if expecting a baby was a full-time, allconsuming job. Actually Tabitha had looked too miserable to dust or anything else that morning. She’d sit awhile and then get up and walk around the room.

“How much longer do you have to go?” Jocie had asked her on one of her trips through the living room to the bathroom.

“Four, five weeks. Way too long.”

“A month isn’t all that long,” Jocie said, trying to help.

“It’s forever. I feel like a bloated hippopotamus.” Tabitha sent Jocie a mean look. “And don’t you dare say I look like one too.”

“I wasn’t even thinking it.” Jocie held up her hands and waved the dust rag like a white flag. “You want me to get you some ice water?”

To Jocie’s horror, Tabitha broke out in tears.

“What’s the matter with you, Tabitha? Is something hurting extra bad?”

“I’m all right,” Tabitha said between sobs.

“You don’t sound all right,” Jocie said. “Should we call the doctor?”

Aunt Love came in from the kitchen. “She’s okay, child. Sometimes an expectant mother just gets a little teary.” She pulled a handkerchief out of some secret pocket on her dress and handed it to Tabitha.

“Is she going to cry like this till the baby comes?”

“Probably not every day.” Aunt Love put her arm around Tabitha and steered her on toward the bathroom.

By the time Jocie had finished dusting, Tabitha had mopped up the tears and was taking a nap while Aunt Love rocked on the front porch and counted stitches in her latest baby blanket. The baby wouldn’t need a blanket if things didn’t cool off before she was born.

The sun was relentless as it beat down on Jocie, sucking up every drop of moisture and melting the blacktop under her tires. The Sawyers’ dog, Butch, just raised his head and watched her ride by from his place on the shady front porch. “Smart dog,” Jocie said through lips so dry they were beginning to stick together.

Jocie was relieved to see her father’s car still parked in the back of the building when she got there. “Hey, everybody, where are you?” she called as she went in the back door.

“Just the girl I wanted to see,” Wes said. “Come on over here and hold this screwdriver for me.”

Jocie went over to where Wes was peering down into the press. She took the screwdriver while Wes scooted his crutches up closer to the press. He looked pale, but happier than she’d seen him for a while. “You want me to tighten some screws or something?”

“Naw. I was just poking around on her some to see what she might be needing, but I think she’s fine.” He patted the side of the press. “I sort of missed old Betsy Lou here.”

“I didn’t know you’d given the press a name.”

“I just thought it up right now,” Wes said.

“How do you know it’s a girl?” Jocie asked.

“Because she’s always squeaking and complaining.”

“Hey, that’s not a nice thing to say.” Jocie laughed and gave his arm a little poke before she looked around. “Where’s Dad?”

“He went to get us a soda pop down at the A&P Store. And he said he might stop and ask Harry Saunders and some others about Sidewalk Days next weekend. Maybe take a couple of pictures.” Wes leaned his shoulder against the press. “I told him I’d be fine here by myself.”

“You look a little pale,” Jocie said. “Maybe you should sit down awhile.”

“Could be you’re right. Get me that chair over there. Then after we rest a minute I might see if I can make it up the stairs.”

“I’m not sure that would be a good idea,” Jocie said as she helped Wes sit down in the chair. “What if you lost your balance or something?”

“When did you turn into such a worrywart?” Wes laid his crutches down on the floor beside him.

“I don’t know. Maybe since a tree fell on you.”

“Well, it’s time you got over it and quit whatiffing everything. Look for what-if smashers instead. Say if I lost my balance, I’d just grab hold of you.”

“Then we’d both fall.”

“Naw. You’d have Jupiter strength and save the day. Failing that, if I thought I was going to get top heavy, I’d sit down on the steps and scoot up on my backside.” Wes lifted his leg and propped his cast up on a box. He took a deep breath. “Ahh. It’s good to be home.”

“Don’t you like being home with us?”

“No, I like visiting you.”

“But you don’t even have a telephone up there to call somebody if you needed something.” As Wes peered over at her, she added, “I mean, I might think that might be a problem if I was a worrywart.”

“Then it’s a good thing you aren’t one of them things ’cause I ain’t getting no telephone, but no need worrywarting about that now. I promised your daddy I’d stay at Brooke Central Station till after I go to the doctor. Besides, I got more interesting news.”

“News?”

“Breaking news on the romance front.”

“Have you been talking to Zella?”

“No, I’ve been witnessing progress.”

“Between Dad and Leigh?” Jocie asked.

“That’s the romance I’m talking about. Your daddy has asked her to supper.”

“Not some kind of church supper? He asked her out on a real date?”

“No church anything. He not only asked her out, he gave her a kiss when she said she’d go.”

“How do you know all this?” Jocie frowned a little, not sure she should believe him.

“I was there. Witnessed it all firsthand.” Wes raised his right hand up as if swearing himself in to tell the truth.

“That’s scary,” Jocie said.

“Scary? Why scary?”

“I don’t know. It just is. My dad kissing a girl right out in front of somebody.”

“Well, I was pretending to be snoozing, but a Jupiterian can see right through his eyelids. A handy trick sometimes.”

Jocie laughed. It was so good having Wes acting like his old self. And while she couldn’t quite imagine her father kissing Leigh, it didn’t bother her that he had. “Don’t tell Zella. She’d never get over you knowing about the first kiss before she did.”

“I ain’t got no way of knowing if it’s the first kiss. It’s just the first one I saw.”

“The first what you saw?” Jocie’s father asked as he came back in the pressroom with a carton of soft drinks.

“Newspaper press,” Wes said and winked at Jocie. “I never had nothing to do with a newspaper press till I came to Hollyhill. Of course I’d tinkered around with lots of other machines like spaceships and motorcycles.”

“A newspaper press is probably a piece of cake after spaceships,” Jocie’s father said as he flipped off the tops of a couple of the soft drinks with the bottle opener and handed them to Wes and Jocie. “You think you’ve got the thing so it’ll make the run Tuesday?”

“Shh! Don’t be calling Betsy Lou a thing,” Wes said.

“Betsy Lou?”

“Wes named the press. Betsy Lou. It kind of fits,” Jocie told her father.

“I don’t care what it’s called as long as it spits out papers.”

“She will,” Wes said. “She’ll be ready to roll come Tuesday.”

“Why don’t you come back then too, Wes?” Jocie said. “You can boss me and Noah around. Make us work faster.”

“Be okay with me if I just stayed here till then,” Wes said.