Read Online For Every Season by Cindy Woodsmall - Free Book Online Page B

any more afterward than you know now. That’s the way it is with Sandra.”
    “Oh.”
    Had she become useless to Jacob? That was a silly thought, rooted in insecurity. Sandra was just a part of his life that wasn’t open to her. Or anyone. He’d just shared more than usual. But what could they safely discuss?
    “Jacob, I’m lost here. Everything I want to talk about, I’m afraid to bring up, afraid it could break us. I have no experience with relationships. You know that. Please, I … I need your help.”
    He looked thoughtful. “Confusing, isn’t it?” He sounded sympathetic. A few minutes later he pulled off the road onto a graveled area. After staring ahead for several long moments, he turned to face her. His presence drew her as it had the day she first kissed him. She’d known then that he had secrets, but she hadn’t realized that meant he was so skilled at holding back his thoughts and feelings from her too.
    He squeezed the reins. “I’m not sure what to tell you, Rhodes.”
    She placed her hand over her aching chest. He’d used her nickname and done so with tenderness. Emotions pressed against her like water against a dam.
    His attention moved to her lips before he lowered his eyes. Was he thinking of Samuel kissing her? He took a deep breath. “The awkwardness betweenus can’t be resolved with a single decision or a brief conversation. It’ll have to fade on its own, little by little. Until it does, we have to act as normal as we know how. We need to spend time together until we stop thinking about that day.”
    She wanted him to kiss her. She longed to forget about Samuel’s lips against hers. “I’m glad you came to me.” Her voice cracked.
    “Me too. It helps … some.” He clicked his tongue, urging the horse back onto the road.
    What they needed was a little laughter. That’s what had drawn them together. Jacob had taught her to laugh. Something she’d long forgotten, even before her sister’s death.
    She inched closer. “What did the girl octopus say to the boy octopus?”
    A hint of a smile crossed his lips. “I’m a gurgle, gurgle, gurgle?”
    “No.” She freed her hands from the blanket and held them out. “May I hold your hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand?”
    He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “Is that the best you have?”
    “No. The best I have is you.”
    He splayed his fingers, and she intertwined hers with his.
    He gazed into her eyes, a smile slowly spreading across his face. “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”
    She grinned. “Are you hinting that I’m an angel or Lucifer?”
    He laughed. “Rhodes.” His correcting tone was pure jest, and hope filled her that he’d find his way through the darkness and to their future.

    The barn loft smelled of hay, and every movement caused a hollow, sandpaper-like echo against the old wood. Leah stood near Steven and Landon, searching through boxes they’d brought from Pennsylvania and trying to ignore Landon’s incessant whistling. They were hunting for the containers to make snares for codling moths. The contraptions weren’t needed right away, but Samuel wanted to know what supplies they had so he’d know what to order. After all, combating apple-eating pests throughout each season was nonstop work.
    Her hands ached. Her back hurt. She was hungry, tired, and cold. But she couldn’t stand to hear any more of her own griping, even the silent kind. “It was good to see Rhoda and Jacob arriving together.”
    “Ya.” Steven opened a box. “That was a welcome sight.”
    Rhoda’s brother didn’t sound as relieved as Leah thought he should be. It sort of confirmed some of her worries. Jacob and Rhoda were stiff throughout the day, and even though Rhoda had stayed for dinner the last two nights and Jacob had driven her home, they were more like strangers trying to get to know each other than a couple who’d had a spat.
    Leah decided to change the subject. “We’ve