Read Online Orchard of Hope by Ann H. Gabhart - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Ann H. Gabhart
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about it much before, but I’m going to start high school. I don’t want to still look like a sixth grader.”
“You won’t. You’re way too tall. I’ll bet you’ve grown an inch this summer.”
“Two inches, but all up and none out in the right places.”
“You will. I promise. Any day now. Some girls just take a little longer to develop than others.”
“I only have two weeks till school starts.”
“Well, it might not happen by then,” Leigh admitted.
“I know. I thought about praying about it. Dad says the Lord wants us to pray about everything, but I wasn’t sure about a give-me-boobs prayer.” Jocie looked over at Leigh. “I probably shouldn’t even say ‘boobs.’ That’s not a very nice word, but ‘Lord, please give me breasts’ sounds like I want the first pick off a plate of fried chicken.”
Leigh laughed again. “Jocie, you’re one of a kind. But you know what? The Bible says the Lord knows what we need. And I know he’s going to develop you into the most beautiful girl in Hollyhill.”
Leigh had said it as if she really believed it, but Jocie had a mirror. She could see what she looked like. Big eyes, wide mouth, an okay nose, brown hair that just sort of hung there on her head. Most of the time she didn’t give a thought to how she looked. She was too busy to worry about makeup and curling her hair. Maybe before she started high school she needed to buy some lipstick and one of those glass bottles of makeup that Paulette, her friend here at church, dabbed all over her face and then smoothed out with her fingers.
Jocie’s dad must have been watching out his Sunday school window too, because he met Leigh halfway across the yard. He wasn’t running away from the idea of Leigh liking him anymore. Far from it, from the smile Jocie could see on his face as he welcomed Leigh to Mt. Pleasant as if this was her very first Sunday there, when in fact she’d been coming every Sunday for two months. Jocie wouldn’t have been surprised to see him lean down and kiss Leigh. Maybe not on the lips right there in the middle of the churchyard, but on the cheek. But he didn’t. He just took her hand and smiled.
Of course, with the way Zella said Jocie’s dad was backward in the romantic department, he might not have kissed Leigh on the lips even if they’d been standing all alone in the dark on the tiny landing outside Leigh’s apartment. Jocie had told Zella her father wasn’t backward, just out of practice. After all, it had been eight years since Jocie’s mother had packed her bags in the middle of the night and left. As far as Jocie knew, her father hadn’t kissed any females since then except her and maybe Aunt Love and Tabitha now that she was home, and that wasn’t exactly the kind of kiss Zella was talking about. Zella was talking about the kind of kiss she read about in the romance novels she kept hidden in her desk drawer at the paper.
Wes said that reading about it was the only way Zella could know anything about kissing, since if any man had ever kissed her it had been so long ago that she wouldn’t be able to remember a thing about it. But whether she had experience or not, Zella had set herself up as matchmaker and romantic expert on the premises at the newspaper office and as the final authority on how things should be between Jocie’s dad and Leigh.
But now, as David and Leigh stood out in the middle of the yard together, the sun seemed brighter where it shone on them. It might have just been her yellow dress and his white shirt, but the air sort of radiated around them, and they looked as if they might have stepped out of a romance novel.
Beside her at the window, Murray had run out of cookie and let out a squeal for more. Jocie’s dad looked around and saw them in the window. He waved and so did Leigh. The shaft of sunlight that had spotlighted them melted away, and they drifted over to where some other people were talking before going in for church.
The warning
“You won’t. You’re way too tall. I’ll bet you’ve grown an inch this summer.”
“Two inches, but all up and none out in the right places.”
“You will. I promise. Any day now. Some girls just take a little longer to develop than others.”
“I only have two weeks till school starts.”
“Well, it might not happen by then,” Leigh admitted.
“I know. I thought about praying about it. Dad says the Lord wants us to pray about everything, but I wasn’t sure about a give-me-boobs prayer.” Jocie looked over at Leigh. “I probably shouldn’t even say ‘boobs.’ That’s not a very nice word, but ‘Lord, please give me breasts’ sounds like I want the first pick off a plate of fried chicken.”
Leigh laughed again. “Jocie, you’re one of a kind. But you know what? The Bible says the Lord knows what we need. And I know he’s going to develop you into the most beautiful girl in Hollyhill.”
Leigh had said it as if she really believed it, but Jocie had a mirror. She could see what she looked like. Big eyes, wide mouth, an okay nose, brown hair that just sort of hung there on her head. Most of the time she didn’t give a thought to how she looked. She was too busy to worry about makeup and curling her hair. Maybe before she started high school she needed to buy some lipstick and one of those glass bottles of makeup that Paulette, her friend here at church, dabbed all over her face and then smoothed out with her fingers.
Jocie’s dad must have been watching out his Sunday school window too, because he met Leigh halfway across the yard. He wasn’t running away from the idea of Leigh liking him anymore. Far from it, from the smile Jocie could see on his face as he welcomed Leigh to Mt. Pleasant as if this was her very first Sunday there, when in fact she’d been coming every Sunday for two months. Jocie wouldn’t have been surprised to see him lean down and kiss Leigh. Maybe not on the lips right there in the middle of the churchyard, but on the cheek. But he didn’t. He just took her hand and smiled.
Of course, with the way Zella said Jocie’s dad was backward in the romantic department, he might not have kissed Leigh on the lips even if they’d been standing all alone in the dark on the tiny landing outside Leigh’s apartment. Jocie had told Zella her father wasn’t backward, just out of practice. After all, it had been eight years since Jocie’s mother had packed her bags in the middle of the night and left. As far as Jocie knew, her father hadn’t kissed any females since then except her and maybe Aunt Love and Tabitha now that she was home, and that wasn’t exactly the kind of kiss Zella was talking about. Zella was talking about the kind of kiss she read about in the romance novels she kept hidden in her desk drawer at the paper.
Wes said that reading about it was the only way Zella could know anything about kissing, since if any man had ever kissed her it had been so long ago that she wouldn’t be able to remember a thing about it. But whether she had experience or not, Zella had set herself up as matchmaker and romantic expert on the premises at the newspaper office and as the final authority on how things should be between Jocie’s dad and Leigh.
But now, as David and Leigh stood out in the middle of the yard together, the sun seemed brighter where it shone on them. It might have just been her yellow dress and his white shirt, but the air sort of radiated around them, and they looked as if they might have stepped out of a romance novel.
Beside her at the window, Murray had run out of cookie and let out a squeal for more. Jocie’s dad looked around and saw them in the window. He waved and so did Leigh. The shaft of sunlight that had spotlighted them melted away, and they drifted over to where some other people were talking before going in for church.
The warning
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