A Daughter's Dream (11 page)

“It's good you're here then,” Jacob said. His tone was steady, but it was completely obvious that he knew she was hiding something.

Feeling warm, she smiled at him softly.

Lukas's bark of laughter interrupted the moment. “
Jah
. He hates talking on the phone more than anyone I've ever met. Will you handle his calls?”

“Of course I will. You know I'll help Simon with anything I can.” With effort, she kept her expression easy and open. It was difficult, though, because she hated lying.

“Gut
.
Danke
.
”

“Thanks ain't necessary.” Remembering what she'd offered Jacob, her cheeks flamed. “So, did you decide to visit the mill?”

“I would have, but after our conversation, I decided to do a little soul-searching, too. I came in for a job.”

“A job here?” She looked from Jacob to Lukas in confusion. “I thought you were farming your parents' land.”

“
Jah
. Well, like your teaching job, farming wasn't really a good fit for me.”

Lukas grinned. “
Jah
. It seems that there's more than one person in Charm who is searching for the right occupation.”

Knowing he was teasing, she raised her chin and tried to look full of herself. “Discovering the right path for one's future ain't all that easy, Lukas.”

Jacob grinned. “Oh, let him tease ya, Rebecca. The way I see it, I'm in pretty good company.”

His gentle flirting made her insides flutter. Afraid she was about to either say something silly or turn bright crimson, she
picked up one of the many pencils on her desk and started fiddling with it.

Lukas said, “Jake here has even more experience than I realized. I just hired him. He's going to work over in the far warehouse, building frames for Millers Builders.” Handing Rebecca a blue file folder, he added, “All the papers that he needs to fill out are inside. After he completes them, will you get him processed? He'll start next Monday.”

“Of course I will,” she replied as Lukas walked away. When they were alone, Rebecca smiled at Jacob. “Welcome to the Kinsinger family. I hope you will enjoy working here.”

He smiled back. “
Danke
, Rebecca. I'm glad to be here.”

She realized right then that she was glad he was there, too. She just wished his arrival hadn't come on the heels of rejecting Simon's request to court Amelia.

There was something very difficult about welcoming a man like Jacob into her life while putting up roadblocks for another man who had been nothing but kind to her for as long as she could remember.

T
he way Rebecca was looking at him made Jacob realize that he'd made the right decision. No matter how hard it had been to accept that he wasn't ever going to be able to take his brother's place and farm the land, it seemed the Lord was in complete agreement. How else could Jacob explain that Rebecca's sweet smile had been the first thing he'd encountered after accepting Lukas's generous job offer? He needed no other sign that he was doing the right thing.

Realizing he was staring at Rebecca foolishly, he clasped the folder Lukas had left on the counter. “It is
gut
to see ya. I trust you are still doing well?”

She tilted her head to one side and smiled softly. “I am. It looks like you are, too.”

“I am, indeed. Our little talk yesterday really helped. Thanks, again.”

“After talking with you I felt better, too.”

He loved how easily she blushed around him. He lifted up the file folder. “So, would you like me to read through all the paperwork and bring it back to you?”

She was still gazing at him like she had a secret. “Well, you
could do that, Jacob,” she said slowly. “But if you have the time, you could simply fill it out here. That way I'll be able to enter all your information in the computer. I can give you a key and a time card, too. And maybe even take you on a tour of the property, if you want one.”

He wanted one. Well, he wanted to spend more time with her. “You have time for that?”

“Today I do.” She ran a hand over the surface of a desktop that looked freshly polished.

“I guess that means you talked to Mrs. Mast.”

“I did. After we talked, I finally got up my nerve and told Rachel that I wasna going to be able to continue to help her out anymore.”

“I wondered if you did.” Noticing that she looked uneasy, he said, “So, how did she take it?”

“I'd be lying if I said she looked happy about my news, but it seemed to go well enough.”

“Based on what Lilly's told me, I think Mrs. Mast really cares about her students. Once she realizes that you weren't the best fit for her class, she'll come around.” Hoping to be encouraging, he brightened his tone. “I bet she already has.”

“I really hope so.” She bit her lip as a new shadow entered her expression. “She and I have been friends for a long time. It's hard telling a friend something they don't want to hear, you know?”

“I know. It's because you don't want to disappoint them.”

“
Jah
. Exactly.” The dimple popped in her check. “Anyway, now I am just going to be working here.”

That didn't sound like a bad thing at all. “So we'll be seeing each other all the time.”

She chuckled. “It would seem so.”

Jacob had a feeling that there was far more to that story, but it sure wasn't his place to prod her for more information. Instead, he picked up the folder, grabbed a pen from the container on her desk, and walked over to a nearby chair. After grabbing a magazine to use as a makeshift desk, he began completing the forms.

“Let me know if you have any questions about the papers,” Rebecca said as she straightened a stack of folders that didn't look like they needed straightening at all.

“I will, though none of it looks difficult.” Most of it was basic information: his address, contact information, and payment options. There were also questions about his transportation needs. Kinsinger offered van service to Amish workers in the morning and evening. He checked that he would need to be picked up and dropped off.

When he was almost done, he glanced at Rebecca. To his surprise, she was staring at him. Curious, he smiled at her.

She blinked, and immediately looked away.

Not wanting to embarrass her, he stared at one of the forms. But instead of carefully filling it out, his mind drifted back to Rebecca. What was she thinking?

Had she been staring at him?

And the way she'd averted her eyes? Well, it was almost like a shy schoolgirl around a crush. At least, that was how he remembered girls acting back when he'd been at school in Pinecraft.

Could it be that she felt the same attraction for him that he felt for her?

Ten minutes later, he finished everything and brought it to her. “Here you go.”

“Danke.”
Not quite meeting his eyes, she took it. “Now I just
need to enter everything in the computer. It will take about fifteen minutes or so.”

“I've got time.”

“I can do that for ya, Becky,” a petite young woman said brightly as she strode forward.

Rebecca turned to the girl. “It's new employee information. You're going to need to start a file for Jacob. Have you ever done that before?”

“I have.” The girl smiled at Jacob. “Are you a new employee?”

“I am. My name's Jacob Yoder.”

“Hiya. I'm Mercy Graber.” Her bright smile widened, showing a little gap between her two front teeth. “I'm kind of new, too. I've only been working at Kinsinger's for six months. And only at the reception desk for a couple of weeks.”

“She's already doing a
gut
job, though,” Rebecca said as she stood up. “How about I take you on that tour now?”

“Sounds
gut
.”

Mercy looked at him and Rebecca with a puzzled frown. “Oh, do you want me to do the tour? It's no—”

“
Nee
. I want you to input the paperwork,” Rebecca said firmly. “I will take Jacob around.”

“Oh!” Looking a little sheepish, Mercy smiled again. “All right. I understand now.”

Jacob could have sworn he heard Rebecca groan as she walked around her workstation. He did his best to keep his expression blank, though it was tempting to grin.

“Let's start in the back and work our way forward,” she said.

He waved a hand. “Lead and I'll follow.”

Looking a bit flustered, Rebecca strode forward, opened the front door, and motioned for him to join her.

When the door closed behind them, and Rebecca was practically marching toward the back of the property, Jacob spoke. “Do you not care for Mercy?”

“What? Oh, I like her fine.”

“Ah.”

Her steps slowed. “I guess I couldn't have been more obvious, huh? She's a good worker and tries hard. I just sometimes feel like I need to make it clear that she helps me, not the other way around.”

“I can understand that. That happened from time to time when I was working on jobs in Sarasota. Some men wanted to be in charge all the time, even when they didn't know what they were doing.”

She grinned. “Exactly. Mercy's enthusiasm sometimes needs to be tempered a bit. Or it might be a case of me needing to be more patient with her.” Turning, she said, “This here is the main gate, where all the big trucks load and unload shipments.”

He was impressed. “It's a big place. I didn't realize Kinsinger's covered so much property.”

“Before we asked all workers, both Amish and English, to get on email, we used to hire teenagers to run messages around. Those boys were constantly on the run. It's a big property with almost two hundred employees.”

“Quite a legacy to take care of.”

“I suppose it is,” she said. “Funny, I never thought of the company like that. In fact, I usually considered it a burden because my father spent more hours here than he did at home.” She closed her eyes, hating how selfish that made her sound. The mill had supported her family for years.

“Is that why you were working at the school?”

“Jah.”
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, then said, “I was trying to find my place. It's funny, but once Lukas pretty much assured me that I could leave and even got Mercy to fill in, I started realizing that I didn't want to leave my job as much as I thought I did.” After a moment, she rolled her eyes. “I also have to tell ya that those
kinner
scared me half to death.”

“Scared you?” Now, that caught him off guard. She seemed like a pretty confident woman. Her brother had also told him that she handled a lot of things at the company. Even though she'd said that she hadn't enjoyed her time at the Amish school, Jacob would have never thought that she would use a descriptor like that. “Most of those
kinner
weren't very big, Rebecca,” he teased.

“It wasn't their height that scared me, it was how demanding they were. Plus, I didn't always feel like I could help them.” Lowering her voice, she added, “That's what scared me the most. I hated that.”

“I feel that way with Lilly.”

“Rachel told me that Lilly is going to need some special instruction because she's so bright. Does that worry you?”

It felt good to talk about his insecurities. “Not at all,” he said after a moment. “I simply want her to be happy. To be frank, I'm kind of glad that she has something else to focus on. Those first few weeks after her parents died were so hard on her.”

“I can imagine.” Her voice sounded a little melancholy.

Jacob wondered if she was referring to her father's death. But before he could think of something suitable to say, she seemed to realize that they were standing motionless in the middle of the loading bay, and started walking again.

“I'll take you into each building,” she said over her shoulder. “But don't feel like you need to learn your way around. The men on your team will show you what to do and where to go on Monday.”

“Whatever you want to do is fine.”

She led him into a large warehouse. “This is where you will probably be working. It's where most of the carpenters work. We also keep all the special-order pieces of lumber here.”

“Special order?” He loved listening to her speak about Kinsinger Lumber. She might not realize it, but there was a lot of pride in her voice whenever she talked about her family's company.

“Like big slabs of redwood from the West Coast.”

Rebecca led the way around, exchanging greetings with most of the men in the warehouse. Every so often, she would stop and introduce him or explain a certain machine.

Jacob was impressed. Not just about the facility but how knowledgeable she was about pretty much every facet of the company. As they exited one building and entered another, his appreciation for her grew. He especially liked how she interacted with all the employees. Whether they were older men or boys in their late teens, she knew everyone's name and something about them. All the men treated her as if she were a sister. They joked with her and answered her questions.

Jacob also liked that she didn't seem especially close to any of them.

When they entered the main building and she showed him around the retail store, Jacob found himself wondering more and more about her personal relationships and far less about break rooms or employees' names. By the time she asked if
he'd like to join her for a glass of iced tea at the small café on the top floor, Jacob knew he wanted to know a whole lot more about her.

“I happened to notice that you are
gut
friends with a lot of the men here.”

“We've all worked together for some time. Some men are second- and even third-generation employees, just like Lukas and myself. We've all grown up together.”

“So you're close to them.”

“Jah.”
She looked at him curiously. “What are you getting at?”

“I'm trying to figure out if you are seeing any of the men.” Because she looked confused, he decided to be completely blunt. “Like, in a romantic way.”

Her eyebrows shot straight up. “Of course not.”

“Why, of course not?”

“Jacob, I don't date employees.” She sounded incredulous that he would even think such a thing.

“Ever?” he clarified.

“I haven't yet.” She smiled then.

He knew a flirtatious smile when he saw one. Feeling bolder, he asked, “What about someone new? Like, say, a man who was new to Charm. A new employee who is, you know, attempting to make friends.”

Her blue eyes sparkled. “Well. Hmm. It would be awful of me to ignore an offer of friendship.”

“Is it against the company rules for employees to see each other?”

“Nee.”
After taking what seemed like a fortifying breath, she said, “Actually, some of our men are married to the women who work in the café or retail store.”

“So, even though you never have spent time with any of the men who work here . . . you might? If the person was right?”

Her cheeks and neck turned pink. “Jacob, are you . . . are you asking me out?”

“I'd like to. If I asked you, what do you think you might say?”

She bit her bottom lip. “I'd probably warn you that I'm kind of a handful. Things in my family are a little scattered, too. You know about my
daed
recently passing.”

Taking care to speak softly so that she'd understand he was being completely serious, he replied, “I know. And I even heard the rumors about your brother leaving.”

“Because of all that, I don't really have a lot of extra time.”

“I don't need a lot of your time. Just some of it.”

Her eyes widened. She sipped her tea, then she straightened her shoulders. “I canna believe I'm saying this, but okay.”

“Okay?”

When she nodded, a surprised look on her face, he grinned at her. “That makes me mighty happy.” She smiled weakly back, and Jacob decided that he had better push a little bit before she started overthinking things and changed her mind. “So, when do you get off work today?”

“At four o'clock.” Her voice was still hesitant. It was cute.

“So, may I walk you home?”

“
Jah
. But I live close by. How will you get home after that?”

“I can walk there.”

She crossed her legs and chuckled softly. “You're not wasting any time, are you?”