First Love (Love Nibbles Book 2) (3 page)

“You have to leave before someone sees you.”

He glanced around. “Don’t worry about your dad and Daniel. They’re way out in the fields. I cut through the woods and along the ditch. Nobody saw me. I don’t want to get you in trouble. I just want to take you out.” He looked up at her earnestly and her chest ached with longing.

“Make up something. Say you’re going to a friend’s house,” he suggested.

“I can’t say I’m going to a friend’s house. I’ll get caught.” She leaned her face closer toward the window, anxious for Joe to understand her fears and go away and at the same time eager to be near him for the few moments she could.

He frowned. “Do you
want
to go?”

She didn’t answer as she clutched the splintered, gray wood of the windowsill.

“If you do, you’ll figure out a way. Look, I’ll wait for an hour and if you don’t come by then I’ll know you’re not coming. I’ve gotta go. I’m supposed to be laying irrigation pipe.” His intense eyes stared into hers. “I hope I’ll see you tonight.”

As he darted away, running for the shadow of another outbuilding, Rachael whispered softly, “I’ll try.”

*

Dinner dishes had never seemed to take so long. Rachael scoured the casserole dish, chipping at bits of baked-on noodles, and glanced at the kitchen clock again. Two more hours before her meeting with Joe and she still didn’t know if she was going to go. She felt as jumpy as a chicken facing a stewpot.

“Hurry up.” Mattie flicked her drying towel back and forth. “I want to go outside and play. Let’s get done.”

“Are you two still puttering around?” Their mother bustled into the kitchen, tying on a fresh apron. She took the yeast sponge from the back of the stove and began stirring more flour into the mixture. “Mattie, go on outside and feed the dogs now.”

Mattie tossed down her towel and was out the screen door in a flash. It closed behind her with a bang.

Rachael gave her mother a wary glance. She wouldn’t send Mattie away without good reason. She had something she wanted to discuss, which usually meant she lectured and Rachael listened.

Mother set aside her mixing bowl and picked up the dishtowel. She took a platter from the rack and began to dry it. “Your father told me you were with Joe Langdon in town the other day.”

“He asked about Daniel’s wedding. I told him when it was.”

“That’s fine. Maybe we should invite all the Langdons. But you know you shouldn’t be talking with a boy like that.”

Rachael thought of the ice cream and Joe’s green eyes with a pang of guilt. “We were only chatting.”

“You’re nineteen, Rachael. I was married at your age. You haven’t yet been baptized. Don’t you think it’s time you made that commitment and became a full member of our community?”

“I’m not ready.” She scrubbed at the pan in the sink though it was long since scoured clean.

“It’s time for you to consider your future. Several young men who would make fine husbands have expressed interest. You could begin your wedded life, start your own home and family, but first you must commit to your faith.”

Rachael’s chest tightened until she could hardly breathe.

“Will you pray on this?” Mamm demanded.

“I already do every day. This decision is not easy for me.”

“Why not?” She set down the platter and tossed the cloth to the counter. “Rachael, what are you waiting for? What are you hoping for? What is it you want?”

The knot in her throat grew tighter and her eyes stung. She did not want to cry like a child but emotions churned inside her.

“I don’t know,” she finally choked out.
I don’t know what else there is? All I know is this!

Her mother rubbed her back. “I don’t mean to upset you, but
liebling
, it’s time for you to take the next step into adulthood.”

Rachael sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve before meeting her mother’s searching gaze. “I
will
think about it and pray about it, all right?”

Her mother looked relieved as she picked up the drying cloth again.

Rachael let out the wash water and rinsed the last pot. “By the way, Mattie and I are going to sleep out on the side porch tonight. Our room is too stuffy. Is that all right?”

“Of course.”

Chapter Four

Mattie was sound asleep, snoring softly. She wouldn’t stir for hours.

Rachael got up and tiptoed across the porch, closing the screen door carefully so the hinges wouldn’t creak. She raced for the barn where she’d hidden her clothes earlier. It was pitch black in the barn and she dare not light a lantern. She dressed in the dark, wishing the sleeves of her dress were puffy and short. She left off her apron and held her bonnet for a full minute before rejecting it.

Then, in a flurry of rebellion, she unbraided her chestnut hair and combed it with her fingers so it flowed down her back. She wished she could check her appearance in a mirror, but there was nothing reflective in the barn and it was too dark anyway.

Rachael exited the rear door of the barn and ran behind it across the yard and a portion of the field toward the road. The shrill song of crickets and tree frogs went dead silent as she passed. She didn’t stop running until she’d reached the Langdon’s grain silo. Gasping for breath, she walked around the curve of the tall building that would soon be filled with the fall crop of corn.

On the far side, Joe’s gray shape in the deep shadows leaned against the silo. The glowing red tip of his cigarette sent a plume of smoke into the air. He cast it down and walked toward her. “You came!”

For a moment she thought he was going to hug her. Instead, he took her hand and led her toward the road. “I’m parked right up here.”

Rachael had never hands with a boy. It felt strange to let him touch her even so innocently. Her hand tingled and sweated a little. Nightfall had done little to decrease the heat.

Reaching the pickup, Joe opened the passenger door and held her elbow as she climbed in. Then he ran around to the driver’s side, hopped in and turned on the engine. The radio blared,
Oh yes, I’m the Great Pretender. Pretending that I’m doing well.

Joe turned down the volume and grinned at her, teeth shining in the dashboard lights. “How’d you manage to get out?”

“I asked to sleep on the porch because of the heat. Mattie always sleeps straight through ’til morning, so unless Mama comes out to check on us, it should be okay.” Rachael’s pulse beat fast from her run and from the very idea of her mother finding her missing. She’d stuffed the blanket to make it appear filled, but the form beneath didn’t look very human.

“I’m glad you could come.” Joe put the truck in gear and drove up the dirt road. “I hope you like the movie. It’s
Creature from the Black Lagoon
this week. I saw it at the indoor theater a while ago. It was okay.”

Rachael slid back on the smooth vinyl seat, the vibrations from the engine purring into her bottom and the backs of her legs. It was exhilarating riding in the fast moving truck, like flying away in the night with this charming boy who’d come to free her.

The music on the radio changed. The next song was unlike anything she’d ever heard. An echoing male voice wailed the words and each phrase was punctuated by a hard-strummed guitar chord,
Since my baby left me. I found a new place to dwell. It’s down on the end of lonely street.

Rachael leaned forward to listen.

“You like Elvis?” Joe turned the music back up. A strong bass and tinkling piano carried the melody along.

“It’s so full of emotion, isn’t it? You can almost hear the heartbreak.”

“Elvis is big. A lot of guys are growing out their crewcuts and slicking back their hair with Vitalis to look like him.”

Rachael had no idea what that meant, but she was glad the English boys were starting to wear their hair longer. It would make the Amish boys stick out less. Although, with the differences in clothing, there would always be a big divide. And that was the point anyway. The Amish purposefully set themselves apart.

As the truck turned a corner with a squeal of tires, she gripped the seat. Joe was showing off with the truck like the boys who raced their buggies on the back roads.

He smiled at her. “Have you ridden in a truck before?”

“No. It’s very fast.” Her teeth clicked together as they bounced over a rut.

“Sorry. I’ll slow down.”

“That’s okay. I like it.”

He laughed and sped down the straight track of road toward the highway.

*

The movie was so exciting Rachael forgot to eat the popcorn Joe bought for her. The story was about a half-human monster found by some explorers who didn’t have sense enough to leave the creature alone in its natural habitat where it wasn’t harming anyone. She got completely caught up in the creature’s plight and gasped aloud when the gill man killed one of the scientists. Her heart ached for its doomed obsession with the lovely woman.

Suddenly she became aware that Joe’s arm brushed against hers. He’d moved close to her on the front seat. One of his fingers stroked the back of her hand.

“The movie was better with 3-D glasses, but it’s still pretty cool,” he said.

Rachael’s eyes were riveted on his hand, which moved to cover hers. He turned hers over and laced fingers with her. The friction of skin sliding together made her shiver. Gooseflesh rose on her arms despite the heat in the truck’s cab. She pressed her thighs together to try to stop the pulsing sensation between her legs, but she didn’t take her hand away from Joe’s.

“If you could be anything, have any job in the world, what would you like to do?” he asked as his thumb traced circle on her palm.

Rachael pulled her mind away from the hand-holding and tried to focus on his question. “I would like to be like her.” She nodded to the screen where the lady scientist was explaining something to one of the men, who wouldn’t listen. “An explorer. I want to see far away places and know important things.” She glanced at Joe to see if he thought she was foolish.

He nodded. “I know what you mean. I don’t mind farming, but I’d like to at least try something different. And it would be exciting to see new places.” He laughed. “
Any
new place. I’d even be thrilled to go to Indianapolis. It would be more interesting than here.”

Rachael smiled. He sat so close she could smell cigarette smoke, soap and sweat, not strong but clean and masculine.

In the semi-darkness, Joe’s eyes focused on hers before looking at her mouth. Flickering shadows from the movie screen moved across the handsome planes of his face. He leaned toward her then paused. “Is it all right if I kiss you?”

She didn’t know how to answer. Although she knew this situation was completely wrong, she really wanted him to kiss her. She had only kissed one boy before and he hadn’t been very good at it, or she simply hadn’t liked him that well. She wanted to be kissed the way she’d seen her brother kiss Lida when they sat in the swing on the front porch.

He took her hesitation as a yes and leaned in to set his mouth firmly on hers. His lips moved, soft and warm and so alive they sparked a response in her. She closed her eyes and relaxed into the kiss—definitely different than Amos Bieler’s dry peck.

Joe’s hand supported the back of her neck as he kissed deeper. The tip of his tongue probed gently between her lips. She opened her mouth in surprise. His tongue dipped into her mouth and touched hers. A shiver of longing stabbed through her. Her breasts felt tender, the nipples sensitive. The cotton of her underwear felt as rough as burlap against them. Her skin tingled like she had a fever.

She braced her hands on his chest then hooked them over his shoulders, so strong and muscular. As the breath-stealing kiss went on and on, Rachael went limp in his arms. At last, she couldn’t take the intensity any longer. She pulled away and pressed a hand to her mouth. Her lips felt swollen and she breathed raggedly.

So did Joe. She loved how his eyes looked in the flickering light, hungry as if he’d devour her. It made her feel beautiful and desirable, but it also frightened her. Too much passion. Too strong of emotions. Things could very quickly get out of hand.

She scooted away from him on the slippery seat, putting some distance between them to chill the heat.

“I’m sorry,” Joe said. “I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine.” She got the bucket of popcorn from the floorboards of the truck and picked at a few kernels before placing the container on the seat between them. A better buffer. She stared through the windshield at the movie.

For a few moments, the only sound was the woman scientist screaming, tinny and odd sounding through the speaker hanging on the window.

“Please, don’t be mad,” Joe said at last.

She looked at him with wide eyes. “I’m not mad. It’s just that we shouldn’t. She gestured back and forth between them. “This is impossible.”

“Why? Neither of us can leave this town, but we’re not allowed to make it more  livable here either? We like each other. Why shouldn’t we spend time together?”

Rachael picked up the popcorn again then carefully set it on the floor of the truck. “I guess it might be all right…for a little bit.” She scooted back across the seat toward him.