shame that Emma changed her mind. I believe she’ll regret that.”
“Maybe not though, Mamm. Maybe not.”
Annie was suddenly aware of voices in the house—her father and another man. She peeked out over the porch railing, wondering whose buggy she had missed, but there wasn’t one there.
“Who is Dat talking to?”
“I believe his name is Levi.”
“Levi King?”
“Nein. Levi Lapp.”
“I don’t know a Levi Lapp.”
“He’s new here.”
“New?”
“Arrived yesterday.”
“Did he walk?”
“I imagine he rode a bus to town, but he walked here today to see your dat.”
“Who does he know in Goshen?”
“He’s staying with Simon King.”
“Is he related to Old Simon?”
“I’m not sure.”
Now Annie’s curiosity was thoroughly piqued. “I think I need a glass of lemonade. Can I get you anything?”
Mamm smiled, not fooled for a minute. “Of course, dear. I would love that.”
Annie stepped into the coolness of the house. Though it was September, the temperatures had remained warm, and the cool living room was a relief after her bike ride from town. Her father and Levi Lapp were in the kitchen, which would work perfectly. She straightened her apron, made sure her kapp wasn’t askew and walked into the kitchen as if she had no idea she was interrupting.
She aimed for a casual stride but stumbled when she spied the man in a cowboy hat. A cowboy hat? She shook her head as if that would clear up what she was seeing.
“Annie. I’m glad you’re home. I want you to meet Levi... Levi Lapp.”
“Hello.”
Levi tipped the cowboy hat, revealing blond hair that curled at his collar. “Howdy, ma’am.”
Howdy, ma’am?
Had she fallen asleep and landed in a Western? “I’m Annie.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“And you, as well. I was just fetching two glasses of lemonade. Don’t let me interrupt...”
“Levi’s from Pennsylvania—the Lancaster Plain community.”
“Ya? I imagine it’s cooler there.” She didn’t care about the weather in Pennsylvania, but she couldn’t exactly ask about the hat.
“It was cooler when I left. Now Texas, where I plan to go, is still much warmer. They have days in the eighties right through November.”
“Texas?” Annie had pulled two glasses from the cabinet. At the mention of Texas she turned toward Levi, holding the glasses and trying to remember what she was going to do with them.
He wasn’t ugly exactly, only odd looking because of the hat. He seemed to be tall and on the thin side, had a healthy tan and broad shoulders. His blue eyes twinkled as if he understood her confusion and was enjoying it.
Annie raised her chin a fraction higher. “I wasn’t aware there were Plain communities in Texas.”
“Oh, ya. There’s one in Beeville, which has been there nearly twenty years. Only a few families, though.”
“And you’re going there?” It was really none of her business. She placed the glasses on the counter and walked over to the propane-powered refrigerator. Removing the pitcher of lemonade, she held it up, but her dat waved her away, and Levi didn’t seem to notice. A dreamy expression had come over his face. It was as if he’d been transported to another place. She’d seen that look before—usually on a man who was smitten with a girl.
“Not to Beeville, to Stephenville.”
“But you said...”
“There’s no community there now, but there was. It’s where I grew up.”
“You should hear the stories he tells, Annie.” Her dat leaned back and crossed his arms. “Rolling hills, space for a family to grow, cattle and horses...”
Now she was noticing the starry look in her dat’s eyes. She’d seen that before. The last time, it was because he was dreaming of moving to a pig farm in Missouri that he’d read about in The Budget.
So that’s what this was.
Another one of his daydreams.
Nothing to worry about there. This Levi fellow would probably be gone by the end of the week.
“Gut people too,” Levi added. “Texans are quite friendly toward Plain folk.”
Her dat thumped the table. “Sounds wunderbaar. Just what I’ve been thinking of.”
Annie didn’t answer that. What was the point? This was the way Dat’s crazy ideas went. By next week he’d have moved on to raising exotic animals or trying a new crop. She loved her dat, loved everything about him, but she’d learned long ago not to worry about his wild ideas. She had a business to run—a thriving wedding-catering business here in Goshen, Indiana. The last thing she needed to concern herself with was pulling up roots and moving to Texas.
Instead, she poured the lemonade into the glasses, smiled at her dat and the Amish cowboy sitting at their table and said, “I’ll leave you two to your discussion, then. It was nice to meet you, Levi.”
“And you.”
He tipped the ridiculous hat again and smiled as if she’d said something witty. Not just a cowboy, but a charming one to boot.
Levi spoke with Alton Kauffmann another fifteen minutes. When his wife, Lily, came in and started making dinner, he knew it was time to go.
She smiled at him as she pulled what looked like the mixings of a ham casserole from the refrigerator. “It’s nice meeting you, Levi. I hope you’ll come visit again.”
“Oh, he will,” Alton said. “The bishop has come up with a work schedule for Levi, since he’s new to the area. He’ll be helping me here two afternoons a week—Wednesdays and Fridays.”
“We’ll expect you to stay for dinner on those days...if you can.”
“Danki. I appreciate that.”
