The Path to Piney Meadows Page 10

  Anna nodded. “Ja. I noticed the same thing.” She could only imagine how much more people would have stared at him if she hadn’t made him go back into his house when he came to pick her up this morning. All the men wore black suits on Sunday, with a white shirt and a dark tie. This morning Chad had arrived at her house wearing a gray suit. Beneath it, he wore a dark purple vest and lighter tone of purple shirt, and his tie was the same dark purple as the vest, but the fabric was shiny.

  She’d sent him home to change.

  Now that the service was over, it was time to stand and chat with the other church members, and perhaps some would invite them to their home for lunch.

  After most of the congregation had exited, Chad stood and they made their way into the lobby.

  She already knew that many of the single women wanted to meet him, but for today, the priority was to introduce him to the other men.

  She nudged him, and taking her up on her nonverbal hint, he lowered his head, allowing her to speak softly. “We are going to find Leonard, and I will ask him to take you to the men.”

  He stiffened. “Why can’t you introduce me around?”

  “That is for Leonard to do, not me.”

  He looked around, his eyes locking on each of the groups of women and men, but said nothing.

  “I will join one of the groups of ladies, and Leonard will take you to meet the men whom you have not yet met.”

  “I guess it would be too much to ask for everyone to wear name tags.”

  Anna looked up into his face, unable to tell if he was joking. She had a feeling he wasn’t.

  “Seriously, everyone knows my name before I tell them, but I’ve met so many people today, I’ll never remember even half of them.”

  “That is okay. Not everyone expects you to remember. I will help you when I am with you. There is Leonard. Let us go.”

  As she guided him toward Leonard, he stiffened his posture, and his demeanor changed to the same way he presented himself at work when meeting someone he’d never met before. He smiled and shook Leonard’s hand, gave her a quick glance over his shoulder, winked, then turned and let Leonard lead him to the group of men.

  Anna stood, frozen, as she watched him introduce himself and shake hands with everyone in the group, smiling and making eye contact with everyone individually as he repeated their names.

  He would be fine.

  Yet still, a small piece of her heart went out to him. Only she knew how nervous he really was, beneath his charming smile.

  11

  As Anna worked on her current online assignment, Chad finished typing his e-mail, then started to reread it before sending it.

  It was time. As the calendar had flipped to April, he’d worked the agreed three months of his probationary period and passed with flying colors. Now, not only was he officially and fully the general manager working under a full contract for Bart, but according to his contract with Ted, he also now owned the house, versus renting it.

  No longer on probation, he had just hired a PI to find Brittany.

  Counting on his fingers, if he was counting right and if she hadn’t lied to him, again, he had until August to find her. All his online searches and phone calls had come up with nothing. The lack of proximity hadn’t hampered his search. She intentionally didn’t want him to find her. But he would, even if it took a professional to do it.

  With his finger poised to hit the button to send the e-mail, out of the corner of his eye he saw his coaster shift to the right. That could only mean one thing.

  He straightened, turned, and smiled up at Anna as she lowered a steaming mug onto the protective surface.

  “You really don’t have to do that, you know. I’m perfectly capable of getting my own coffee.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I know that, but I want to do this. I want to be a good secretary, which is my job.”

  Chad shook his head. “No, I told you, your official title is administrative assistant and it’s how you have to refer to yourself. You must realize your worth around here. A couple of generations ago, the bulk of a secretary’s time was spent typing, but those days are gone. Formal letters are no longer the primary source of communication, and execs all type their own e-mails. Your primary function is to assist me in what I need to do to keep this place running and growing and making a profit. You need to type proficiently, but it’s not your primary job function.”

  Her cheeks turned the most adorable shade of pink. “That is a good thing, because you type much faster than I do. I do not think I will ever be able to type as fast.”

  “You might. You’ve improved significantly in just a few months. In a few more, who knows how fast you’ll be?”

  “Not fast enough, but I will continue to work on it.”

  His computer beeped, signaling a new e-mail message. “Odd. Who’s working on Saturday?”

  “You are.” Anna wrung her hands. “You need to not work on the weekends, but you are working because you are here with me.”

  “Not really. I’m also doing a lot of personal stuff, with a little work mixed in.” He clicked the button. “See? This one isn’t business. It’s personal. It’s from Brian.” He read while Anna stepped to the side politely, averting her eyes from Brian’s words. He chuckled as he read. “The guys are going snowshoeing again. He said with the snow already melting, but today being a little colder, this might be the last time this year we can go.”

  “Are you going to go? I think you should. I will be fine by myself.”

  He looked outside. It had snowed again last night, but the cold was hanging in enough so it hadn’t melted yet. With the spring melt already starting, the days of biting cold were gone, and the temperature today had dipped to just a little below freezing. Perfect for snowshoeing, and even more perfect for sharing some good hot chocolate afterward with his new friends. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. You spend too much time on Saturdays with me here. Go and have some fun.”

  He grinned. “If you would have asked me six months ago, I never would have said that walking around in the snow would be fun.” But then, it wasn’t all for fun. It was great exercise, and much cheaper than going to the gym. He’d found out the hard way that snowshoeing was much more difficult than it looked—even though he wasn’t slogging through thigh-deep snow, he was walking on top of it. However, once up on the snowshoes, when he actually started trying to walk, the first thing he did was fall flat on his face. As the day wore on, he couldn’t count the many times he’d fallen, and for days he couldn’t believe how sore and bruised his ankles were. It had been hard work to keep up with the other guys and maintain the longer strides needed not to step on the frames of the snowshoes. Nor could he believe how many times he kept kicking himself in the ankles by not keeping his feet spread apart enough as he walked. Now, months later, he could keep up with the rest of them. And, he had great muscles in his legs.

  Once he’d tried ice fishing. None of them had caught anything, but they promised to take him fishing again when the ice melted and they could simply sit on the rocks on the shore and catch enough fish to make a meal in just a couple of hours.

  While he wanted to go, part of him wanted to stay with Anna. Over the past three months he’d come to know her, and he enjoyed spending time with her. Being at the office on the weekend was much different than during the week. With no one around, he saw her sense of humor and her warm heart. She would never fool around during working hours, but today, as she did every Saturday and evenings at the office after everyone else went home, she allowed herself some lighter moments.

  She had an adorable little laugh. She didn’t laugh enough. He wanted that to change.

  This was also the only time he could spend with her without another person present. He would have liked to spend some quiet time during the evenings with her, but on the one evening a week that no Bible study or activity was planned, she wouldn’t go to his house without another person there. Back in Minneapolis, it wouldn’t ma
tter. Here, it did, so he would abide by their ways. Once he’d even asked Brian to come over and be a third party, but Brian had laughed and said he’d been that route before. At first he had no idea what Brian meant, but the more he thought about it, he realized that Brian and Ted were good friends. Brian had probably been a third body for Ted and Miranda, and he didn’t want to do so again.

  Therefore, the only time Chad could spend alone with Anna was Saturday afternoons, at the office.

  She smiled again. “Go. Soon the snow will be gone, and then the other men will be too busy for such things.”

  He hesitated. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. Snowshoeing is fun, but on a limited timeframe. Once everyone can get back to what they normally do for the productive part of the year, I’m going to be left behind in the dirt. They’ve already started talking about preparing the farms and the animals and the planting, and I don’t know anything about stuff like that. They tease me about being a city boy, but they’re right. I don’t know anything about farms. I’ve never been on a farm, and that’s probably not going to change. I’m needed here. My loyalty and time are glued to the factory. I’ve got a lot of people here depending on this place for their jobs.”

  “Do not worry. I will think of something else to help you learn the ways of our people. Now go have fun with your friends.”

  Her words made up his mind. She’d been instrumental in getting him involved with the other single men his age, and he appreciated her help in her continual efforts to incorporate him into the community more than he could say. But on the other hand, when the men got too busy on Saturdays, as he knew would soon happen, then he would get Anna all to himself, and he could hardly wait.

  Holding the box very carefully, Anna stood behind William and Brian and her brooda David while they waited for Chad to answer the door. She had been watching the calendar very carefully, and today, the timing was right. At first, she wasn’t sure this would be a good idea, but she remembered his request about needing something to help him understand the ways of the other men who didn’t work at the factory.

  The door opened. Chad stood before them wearing jeans and a T-shirt, his feet bare, his hair wet.

  Her cheeks began to burn, despite the cool wind.

  “What are you all doing here? Come on in.”

  “We have brought you something.”

  He looked curiously at the box David carried, then at the smaller box she carried. “Where would you like to go with, uh . . . those?”

  All four men turned to her, but only three of them knew she carried the box with the most important contents.

  “Into the kitchen. We must set up quickly.”

  “Set up?” Chad made eye contact with each of them, then looked back at her. “What are you talking about?”

  “A couple of weeks ago you were saying you cannot go to the farm, so we have brought the farm to you.”

  Before he could question her, she stepped toward him and opened the cover of the box so he could see inside.

  He looked down. “There’s a couple of chicks in there.”

  “Many people here who do not live on farms have chicken coops in their backyards and you can do this, too. I have only brought you two chicks because you have not done this before. They are already two weeks old and past the critical stage, so they will be easy for you to care for until you can put them outside.”

  He looked out the window at his backyard. “There’s still a couple of feet of snow out there. It’s only started to melt.”

  Anna giggled. “They cannot go outside yet. They are too young. They must be kept under the heat lamp for two more weeks, and then they still must be kept warm. They can go outside during the daytime when they are six weeks old. Then when they are eight weeks old, which will be June, you will leave them outside.”

  He looked at the box David carried. “Heat lamp?”

  William pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket and spread it out on the kitchen table. “Here are the instructions on what to do with them as they grow. We will show you the first time, then you can do it yourself. It is very simple.”

  Brian grinned and rubbed one hand over his stomach. “If you are lucky you will have two hens, and you will get fresh eggs.”

  Chad stared at the chicks. “What do you mean, if I’m lucky? Do you mean you can’t tell?”

  Anna shook her head. “Nein. It is impossible to tell if they are hens or roosters until they are much older. You will tell when they either crow or lay an egg.”

  “Let me guess. If it crows, it’s a rooster. If it lays an egg, it’s a hen.”

  “Ja.” She lowered herself to her knees, set the box on the floor, and reached in to pick up one of the chicks. Cradling it in her palm, she stroked the fuzzy reddish down.

  He stared at the chick. “Why is it that color? I thought chicks were yellow.”

  She smiled. “These are Rhode Island Reds. They will be a dark reddish brown when they mature.” Cupping it with both hands, she held it out to Chad for him to see. “They are very fragile right now and must be handled very gently, and you must keep them warm. They are very easy to feed. Just put the mix I have brought in a bowl for them. They will eat when they are hungry, so you do not need to have a schedule. Just keep it full and they will be fine. We have brought chick starter and some hay.”

  “Are they going to be noisy?” He glanced out the door, then back at the chick. “Will they wake me up?”

  She lowered the chick back into the box. “No, they will not make noise now. They will peep a bit during the daytime, but they will sleep at night. Rhode Island Reds are an easy chicken to have. That is why I selected these for you.”

  Again, he looked outside.

  Brian snickered. “Do not worry. We will help you build a small chicken coop when the snow melts. Do you know how to hold a hammer?”

  Chad’s face tightened. “I’m not that bad. Of course I know how to hold a hammer.”

  “We are just making sure.”

  The men set up the heat lamp, anchoring it securely above the box, while Anna spread newspaper and some straw in the bottom. When everything was ready and the men backed up, she reached in again to pick up one of the chicks. “Come here,” she said to Chad as she petted the little chick.

  He sat on the floor beside her, while William, Brian, and David sat in the chairs around the table and watched.

  “Hold out your hands.”

  When he did, she placed the chick in his palms. “I don’t know if I can do this,” he muttered as he slowly closed his fingers around it.

  “You must treat them gently, but they will not break. When they are small like this, they enjoy it when you hold them, and they are still very soft. If you are nice to them and talk to them when they are little, then they will come to you when you call them at feeding time, when they are big.”

  “Really?”

  While he studied the chick in his hands, Anna picked up the other one. “Ja. We used to have a chicken coop and it was up to Sarah and me to feed the chickens. We had many more than two. So if you have any questions, just ask me.”

  “Do you have chickens now?”

  “Nein. A few years ago the snow collapsed our chicken coop, and we did not rebuild it.”

  “Well, I guess I’m going to have to build a nice strong coop so that doesn’t happen to me, right? I’m sure I can get some plans online.”

  William nodded. “There are many different plans on the Internet. We were going to help you build a basic coop, but it would be good if you want to get some ideas to tell us the size and shape you want.”

  Anna returned the chick to the box, then plucked the other chick from Chad’s hands, since he seemed too afraid to move while holding it, and put it in the box as well.

  She stood, while Chad remained sitting on the floor, looking down into the box. “We must go. Get familiar with them, and I will see you in the morning for work.”

  12

  Chad flipped through his Bible to
the right chapter and pulled his pencil out of his pocket. Following along as Leonard read the verses out loud, he hoped that Leonard would soon stop reading and make his point, so he could start writing.

  Any other time, Chad didn’t mind just following along, but today the lines were starting to blur. He needed something to keep him awake.

  Anna had started bringing him to Bible study meetings not long after she’d offered to help him get involved with the community. Here, reading the Bible and studying together went hand in hand with socializing with friends. Naturally, she’d brought him to Leonard and Lois Toews’ home because they were the first couple he had met, and he quickly became comfortable with them. As Anna said, he’d come to know everyone who came here on Monday nights—and everyone came regularly, so therefore, he did, too. He’d made quite a few friends. He’d probably even learned something, too. Even if he hadn’t, his perspective seemed to be changing. Some pretty rotten things happened to a lot of people in the Bible, something no other group he’d been to church with had ever pointed out. After everything that had happened to him, this topic grabbed his interest.

  If only he could keep his eyes open.

  Just like Anna said, the chickens hardly made any noise, but he must have gotten up twenty times to check on them. Then, every time he ventured into the kitchen he’d sat on the floor for a while, watching them sleep, wondering what to do with them when they woke up.

  He’d stayed awake half the night, watching a couple of completely conked-out baby chickens.

  He’d predicted a number of things about living in a small, rural community, but nothing could have prepared him for having farm animals in his kitchen. Or that this was apparently normal here.

  This place defined normal under a completely different set of rules.

  He was coming to terms with the dichotomy of roles between the men and the women. At first he’d thought it was like living in the Dark Ages, and very unfair. But as he lived among them and worked with the men and women in the factory every day, he learned that the roles weren’t as black-and-white as they appeared on the surface. At Leonard and Lois’s home, Lois was every inch a housewife, and Leonard was the sole income earner, being the principal at the local school. After getting to know them as a couple, Chad had no doubt about who ruled the roost in the home and it wasn’t the half wearing the pants in the family. Away from home, Leonard ran the town’s high school with complete efficiency. No one questioned or disputed his authority or his judgment. His word ruled at the school, most often without consultation. But at home, everything done was an agreement between the two of them, and if Lois didn’t agree on something, it didn’t happen.