Amish Sweethearts by Leslie Gould Page A

her head. “It’s really not. But the waiting is—endless.” Her heart began to ache, and she leaned her head against Joel’s shoulder, remembering the line Zane had quoted. “They also serve who only stand and wait.”
    Joel put his arm around her and pulled her even closer. “It’ll be all right,” he said.
    She knew he couldn’t know—not for sure—but still the words brought comfort.

4
    Z ane turned onto the highway, fumbling for his sunglasses in the console and then putting them on. The afternoon sun reflected off the snow-covered fields as he turned west. “So what did you want to talk to me about?” Zane asked.
    Charlie smiled. “No small talk first?”
    Zane shook his head. “I figured it was important.”
    “Honestly, I’m not sure if it is or not,” Charlie answered. “But I feel compelled to say it.”
    “Sounds serious.”
    Charlie sighed. “It might not be. Or I might be totally misreading the situation.”
    Zane tensed but didn’t say anything.
    “It’s about Lila.”
    Zane figured. He stayed quiet.
    “I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but I do know she used to be your friend.”
    Zane still didn’t respond.
    “And now you both seem to be attempting to pretend as if the other doesn’t exist.”
    Zane shrugged.
    Charlie hesitated but then said, “I just don’t want to see you throwing away a friendship that lasted so many years because of a misunderstanding.”
    Zane swallowed hard. There wasn’t a misunderstanding. He understood things all too well.
    “I’m just guessing, but I’m thinking maybe you wanted more from your relationship with Lila.”
    Zane tightened his grip on the steering wheel. It didn’t matter what he wanted.
    “I faced that with Eve when she was courting Gideon, and I was ready to walk away until I realized that I’d rather have just her friendship than not have a relationship with her at all.”
    Zane stared straight ahead.
    Charlie stayed quiet.
    Finally Zane said, “So how do you think that would have worked out if she and Bishop Berg had married? Do you think you and Eve would still be friends today?”
    “Probably not,” Charlie answered. “But it would have come to a natural end.”
    “Yeah, well, that’s what happened with Li—” He choked a little trying to say her name. “With us. It came to a natural end. One with Reuben attached.”
    “I’m just saying that you can treat her with kindness. You both seem out of sorts.”
    “What makes you think Lila is out of sorts? She seems to be doing fine to me.” She was cool as the icicles hanging from the telephone lines when he saw her at the restaurant.
    “She doesn’t mention you to Eve. She never asks about you. She never brings up a memory about you. It’s not normal, considering you were friends for so long.”
    “Sure it’s normal,” Zane said. “For someone who doesn’t care.”
    Charlie shook his head. “You’re proving my point.”
    “Your point is flawed,” Zane said. “You got the girl. She chose you.” Zane swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the bitterness in his voice.
    “You’re right,” Charlie said. “But at one point I didn’t know if she would, and I chose to be her friend.”
    “Yeah, well, how old were you? Thirty?” Zane turned off the highway.
    “Twenty-eight.”
    “Close enough.” Zane stopped at an intersection and waited for a buggy to go by. “And Eve was a grown woman—right? Not seventeen.” True, Lila was almost twenty now, but she’d only been seventeen when he left. “And you two were making your own decisions—right? Isn’t that how it was?”
    Charlie sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m just asking you to be polite to Lila. Kind, if you can. This has been hard on her too.”
    Zane swallowed again and turned his truck down Charlie and Eve’s driveway. Their two-story white house sat back on their acreage in the middle of a grove of pine trees. The whole setting was like a dream—a snow-covered dream