Sweet as Honey by Jennifer Beckstrand Page A

Dan’s smile was as wide as it could go, he surprised her. “Sure,” he said, taking half her lunch.
    Well, she had offered it to him.
    She reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a napkin while he made a third of the doughnut disappear in one bite. “Must be one of Yutzy’s,” he said.
    She nodded.
    â€œThey make the best doughnuts.”
    â€œMy mamm makes the best rolls,” Paul muttered.
    â€œ Jah. Her rolls are wonderful- gute ,” Dan said, with a look of good-natured forbearance. He finished off the doughnut just like that and wiped the sticky glaze from his hands. Having dispensed with the doughnut, he reached in the bag and retrieved a boxed set of books. He held it up for her to see. “ Little House on the Prairie . Nine-book set.”
    â€œOh,” Lily said, a bit ferhoodled . He’d bought them for her? They couldn’t have been cheap.
    â€œEdith at the book shop says the first one takes place in Wisconsin.”
    â€œIt does,” she said, almost reverently. The Little House on the Prairie books had been some of her best childhood friends, especially after her parents died.
    â€œI know they’re for children, but I thought maybe you’d like them. Edith says I can return them if you don’t.”
    Lily didn’t know what to say. Dan was practically a stranger to her. Why would he do this? “It’s . . . it’s too much, Dan. I can’t accept this.”
    He suddenly seemed uncertain, young, like a little boy who had drawn a picture for the teacher he had a secret crush on. “Have you read them? I really wanted to get something you’d like.”
    Even though profoundly aware of Paul standing beside her, disapproving and stiff, as if rigor mortis had set in, Lily couldn’t let Dan believe for one minute that she didn’t appreciate such a beautiful gift. “I . . . I love them.”
    The uncertainty fled from his face, and his smile could have lit up a dark room.
    She handed Paul her half doughnut, ignoring the hard line of indignation on his lips and the glint of utter surprise in his eyes. She took the box from Dan and read the titles. “ By the Shores of Silver Lake is my favorite.”
    Dan traced his finger down the space between two of the books. Were his hands trembling? What did he have to be nervous about? “Mammi had a set of these on her bookshelf. Aunt Rebecca took them back to Wautoma with her.”
    Paul was a barely controlled eruption. He firmly, petulantly, slipped the box from Lily’s hands and handed it back to Dan. “She already said she can’t accept it. Don’t make her uncomfortable by insisting.”
    Embarrassed by Paul’s rudeness, Lily nearly reached out and snatched the books back. Paul despised Dan, but there was no reason to talk to him like that. Instead, she assumed a posture of humility and lowered her eyes. Paul probably saw her courteous conversation with Dan as a slap in the face.
    She couldn’t lift her eyes to look at him, but Dan’s voice sounded like a flat glass of soda. “I see I shouldn’t have interrupted.” He slipped the books back into his bag. Lily closed her lips on a plaintive sigh.
    Why should she regret the books? She’d already read them.
    â€œI’m taking her to lunch at my restaurant,” Paul said, the boast apparent in his tone.
    â€œI hope you have a nice time,” Dan said, as if he were talking about a trip to the hospital for appendix removal.
    Lily raised her head and dared a look at Dan. She saw a tinge of sadness in his eyes, but thank goodness, he didn’t seem angry with her.
    He lifted his eyebrows as if he were attempting more cheerfulness than he felt. “Maybe I’ll see you both tomorrow at the gathering?”
    â€œWe’re busy,” Paul said. “Aren’t we, Lily?”
    She knew what he expected. He expected her to turn up her nose at Dan Kanagy and