“My sister always makes stuffing balls. That’s Amy. Maybe I can give you her number, and she can let you know what the recipe is. I think that’s pretty much the only thing that would cause a mutiny if it’s not on the table.”
“All right. As much as I’m curious as to how you react when your family mutinies, I would prefer not to have it on Thanksgiving. So give me Amy’s number, and I’ll text her.”
He laughed, loving that she was willing to be humble enough to do what his family was used to.
He sent her a text with Amy’s number and then said, “I’m not going to be here tomorrow for a while, because I have that thing that Mrs. Tucker asked me to do, but otherwise, I’ll be here when your horses get here, in case you have something else planned.”
“I should be here all week, other than tomorrow while I’m helping Sunny.” Her face got a little cloudy, and he wasn’t quite sure what was wrong. “But if I realize that I have to be out, I’ll text you, and I appreciate your offer. I know that horses are not people, and I try to keep them in their proper place, but it was pretty devastating to have to let them go, and I’m excited about them coming back.”
“It makes me happy to see you happy.” Maybe that was how he knew for sure that the direction he was going with Summer was the right one. When his heart got so happy it could burst, just to see her smile, it was a pretty good indication that she meant a lot to him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Okay, I think you guys are the cutest ever, but…do you think you’re moving too fast?” Sunny looked up from the batter she stirred, her eyes concerned as they met Summer’s.
Her chest tightened, and there was a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“I know it is fast. And I don’t know what to say about that. Don’t some people believe in love at first sight?”
“Sure, love at first sight, but not marriage the day after you decide you’re in love. Just because you said I love you to each other doesn’t mean you should get married right away.”
They hadn’t even said that. They just agreed that they were both…attracted to each other? Couldn’t keep their lips off each other? Neither one of those things seemed to be the ideal way to counter the idea that they hadn’t said I love you, so Summer just kept her eyes on the flour that she was measuring.
“Summer? You’re not mad because I told you the truth, are you?”
“No. Not at all. I appreciate you being honest with me, and I figure that’s probably the way a lot of people are going to feel. After all, you’re not wrong. It’s been really fast.”
“Yeah. It’s going to be surprising, and people are going to talk.”
“People are going to talk because I’m living in his house.”
Sunny waved a hand in the air. “Everybody does that nowadays. No one thinks a thing about it.”
“Christians do. It’s not right.”
“Christians live together too. In fact, I think Christians live together as much as secular people. The idea of sin is kind of old-fashioned.”
“It’s not. It’s just as relevant today as it ever has been,” Summer said, unable to keep the shock and defensiveness out of her tone. She had no idea Sunny felt that way.
“I’m not going to argue with you about it, because you can use the Bible to back up your position, and I know there’s no Bible for mine, but that’s the way society feels. That if you don’t sleep with your boyfriend, if you don’t kiss while you’re dating, you’re being a prude. Everybody does it. I mean, come on, don’t they? Do you know a single person who says that it’s not okay to kiss whoever you feel like kissing, even a perfect stranger?” Sunny paused. “But everyone, and I mean everyone, will tell you that getting married weeks after you decide you like each other is crazy. I mean, you’re not even dating!”
Summer was quiet. It was true that it was hard to find anyone who thought that kissing should be reserved for the person you were getting married to. Even Christians didn’t believe like that. A good night kiss after a date was kind of a given. Not that she had had a whole lot of those, but she had two serious relationships, and she knew, from both of them, that the kiss was almost a requirement.
“Never mind about that. I just feel like it’s fast. I mean, nobody moves that fast.”
“But I thought we just agreed that I’m not doing things the way society does them. I want to live by the Bible. The Bible doesn’t say that you can’t meet someone one day and get married the next. It just says that the person you marry has to be a believer. And then, after you’re married, you have certain requirements you have tomeet, and certain things you have to do as husband and wife. So I guess, making sure that the person you’re with is a Christian, and then making sure that you’re married to someone who is going to uphold their part. You take that seriously, and I feel that Gilbert is that kind of person.”
“You would be the first person to tell me that I shouldn’t do everything my feelings tell me to do, so why should you? Am I wrong?”
“No. You’re exactly right.”
“All right then, it doesn’t really matter how it feels then, right?”
“No. What I said before is what matters, that he’s an upright man, who will do what he says he’s going to do, and if he says he’s going to stay with me for the rest of my life, I need to believe that.”
“I guess you’re right. So do you?”
“He hasn’t said it, but yes.” She thought about the cheating that his wife had done on him and how that had hurt and affected him. He hadn’t gone into the pain he felt, but it had been evident in his voice and in his expression. She wasn’t going to tell Sunny about it. She couldn’t. She said she wasn’t going to. “I just know that when he says it, he means it. I can see that. I can see the character in him, and other people can too.”
