“I…I guess that would work, she said slowly.”
Encouraged, I continued. “Anyhow, I was thinking. You said you wanted to visit those caves northwest of where you live. We can all go together, and you and Jade can spend some time getting to know one another?” For some reason, my voice caught in my throat. “I know you don’t know her well yet, but she means a lot to me, Amy. And you mean a lot to me. And…I think you’ll understand better once you really get to see who she really is. Because she’s an amazing little person.”
There was a long pause. I bit my lip and wiped the stupid stinging out of the corners of my eyes.
Finally, she let out a little laugh. “When you get an idea, you’re about as stubborn as a toddler, you know that?”
“So I’ve been told.”
She laughed again. “But I think maybe that would work.”
“That’s great!”
“When would you come?”
“I don’t know yet.” Honestly, I hadn’t even thought she’d say yes. “Um, maybe at the end of the summer, just before her school starts up again. I just got here, so I don’t really want to ask for time off yet, but this…this will happen.”
Some voice inside wondered when I was going to ask about our future wedding date. Amy might have been sick during our previous conversation, but she hadn’t been sick all those times she’d dodged my direct questions before. And yet, as we laughed together and she told me about something dumb one of her coworkers had said, I decided that I was just too much of a coward today. And for once, that was okay.
20
Deal
Jessie
It was Friday, and moods were high. After two whole days of enduring Sam’s looks of concern at the conference, it was good to be back to normal. Well, at least my summer normal. Jade was in a good mood, humming her favorite cartoon’s theme song as I sipped my decaf, which I’d filled with three creamers on a whim instead of my usual two. Even Mr. and Mrs. Allen had wished me a sweet farewell as they’d gone off to work.
Derrick was the only one who stumbled in that morning looking bleary-eyed and decently confused.
“What?” I asked him as he stiffly collapsed into the booth that ran around the table and stared at his coffee cup. “Not a morning person today?”
He grunted. “I went to sleep an hour ago.”
“You know,” I said, winking at Jade as she giggled, “you don’t have to be up. Your parents hired me specifically so you could sleep during the day.”
“Can’t do that.” He shook his head, eyes still bored into his mug. “It’s my turn for the contest.”
“I’m pretty sure whatever you have isn’t going to beat her finding a diamond at the diamond mine.” I waltzed across the kitchen to get Jade her cup of juice. But as I turned to waltz back, I ran smack into Derrick, who had stood up again. His steaming mug, which he was clutching, sloshed all over my jeans.
“Ow! Ow! Ow!” I shrieked, hopping around, as if that was going to stop my legs from burning.
Derrick, seeming fully awake now, grabbed a towel and ran water over it really fast. Then he made me sit down and threw the wet towel over my legs. Slowly, as the cold water dripped on the floor, the heat began to recede.
“Thank you,” I sighed, thankful that when I removed the towel, my legs no longer steamed.
“You okay?” he asked, his blue eyes flicking back and forth between my legs and my face.
I forced a slight laugh. “You know, if you thought I needed a bath, you could have just said so.”
“I am so sorry.” He stood as if to do something, then just stayed there and shoved his hands into his pockets. “You got any extra clothes?”
“No, I used them when we went mining.” I stood and went to the double oven, where I could see most of my reflection in the oven doors. Sure enough, I would need new clothes. My pants were drenched from my thighs to my shins, and my shirt wasn’t much better.
“Hey, I know.” He ran upstairs. A few minutes later, he came back down holding a shirt and jeans. “I don’t know your size or whatever, but these are my mom’s old clothes, and they look like they might fit you okay.”
I warily eyed the hot pink shirt. The fabric looked like it cost more than all my clothes put together. “And you’re sure she won’t mind?”
“Nah.” He smiled slightly and leaned forward. “Don’t tell her I said this, but these are about two sizes too small now. She just won’t admit to it, and keeps them all in the back of her closet where she thinks no one will see them.”
