“Wow.” Emma-Jane? Why had she stopped with EJ?
She nodded, her greying blonde bun flopping vigorously. “Elizabeth tells me she’s like a different girl. She’s not planning to go back to Sydney either.”
“Really?” Huh. “I didn’t know.”
“Hmm. Maybe you would know if you took the time to talk to her.”
He exhaled. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Oh, that’s easy, Son.” She smiled. “Just say what you have done all your life.”
“And what’s that?”
“The truth.”
The week passed in a welter of procrastination. He hadn’t received any more messages from EJ—Emma-Jane. But neither had he sent any. It seemed crazy to think the two of them with so much to say to each other continued with this stalemate and their parallel lives. But he didn’t want to speak too soon and say things wrong. And neither did he want to be a rebound for her experience with Eric. Not that he thought whatever she and Eric had was particularly real. But as he prayed, he sensed that delay wasn’t such a bad thing. That it gave more time to heal. For God to heal both of them. And he would rather speak to her with a healed heart than with one that remained seeping pus from self-inflicted wounds.
Saturday dawned, and after a week of doing Donwell work remotely, Jordan was glad again for the opportunity to use physical labour in piling high the bonfire that would be used tonight. Mum was busy baking, and the Bennetts had been dropping off various items for tonight. At least Katie and Elinor had. Liv and Liam too. EJ—Emma-Jane would take some getting used to again—had been absent, too busy helping at the café, or so her sisters said.
“I hate to admit this, but she’s so much nicer now,” Katie confided as she helped him set up a few chairs to supplement the long log that often provided seating at these kinds of events. “She always seemed too busy to really listen. I often got the impression that she was thinking about the next thing, or how she could improve my life. Which isn’t exactly what you want from your sister, is it? Not that I should be talking like this. She’d probably want to smack me if she knew I was talking like this to you.”
His lips curved. “Probably.”
“Except”—her forehead furrowed—“maybe not. You haven’t yet had a chance to talk to her, have you?”
Incorrect. He’d had plenty of chances. Just hadn’t taken any of them.
“Still, you’ll get the chance to talk tonight, I’m sure.”
As was he. He sensed if he let this drag out any longer, the harder it would be.
Ellie said something similar, and Liv did too. Thank goodness for Liam and his noninterfering ways.
Jordan glanced across as Liam helped him stack some more firewood. “I gotta admit I’m a little surprised to think that Liv’s Mr. Darcy would celebrate his engagement at a bonfire here. I thought you were more the fancy ball kind of guy.”
“Clearly you don’t know me very well if that’s what you think.” Liam grinned. “I’ve loved coming here and seeing how real you all are. No pretension, no fancy airs and graces. It’s quite refreshing.”
He’d nodded, as again the words stabbed him. On the contrary, there was plenty of pretension. Or at least pretending. He was chief among the pretenders.
“I’ve heard on the grapevine that you and Emma-Jane are a thing,” Liam continued.
“We’re not a thing. We’re only friends.”
“That seems contrary to what everybody else believes, but if you say so.”
Did “everybody” include EJ? What did she think?
“Are you okay, Jordan?”
He shrugged. “It’s funny hearing people refer to her as Emma-Jane. She’s been EJ since we were in third class at school.”
“So I gathered from what some of the others said. But I understand from what Liv has said that she felt God speak to her about it. So it looks like He’s working in her in various ways.”
Wow. Okay. That made things even more intriguing.
And suddenly he couldn’t wait for tonight.
What to wear on the night of her sister’s engagement party? If this had been anywhere else, anytime else, she’d be tempted to dress up to the nines. But because it was at Highbury Farm, with only family and a few of Liv’s close friends and church family, there was nobody to impress. Apart from Jordan. And she was beyond trying to impress him. Apart from trying to be real.
