Lifting her chin, she took a step toward him, which he didn’t notice, then waved a hand in front of his face, then waved it again because, impressive mind or not, this was hardly the time for any in-depth puzzling on his part. It took a third and then a fourth wave before he finally refocused on her.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Disrupting your pondering as there’s no time for you to figure out why the girls enjoy watching you work, especially not when it’s becoming obvious that Norma Jean didn’t leave my group of students to seek you out.”
“I never said she didn’t seek me out. She did, about ten minutes ago, but not because she wanted to speak to me.”
For the briefest of seconds, Annaliese’s mouth went agape yet again, until she had the presence of mind to snap it shut when she recalled that she’d only just taught a class about mouth gaping a week before, where she’d told her students to avoid it at all costs. “Forgive me, but I feel we might be suffering from some miscommunication. To clear that up, please explain to me why, if your sister sought you out, you seemed confused when I said I thought she was supposed to be with you.”
“Because after I gave Norma Jean the pin money she asked for, she never gave me any indication that she wassupposedto stay with me.”
“And you didn’t find that odd?”
“Not particularly since Norma Jean doesn’t usually bother to linger after I give her the money she requests since she’s always anxious to run off and spend that money.”
“Did she mention what she needed the money for?”
Instead of answering, Seth suddenly swung his attention to an engine that was beginning to sputter and clang about.
“If you’ll excuse me, I think that’s about to blow,” he said before he took off toward the engine and disappeared underneath it a heartbeat later.
After immediately herding her students a safe distance away, Annaliese brought them to a stop and refused a sigh when Phoebe promptly sent her a rather smug smile.
“I’m sure you’ll agree, Miss Merriweather,” Phoebe all but chirped, “that there is something very appealing about a man who puts himself at risk to save the well-being of others.”
Fortunately, the engine took that moment to sputter to a stop, sparing Annaliese a response that would certainly see Phoebe’s matchmaking attempts turning up a notch—because of course Seth’s decision to stop an engine from blowing up was appealing, and...
“Where were we?” Seth asked as he strode up to rejoin them, wiping his now blackened hands on another handkerchief and acting quite as if he hadn’t just spared the fairgoers a potential explosion.
“Mother also believes that humbleness is an attractive trait as well,” Phoebe whispered.
Ignoring that bit of nonsense, Annaliese resettled her attention on Seth. “I believe you were going to tell me why Norma Jean needed money.”
“Ah, quite right,” Seth said. “She told me that she was, once again, penniless, having used all her money on a hat she claimed she couldn’t live without.” He frowned. “Norma Jean didn’t tell me why she needed additional funds, though, because she got annoyed with me after I pointed out that her new hat was already attracting flies. She then told me I was the rudest brother alive.” Seth gave his chin a rub. “With that said, I don’t think I was being rude in the least because the flies that were buzzing around Norma Jean’s hat were biting flies. I didn’t get a chance to point the biting business out to her, though, since she stalked off in a bit of a huff.”
“Without getting any money from you?”
“Technically, yes, but I gave money to Velma to give to Norma Jean, and then gave Velma money for herself because she told me she’d spent all her pin money on a bag of sweets, something she said she regretted because she and Norma Jean and the rest of their friends longed to see a specific attraction. She then said that no one could afford the price of a ticket because everyone was low on or out of funds.”
Annaliese’s brows drew together. “And after you gave Velma money, you just watched her and Norma Jean waltz away?”
“I didn’t see any waltzing because the engine I’d been tinkering with began making an odd moaning noise right after I gave Velma the money.” He gave his nose a scratch. “Thankfully, I was able to pinpoint the moaning to a malfunctioning steamcylinder, which, thankfully again, turned out to be an easy fix, and one that staved off an explosion that would have been of epic proportions, quite like the one that would have just happened if I hadn’t shut that other engine down.”
“And at no time did it strike you as odd that your sister only had Velma for company?” Annaliese asked.
“Not when I assumed you were waiting somewhere nearby, since Norma Jean told me she was at the fair with her decorum instructor. I also assumed my sister would hurry back to join you, where all of you would then go off to enjoy that attraction since she and Velma now had the funds to purchase tickets for everyone.”
An ache began forming in Annaliese’s temple. “Did it occur to you, since Norma Jean admitted she was on a trip to the fair compliments of the Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies, that she and Velma wouldn’t need funds for an attraction as the cost for those, as well as for lunch, would be handled by the school?”
Seth blinked. “Are you suggesting she and Velma were fibbing about why they needed funds?”
“I’m not certain the girls were fibbing regarding thewhybehind their request, but they definitely neglected to disclose a few key details.” She blew out a breath. “It would have been helpful if you’d asked them what attraction they wanted to see.”
Seth gave his stubbly jaw a rub, the stubble a clear indicator that the gentleman had forgone a shave that morning. “For that I do apologize since I didn’t even consider there might be some questions I should have asked Velma before I handed her money.”
She stifled a sigh. “There’s no need to apologize, Seth, as it’s not your fault the girls slipped away from me. I do, however, need to apologize toyoubecause I’m taking my frustrations out on you, which certainly isn’t fair.”
“Maybe we won’t have that much strategizing to do after allsince my mother always says it’s a good sign when two people can apologize easily to each other,” Phoebe suddenly said as she sent a smile to Mabel, who was standing beside Coraline.
