“I’ll tell you what,” Jenny said. “Why don’t we do something fun tomorrow, just the two of us?”
“Okay,” Gael said, brightening a little.
“Amish country in the morning?” Jenny offered, knowing that had been a major draw.
“Yes,” Gael said. “Yes, yes. And then how about dinner out in a nice restaurant?”
“Dinnerout, huh?” Jenny asked with a smile. Gael had literallyneverasked to eat out before. He never even asked for fast food. His grandmother had raised him on beautiful home-cooked meals. “Yes, sure. Why not?”
“Okay,” Gael said, brightening again and hugging her hard. “This is going to be amazing.”
Shaking her head with admiration for the boy and his ability to turn his lemons into lemonade so quickly, Jenny tousled his hair and decided she was the luckiest mom alive.
She tried not to think about the fact that she owed Erik Anderson an answer to his question.
The next morning,she and Gael were up early.
“We’re going to see horses today,” he told her. “Can we eat shoofly pie?”
“Of course,” Jenny told him. “I’m sure they’ll be selling it everywhere.”
When they were dressed, they headed downstairs for breakfast. Trudy was in the dining room already setting out toppings for oatmeal.
“Good morning, you two,” she said. “Where are you headed off to today?”
“We’re going to Amish country,” Gael told her happily. “I’m going to see a horsecarriage. Maybe.”
“Isn’t that wonderful?” Trudy said. “You’ll have to visit Esh Farm. Several of the Esh brothers and their sons come to Trinity Falls regularly to help with carpentry projects. But the family sells all kinds of things on their farm too.”
“Pies?” Gael asked hopefully.
“Of course,” Trudy told him. “But you’d better have some oatmeal first, so you don’t get hungry on the way.”
She scooped him out a bowl of steaming oatmeal and showed him the little bowls of fruit and nuts and brown sugar to add.
As Gael fixed up his breakfast, Trudy jotted down the name of the farm and rough directions.
“You’ll probably just put that address in your phone,” she said with a smile as she handed the paper over to Jenny. “But my old habits die hard.”
“The phone doesn’t always work out in the countryside,” Jenny said. “But you can’t go out of range with a piece of paper.”
“I guess you can’t,” Trudy said with a smile.
“Coffee’s nice and hot,” Ward said, heading out of the kitchen with an insulated carafe.
“Oh, thank you,” Jenny said, grabbing a mug to fill. “I’d love some.”
“Help yourself,” Ward said, setting it down. “We’ve got fresh cream out too. Is your fella coming by to pick you up?”
“Oh, we’re, um…” Jenny began awkwardly.
“Just having a mother and son day today,” Gael finished for her. “Erik has stuff to do at the Center.”
“And things to do for the wedding too, I’m sure,” Trudy said, winking.
The four of them sat and enjoyed their breakfast, with Trudy telling them all about her plans for the garden in the coming spring.
“Will it be colder in Amish country?” Gael asked suddenly. “Do we need an extra sweater?”
