Free Almost Amish by Kathryn Cushman Page B

looked at any man with curiosity or interest? It was nice to see there was a little spark left in her eyes.
    It didn’t last long. “Angie and Whitney, go pull down the curtains from the living room. We’ll clean them first and go from there.”
    Maybe it’d just been the machine.
    Neither of the girls said anything, but they both turned to go inside and do as they were told. Julie started after them. “I’ll get the hot water.”
    “I can carry the water out if you’ll just fill a couple of large pots for me,” Gary said.
    “I’ve got this, Julie. You need to get back on pie-crust practice. I’ll be back in to help you as soon as we get things going out here.”
    “Oh, okay.” Julie reluctantly went back into the kitchen. She rolled out the dough as Susan and Gary filled pots with hot water. This time it began to form something closer to an oval than a rectangle. Well, at least it didn’t have sides. She picked it up and rolled it back into a ball and tried again. And again.
    Three attempts in, Julie realized something. She was actually sort of enjoying it, and that stunned her.
    She’d always hated to cook, at least for all of her adult life. And this certainly wasn’t coming naturally, but it felt almost relaxing. Why? It took a moment before she landed on the obvious truth. The phone wasn’t ringing, there wasn’t a carpool to drive, or a practice to get one of her kids to, and no office parties she needed to be planning. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that the last couple of days had been altogether pretty wonderful. She’d been distracted enough by Susan’s uptightness that she hadn’t noticed it right away, but there was something about the quietness of this life she thought she just might like. A lot.
    She walked away from her task and out to the back porch, determined to savor this place a bit more. “How’s the laundry coming?”
    “This thing’s pretty cool. Look at this.” Whitney pulled a long handle back and forth, which caused the clothes in the tub to roll back and forth with a pleasant swishing sound.
    Julie stepped forward and looked down through the clear lid and into the swirling, sudsy water. “You’re right. That is pretty cool.” When was the last time they’d ever used those words in conjunction with doing laundry?
    “Hang around for a minute and you can watch us try out the wringer.” Angie leaned over the washer and grinned.
    “Sounds great.” And it did.
    “No, you better get back to work on your pie crust so Aunt Susan won’t be all cranky tonight,” Whitney mumbled just loud enough to be heard.
    “Where is Aunt Susan?” Julie looked all around and saw no sign of her.
    “She and Brian walked down to the shed with that guy Gary. He was going to help Brian get his telescope all set up.”
    Hmm, Susan and Gary had walked off together. There were lots of possibilities there.

Chapter 10
     
    As they walked toward the shed, Gary gestured around at the rolling hills. “Ms. Reynolds, I hope you and your family will enjoy being surrounded by all this beauty. It’s just amazing, isn’t it?” Gary’s smile seemed so serene, so content. “Just listen to the creek gurgling in the distance. This place is paradise. Don’t you think?”
    Susan could have told him she might have enjoyed this all a bit more if there weren’t so much pressure on her. But she didn’t. He was a part-time handyman; he didn’t want to hear her problems. Somehow, she managed to say, “It is beautiful.” She paused for just a moment before continuing with what she really wanted to say. “Listen, I was wondering, the windowsills inside really need to be repainted. Do you think you could get us the supplies to scrape, sand, and repaint?”
    “I’m sure I could.” He nodded thoughtfully. “That sounds like a good idea.” He pulled open the door of the old shed, whose rusty hinges emitted an earsplitting screech. Gary looked toward the offending rusted