Free The Promise of Palm Grove by Shelley Shepard Gray Page B

friends.
    â€œCome on,” she called out from behind them as they practically race-walked down the sidewalk like they were about to enter the next Pinecraft 5K. “You shouldn’t be so mad at me.”
    â€œYou made a date with a man who is not my brother, Leona,” Mattie said over her shoulder. “Of course I’m going to be mad at you.” Of course, she said this loud enough for several people around them to overhear.
    Which made Leona mad enough to finally catch up and grab Mattie’s arm. “Slow down, wouldja? Please? I’ll be happy to talk with you both about why I said yes to Zack.”
    Sara looked pointedly at her over her shoulder. “Do you really think that you could have a gut reason, Leona?”
    She did. Well, she thought she did. But that didn’t mean Sara and Mattie were going to see things that way. “I think I have a real gut reason. I do. But I’m not gonna try to explain myself while running down the sidewalk.”
    Mattie glared. “Does it really matter where we talk?” She yanked at her arm, and looked ready to charge ahead.
    â€œI think so. This is important to me.”
    Sara looked her way again. However, this time her expression was more sympathetic. “You’re right, Leona,” she said slowly. “There is a time and place for everything, and it certainly isn’t out here in front of the rest of the world.” She tempered her speed a bit.
    â€œ Danke, ” Leona said under her breath. “So can we please go sit down somewhere and talk?”
    Sara looked around, and then pointed to a pair of benches right outside the front of the Palm Grove Mennonite Church. “Let’s go sit down over there.”
    â€œIn front of the church where she met him ?” Mattie asked, drawing out the last like it was an awful curse word.
    â€œOh, stop, Mattie,” Sara said. “We need to talk, and this is as good a place as any. It’s not like it’s the church’s fault.”
    Leona hid her smile, but, secretly, she felt like raising her hand in triumph. There weren’t too many people who could stand up to Mattie’s strong personality, but Sara had no problem meeting Mattie word for word, time and again.
    When they sat down—Mattie and Sara side by side, Leona on the bench right across—Leona tried to think of the right way to describe everything that had been slowly building up inside her for months, but she knew there wasn’t any graceful way to admit how she’d been feeling. Worse, she knew what she was about to tell them might very well end their friendship.
    â€œI don’t know where to start,” she finally said.
    â€œJust start in the middle,” Mattie said in typically Mattie fashion. “No matter what you say, we’re going to talk about it for hours.”
    Sara’s lips twitched. “At least that long. Maybe even a couple of days.”
    Mattie’s eyes lit up in amusement. “That’s what we do, jah ? We analyze everything that happens to us so many different ways, we’re all sick of the topic by the time we’re done.”
    And then, to Leona’s amazement, she smiled.
    That smile was everything Leona needed. She stopped worrying about the perfect way to explain herself.
    â€œAbout five months ago, I was walking with Edmund after work,” she said slowly, remembering that afternoon in startling clarity. “It was the end of September and tons of tourists were on the streets. You know how that goes.”
    â€œFall foliage.” Sara nodded.
    â€œAnyway, we were walking. I was tired from working at the fabric store, and Edmund was tired from working in the fields. There were tons of cars around us. Buggies, too. And bicycles. It was really crowded.” Her voice got softer as she remembered everything she’d been feeling.
    She’d been so hopeful for their future. So grateful that she wasn’t going