Page 84 of Unforgiven

“Oh.”

Even though she didn’t owe the driver an excuse, she said, “It’s, um, still new.”

“Hmm.” Paige drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “Well, we’ve got another ten or fifteen minutes at least. What would you like to chat about?”

“Nothing. I don’t want to talk at all. Perhaps you could put on the radio?”

The driver inhaled sharply but did as Melonie asked. Seconds later, a country western station was on and a man was singing about beers and trucks. Paige peeked in the rearview mirror at Melonie, waiting for her reaction.

Melonie hid a smile. She was pretty sure that Paige thought she would be offended by the song, but it only amused her. After all, it wasn’t like she didn’t know a thing about beer or trucks.

Now that she had a moment to relax and quiet her mind, she was able to take a moment to pray for Tabitha’s healing and ask the Lord to continue to look after her and Seth’s relationship. And then, at long last, she concentrated on her and Lott.

Lott Hostetler was such a mess of contradictions! Now that he was calling on her, things between them seemed more solid. But instead of acting more at ease, he had become almost formal. He took care not to sit too close to her when he visited and didn’t even try to kiss her cheek. Her mother was thrilled with his gentlemanly ways.

Melonie felt differently. It might have been bad, but she kind of missed the way he’d been when they were sneaking around together. That embarrassed her. Shouldn’t she want him to be reserved and proper when they were alone? Why was she missing his heated looks and all the secrecy? Why had that made her feel so alive?

Maybe she was more like her brother than she’d realized, Melonie mused. Seth was filled with good intentions but hadn’t always thought of the consequences or repercussions before he did things. His fighting Peter Miller was the obvious example. But so was looking after Tabitha Yoder for so long . . . and now falling in love with her.

Was that what love was? Was it impetuous and vibrant? So much so that it filled one’s heart with barely any room left for doubts and regrets? She kind of hoped so.

“You still doing okay back there?” Paige asked.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“We’re almost there.”

“Yes. I’m glad.”

Paige glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “I’ve never known an Amish girl to be so quiet.”

Melonie looked up and gasped. “The buggy!”

“What?” Paige looked back at the road and swerved the vehicle to the left, narrowly missing the horse and buggy by just a few feet.

The horse reared and the buggy weaved as the driver tried to gain control.

Paige heaved a sigh of relief. “That was close.”

Melonie turned to look out the back window. The driver had pulled off to the side and climbed out to calm the horse. “You almost hit them!”

“Don’t get so excited. I didn’t.”

“The driver is having to calm down his horse! You caused that! The buggy could have overturned and killed him or the horse—or both.”

“But they’re both all right. Stop talking about what-ifs and almosts. Everything is just fine. Honey, sorry, but I don’t need to hear any more complaints. I bet you’ve never driven a car. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Melonie didn’t appreciate Paige’s cavalier attitude or dismissal of her concerns. She was tempted to give her a piece of her mind but suspected it would do no good. And maybe the Lord had been giving Melonie another example of how two viewpoints could be drastically different.

It happened all the time. Sometimes there really was someone in the right and someone else in the wrong. But that didn’t seem to matter. People believed what they believed and didn’t want to be swayed no matter what evidence there was to the contrary.

“Is it this one?” Paige asked as the van neared the Zimmermans’ drive.

Melonie looked out the window. “Yes.”

Paige pulled into the drive, and both of Melonie’s parents came out to greet her.

Relieved, Melonie exited. “Thank you for the ride,” she said to Paige.

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