Picnic in Someday Valley (Honey Creek #2)(27)

Adalee, he almost said aloud. He’d never seen her in church before, but then until lately he hardly noticed anyone. He gripped the seat bench space between them. This couldn’t have been an accident. He was the only one on the long bench near the back. There were spots she could have claimed anywhere along ten feet of his pew. Plus the bench in front of him was completely empty.

What if she’d had the same crazy dream he’d had? The one where they were dancing, then he looked at the mounds of her breasts and a poisonous snake came out. If she did have the same dream, she probably came to church to slap him.

To his shock, she lowered her hand over his just before her coat covered their fingers.

He could have pulled away. He could have scooted down to give her room. He could have left. No one would notice.

But Jesse sat still, enjoying the touch of her hand. Warm. Soft.

When he turned his hand over, their fingers laced together. The feel of her hand in his made her real. He could actually feel his heart beating. This was no dream.

She never looked his direction. They just sat there holding hands like two junior high kids.

When everyone stood for the closing prayer, she let go of his hand but the feel of her skin against his lingered. The moment the amen came he raised his head to look at her.

Adalee was gone, as if she’d never been there.

He had wanted just one more moment to look in her green eyes or touch her beautiful hair. But it wasn’t the right place. There had been no time. She’d always be just a woman he thought of now and then. A might-have-been, nothing more.

Jesse collected Zak’s backpack, Danny’s coat, and the picture Sunny Lyn had colored in Sunday school. Some of the congregation moved to the parlor to visit over coffee and sweets. Others left, but Jesse just stood in the aisle, wondering if the baker had really been there at all.

When the room was empty, he took the stairs built behind the pulpit. Up one flight, across the back of the choir loft, and down another stairway. The shortcut to the recreational hall, which everyone simply called the gym. The passage never seemed to have enough lighting, and on this cloudy day the passageway was even darker.

His kids would be tired from playing and be pumped full of juice and cookies. He’d be surprised if they weren’t all three asleep before he could drive home.

He paused at the square landing. He’d always thought of it as purgatory when he was growing up in this church. A left turn would lead to stairs to the gym, and a right turn went to a door leading to the back parking lot.

Jesse noticed Adalee standing in the shadows near the crossway. She looked a bit disoriented until she saw him, then she smiled.

He started to pass, but slowed. “I didn’t know you came . . .”

Her fingers touched his lips. “Don’t talk. There is no time.”

“All right,” Jesse answered as he closed the space between them and kissed her. It was the one thing he’d wished he’d done that night he walked her home. Pure reaction. No thought. Just need. He wanted to feel the woman who’d been haunting his dreams.

One bold, hungry kiss. His hands held her at the waist and pulled her against him. When she opened her mouth slightly, he took the invitation and the kiss washed all other thoughts from his brain.

A door opened down below. He stepped away and was surprised she looked as shocked as he felt. The laughter of children came from the left hallway. She turned to the right.

He wanted to tell her he hadn’t planned the kiss. He didn’t have time for any woman, much less one like her. He was a simple man. A boring man. She was full of life.

She was gone before he could form words.

“Adalee” was all he had time to whisper before the outside door opened, then closed. She was gone.

On the drive home Jesse thought about what had occurred. Nothing like this ever happened to him. A wild hunger was meant for movies and novels, not simple farmers. He wasn’t handsome, or rich. Women didn’t even notice him, much less kiss him.

With the exception of guys with rap sheets, he was probably the worst pick in the county. Little farm that would never make him rich. Three kids. One beer on his birthday. How boring is that? He didn’t even know how to talk to a woman like Adalee.

A north wind was blowing hard when they made it home. He woke the boys and carried Sunny Lyn into the house. With the windows rattling, he closed the drapes, got out lanterns in case it got worse and the electricity went out. This was definitely going to be an inside day.

“Grilled cheese or ham sandwiches?” Jesse asked as he tried not to think of the baker. She’d be rolling her eyes at his Sunday menu, if he’d had time to invite her to lunch.

All three kids said grilled cheese, so he turned on the TV and went into the kitchen to cook lunch. His hands might be working, but his thoughts were on the woman who’d waited for him in the hallway. Why had she come to church? Surely not just to hold his hand. Why had she waited? What had she wanted of him?

Maybe she’d just delivered the snacks for the Sunday reception and accidentally saw him sitting at the back of the church. She could have been looking for the back parking lot door when he started to pass her.

Then again . . . she’d kissed him back. That seemed a bit over-the-top in the “being polite” category.

One question kept circling in his mind. Had she started this, whatever this was, or had he?

As he served up lunch, he told the kids that they might be having company if it kept raining. People would be bringing horses to their barn so the horses could all have a sleepover.