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she’d always had something of a crush on him, it had been perfectly obvious that he’d never spared a second thought for her.
    For the last few years, she’d racked her brain, trying to figure out how she could be the type of person he wanted to know well.
    She ached to tell him that. To ask him why he hadn’t ever wanted to know her better. To ask him what she’d done that had finally changed his mind.
    But all of that seemed like it would make things even more awkward.
    “Junior, you seem a little nervous.”
    “I’m not naerfich , it’s just that I have something I wanted to talk to you about, but I’m afraid it’s going to come as a surprise.”
    “It might not be as much of a surprise as you might imagine,” she said as encouragingly as possible. “Why don’t you just ask me what you wanted to? After all, you are exactly right. We have known each other a long time.”
    “All right. Well, like I said, I came over here to talk to you about something.”
    “Yes?” She leaned forward a bit. Encouragingly.
    He met her eyes, frowned, then seemed to fixate upon a spot just above her head. “I wanted to talk to you about Mary Katherine Hershberger.”
    All day she’d been thinking about his visit. All day she’d been imagining what he would say, how he would look.
    How he would look at her.
    She had never imagined he would want to discuss another woman. “What about Mary Kate?”
    “I heard you were good friends with her.” His gaze drifted down. Found hers. Fastened on tight. “Is that true?”
    A sudden, horrible foreboding coursed through her as she began to realize why he’d come over. “ Jah , that is true. I mean, as good friends as two people can be who just met a few months ago.” Feeling dread and a slow suspicion burning in her stomach, she stared. “Why?”
    For the first time he smiled. His smile lit up his face, highlighted his two perfect dimples. “Well, I’m interested in her, you see.” His voice brightened. “And the two times I’ve tried to talk to her haven’t gone so well. She seemed a little disinterested.”
    “Disinterested?”
    “ Jah . Is she seeing someone that I’m not aware of?”
    Little by little, the true purpose of his visit sank in. He’d been thinking about Mary Kate, not her. He wanted to court Mary Kate. Not her. In the blink of an eye, she was a wallflower again.
    With effort, she pushed her disappointment away and answered him. “I don’t think Mary Kate is seeing anyone, Junior.”
    His brows rose. “Are you sure about that? I thought all women talked about things like that.”
    “Unfortunately, we have not.” She cleared her throat. “I don’t think Mary Kate is seeing someone, though she may have a man in her life I don’t know anything about.”
    “I doubt that,” he said, looking more than a little relieved. “Miriam, I’m hoping you can help me a bit. Maybe if Mary Kate sees that we’re friends, she’ll want to get to know me better.”
    “Are we friends, Junior?”
    “I would like to be.”
    He wanted to be her “ freind .” In order to get another woman to notice him.
    This couldn’t be happening. Her parents were in the other room, practically planning her wedding. Her mother was going to be crushed when she discovered the true reason for Junior’s visit.
    But far more important than her mother’s reaction was the sharp sting of embarrassment that was flooding through her. She’d been sure that with age would come something else, something close to confidence, or at least that she’d be smarter.
    Instead, she’d allowed herself to become hopeful that her sweetest dream would come true.
    Junior’s neck turned red as the seconds passed. “Have I upset you? Joe told me asking you was a mighty bad idea.”
    “He did?” Joe had just risen in her estimation.
    “ Jah . I’m, ah, sorry if you thought I came over here for another reason. If I gave you the wrong impression.”
    Oh, he had.
    But she’d taken that idea and