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shooting star. She smiled a bit at this, and made a wish that Jake’s buggy ride was going even worse than her own. She knew it wasn’t right, but she just couldn’t help herself.
    Jackson turned around shortly after, having had enough of the awkward silence, and he couldn’t wait to get Ellie back to her farm.
    Ellie’s gaze shifted from the sky to Jackson. “Where are you going? I thought we were going to sit in the park and watch the stars.”
    “This isn’t anything like I thought it was going to be, that’s all,” he grumbled.
    She had to suppress a smile as she acted like she was disappointed, though she was happy he’d turned around. She didn’t dare say a word for fear he would change his mind and want to continue the date.
    When the two arrived back at the farm, Ellie noticed Jake sitting on the front porch swing. Shouldn’t he be with Rachel?
    Jackson grumbled that he would return in the morning to work, but neither Jake nor Ellie paid any attention to him. He didn’t even offer to unhitch Coal from the buggy, but she didn’t care. All she wanted to do was ask Jake why his evening with Rachel had ended so soon. So when Jackson got in his truck and spun his tires in the gravel, she was happier than ever to get rid of him. He reminded her too much of Angus, and she was not going to make the same mistake her mother had made by getting involved with a hot-tempered man.
    She walked up the porch steps and headed toward the swing to sit down next to Jake. “So how was your buggy ride with Rachel?”
    He wanted to tell her that Rachel had confided Ellie’s confession about her buggy ride with Jackson being only a ruse to make him jealous, but he would let her tell him herself.
    “I had no idea that taking a buggy ride would indicate you were courting. When I looked it up online, I suddenly understood your anger over the time I’d spent with Rachel. In my defense, she only asked me to make Troy Miller jealous.”
    Ellie sucked in her breath. “Troy Miller?” she practically squealed. “Did it work?”
    “I wasn’t intending to court her, and I never wanted to go on a buggy ride with her. I just wanted to make you think I was, though I’m not sure why now. I went over and had a talk with Troy after seeing Rachel, and they are on a buggy ride as we speak. The two of them dropped me off here so I could wait for you and talk to you.”
    Ellie backed away from Jake a little so she could look him in the eye. “How could you let me believe that? I only went on this buggy ride with Jackson because I thought you were courting Rachel!”
    As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she could take them back.
    Jake lowered his gaze. “I’m sorry, Ellie. I’ll admit; I was only trying to make you jealous.”
    Ellie blushed. “I was doing the same by accepting a buggy ride from Jackson.”
    The two locked eyes for a moment, and they chuckled lightly at their absurdity.
    “If I’d been honest with you from the start,” Jake confessed. “We could have avoided all these hurt feelings, and perhaps we could have taken a buggy ride tonight instead.”
    Ellie smiled a hopeful smile.
    “Maybe we could start over,” Jake suggested. “And maybe we could go on a buggy ride sometime?”
    Ellie smiled again, lifting her gaze from the ground. “I’d love that.” She replied with absolute sincerity.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 7.
     
    Jake arrived at Ellie’s farm the next evening wearing a pair of broad-fall trousers and a royal blue dress shirt he had borrowed from his father. He wanted to look his best for Ellie, and he figured the more Amish he looked, the better his chances would be to turn her head toward him.
    The two were finally going to take their first buggy ride together, and Jake couldn’t have been more nervous. It was like their first time meeting all over again. Wiping his sweaty palms down the front of the black trousers, he took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. He wanted to