Read Holding a Tender Heart for Free Online Page B

sweet.” She tried to smile. “You’ve always been sweet to me. You are a good listening ear. But I think it’s obvious we need to take a break in our relationship. I need the freedom to find out what I really want my future to look like.”
    He looked away and let out a long breath. “I wish we’d had this talk a long time ago.”
    Doug finished his pizza slice, and Debbie nibbled at her piece. Further talk seemed unnecessary. When they’d finished, they stood and walked to the counter. Doug paid at the register, and she waited until he was ready to walk outside.
    â€œThanks for the dinner,” she said. “I’m sorry it worked out this way. You deserve better…”
    â€œThanks for the years we’ve known each other, Debbie. I don’tunderstand what you really want, but whatever it is, I hope you find it.”
    â€œYou’ve always been kind, Doug,” Debbie said. She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. That it had turned out like this surprised her. She hadn’t known what would happen, but now that it had, maybe it was for the best. At least she couldn’t turn back now. She knew she had to pursue her dream. “Goodbye, Doug.”
    He nodded and turned and walked down the street. He gave a brief backward glance but kept moving.

Five

    T he following afternoon Verna Beiler stood in the kitchen tapping her fingers on the table. Outside, the late-Sunday-afternoon sunlight flooded the yard. Shadows danced across the kitchen sink as the branches of the old oak moved in the gentle breeze. Why does Lois have to ruin everything? Verna wondered. Handsome Joe Weaver had taken Verna aside at the youth gathering and asked if he could bring her home tonight. Her first decent offer from a man in a long time, and it came at the same time Lois was creating a kafuffle about attending Englisha college like Debbie Watson had done. Yesterday when she’d come home from Debbie’s graduation, Lois couldn’t stop beaming and going on and on about her plans to “make something of herself.”
    After that scene, Daett wouldn’t be in any mood to hear Verna out. But at twenty-four, wasn’t she old enough to make some of these decisions on her own? Daett kept too close a watch on his daughters, Verna told herself. She’d thought this for some time but hadn’t dared say so. She knew his strictness was in part because he was the bishop for their community. If he wasn’t, then he might not care about appearances as much.
    Daett couldn’t help that he was a bishop. He hadn’t chosen his station in life. The responsibility had been thrust on him by DaHah ’s will, expressed all those years ago by the sacred lot. Neither must she hold ill will against the community when they expected their bishop’s daughters to hold a higher standard than everyone else.
    The problem was Daett went well above and beyond that standard. At least that’s what her rebellious side whispered to her. Mamm reminded her often of the dangers of rebellion. That was why both she and Ida had stayed away from anything radical during their rumspringa and had quickly joined the church afterward. Lois hadn’t done anything radical so far either. But neither had she joined the church. And she probably never would if her words about going to an Englisha college were any indication. But she shouldn’t care so much about what Lois might do. Verna had her own life to live, and Mamm encouraged all her girls to seek having a heart that was submissive and graced with inner beauty. At least Lois was trying to heed those lessons even with her admiration for fancy Englisha ways.
    So Verna worked hard to remember the words her mamm had spoken to warn her. She especially tried in the times when Daett had made her turn down another request of courtship from a man. This had been especially hard when Evert Stoltzfus asked last year for the privilege of driving