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the desire. Your brother has me logging too much overtime. I’d wanted us to have all day together, but I could only get off until after lunch.”
    Without saying a word about the money, he turned his back to her and went to his dresser.
    “If you’re just working one job, then where were you coming from when I saw you get out of that man’s car?”
    He kept his back to her for several moments. “Oh, is that what this is about?” After pulling a pair of socks out of a drawer, he sat on his bed with his back still to her. “Eric Shriver is home on leave, so we spent some time together. That’s all.”
    “I didn’t realize he was back in the States.” Nor did she know that Mahlon still considered Eric a friend to spend time with. They’d become friends about six years ago when he and Ephraim installed a set of kitchen cabinets for Eric’s parents. But Mahlon had chosen to lay that friendship aside when he joined the faith. Or had he? Was he friends with a soldier?
    After he put on his shoes, he stood. “He came home last week. So, you looking forward to house hunting this morning?”
    Realizing he didn’t want to talk about his time with Eric, she chose not to push, but the hurt from earlier spread through her.
    He studied her before moving in closer. “It was nothing, Deb. He came up here last night and wanted to talk, so I went with him.”
    “You’ve been out all night… just talking?”
    “Hey, you two,” Ada called. “The Realtor just pulled up.”
    “Be down in a minute.” He placed his hands on her shoulders. “Is my Deb showing a bit of insecurity? Because if she is, I want to ignore our beliefs, get a camera, and take a photo during this rare event.”

    She rolled her eyes. “I don’t doubt your love or faithfulness—only your good sense, which has been in question on occasion.”
    He brushed his lips against her cheek. “I have you, which means my good sense is amazing.”
    “Well…now, that’s true.”
    Laughing, he released her. “You’ve never been short on friends, so you can’t really understand how Eric feels. But I’ve never made friends easily either, so the two of us are a little alike. Should I cut him out simply because while he’s been serving in Iraq, I joined a church that believes in nonresistance?” He grabbed a comb off his dresser and ran it through his brown hair, yanking at the curls with annoyance.
    In his first few years of knowing Eric, she wondered at times if Mahlon would join the faith. Sometimes their bond seemed to defy more than the religious and political boundaries that separated them. It ignored reason. But she knew if she pushed Mahlon on the topic, he’d grow quieter than quiet. And that didn’t help either of them.
    She moved in front of him. “If I don’t have you, I’ll always be short on friends. So I guess I can understand how Eric feels. But it seems odd for two people who look at life so differently to want to spend time together.”
    “In certain areas it surprises me how much we see things alike. Besides, isn’t being different part of friendship? I certainly don’t feel like you do about cooking or kitchens or new dresses.”
    Choosing to trust his judgment, she put her arms around his waist. “But I think you’d look so good in one of my newly sewn dresses.”
    He dropped the comb and pulled her close. “You could get away with about any insult as you stand in my bedroom wrapped in my arms…” He bent and kissed her. “But we’d better go.” He took her by the hand and led her down the steps.

Doubting herself, Cara kept walking, searching for Mast Road, hoping something would look familiar. It’d be dark again soon, and they were no better off now than when they left New York more than forty hours ago. Time seemed lost inside a fog of stress and lack of food and sleep, but the days were clearly marked in her mind. She’d left the city Wednesday around midnight, got off the second bus late on Thursday, and currently