stool. “What is your deal? I mean, you get excited about random stuff all the time. It’s one of your charms.”
Lori gave a little jolt. It was? Dad said her excited outbursts were annoying.
“But over a rug for—” Her blue eyes widened. She swiveled the stool until she faced Lori. “I thought you were impressed with him as a minister, but you’re impressed with him as a…a man.”
Hearing it stated so plainly made Lori’s knees go weak. She perched on the edge of the little table beside the sofa and folded her arms over her chest. “And that’s dumb.” Not a question. A proclamation.
Kenzie tilted her head, her ponytail swinging across her shoulder. “Why is it dumb?”
Lori flung her arms wide. “Kenzie! You have eyes. Look at me.”
Confusion clouded Kenzie’s expression. “Look at what?”
Lori hugged herself, battling tears. “At dumpy, goofy, ugly me.”
Kenzie stood so quickly the round seat on the stool spun. “Lori, you aren’t any of those things.”
Lori launched from the table and stomped to the opposite side of the room, then whirled and faced Kenzie. “I admit it, I think Brother Jase is very attractive. And he’s so nice. The way he talked to me the night of his welcome-to-Bradleyville gathering…he made me feel so normal. Like I was real.”
Kenzie’s forehead crinkled. “Why wouldn’t he? You are real.”
Lori snorted. “I mean a real woman, with feelings that matter.”
Kenzie slowly sat again, her gaze locked on Lori’s.
Lori swallowed hard. “Yikes trikes, Kenzie, my own father doesn’t think I matter. He acts like he’s embarrassed to even claim me. I know I’m nothing to look at.” Not like slim and pretty Kenzie. She hung her head, battling a wave of jealousy, followed by a wash of guilt for being jealous of someone so kind and unassuming.
“ ‘Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.’ ”
Lori blinked, baffled. Then she realized Kenzie’d shared a verse from Proverbs.
“You deserve the praise, Lori, because you try to honor the Lord with your life. You’re always doing nice things for people, like helping with the dinners at church, giving me rides wherever I need to go, and even fixing up Brother Jase’s office.” Kenzie’s blue eyes flashed. “You’re a good person. I know God the Father is pleased with you.”
Kenzie’s sincerity pierced Lori. “That’s really nice of you to say, but let’s be honest. How many men look at a woman and think, ‘Oh, wow, doesn’t she revere the Lord? That’s the girl for me.’ No, men want a pretty girlfriend or wife. I bet that was true even in your Amish community. Didn’t the pretty girls get courted first?”
Kenzie turned her gaze aside. Even though she didn’t say a word, the action let Lori know who’d won the bet.
Lori sighed. “And I bet Brother Jase’s fiancée was drop-dead gorgeous. She’d have to be to match him.”
Kenzie shot Lori a startled look. “He’s engaged?”
“I said was.” Lori returned to the sofa and sat on the edge of the cushion, her shoulders slumping. “The night he shared his testimony, he told everybody about her dying in a car accident. Sister Kraft had already told me. I think she was trying to warn me off, like it’s too soon for him to think about dating someone else, but she warned me too late. I’m…smitten.” Her chin wobbled and tears made her vision go wonky. “And it’s so dumb because he’s too good looking for me.”
Kenzie jammed her hands on her hips. “If he thinks that, he’s not worth crying over.”
Lori released a chortle. She sniffled and rubbed the tears away with her fists. “Aw, thanks, Kenz. I don’t think I was crying over him as much as crying over…me.” Why couldn’t she have been born blond haired and blue eyed? For Jase, but mostly for her father. Would he love her then?
Kenzie stood and took hold of Lori’s elbow, pulled her from the sofa, and led her to the piano stool. “Well, stop crying now and have a seat here.”
Lori dropped onto the stool and gave Kenzie an apprehensive look. “Why?”
“Because if you’re going to gift Brother Jase with this rug, you need to at least have a hand in crafting it.”
Lori raised her hands like she was under arrest. “I’m too clumsy. I’ll probably mess it up or break something.”
Kenzie grabbed Lori’s hands and guided them to the loom. “You won’t break it. Trust me.”
Lori blew out a breath. “Better stay close.”
Kenzie patted her