Page 32 of Fallen

Mouth pulled into an assessing half smile, he fished the pack out of his pocket, tapped out two smokes, and handed them to her. “I’ll meet you back here in two hours,” he said.

“Three,” said Rachael.

Loretta elbowed her. “Two,” she whispered.

Rachael rolled her eyes. “Two and a half.”

Levi regarded them, his eyes lingering on Loretta a tad too long. “Don’t be late. I gotta work tomorrow.”

He secured the leather lines, then slid down from the buggy. Loretta watched as he handed a five-dollar bill to one of the hostlers. Relief slipped through her when he was finally gone.

“You’re frowning.”

Loretta turned to see her friend come up beside her. “I don’t like him.”

“Oh, Levi’s all right,” Rachael said. “He’s just … finding his way, I think.”

“He whips his horse too much,” Loretta said, motioning toward the whip sticking out of the holder attached to the buggy. “Mamm told me the way people treat God’s creatures speaks to the way they deal with people.”

Two English boys, cans of Budweiser in hand, walked by. One of them, a tall boy with a scraggly beard and John Deere cap, turned and walked backward, his eyes on Rachael, and whistled.

Once they’d passed, Rachael looked at Loretta and they broke into laughter.

“Er is schnuck,” Rachael said. He’s cute.

Feeling frumpy, Loretta looked down at her dress. “I’m not sure I fit in here.”

“Hmmm.” Rachael studied her clothes for a moment. “I think we can fix that.”

“But Mamm will—”

“Never know.”

Taking Loretta’s hand, Rachael led her back to the buggy and they ducked into the shadows behind it, out of sight of the crowd. “Give me your halsduch,” she said, referring to the capelike feature draped over her dress.

“I don’t see how that’s going to help,” Loretta said.

Rachael held out her hand. “Trust me.”

Frowning, Loretta lifted the triangular piece of cloth over her head and handed it to her friend.

Rachael tossed the halsduch into the buggy. “Roll up your sleeves. To your elbows.” As Loretta obeyed, Rachael went to the buggy and returned with a box cutter.

“What’s that for?” Loretta asked.

“Hold still or I’ll cut your leg off.” Kneeling, she set to work at the hem. “It’s going to look great. You’ll see.”

Loretta closed her eyes tightly as her friend sawed at the fabric. She didn’t know if she was more excited—or terrified. The one thing she did know was that she was going to let her do it despite the possibility of her mamm finding out.

“All done.”

Loretta opened her eyes and looked down at her dress, mildly shocked by the sight of her knees. “Oh.”

Rachael got to her feet, looking at her friend admiringly. “One more thing.” Quickly, she removed the leather belt from the waistband of her jeans and leaned close to wrap it around her friend’s waist. “There. Oh, that’s nice. See?”

“I feel ridiculous.”

“You have great legs. For a skinny Amish girl.” Grinning, Rachael kicked off her English shoes. “Let’s switch. These sandals will go great with that dress. Sneakers are fine with my jeans.”