Amy's Dilemma. (Book 4 Of The Arlington Series) (complete )

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

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It was school time again. Amy was a little sad that she would no longer have Karishma in some of her classes; they had become close friends but she had gone as far as she wanted to in school and had a home and husband to care for now. Amy still had her friends in her study group though and she was especially grateful that Olivia moved in. She was good company and they got along well.

Amy didn't take long to fall into a new routine. Her job and school occupied much of her time and she spent her free time as she had in the past, with her friends. Jacob, Stephen, and many of their friends often joined the girls when they weren't studying.

One evening, while they were at the A&W, Jacob saw Stephen and Amy with their heads close together. He didn't think anything about it at first. The juke box was so loud even he had to lean toward whoever he was next to in order to hear what they were saying. But his suspicions were aroused when Stephen walked home with her afterward. It didn't matter that Olivia was with them.

The next afternoon Sally Loosetong saw Stephen being smuggled into the beauty salon. She couldn't see who had opened the door for him because the curtains were all pulled but she knew that it was a woman. What could he be doing there, she wondered? Or more like it, who could he be seeing?

She almost ran because she couldn't wait to get home in order to get on the phone and tell her friends what she had seen. It didn't take long and the whole town was buzzing about it.

Of course it reached Jacob's ears and he was furious. He kept seeing Stephen and Amy with their heads together at the A&W. He decided to have it out with her.

Jacob asked his mom to invite Amy over for supper the next evening. Natalie acquiesced immediately thinking that he was finally going to do something about his feelings. When he came in from milking she told him that Amy had said yes, that she was coming. Jacob spent the rest of the evening rehearsing what he was going to say to her.

Supper was over and the dishes washed when Jacob asked Amy if she would like to walk down to the barn with him because he needed to check and make sure that he had turned the power to the milkers off. She said yes and jumped up to follow him, excusing herself from Natalie and Joshua. They smiled and said that when they got back they would have key lime pie and lemonade for desert. Amy told Jacob that he better make a quick trip of it because key lime was her favorite.

After Jacob made a pretense of checking the switches contrary to her expectations he didn't seem in a hurry to get back to the house. Instead he leaned against the wall and asked her; "I don't know if you have heard the latest gossip going around town, I hope you're innocent."

"What gossip? I haven't heard anything? And what am I supposed to be innocent of?"

"Apparently Sally Loosetong saw Stephen being smuggled into the beauty parlor by a woman."

"So?"

"So? Don't you realize the damage this can do for your reputation?"

"I'll have you know that Karishma and Olivia as well as I were there. Stephen had a very good reason for being there and I don't feel as if I should have to explain it to you or anyone else for that matter. If Sally wanted to know why he was there she should have come to the door and asked, and as far as I'm concerned it's none of the townspeople or your business." After saying that, she practically ran to her car, jumped in and left, spinning her tires throwing dust in the air. Joshua and Natalie were still sitting there in their chairs on the porch, shocked when Jacob arrived.