Found by Shelley Shepard Gray Read Free Book Online

reason for taking her here?
    â€œIt looks like a nice place,” she said as they crossed the parking lot. “It’s big.”
    He laughed. “It’s not that big. You should see some of the other college campuses in the state. UK out in Lexington is huge.”
    â€œUK?”
    â€œThe University of Kentucky.” Flushing, he said, “All my life I wanted to go there. I even used to want to play ball for them. But it wasn’t meant to be.”
    â€œWhy wasn’t it meant to be?” she asked as he held the door open for her and they walked into the air-conditioned building. “I thought you liked this school.”
    â€œOh, I do. But that didn’t stop me from wishing I had gotten a scholarship to a big school like that.” With a shrug he said, “None of it matters, anyway. I wasn’t a good enough baseball player to get a scholarship and my parents couldn’t afford to help me get there any other way.”
    Lydia sensed there was more he wasn’t sharing, but she had no idea how to encourage him to tell her more. And, of course, hearing about all his ties to the outside world made her feel insignificant and awkward.
    She liked their life in Crittenden County. She liked how they were friends with most everyone, Amish or English. She felt more of an equal there. Here, she felt conspicuous in her dress and kapp .
    And the crowds of people her age sitting in tables around them, listening to music on their headphones, chatting on cell phones, and working on their laptop computers felt overwhelming as well. Silently, she followed him down the hall and then up a flight of stairs.
    When they came to an office door, Walker steeled himself before turning the knob and walking in. Lydia followed.
    A lady who didn’t look to be much older than them looked up from what she was working on at her desk. “Yes?”
    â€œMy name’s Walker Anderson. I have some paperwork to pick up?”
    She paused and smiled at Walker. “I remember you,” she said lightly. “You came in, looking for information about some correspondence courses.”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWe set aside some information in a packet. Hold on and I’ll go get it.”
    When she got up, Lydia looked at Walker suspiciously. He was standing tall right next to her, but he seemed distant. Removed. “What is she talking about, Walker?”
    â€œHuh? Oh, I’ll tell you in a minute.”
    Lydia held on to her patience as the woman gave Walker the packet. They talked about credit hours and prerequisites, and then Walker wrote down the woman’s phone number and email address.
    But the moment they were back in the hall, she turned to him. “Walker, what is going on?”
    He guided her to an empty portion of the hall. “I’ve been thinking about taking some classes online next semester. On the computer.”
    â€œOkay . . .”
    He took a deep breath. “And I thought you might want to do that, too.”
    She almost laughed. “Walker, I can’t go to college. You know I never even went to high school.”
    â€œThat’s what’s so great about what Alison found. You can get your GED online, Lydia. You can take classes with me back at home.”
    â€œI can’t be taking classes, Walker. I’m working almost every day at the nursery.”
    â€œYeah, but you don’t want to do that forever, do you? I mean, now that we’re together, we need to plan ahead, right?”
    Lydia felt like smacking her palm on the side of her head. My, but it had certainly taken her long enough to figure out what Walker had been getting at. The whole time she’d been waiting and hoping for Walker to turn away from all he knew and become Amish, he’d been doing some planning of his own.
    â€œWe do need to plan,” she agreed slowly. “But I’m afraid it’s not going to be as easy as I’d hoped. Or you hoped