“I’m sorry, what?” Jenn whipped her feet off the table and whirled onto her knees. “The Amish guy touched your face?”

She cringed. “I think.” Her voice emerged from pulled-back lips as a squeak. Jenn widened her eyes until they occupied half her face.

“You think?”

“The evening is kind of a blur.”

Jenn chased a swig of coffee with a gulp of berry wine cooler. “A blur, huh? You’re sure he didn’t slip something into your…what do they even drink? Your whole milk?”

Planting her elbows on knees, she clasped her hands under her chin. “The entire afternoon was bizarre and kind of wonderful, honestly. We were all alone on my porch swing during this wild storm—big thunder and nonstop lightning—and then he told me about his wife—”

“Hold up a second.”

Jenn thrust out her hands like a traffic cop.

“The Amish dude’s married?” Her voice echoed in the marble and stainless-steel kitchen.

Spoken aloud, the entire situation with Jonas sounded ridiculous. She buried her face in her hands. “Was married, I guess. She died. I don’t know details. He said she was an angel—”

“He’s mourning his angelic, dead wife? Oh jeez, Tess, this story just gets more and more absurd.”

“I know, I know.” Toppling sideways, she smushed her face into the pillow. How could she convey their connection without sounding trite? As electric as chain lightning? As strong as a riptide? He was Amish. She wasn’t. She knew how crazy her crush sounded.

“Want my advice?” Jenn clambered onto the sofa, hauling a heaping bowl of popcorn into her lap. “’Cause I’m giving it to you no matter what.”

“Fortunately, I want it.” Jenn’s expression turned atypically serious. Tessa braced for a dose of reality from her most fun-loving friend.

“Don’t dismiss the doctor.”

Chucking the pillow, she groaned and snarfed a handful of popcorn.

“Seriously.” Jenn took Tessa’s arm and pulled her to sitting. “He sounds like real relationship material. Not some hopeless fantasy.”

“But Richard doesn’t—”

“Make your heart sing opera, I know.” She raised her wine cooler in a toast. “Let me tell you, singing hearts aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. I love Adam, but my heart quit singing when I got a whiff of his running shoes. You need a person you can build something with.”

A single faint star twinkled in the space between buildings. She hadn’t even told Jenn that Richard said he loved her. With that little detail, Jenn would start shopping for a bridesmaid dress. She sighed. “You’re right. You’re always right.”

“About men, yes. About everything else? Not remotely. Ever since I met you, you’ve clung to these impossibly high standards only some imaginary dream guy could satisfy. Men are fallible, but you’ve got to give them a fair shot, fault riddled as they are. And God knows, they are.”