Best Friend's Ex Box Set

"I'll have you know that girls like me are capable of handling a lot more than you think we can, Wallace," she said with a grim expression. "I'll thank you not to make assumptions about what we can or cannot do."

"Jesus H. Christ, lady!" I exploded. "You need to knock that chip off your shoulder and join the rest of the world! The rest of your family is doing the best they can to help you, but you're shutting them out! I'm offering to help too, but you're so suspicious of everything that you're going to reject me before you even give me a chance! Fine, whatever! Do your thing, lady. I wish you the best of luck trying to save the world all on your own! I've got my own shit to worry about!"

I was livid and had no outlet for my anger, so I did what every other member of the family did and headed for the door. I limped down the stairs and up the drive to the road where I stopped and stood staring across acres of open farmland. My anger at Grace and her stubbornness quickly dissipated as I stood wondering how long before the phone was charged so I could call Bugsy and figure out what it would take to get the people who owned these fields to install our turbines. I was so lost in my thoughts I didn't hear Honor until she was standing behind me.

"I know you're crushed out on her, but she belongs with Gabe," Honor said breaking the silence.

"Jesus H. Christ!" I shouted as I spun around and then bent over holding a hand to my chest until the sharp pain subsided. "Don't sneak up on someone like that!"

"Sorry, I thought you heard me," she shrugged as she kicked at the dirt with her bare foot.

"I didn't think she wanted to be with Gabe," I said wondering what she was getting at. "And what the hell are you talking about crushing out? I'm not a teenage boy."

"They always disagree like that. She and Gabe have been sweethearts since they were kids. She's just trying to figure out whether she's going to stay or go," she said. With a wry grin, she added, "And you don't have to be a teenager to have a crush."

"Where's she going?" I asked as I slowly stood up. Honor stared at me for a long time before she replied.

"Away, so you better say something before she does," she said before suddenly taking off in a dead run toward the end of the road.

"Honor!" I shouted. She ignored me as her feet pounded the dirt, leaving behind small clouds of dust in her wake.

"That does it. One way or another, I'm going to get to the bottom of this mess," I muttered as I limped back to the house. I scoffed at Honor's assertion, but as I pulled open the screen door, a part of me knew she was right.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Grace

I spent most of the afternoon holed up in my bedroom, waiting for the appointed hour to call Mike and find out what was going on with the Miter account. His messages had sounded urgent, but then Mike had a way of making a lunch order sound urgent, so I tended not to get too worked up about things he said.

I sat at my desk going over the paperwork for the grocery store while I waited and realized that the store was running at a deficit of around a thousand dollars a month. The farm was able to cover a portion of the debts, but there seemed to be somewhere between two hundred and five hundred dollars that was missing each month. I couldn't find a record of it anywhere and this was confusing. Dat was always meticulous about money as far as I'd known. Unlike a lot of Amish families in the community, we'd never gone without shoes or essentials that we needed because Dat had saved enough to be used in case of emergencies.

I knew about the emergency account because I'd almost drained it to pay for the caskets and funeral costs. Now there was less than two thousand dollars in the account and I needed to figure out how to make up for the several thousand-dollar shortfall that the grocery had. I pulled out my cell phone and tapped the screen to check my own retirement account. I wondered if I could withdraw what was needed without being charged an arm and a leg to do it. I made a note to call the fund manager and ask her what the penalties would be then I dialed Mike's number and waited.

"Hey, Grace! How you doing, girl?" Mike shouted into the phone when he picked up. "Do you have any idea when you'll be back?"

"Hello, Mike," I laughed as he moved from niceties to business without taking a breath. "I'm not sure. What's going on?"

"Look, kid, I know you've got a lot on your shoulders, but we really need you here," he said. "Jess can't handle this account on her own and I don't feel comfortable giving her the responsibility of taking the lead on the presentation. I don't mean to sound insensitive, but I need you to wrap up the business with your family enough so that you can come back to the city and take care of this. After that, we'll talk about you taking some paid leave time and being with your family."

"Mike, I can't just walk away right now," I said trying frantically to figure out how I could manage the family business and still give him what he needed for the Miter project. "Can I do it remotely and then fly in for the presentation?"

"I'm sorry, Grace," he said in a tone that let me know he truly was. "But I need you here doing your job right now. I know your family needs you, but we need you, too. I don't like to be the bad guy, but if you can't get back here by next week, we're going to have a serious problem."

"In other words, you're going to fire me," I said glumly.

"Firing is such an ugly word, kid," he said. "But if you can't be here to do the job, then we're going to have to let you go."

"Mike, that doesn't make sense!" I cried. "I'm the lead on the project, but I can still advise from here! I could hook up Skype and work with Jess if you need me to."

"I'm sorry, Grace," he said. "But I've got a business to run and I need my best accountants here doing their jobs as we head into this crucial negotiation."

"So, it's next week or not at all," I said feeling the weight of the world settling on my shoulders.

"I guess it is, kid," Mike said sadly. Then he perked up and offered, "I can send a car to pick you up. How about a week from today? Can you make that work, Grace? Please?"

I could hear a hint of desperation in his voice and it made me realize that he wasn't kidding when he said he needed me on this one. I took a deep breath and said, "Okay, this time next week. Send a car and I'll come back to get things in order."

"You're a champ, Grace!" Mike crowed as he ended the call.