Best Friend's Ex Box Set

"Oh, Grace, I don't know what you're doing, but I'm going to pray that you succeed," Verity said wrapping an arm around my waist and resting her head on my shoulder.

"That's perfect," I said slipping an arm around her waist and kissing the top of her head. "Because we're going not need all the prayers we can get."

Chapter Thirty

Adam

"Grace, what's going on?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen. Honor and Danny had explained the relationship between the bishop and their family, and I'd realized that whatever Grace had done was something major, but neither Honor nor Danny would tell me what it was. "Grace! Just tell me!"

"Fine," she sighed as Verity cast a nervous glance my way before leaving the room. "I'll tell you."

"What was your uncle going on about out there?" I asked.

"It's a long story, but it basically boils down to the fact that I'm what they call a jerked-over Amish person," she said.

"And that means what?"

"It means that I don't belong to this community," she replied. "I moved to Chicago to go to college ten years ago, and I haven't been a part of this community since then, so he's angry that I'm back and taking care of the business and family without actually being a part of the rest of the community."

"Wait, you live in Chicago?" I asked completely confused by her revelation. "But you're..."

"Plain and simple?" she said dryly.

"No, I wasn't going to say that."

"Yes, you were. You've been saying it since the night you came into the grocery store," she said. "You thought I was a simple country girl who'd never been outside of Corner Grove."

"But you didn't say anything!" I protested.

"I was too mad at you for making assumptions about things you knew nothing about," she said. "You were arrogant and kind of a jerk, and I didn't feel it necessary to tell you my entire life history."

"But what about when you took me in?" I asked as shock of discovery began to wear off and the realization that she wasn't a simple, country girl set in. I was embarrassed to admit that she was right, but I was also mad that she'd kept the information from me.

"I didn't take you in," she said. She stared at me with a stubborn look on her face as she said, "My family did. I just went along with what they felt was the right thing to do. If I'd had my way that day, I'd have shipped you off to the nearest hospital and washed my hands of you."

"But you didn't," I said as the image of her soft, warm body under mine flashed in my memory.

"No, you were pretty bad off," she said then added, "And rather charming."

"I am that," I grinned as I moved toward her.

"Don't," she said as she held up a hand and stopped me. "I'm trying to figure out a way out of this mess, and the only way I see this working is if you and I clear out of Corner Grove and leave this situation alone."

"You can't leave your family!" I said.

"Adam, you heard my uncle. He's going to shun my family if I stay," she said. "Do you have any idea what shunning means?"

"They just kind of ignore them, right?" I said. I based my understanding on nothing more than the definition of the word, but was fairly sure that it was, as usual, woefully inadequate.

"You have no idea what it means," Grace said shaking her head. "He will cut them off from everything. Honor and Danny will not be allowed to attend services or be baptized, and Verity won't be allowed to marry Levi this fall or settle in the community. It'll be as if they don't exist."

"Okay, so what if they just keep going to service and Verity and Levi still get married," I asked. "I mean, your uncle can regulate lots of things, but he can't stop people from caring about one another, can he?"

"You have no idea," she repeated. "It's also that everyone will stop shopping at the grocery store and buying our produce, eggs, and milk. It will be as if our family no longer exists."

"So, what if they move?" I asked realizing the implausibility of that as soon as the idea left my mouth.

"This is not an apartment complex where you can just pick up and relocate at the drop of a hat, Adam," she shouted. I could feel her frustration.