Best Friend's Ex Box Set

"I know that," I said. "I'm just trying to help."

"Well, try harder," she snapped before slapping her hand across her mouth and turning away. I could see her shoulders trembling as she fought to maintain control.

"What do you want to do, Grace?" I asked as I crossed the room and touched her shoulder. She shrugged my hand off and moved just out of reach.

"I don't know," she whispered. "Adam, I have to go back to the city."

"You're leaving?"

"I have to or I'm going to lose my job," she choked out as the tears began to fall. "And I can't lose my job. I just can't!"

I reached out and took her arm pulling her to me. She resisted only for a moment and then let herself sink into my arms. Her tears fell hot and heavy, soaking the front of my shirt as I held her tightly and tried to reassure her that everything would be all right.

Meanwhile, in the pit of my stomach the knot of fear tightened. I had a week to secure the twenty turbine leases and so far, I had leased exactly zero. I had no idea how I was going to pull this off, and more than anything, I wanted to get back to Chicago, but I couldn't let Bugsy down and I didn't want to lose face in front of my father.

"Grace? How can I help you?" I asked not quite believing the words I heard leaving my mouth.

"You can't," she whispered. "There's no way to win. I have to leave in order for them to stay in the community, but if I do leave, my uncle is most likely going to try to take over the store and the farm before we can sign the turbine lease."

"But what about Verity and Levi? I thought they’d be here.”

“They will be, but they’re part of the community,” I explained. “If they go against my uncle’s Ordung, they’ll be shunned, but if I got against him, there’s nothing he can do to me. I’m the legal guardian of the farm, but if I leave…”

“What if I stay?"

"Why would you want to stay here?" she asked looking up at me with teary, blue eyes.

"I don't know

, I kind of like it here," I shrugged. "Besides, I have nowhere else to go, really."

"What about your turbines?" she asked.

"True, I do need to sell those, but maybe I can go to the farmer's outside of the Amish community and ask if they want to take a chance?" I said as I wondered how many non-Amish farmers were in this community.

"Adam, the next non-Amish community is a good thirty miles away," Grace said answering my question. "This is the perfect place to set up your turbines, and you should. I've been trying to figure out how to make it work on our farm since this morning, but the most we can take on is eight and you need to set up at least twenty, don't you?"

"Yes, twenty is an ideal start to get a return on the investment," I said wondering what she was getting at.

"Then put up eight on our farmland and you only have to find room for twelve more," she said.

"But Grace, the bishop said absolutely not," I reminded her. "If you defy him, it won't matter where you live."

"Yes, but the income from the turbines will keep the store and the farm going, and the rest won't have to worry about money," she said.

"But what about being shunned?" I asked.

"We don't care about being shunned," Honor said through the screen door. "Danny and I talked about it and we agree."

"What are you talking about?" Grace said stepping away from me as she wiped her eyes. "You have no idea what you're saying, Honor."

"Of course, I do," Honor replied stubbornly. She yanked open the screen door and marched into the kitchen followed by her brother who looked like a very determined second-in-command. "You think we're stupid or backward or something, but we're not, Grace. We know what's going on and we know what it takes to run a farm."

"But if you're shunned, then you have no one in the community to...how will you survive?" Grace asked then shook her head and said, "No, no that's not happening! I won't allow it!"

"You can't make that decision for us, Grace! It's not fair!" Honor shouted. "No one ever asks us what we want!"

"Fine, what do you want?" Grace shouted back.