Best Friend's Ex Box Set

Honor turned, looked at Danny, and nodded her head. From out of his pocket, he pulled a small box that, after a few moments, I recognized as my smashed and discarded phone. He tapped the screen a few times and then held the phone up before he touched it once more.

"We want to go to college," the tinny electronic voice said as Grace and I stared at him.

"Danny, how did you do that?" Grace whispered.

"How did you fix that phone?" I asked almost talking over Grace.

Danny tapped the screen a few times and then held the device up and pressed play. Again, the mechanical voice spoke, "I read. I learn. I like technology. I'm not dumb."

"Of course you're not!" Grace said moving toward him with a look of awe on her face. "No one ever said you were dumb."

"Grace, we don't want to be Amish," Honor said as she dropped into a kitchen chair. "Now that Mamm and Dat are gone, we want to live with you."

"But what about Verity?" Grace asked as she looked back and forth between her brother and sister.

"What about me?" Verity said as she entered the kitchen carrying a basket full of sheets and towels.

"They want to move to the city with me," Grace said.

"Oh, I've known that for ages," Verity replied as she set the basket down by the back door and returned to the table. "They don't belong here, Grace. They belong in your world. Mamm had talked about sending Honor home with you the next time you visited."

"She did?" Honor said as she spun around to look at Verity who smiled and nodded.

"Why didn't Mamm talk with me about it?" Grace demanded.

"I think she was waiting until Dat could get the store business on solid ground, so that you wouldn't have a financial burden if you said yes," Verity said. "I'm sorry, Grace. I don't know what they were planning exactly, but I should have at least told you."

"This family is crazy!" Grace shouted.

"Not crazy, just disorganized," said the small mechanical voice coming from the box in Danny's hand. Everyone went silent for a moment, and then they all burst into laughter that filled the room. I watched in amazement, feeling envious of their closeness as I slowly moved toward the door.

"Oh no you don't, Mr. Wallace," Verity said noticing my attempted escape.

"But I'm the one who caused the problem," I protested as I looked around for a way to escape.

"That may very well be," Verity smiled. "But now you're going to be an important part of the solution."

Chapter Thirty-One

Grace

It had only been a month since our parents had died and two weeks since Adam had crashed into our lives. Although we’d bounced back as best we could, I could feel the aching loss and knew we needed to keep busy if we were going to make out plan work. For the next few days, we all joined together and tried to come up with a plan that would keep everything running long enough to get the turbines up and working. It was a long shot, and one that had the potential to backfire in a big way, but considering the potential benefits, it seemed like a smart gamble. I tried to steer clear of Adam as best I could because every time I was anywhere near him, I wanted to pull him away from the rest so I could feel his warm naked body pressed against mine, but more than that, there were things I wanted to know about Adam.

It was a busy week as we all put our energy into the plan that Adam might be able to use to sell the community on turbine technology, and before I knew it, Wednesday had arrived. I was scheduled to leave early the next morning so that I could be back in Chicago after lunch, but I didn't want to leave without talking to Adam, so late that evening, when everyone else had long since gone to bed, I snuck down the stairs and lightly tapped on his door.

"Who is it?" he asked through the closed door.

"Who do you think it is, silly?" I whispered as I cracked the door open and slipped inside.

Adam was naked from the waist up, covered by a quilt as he frowned at something on his phone. I padded over to the bed and sat down on the edge.

"You know, you really shouldn't run around in silky, pink lingerie," he said without looking up but letting me know he hadn't missed a thing. "Don't you Amish girls usually wear long, cotton nightgowns that keep everything covered?"

"Ha ha, very funny, Wallace," I said rolling my eyes at his lame attempt at stereotyping. I pulled my feet up underneath me and sat cross-legged on the opposite end of the bed.

"What?" he said, putting his phone on the nightstand and giving me his undivided attention. "What's that look about?"

"Who are you?" I blurted out.