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"My mother was a hippie; she didn't know who my father was."
"A hippie?"
"I was born on a commune in Oregon."
"You're kidding."
"I stayed with her for the first couple of years, but she was into drugs, and when I was three, she OD'd. Luckily for me, I was sent to my grandmother's." She smiled. "Gram was a simple lady. She believed in God, the United States of America, apple pie made from scratch, and G. Dwayne Snopes. She was so happy when I married him."
"She obviously didn't know him well."
"She thought he was a great man of God. Luckily, she died before she found out the truth." With the food gone and her stomach so full it ached, she turned to the shake, picking up a thick chocolate curl on the end of her straw and raising it to her mouth. So far, she'd offered all the information and received nothing in return. "Tell me. How does it feel to be the black sheep of your family?"
"What makes you think I'm the black sheep?" He actually sounded annoyed.
"Your parents are leaders of the community, your younger brother is Mr. Perfect, and your older brother's a multimillionaire jock. You, on the other hand, are a surly, bad-tempered, impoverished misfit who owns a broken-down drive-in and antagonizes small children."
"Who told you I was impoverished?"
She found it interesting this was the only part of her description of him he seemed inclined to challenge. "This place. Your mode of transportation. Those slave wages you're paying me. Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see any signs of big money around here."
"I pay you slave wages so you'll quit, Rachel, not because I can't afford more."
"Oh."
"And I like my pickup."
"So you're not poor?"
For a moment she didn't think he'd answer. Finally, he said, "I'm not poor."
"Exactly how not-poor are you?"
"Didn't your grandmother teach you it was rude to ask people questions like that?"
"You're not people, Bonner. I'm not even sure you're human."
"I've got better things to do than sit here and let you insult me." He snatched his empty Dr Pepper can from the sandy soil where he'd propped it and stood up. "Get to work."
As she watched him stalk away, she considered the possibility that she'd offended him. He definitely looked offended. With a satisfied smile, she returned to her chocolate shake.
Ethan stepped out of his office and followed the direction of childish squeals to the playground at the rear of the church where the children were waiting for their parents to pick them up. He told himself this was a good way to connect with the members of the community who weren't part of his congregation, but the truth was, he wanted to see Laura Delapino.
As he walked onto the playground, the Briggs twins abandoned their riding toys to run to his side.
"Guess what? Tyler Baxter barfed on the floor, and it got all over."
"Cool," Ethan replied.
"I almost barfed, too," Chelsey Briggs confessed, "but Mrs. Wells let me pass out straws."
Ethan laughed at the image that non sequitur conjured up. He loved kids, and for years he'd been looking forward to having a few of his own. Gabe's son, Jamie, had been the apple of his eye. Even after two years, it was hard for him to handle what had happened to his nephew and to Cherry, his sweet-tempered sister-in-law.
He'd almost left the ministry after their senseless deaths, but he'd gotten off easier than the rest of his family. The tragedy had pushed his parents into a midlife crisis that had nearly led to divorce, and Cal had shut out everything from his life except winning football games.
Luckily, after a brief separation, his parents' marriage had undergone a transformation that had left Jim and Lynn Bonner acting like lovebirds, as well as changing their lives. Right now the two of them were in South America, where his father was serving as a medical missionary while his mother set up a co-op to market the work of local artisans.
As for Cal, a genius physicist named Dr. Jane Darlington had come into his life, and now the family had another baby, eight-month-old Rosie, an impish blue-eyed darling who held all of them in the palm of her tiny little hand.
