Page 17 of Sycamore Circle

He didn’t know what to say. “Thanks.”

Chloe shrugged like his tip didn’t matter one way or the other. “Wish me luck. I’ve got to hurry and get changed or Miss Diamanté is going to kill me.”

“Who’s she?”

“My dance teacher. I take ballet lessons next door.”

“Ah. Well, good luck getting changed.” Feeling his cheeks heat, he told himself to stop being such an idiot.

She giggled then smiled. “Thanks. See ya.”

“Yeah. See ya.” Unable to help himself, he watched her go, thinking all the while that he’d never seen a girl as willowy as her.

Aunt Mary walked to stand beside him. “She’s a pretty thing, isn’t she?”

She was, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud. “She says she takes dance classes next door.”

“She sure does. I talked to her mamm about it once. Chloe does a lot of ballet. Her mother thinks she’s gonna get a scholarship to college for it. If she keeps her grades up, of course.”

“I didn’t know you could go to college for dancing.”

“Me, neither, but I reckon it’s not that surprising. People get their higher education for all sorts of reasons these days.” Giving him a sideways glance, she added, “Even Amish kids.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I mean it, Finn. Are you still thinking about jumping the fence?”

He nodded. “I don’t think I can stay home much longer.” It was an understatement. His father was constantly angry with him, and his mother seemed perpetually overwhelmed and disappointed. He supposed he couldn’t blame them—he was the middle kid of five, but had always seemed like an odd duck. He’d given up attempting to fit in and be the person they wanted him to be. He’d sure tried... and failed.

His aunt pursed her lips. “I sure am sorry, Finn.”

“Me too.”

“Will they still speak to you if you jump?”

There was no way they’d ever talk to him if he didn’t join the church. “Nee. You know that, Aunt Mary.”

“I had kind of hoped that maybe Ruth would’ve softened a bit.”

“Mamm hasn’t softened and Daed probably never will.” Finn smiled so his words would maybe not seem so pathetic.

Aunt Mary didn’t smile back, revealing that his act wasn’t fooling her for a minute.

The truth was that they demanded he stay within the church and, in their efforts to make it happen, they’d taken to intimidation. Their threats included immediate expulsion if he elected to not get baptized and telling him he’d have to start paying them rent until he did join the church. “Things are getting real bad.”

“Finn, you can live with me, but that might be hard on both of us. You keep your eye out for other places and I will too.”

“Danke.”

The door chimed, bringing in a pair of hard-looking men. When Mary saw them, she hustled over to their sides. “Hey, Bo. Hey, Seth, how are you doing?”

“Good. You?”

“Can’t complain.” As she seated them, Finn watched Seth settle into the booth. If he wasn’t mistaken, Seth had been Amish about ten years ago. He’d heard the man had even served time in prison.

When Seth met his gaze, Finn felt his cheeks heat as he turned away. He was going to need to find a way to talk to Seth. Just to hear his story.

That would be better than focusing on Chloe. She was completely out of his league.

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