Fraying at the Edge by Cindy Woodsmall Page A

out a lot of their plans and they wanted to compromise with her on things she strongly opposed—like wearing pants and sleeveless tops. She’d won that battle.
    “Do you feel ready for the driver’s test?”
    She’d spent a lot of time behind the wheel, either with Nicholas or an instructor. A lot of time. “Probably.” Her Daed had started teaching her the rules of the road at fourteen. He had her driving everything from rigs on the road to a team of horses in the fields. A vehicle with power steering and brakes seemed pretty easy after that.
    “I know you’re not happy, but it’ll get better, and I’m determined to do better.”
    “Ya, me too.”
    She’d thought God let her be raised in an Amish home and then brought her here to lead Nicholas and Brandi to faith, but now that seemed naive of her. She’d spent a week splitting time between Nicholas and Brandi. He wasn’t absent of faith. He had plenty of it, but none of that faith was in God. He was well schooled in why her faith was misleading and was based in fear. How did one explain faith to a man who was an atheist because of his vast knowledge of things she’d never heard of? What was the Higgs boson? She wasn’t even sure what physics was.
    “If it helps any, Skylar didn’t get along with Cameron either.”
    That didn’t help at all. Ariana was supposed to be skilled at bridling her tongue and turning the other cheek.
    “I need to jump in the shower,” Brandi said. “As soon as I’m dressed, we’ll go to the mall. We won’t have time to shop until we drop, but we’ll do some good damage before it’s time for you to meet Nicholas at the Apple Store.”
    The mall. Nicholas demanded that Ariana couldn’t leave it until she had four dresses, a new hairstyle, and an iPhone. Once those things were accomplished, he would take her to the DMV so she could get her license.
    “Any chance Nicholas changed his mind about letting me wear my prayer Kapp?”
    Brandi looked sympathetic. “No. But I’ve been thinking about that. You know, a lot of Bible scholars feel the passages about a head covering are meant to be taken as symbolic, not literal.”
    Nicholas had already explained that line of thinking to her. “Okay.” She forced the obedient word to leave her mouth and held up the manual. “I’ll be ready when you are.” That wasn’t completely true. She would never be ready for the changes being forced on her.
    Halfway to the door, Brandi turned. “I wanted to show you some of my favorite cafés. Going to different ones is sort of a hobby of mine, and we’d have time to go by the closest one before going to the mall. They have pumpkin spice coffee and donuts this time of year.”
    “That sounds nice. Thanks.” She wasn’t sure she could see someone else’s café without tearing up, but she would try.

Q uill’s feet hit the ground with precise pacing as he ran, and his breath was as frosty as the ferns along the wooded path. He focused on the rhythmic beat of his steps, the swaying trees overhead—red maple, box elder, and white ash—and the brown leaves falling like snow.
    Why can’t Ariana just call?
    He tensed at the thought and refused to dwell on it. He put his eyes on the path in front of him and took note of the late October air. It smelled of hydrangeas and forest dirt.
    But five minutes of decent conversation would help both of us…Okay, maybe only me.
    Quill picked up his pace. If running ten miles on a Saturday morning wasn’t enough to shut out thoughts of her, he’d do fifteen—and push even harder.
    His phone rang, and he almost tripped over his own feet. He dug the cell out of his fleece pants and glanced at the screen.
His brother.
He slid his finger across the phone. “Hey.”
    “Something came Priority Mail Express, and it’s addressed to Mr. Quill.”
    Whoever sent it obviously didn’t know him well. So how did the sender get the address for the temp house in Mingo? “Dan, the whole idea of my going for a