The Same Place (The Lamb and the Lion #2) - Gregory Ashe Page 0,11

not,” Tean said.

“But we’ve got a good support system,” Caleb said. “And right now, any problems we have, we’re going to solve them as a family.” He smiled, glanced at Hannah, looked away. “I really think we’re getting all worked up over nothing.”

“Unbelievable,” Hannah said. “All three of you: you’re unbelievable.”

“Stalking isn’t nothing,” Tean said. His gaze finally came up from the floor, moving from Hannah’s parents to Caleb to Hannah. “Hannah and I have worked together for a long time. She’s gone out into some pretty remote areas all by herself. She’s always handled herself without a word of complaint. She’s never been spooked, not in the entire time I’ve known her. I don’t understand why you aren’t taking this seriously.”

Virgie and Howard looked at each other. Caleb and Howard looked at each other. Virgie and Caleb looked at each other. Nobody looked at Hannah, who was staring at her hands locked around Divorcee.

“Thank you boys for coming over,” Howard said, maneuvering his bulk toward the edge of the cushion and then standing. “I’ve always been outspoken about the need for our different communities to cooperate—”

“Wait,” Jem said, “is he telling us to take a hike because we’re fags?”

Tean groaned and covered his eyes.

“I really won’t stand for that kind of language,” Virgie piped up.

“Now listen,” Howard was saying. “We’ve been very polite up until now, all of us, but I think it’s time for you to go. The fact that you’d try to prey on my daughter during a difficult time, to take money from my daughter during the dark night of her soul—”

“That’s it,” Hannah said, shooting to her feet. “We’re done. Jem, Tean, I have my own money. I’ll pay you. Mom, Dad, go home.”

“Hannah,” Howard said. “We need to talk about this.”

“Yeah,” Caleb said. “We need to talk about this.”

“What’s your rate?” Hannah said to Jem, setting Divorcee on the floor.

“I—” Jem began.

“Seventy dollars an hour plus mileage,” Tean said.

Jem blinked.

“Fine,” Hannah said.

“Seventy dollars an hour?” Howard said. “That’s highway robbery. Hannah, let’s call some of the brethren and ask them if they can recommend someone—”

“Fine,” Hannah said more loudly. “I’ll write you a check for a retainer. Just a second.”

As she moved out of the room, Caleb, Howard, and Virgie turned identical glares on Jem and Tean. In the stillness, the only sound was the ticking of a clock somewhere in the house, and then the creak of floorboards as Hannah made her way back to the living room.

“Will fifteen hundred dollars be enough?” she asked, already filling out a check.

“Um,” Jem said.

“Yes,” Tean said. “And Jem will provide you with reports showing how it was spent.”

“I will?” Jem said.

“I’ll type them,” Tean said.

“Oh. Then, yes. I will.”

“That better not be coming out of our Deer Valley deposit money,” Caleb was saying.

Howard was digging out his wallet. “If anyone’s going to pay for this kind of ridiculousness, it ought to be her father.”

Scribbling her signature, Hannah leaned back from the check and examined it once more. Then she handed it to Jem. “There. Done. Do you need me to sign a contract?”

“Howard,” Virgie was saying, “Howard, I really think Brother Shepherdson could help. He was in the Army, after all.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Howard said. “Hannah, let’s ask Brother Shepherdson. He’s been ministering to our family for thirty years, and—”

“And he was in the Korean War, Dad,” Hannah said. “He just had his second knee replacement.”

Something seemed to snap inside Caleb, and he said, “I don’t understand why you’re making such a big deal out of this.”

“Of course you don’t,” Hannah said without looking at him.

“How can I?” Caleb shouted. “You won’t talk to me. You’ll barely spend five minutes in the same room with me.”

“I need some air,” Hannah said to Jem and Tean. “Come on.”

They followed her to the door. Howard was huffing, and Virgie was crying. Jem had to give her points; he recognized a fake cry when he saw one, and Virgie was in the Elizabeth-Taylor league. Caleb came after them.

“Hannah, just wait. I shouldn’t have yelled.”

But Hannah just grabbed a jacket and stepped out into the night.

“What are you doing?” Caleb shouted, grabbing Tean and spinning him around. “What is this weird game you’re playing?”

Tean’s glasses had slipped to the edge of his nose, and he blinked at Caleb.

“You’ve made some pretty dumb mistakes tonight,” Jem said, checking his pocket for the paracord with the hex nut, the telescoping antenna, the barrette with the sharpened tip. “You don’t want to