A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

"Uh, n-no, it's nothing!" Ryan stammered, quickly shaking his head. He tried to smile at Calliope, but it was the kind of forced, crooked grin that pretty much screamed something's up.

Calliope saw right through him. She knew Ryan too well-when he got anxious, his eyes darted everywhere, and right now, he was practically begging Neil for

help with his gaze.

Neil had already set down his fork and gotten up from the table. "Callie, really, it's nothing. I'll go talk to him. You guys finish your dinner, okay?"

He started to lead Ryan away.

But Calliope stood up right away, her chair scraping against the hardwood.

Silas followed suit, towering over the table.

tone leaving no room for argument. "What's going on that you can't tell me? Weren't we best

the guy you wouldn't want to mess with. "Yeah, seriously, Ryan. If you've got a

glanced helplessly at Neil, whose look said,

Town. You know how jealous they've been since our town started doing better? They keep saying we

We tried to talk it out, but they went straight to throwing punches.

in the army? He basically flattened Jacob and then they wouldn't even let us take him to the clinic. To top it off, now they're saying we have to give them half the money we've made from tourism these

with anger. "It's ridiculous! When we first started turning our town into a tourist spot, we asked them

do we do? Jacob's blood is all over me, I'm scared he's really hurt. The others are still facing off with them, and it

line. We need to go check

up, half-eaten plates of roast chicken and mashed potatoes forgotten. Faces

than