Lessons in Love: A Western Romance Novel (Long Valley Book 8) by Erin Wright

Author:Erin Wright [Wright, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wright’s Reads
Published: 2018-10-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

Hannah

February, 2019

“So then Juan raced across the finish line so far ahead of Dayton and Patrick,” Brooklyn said excitedly, the chocolate chip cookie dough forgotten in her hands for the moment as she recounted the story, “heck, they probably couldn’t even see him when he won,” she boasted. “The PE teacher said that that was the fastest anyone had ever run the 500-meter in her class, and so of course Dayton and Patrick pretended like they wasn’t even tryin’ to beat him but of course they was. I don’t know why they think it’s so bad to be Mexican.”

Hannah squished her rounded ball of dough down onto the greased baking sheet as a subtle reminder to Brooklyn to do likewise, but Brooklyn being Brooklyn, of course the diversionary tactic didn’t work. She kept her eyes pinned on Hannah while she dropped the ball of dough into place, the implied question hanging in the air.

Hannah squirmed a little inside, wishing that it was Elijah fielding this question. Racism was always a dicey topic, and then there was the fact that Hannah wasn’t actually Brooklyn’s mother, even though she felt like she was most days, and…

She glanced up to find that yup, Brooklyn was still staring at her, her gray-green eyes glued to her every movement. Elijah had run down to the Shop ‘N Go to get milk to dunk the cookies in, so for the moment, Hannah was it. They’d spent their Sunday together, the three of them, making cookies and playing Clue Jr. and even coloring some out of the gorgeous coloring book Elijah had given her over two months ago, but naturally, Brooklyn had waited until Elijah was gone to ask the hard questions.

Stalling for time, Hannah carefully slid the filled cookie sheet into the oven and started the timer, hoping inspiration would strike as she did.

“I know this is hard to keep in mind sometimes,” she finally said once there was nothing left to do but to turn back towards Brooklyn, “but Dayton and Patrick were taught by their parents to think like that. It doesn’t make it any easier to swallow because they’re being jerks and no one likes being around that, but it’s how they were raised. Hopefully, someday, they’ll realize that it isn’t right. In the meanwhile, the best thing you can do is be a good friend to Juan and stand up for him, but not by kicking Dayton in the shins when you do it.”

Brooklyn had the good graces to look a little ashamed at that. “He’s just such a jerk,” she mumbled around the licking of her fingers clean. “He likes being mean.”

The terrible part was, Brooklyn was spot on. Hannah couldn’t say that out loud, of course, but yeah, Dayton had a mean streak in him a mile wide. She’d had hopes at the beginning of the year of bringing the class together as a whole, but it was nearing into March and they were just as fractured as ever, with Dayton – and Patrick as his sidekick – being a big part of that.

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