Love Redeemed by Kelly Irvin

Author:Kelly Irvin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736954969
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 20

Michael’s legs and back ached from eight hours of standing in the diner kitchen, loading dirty dishes into a steaming dishwasher under fluorescent lights that blinked and buzzed. Shoving aside a newspaper and an empty Styrofoam coffee cup someone had left at the bus stop, he plopped onto the hard wooden bench to wait for his bus. His muscles groaned their approval. He’d worked hard in the fields at home and never had he felt this tired. The skin on his fingertips had started to peel from the detergent and a rash on his arms itched. He didn’t care. He had his first paycheck in his pocket. Lana, who turned out to be another one of Oscar’s nieces, and Crystal had urged him to get a checking account ASAP. That’s the way Lana said it. ASAP. It seemed his boss had a soft heart for down-on-their luck relatives who needed jobs. And refugees from small Amish communities.

The two girls got an obvious kick out of educating Michael about all sorts of things. How to use the TV remote to change the channels when Oscar wanted to watch the football game on Saturday afternoon. How to find Oscar’s favorite country music station on the radio when his team lost and he didn’t want to have the TV on anymore. How to eat standing up along the back wall of the kitchen so Oscar wouldn’t dock their pay for taking time for lunch or supper.

They were funny, those two. Always cracking jokes. Mostly he didn’t understand them, except to realize they weren’t very nice. Not jokes he could repeat to his little sisters. He struck that thought. Rule number one of his new existence: No thinking about his sisters or his brothers or Mudder or Daed. Or Phoebe. Especially not Phoebe. No thinking about home period. He worked hard enough that he fell into bed at night and slept a deep dreamless sleep. That was fine with him.

He’d go to the bank tomorrow so he could pay for the next week at the motel. Crystal and Lana might think he needed a checking account, but he’d just as soon pay cash. He’d buy a few groceries to stock the kitchenette. It would be cheaper than eating out when he didn’t eat at the diner, even if eating out consisted of soggy hot dogs from a vendor in the park across from the diner. And then there wouldn’t be much left. No need for a bank.

He had about twenty minutes to wait for the bus. He could’ve walked home in that time. Most days he did to save the bus fare, but today dark clouds hung low in the sky, glowering at him, promising a deluge any minute. Then the sun broke through a crack in the clouds and mixed heat with the dampness. He bent over and planted his elbows on his knees, head down. His new sneakers had turned a dirty gray by the end of the first week at the diner.

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