A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust

"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.noveldrama

Silas followed suit, towering over the table.

"Ryan, just tell me straight," Calliope insisted, her tone leaving no room for argument. "What's going on that you can't tell me? Weren't we best friends growing up? If you need help, spit it out."

Silas nodded, arms crossed, looking every bit the guy you wouldn't want to mess with. "Yeah, seriously, Ryan. If you've got a problem, say it. I brought some friends with me-if you need backup, just say the word. They're not exactly pushovers."

Ryan glanced helplessly at Neil, whose look said, "You're not getting out of this one."

Finally, Ryan sighed, his shoulders slumping. "It's the people from Ivory Town. You know how jealous they've been since our town started doing better? They keep saying we 'stole their luck' or whatever, so they're always trying to mess with us."

"Today, things just boiled over. We tried to talk it out, but they went straight to throwing punches. I was with Jacob and a few others, and... Jacob got hurt. Badly."

He ran a shaky hand through his hair. "You know Kyle from Ivory Town? The guy who used to be 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 past couple of years!"

Ryan's voice shook with anger. "It's ridiculous! When we first started turning our town into a tourist spot, we asked them to partner with us. They said no. Now that we're finally doing well, suddenly it's not fair?"

He looked at Neil, desperate. "Neil, what 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 could get ugly. That's why I came to you."

"This is crossing the line. We need to go check it out," Neil said, already heading for the door.

Around the long farmhouse table, everyone had gotten up, half-eaten plates of roast chicken and mashed potatoes forgotten. Faces were flushed with anger.

"We've been more than patient," someone muttered.

"Tourism could've boosted both towns. We're only five miles apart! They didn't want in, but now that we're finally putting our town on the map, they're pissed?"

"Let's go," another said. "Ivory Town's got numbers, but we're no small town ourselves."

"Exactly! I told you, those folks have always been trouble. This isn't the first time they've pulled something like this!"

The room buzzed with frustration and solidarity until suddenly everyone seemed to remember Calliope and Silas-outsiders to the recent drama-were standing there.

"Uh, Callie," one of the neighbors said, glancing sheepishly her way, "You've been gone a while, so you probably don't know the whole story with the towns..."