Plain Again by Sarah Price

head at Mike. “You’re wrong.”
    “Try me,” Mike retorted. “But don’t blame me when it backfires.”
    Disgusted, Alejandro walked away, his steps heavy and his fists clenched as he moved past the doors and hurried toward the waiting car outside of the building entrance. Alone in the car, Alejandro removed his dark sunglasses and rubbed at his eyes. When had it become so complicated? he wondered.

Chapter Nine
    Are you in Boston yet?
    Or Providence?
    I can’t keep up.
    Missing you.
    A.
    It was Sunday and they had just returned from church. It had been a disastrous day from the moment she had awoken, and she was missing Alejandro more than ever. Had he been with her, she thought, he would have known what to do.
    Earlier that morning, her daed had insisted on going to church, and Amanda knew what that meant: her mamm couldn’t handle him alone, so she would have to go along. She had arisen early to milk the cows, knowing that it would take extra time without any help from Harvey. Mamm had come out to help her, but Amanda had quickly shooed her back inside, telling her to get Daed ready, when in reality, she was mostly concerned that it was too cold for her mamm to work.
    By the time Amanda had finished the milking and harnessed the horse to the buggy, she barely had time to wash up and change, never mind have a quick bite to eat. She hadn’t known what to wear, fluctuating between her regular plain clothing or a simple skirt and blouse.
    “I’m not plain, Mamm,” she said when her mamm had walked by the door and paused, checking to see what Amanda was doing. “What do I wear?”
    “They know you aren’t plain,” Lizzie had responded. “Dress accordingly, then.”
    There were only two cars waiting outside of the driveway, something that had surprised Amanda. She hadn’t left the property since the incident at the natural food store. With Mamm driving the horse and Daed seated next to her, Amanda had no choice but to crouch in the backseat of the buggy. She had hoped that the photographers would not follow them, but one glance out of the back window had quickly dashed that hope.
    Once they pulled into the driveway of the farm where the service was being held, Amanda had breathed a sigh of relief: the two cars had not followed them onto the private property. For a moment, she dared to imagine that the rest of the day would go well.
    She was soon proved wrong.
    The men had come to help with Elias, expressing their surprise that he had arrived at all. Luckily, the worship service was being held at the farmhouse, which meant no steps and plenty of space for his wheelchair. To Amanda’s relief, the men had promptly taken over Elias’s care, which freed up Lizzie to go inside with the other women, a social outlet that Amanda had suspected her mamm desperately needed.
    Unfortunately, once they had entered the farmhouse, the women who had been assembled in the empty kitchen next to the gathering room had stopped talking and stared at the two newcomers. Lizzie had ignored the silence and made her way through the line of women, first shaking their outstretched hands before bestowing the kiss of fellowship on the women’s lips. Uncertain what to do, Amanda had walked behind her mamm but noticed that the women turned their heads while shaking her hand: the first rebuff of the day.
    The second came only moments later. Rather than sit with the women she had always sat next to, her peers and friends, she was forced to sit up front with the elderly, a place of honor for guests as well as a separation from the younger women. Her cheeks had flushed red, this time from embarrassment, as she sat there beside her mamm , something she had not done since she was a child.
    While the first hymn was being sung, the congregation had waited for the bishop and ministers to return. It was during this time that the leaders of the church usually left the room to decide, among one another, who was to preach the sermons. When they returned