Ray of Light by Shelley Shepard Gray Page B

way.”
    â€œOf course. I’m sorry.”
    Looking a bit amused, her grandmother gazed out the window, then said, “Well, it all started when I decided to help with the football players float.”
    â€œWhat’s a float?”
    â€œFor us, it was a trailer bed that you would hook to the back of a big truck. We’d decorate it with balloons and crepe paper. Then people would stand on it during a parade. I liked one of the football players, so I made sure I was helping with their float for the parade.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œAnd it was great fun. There was lots of laughter, and flirting with the boys . . . and then Jack started talking to me.”
    â€œJack was the boy you liked.”
    â€œHe was. I’d liked him for some time. Then, one day, he liked me, too.” She took a breath, but just as she was about to say more, Viola’s grandpa came in.
    â€œWhat are you talking about, Lovina?” His voice was hard with disapproval.
    With a look of warning in her direction, Mommi shrugged. “Nothing too important. Was there something you needed?”
    â€œSupper.”
    â€œGoodness, I hadn’t noticed the time.” Immediately, she got to her feet. “Viola, we’ll have to talk another time,” she said, then quickly disappeared out the door with her husband.
    Viola felt like she’d been left on the side of a hill and she didn’t know whether to climb up or down. Or to hold tight where she was and hope no strong winds came along.
    Frustrated, she glared at the door and wished with all her might that her grandfather had decided to enter just a few minutes later.
    But then she realized that her grandmother’s story had done a very good thing. Now she was no longer only thinking about how scared she was.
    Instead, she was wondering how her grandparents had become the people they were, and what experiences in her life would shape her character. Make her the person she would one day be. Would moving to Belize change her for good?

Chapter Eleven
    The gray skies seemed grayer in Berlin. Roman frowned in annoyance as he looked out the window of the bus. It felt as if the dreary color was draining all of the life right out of him with each passing mile.
    Depression lurked on the edge of his heart as he spied the familiar landmarks.
    He’d be home soon—which meant he’d be even farther from Sarasota, Florida. And though he’d made every effort to think positively about his future with Amanda, Roman knew those dreams were going to be almost impossible to turn into reality.
    She had a life in Pinecraft, and he had a load of responsibilities right here in Ohio. His father was in a rehabilitation center. His mother was at her wit’s end. One of his sisters was almost blind, the other was days away from visiting her fiancé in Belize. Therefore it was up to Roman to take care of the majority of the farm.
    And do the majority of the work as well.
    Roman didn’t begrudge the work. He’d never minded working in the fields and helping to make his family’s land more prosperous and profitable. But at the moment, the responsibilities weighed on him something awful.
    For the first time in his life, he wanted something different from what he had.
    He glanced out at the clouds again and noticed they’d darkened even more. Snow was likely on the way. He sighed in frustration. Of course it was.
    The man sitting next to him noticed. “You’ve been on this bus ever since it left Pinecraft, haven’t ya?”
    â€œYes.” The bus had made several stops along its way north. More than a few people had boarded in Cincinnati, while others had switched buses there, some heading west toward Indianapolis like his cousins. But he’d been on it for the entire long journey.
    The older man grunted in satisfaction. “I thought so. You’re wearing that look.”
    â€œWhat look is that?”
    â€œThe one that