Free The American Lover by G E Griffin Page A

a daughter, having three boys under the age of five kept her pretty busy.”
    “Where are you in the pecking order?”
    “Eldest. Lucas is my youngest brother, Seth’s the middle one. Lucas stayed on the farm to work with Dad, while Seth and I went our own ways, though we both go back and help out from time to time.”
    “What made you decide to leave?”
    “Much as I loved the farm, I always felt like a square peg in a round hole there.  I was bright, did well at school, found math easy, so cut a long story short, I eventually ended up in banking.  My brother Lucas, on the other hand, he really hated school, couldn’t wait to leave.  And since he loved working the land, it was only natural he’d stay on the farm. Seth, well, he used to drive Mom nuts, getting himself covered in grease, always tinkering around with some old set of wheels, so he was always gonna end up a grease monkey, under the hood of an auto. Since he left college and set up Mackenzie’s Autos, he’s never looked back.”
    I was surprised how at ease I felt with Faith, how much I was opening up to her, when these days I hardly ever talked to anyone about anything personal, not wanting to get involved in any way.
    “Your parents must be very proud of you all.”
    “I guess. So how’d you end up in banking?”
    “Similar to you I suppose, as I was always good with figures. My dad’s a maths teacher, so that’s where I get that from, whereas Mum’s an English teacher, as are both my sisters. They’re a very bossy lot, seeing as they’re used to ordering a class of pupils around.”
    “You weren’t tempted to be a teacher as well? Follow in the family tradition?”
    “I did consider it, but in the end decided I preferred working with facts and figures rather than people.  Maybe that was because I found it quite hard to make friends, as I was always this odd maths geek. I even won a maths scholarship, to a posh all-girls grammar school, which in hindsight was the worst thing that could have happened. My parents were thrilled, because they thought it would guarantee me a good education, but to be honest, I think I’d have been far better off at the local state comprehensive with my sisters.”
    “Why?”
    “Girls can be such nasty bitches, especially when there aren't any boys to balance things out a little. There was this gang of girls at school that gave me a hard time just because I was a bit different.  I was always a tom boy, small, quiet, never one of the cool gang.  Bullies have a knack of sensing out weaknesses and then working on them, so I had a pretty horrid time, until I met Drew at a party when I was sixteen.”
    “How did he help? If you don't mind talking about him, that is?” I asked.
    “No, it’s okay, in fact it actually feels good to talk things through with someone who didn't know him and so has no preconceptions,” she smiled shyly.
    “Then fire away.” I sat back ready to listen.
    “Well, Drew was good looking in a tall, rangy sort of way, and he was a bit of a local bad boy - he rode a motorbike, got into fights, had a tattoo and an earring - that kind of thing. Anyhow, I'd only been invited along to this party at the last minute to make up numbers as they were short of girls. Drew was there with some of his mates, and the bitchy girls were all over him like a rash. But the weird thing was, the minute our eyes met, he made a bee line for me , even though I was only wearing jeans and a plain T shirt, not a bum cheek skimming skirt or low cut top like the other girls. Apparently, as far as Drew was concerned, from then on I was it for him, the only girl he was interested in. I’ve never understood why, but that was how it was. And funnily enough, when he started turning up at school to pick me up on his motorbike, the gang of bitchy girls suddenly decided I was cool, and wanted to be friends.”
    “Funny that,” I murmured.
    “Despite my parents’ initial misgivings about Drew, they came around once