Tell Me Your Story

*** Based on Christian Morals--Christian Romance ***

Book 1 in the Three Cross Faith 2: Health and Faith Series: Thanks to her sister, Hannah, and brother-in-law, Dylan, Ruth Ace has her own company that deals with business issues. But because of a few nasty situations she'd endured, she's withdrawn into herself and refuses to go outside her business and her apartment upstairs from the business.

It's not until she meets the new neighbor in the complex that she's finally allowed to be herself...even if he is the new doctor in town.

Excerpt

Ruth Ace needed to hide out upstairs in her apartment. She'd spent too many hours around other people and she was tired or being nice. However, when the front office door opened and her relatives walked inside, Ruth's plans were thwarted. Of all times for her to be bugged, this didn't make her happy. She needed down time. Considering it was past her working hours, this just made her angry.

Since her half-sister, Hannah, and Hannah's husband, Dylan, stood in front of her, Ruth had to be sociable. They did own her building and were clients of her business—Ace Business Solutions.

Ruth pasted a smile on her face. "What brings you to our side of town?"

They both chuckled, since they hung out all day long in the strip mall for three of their businesses, including hers.

"Your side of town?" Dylan asked. "Well, we have a few requests. We'd like you to do a video for us. We're gonna be doin' a duet in church and need someone to tape it and put the video online for us. We want to share hymns that way."

Easy enough, as long as she didn't have to tape it in church. "Sure. Edited, I take it?"

Dylan grinned. "Nope, unless you want to splice different angles. I want it to be taped live. It just needs an intro screen and stuff at the end."

Live? Weird. That probably meant in the church, but she'd figure out how to make them change the venue. "Okay. I'll do that, free of charge. That's easy."

"Not free," Hannah said. "Nothing free from us."

Ruth pointed to the building surrounding her. "You won't even take rent for this place."

Dylan laughed again. "Because you're doin' accounting and marketing for us. What do you think?"

Ruth rolled her eyes. "You two are something else. What's the next request?"

"Well…" Hannah darted her eyes at Dylan before returning to see Ruth. This was going to be shady; Ruth could tell. "Since you're in charge of the apartments upstairs…" Hannah said. "…we have a new tenant for you. He needs a place to stay and is a good guy. I met him today. He's really nice and has a cat."

A furry beast? She wanted to lash out, but instead, Ruth shook her head, remaining professional. "No pets. Remember that rule?"

"We want that rule changed," Dylan said. "As of right now. We'll pay extra for him to have a cat. He got stuck with it from a previous girlfriend and the poor thing is homeless—both him and his cat. He's been stayin' in a hotel so he can go to his job, and keepin' the cat in his car so he doesn't get in trouble. We can't have that, because the cat could die from the heat."

In February? Unlikely, but Ruth had to relent, since she didn't own the building. "Fine." Ruth unlocked the safe under the desk. She grabbed the key to the last single apartment and pulled out some paperwork. "Have him fill this out. Two months' rent up front." She placed the key on the counter. "Here's the key to apartment number two."

Dylan pulled a check from his pocket and slapped it onto the counter. "Already done for the cash." He reached into his other pocket and pulled out the paperwork. "He filled this out at the private investigations business. We already did a background check on him. His name's Oliver." He put that paper on the counter, as well.

"Tell him to move in anytime." Ruth stored the paperwork and the check in the safe. She'd deal with it later. "The place is new so it's clean."

"He needs to move in fast," Dylan said, and pocketed the key.

However, they didn't leave. Both of them stood still. There was more?

Ruth wanted to roll her eyes, but refrained. "What else?"

"Well," Hannah said. "We're having a single's night at the restaurant next week…"

Ruth crossed her arms. "No." Single's nights meant more heartache for her, because she always left alone with not a friend in sight.

Hannah's face softened. "Come on. It's just a bunch of people from the single's group from church. There'll be games, tons of people to meet, and just fun. We're in charge of it for the preacher. We need someone to keep it lively and you've been elected."

Ruth thrust a thumb at her chest. "Me? Lively?" She couldn't think of a worse thing for her to have to deal with. "Why not have someone from that group do it, or even their Sunday school teacher or something? I don't even know or want to know these people."

"Why not?" Dylan asked in a rather surly tone. "Why don't you want friends? We really want to know."

She crossed her arms again. "None of your business." The more people she knew, the more she'd get hurt. Why not just skip the niceties and leave her alone?

Irritation covered Hannah expression. "You're not dating, you hide away in your apartment every night, and don't even come to family functions. We want to know why."

Dylan leaned closer. "If you don't tell us, we're gonna send psycho Mac in to see you. If you won't talk to him, we'll find others to talk to you, maybe even calling your dad in Alaska. There's no way you're happy, being so cut off. We can't have that in our family."

If only she wasn't a member of her family, she could be happier. None of them were on her good list right now, because they'd all moved on from the issues in the past. However, she was stuck, just wanting them all out of her life.