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just didn’t seem appropriate. So he did or said nothing. He just stood there, looking like a fool, until he finally found the energy to walk inside the building.
    He strolled through the lobby, over to his office, and sat at his desk. He immediately prepared for whoever his first customer of the day would be. Whether they’d be opening a new checking account, applying for a car loan, or purchasing a certificate of deposit, he would be ready. He would pretend he loved being a customer service representative, and that he simply couldn’t be happier with his home life. He would display a huge smile and would go on with business as usual. He would do this because there was no way out. He was trapped, and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.

Chapter 6
    D illon was still furious. A whole day had passed, it was Monday morning, yet he still couldn’t understand why his father hadn’t told him about his decision to return to the pulpit. It just didn’t make sense, a father not sharing such an important matter with his son, his oldest child. It wasn’t fair, and ever since yesterday, Dillon hadn’t been able to think about much else. He’d barely gotten two hours of sleep last night, a result of his tossing and turning and trying to rid himself of the pain and anger he’d felt. He just didn’t know what it was going to take for his father to treat him with love unconditionally. It was bad enough that he’d gone fishing with a man who was no longer his son-in-law and hadn’t as much as invited Dillon to come along, but now this thing yesterday was much worse. It was as if Dillon wasn’t even a part of the Black family. A year ago, his father had seemed to go out of his way trying to make things right with Dillon, but now his father treated him like he was no big deal. He was just another person and nothing special at all.
    Dillon leaned back in the chair in the kitchen, waiting for Melissa to finish preparing breakfast. Before moving to Mitchell, he’d had to work at a job he didn’t love and report to some unappreciative supervisor, but thanks to his father’s generosity he no longer had to answer to anyone. Although it was true that whenever the subject of coming to work for the church or going back to school came up, Dillon talked his dad in a different direction. He just couldn’t see himself taking any old job, not when he was a son of the Reverend Curtis Black, and he wouldn’t. His dad had gone on and on about having a plan and preparing for one’s future, and while at first he’d been open to getting a job or even going back to earn his degree, once he’d realized Alicia didn’t have a full-time job, he’d changed his mind. Alicia was an author of two or three novels and likely earned an income from those he was sure, but why should he have to work some thankless nine-to-five if his sister didn’t? When the right position came along, he would take it, but until then, he would focus on bigger and better things, such as some of his entrepreneurial ideas. He had goals and dreams just like the next person, and he wouldn’t ruin his chances of seeing those goals and dreams come to pass because of some petty level of employment.
    Dillon watched Melissa place a veggie and cheese omelet on each of their plates, then add a couple of slices of whole wheat toast next to them and also a couple of patties of turkey sausage. He stared at her but the more he did, he became irritated. Sometimes he didn’t mind being in her company, but there were other times like now when all he saw was a weak, pathetic female. Not to mention, as he looked back at things, he was surprised she’d been able to portray such a strong, independent woman last year when they’d pretended to be a happy couple who were about to be married. During each of the counseling sessions they’d had with his father, she’d been as vocal and as opinionated as Dillon had told her to be and she’d been so believable, his father hadn’t