The family dynamic was interesting, though, and Amanda almost forgot that she was sitting next to a very sexy man with a complicated dynamic all his own. She began to fidget when she grew uncomfortable with the idea that someone had to settle for a role in life so unsuited to them. Loretta’s family took advantage of her. They expected her to behave just so. Cher as a mild-mannered bookkeeper? I don’t think so. Which meant that something big was going to happen. A huge explosion. A monumental shift. Amanda frowned as she thought about her mother, the only close family she’d really known. Had her mom’s role as wife and mother on the Rocking C dragged her down, like Loretta in the movie? In those manic stages of her bipolar disorder, had Luanna chafed at the restrictions, the duties? Had she yearned to run away, even before she’d decided she had to get Amanda and leave the family behind? “You look deep in thought,” Leo remarked. His softly voiced comment startled her. “Oh!”
