Page 22 of Melt For Us, Daddy
“You’re thinking pretty hard over there.”
Zach’s voice jolted him out of his depraved imaginings, and Jacob felt his face heat in response. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to ignore you.”
“You’re fine.” But the teasing, playful look he was so used to seeing in Zach’s eyes had disappeared, replaced by an intensity that had Jacob fighting the urge to squirm in his seat. “Anything you wanna talk about?”
And risk his friend knowing how sinful he truly was? “Not really.”
“Okay.” Just like that, Zach shifted back to his normal smiling self. “Wanna play a game?”
“Games are for children.” The heat in his cheeks grew hotter when Zach’s brows rose. “Sorry. Habit. I just mean, back home we’re not really given time to play games and such once we reach a certain age.”
“How do you spend your free time?”
“Work. Prayer. Bible study. The past year I’ve been studying with the deacons to take over for my father when grandfather passes. Father will become The Prophet, the leader of the church, and I’ll be expected to step into his current role.” Or he would have been, until he’d turned his back on everyone and everything he’d ever known.
Would he ever stop feeling those pangs of guilt and loss when he thought of the church? The people in the show he’d been watching still seemed to be hurting, even years after they’d left. Was it really worth all the pain and heartache he was putting himself and his family through for some ambiguous sense of freedom?
An image of Sarabeth filled his mind, running toward him with that big, happy laugh she had, throwing herself at him with the full expectation that he would catch her. From the moment she could walk, she’d never seemed to have any doubt that he would be there, right there, whenever she needed him.
Yes. It’s worth it. For her, and the others.
“Okay, well, that all sounds… great. But around here, even adults play games. Way I see it, God wouldn’t have given us such creative minds if he didn’t want us to use them, right?” Slapping a hand on Jacob’s knee, Zach rose from the couch. “Come on. Let’s see what we have.”
He followed Zach to a closet full of bright, colorful boxes. “You ever play any of these?” Zach asked.
“No, sir. Sorry,” Jacob added, ducking his head when Zach turned a bland stare on him.
“No need to apologize. Old habits are hard to break.” One corner of his mouth kicked up in a smile of sorts. “Cordelia likes it when you call her ma’am though.”
Cordelia. His grandfather’s wife, an obviously worldly woman who would lead him straight into temptation if he allowed it. She was everything he’d been taught to hate his entire life.
So why did the thought of doing something that pleased her make him feel so… good?
“Oh, man I love this game!” Reaching for the top shelf, Zach pulled down a white box covered in pictures of cards with drawings of faces on them. “Have you ever played this one?”
“No.”
“It was one of my favorites growing up. Mom had the vintage version from when she was a kid, but I’m sure this isn’t any different. Come on, I’ll show you how to play.”
They sat at the table together, with Zach pulling two trays out of the box and handing one to Jacob. “Flip it over so all the cards stand up straight. Like this.”
He demonstrated and Jacob followed suit. The cards made a fun clacking sound when he flipped the tray over, though they didn’t all flip up. Zach showed him how to fix it, and he set about getting his tray perfect for their game.
“Okay, so how it works is we each get a card. Pick one from the pile, but don’t show me.”
Reaching across the table, Jacob pulled a card from the top of the pile and looked down at it. A picture of a woman with a shock of white hair and funny-shaped glasses stared back up at him.
“See that little like, slot at the very front of your tray? That’s to hold the card.” Zach demonstrated and again, Jacob mimicked him. “Now, we’re going to ask questions about each other’s person to try and guess who it is. Usually you start with the big, obvious questions and work your way down. I’ll go first. Is your person a man or a woman?”
“A woman.”
“Okay, so now I know that I can flip all the men on my tray down.” One by one, Zach flipped nearly half the cards down. “Your turn. Ask me a question.”
“Can I ask the same question?”
“Yup.”
“Is your person a man or a woman?”
