Page 47 of The Confidant
“Yes?” I asked, my voice coming out at a higher pitch than usual.
“I just got a call from Brother Morris,” he said. “Sister Morris is going through a hard time and has asked for a blessing.”
I opened my bedroom door and saw that my dad had changed into a white shirt and tie.
“You’re heading out?” I asked.
Don’t look too excited. Act cool. Nothing to see here.
“Yes. Megan wanted to come along, too, since she and Sister Morris are close.”
Even better…
“Okay.” I nodded.
“We might be gone for a couple of hours. Will you be okay without us?”
“Um, sure.” I glanced around my room like I was trying to come up with something to do…even though I was obviously way more dressed up than I’d been during board games this afternoon. “There’s actually a new movie that I was hoping to see while I was in town. So I think I’ll find out what time it’s showing and head out. Maybe grab something to eat.”
That didn’t sound suspicious, right?
My dad studied me, like he thought there might be more that I wasn’t saying. But since I’d never been one to get into trouble, he said, “Just be back by curfew.”
“Will do.”
He took a step away from the door. Just when it looked like he was going to leave and I could relax again, he turned back and said, “You know, if you wanted someone to go to the movies with, you might try Xander.”
Man, my dad was set on something happening with his summer intern, wasn’t he?
“Oh, um,” I said, scrambling for a way to say that I wasn’t interested in that option. I couldn’t exactly say I was already going with someone after making it seem like I was going alone. After a few heart-pounding seconds, I settled with, “It’s kind of a really girly movie. I’m not sure a guy in his twenties would be too excited to watch something like this.”
“You never know.” My dad shrugged. “Xander might surprise you.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Dad hovered in the doorway for a few seconds longer, like he wanted to say something else. Then turning back to me he asked, “Are you taking your pepper spray?”
“It’s in my bag.” I gestured to my crossbody bag on the bed. “So I’ll be safe.”
The pepper spray was a gift that my anxiety-prone dad had given me for my eighteenth birthday, since the streets of New York could be dangerous at night.
The small aerosol can had basically sat at the bottom of my bag ever since I’d put it there last month, because I was usually with Hunter when I was out and about.
But it was nice to have it there just in case.
“Good.” He sighed, seeming relieved. “And you know how to use it?”
“I think so.” It was pretty intuitive, but I’d watched a few YouTube videos on it anyway.
My dad nodded at my bag and said, “Well, be safe then. And enjoy your movie.”
* * *
Hunter was waitingfor me by the church gates at six just like he said. Instead of the hoodie and baseball cap he’d been wearing earlier, he had a maroon T-shirt on that I’d never seen him wear before, and jeans.
The kind of jeans that made his butt look way too good.
Stop thinking about his butt.
