Page 95 of The Confidant
“Oh…” My dad drew the word out, almost like he was realizing Xander would have been the one to bring it up. “And did you look in this journal?”
“No,” I quickly said. “I didn’t want to look at anything that might be anti-Fold.”
“Okay. Good girl,” he said. “I’m glad you’re being careful about the information you consume. It can definitely get tricky to navigate things like that.”
“That’s what I thought,” I nodded.
Though, it did make me curious what types of things the anti-Fold material would mention if the church’s own website talked about such an obscure practice like spiritual partners.
“Times were just so different then,” my dad said. “It’s hard for people of our time to understand all the things the early church members did, so it’s better to just leave the history in the past and put those questions on the shelf.” He paused and rubbed the back of his neck. “We are here to be tested, and there were a lot of things in the early days that tested the faith of the members.”
“But why did they need to be tested in such a weird way?” I asked.
“There are many things we can’t understand,” he said. “We weren’t there during that time.”
But if it wasn’t okay for a twenty-nine-year-old man to be with a fourteen-year-old girl now, why would it be okay back then?
God was unchanging, wasn’t he? And he wouldn’t have commanded them to practice something that his own church had taught me to find morally wrong, right?
“I actually do have some things to discuss with you the next time you’re home,” Dad said, clearing his throat. “You’re still planning to come home in two weeks, right?”
“I think so.” The High Priest was planning to visit our congregation and since it was such a special occasion, and I’d assumed I’d still be avoiding Hunter when I’d made the plans, I’d agreed to be there.
“Great.” He looked like he was going to say goodbye and end the call, but then he said, “Just… I think it would be prudent for you to spend less time with Hunter. He and his family are lost now, and I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the influence he may have on you.”
“He’s a good person,” I said, feeling prickly at the thought of spending less time with Hunter when we’d just barely managed to patch things up last night.
“Hewasa good person,” my dad said way more dismissively than I liked. “But even the most elect will fall, Scarlett, and I don’t want to risk losing you.”
I bristled at his words. He wasn’t going to lose me. I wasn’t going anywhere.
I’d already tried staying away from Hunter and it was miserable. I couldn’t just turn around and do that again when Hunter hadn’t even done anything wrong.
Even last night when I asked him about the spiritual partnerships, he hadn’t pushed anything on me. He’d simply answered my questions and told me where I could find more information if I wanted it—referring me to the church’s own website.
He was respectful.
Spending time with him would be fine.
And if my dad had a problem with that, I just wouldn’t tell him.
I was eighteen now after all. He shouldn’t get to choose my friends for me anymore.
31
HUNTER
“You planningto come rappelling with everyone?” I asked Scarlett as we walked out of the journalism room together on Monday afternoon.
“Of course.” She slipped her backpack over her shoulders and looked up at me. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“You’ve just missed a few things lately, so I wanted to make sure,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t be offended that I was still unsure about where we stood after our talk on Saturday night.
She’d had church yesterday, along with her interview with her dad, so I couldn’t know if something was said to make her second-guess being friends with an apostate like myself.
“I’m not planning to avoid you anytime in the foreseeable future,” she said, giving me a meaningful look. “So I’m coming.”
“Good to know.” My shoulders relaxed. “Because the last few weeks sucked.”
