AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I purse my lips and busy myself with cleaning up the meal that will go to waste. I don’t know what he means by choice, but I know better than to ask. Sometimes it’s best to avoid the hard stuff. Grant abhors all forms of gossip. It’s firmly and righteously against our agreement.
He exhales loudly.
“Long day?” I ask because it’s too early in the evening for him to be this irritated on account of me. Not if tonight is going to turn out well.
“They added another surgery onto my schedule tomorrow.”
I pick up a knife and scrape my effort into the trash bin.
Grant clears his throat. “You will be kind to her, Jos—we can’t afford anymore mishaps. Not if we want to remain a part of the congregation.”
Truth be told, I don’t really know whether or not I want to remain a member of New Hope. It has its benefits sure. But it has major drawbacks, too. My husband likes to allude to the fact that they’ll kick us out. “They won’t kick you out—they need you too much.”
“Who knows what they’ll do, Josie.”
“I’ll get dressed,” I say, changing the subject. Mishaps are not something either of us are in the mood to discuss.
“Where are the kids?” he asks as I straighten the mail he’s just tossed on the table.
“Avery is at Carly’s. She’s staying the night. And James is upstairs working on homework.”
My husband does a double-take. “You let her go to the Clarks?”
I furrow my brow. “You told her she could, remember?” It’s not the whole truth, of course. She asked him when he was distracted, and he answered in kind.
“The Clarks are under investigation,” he says matter-of-factly.
“What?” I drop the mail. “You didn’t tell me—”
He scoffs. “You know the rules.”
Boy, do I ever.
I wait for him to say more, but he closes his eyes instead. I hold my breath. It’s always been my mission to keep the kids out of these things. “I can’t tell you every detail of everything, Josie. Sometimes you have to think for yourself.”
“But this applies to our child, Grant. You could’ve said something.”
“I didn’t tell her she could go,” he assures me. “I would remember that.”
“Should I call her home?”
He considers my question, although I know my husband. He’s already thought it through. “No,” he says finally. “It’s a minor infraction,” he adds. He chooses his words carefully. “Something in an audit. A red flag…I don’t think we should make a big deal out of it. Yet.”
Yet. A minor infraction could mean a lot of things. But so far as I know, the Clarks have always had a good track record. I exhale deeply. I’m lightheaded either from holding my breath or not eating.
I need to know how bad it might be. “What did they do?”
“You know I can’t tell you that Jos—why do you even ask?”
“Because Avery and her safety mean more to me than anything in this world,” I say, and immediately I know it was both the wrong and the right thing to say.
“I see,” he says. “It’s nice to know where I rank in your little world.”
I lean against the counter, and he does the same. We stand facing each other. He places his phone in his pocket, and then watches me for several moments. “It’s nothing you should worry about, love.”
But I do worry. My husband is third in command at New Hope. It can be dangerous for him, and thus for those related to him, if another member is backed into a corner. This alone is why he should tell me.
“You know talking about the infractions of others is prohibited.”
