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“Well, my dad is definitely involved in the church-planting movement, and it’s a little weird, to be honest. The leader of the church-planting movement is this old dude that I’ve only met once, but he kind of gave me the creeps. I haven’t seen him in years, but I know Mike’s still in touch and speaks to that guy on a regular basis. I think he’s based out in Utah.”
Hunter nods.
“Yeah, but a lot of founders have to be a little crazy otherwise they’ll never get their company, or church in this case, off the ground. If you don’t believe in your vision, then who will?” he asks with a smile.
Kaci nods.
“Yeah, I totally agree, but I think my dad’s gone a little overboard because he’s now modeling our church after some hardcore Mormon outfits. Honestly, it’s weird.”
I frown. “Mormon? Are you serious? Like regular Latter-Day Saints or the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints?”
Kaci nods.
“Like the fundamentalists,” she confirms. “It’s insane, I tell you.”
Hunter tilts his head at her, his handsome face curious.
“But you’re a member?”
Our pretty girl sighs.
“I am. I go to church every Sunday, and some of my best friends also attend, in fact. I don’t know. I don’t hate it most of the time, but the truth is, I mainly stay for my dad. Mike’s basicallythefounding member and so as his daughter, I feel obligated to show up.”
I nod slowly then.
“Yeah, I can see how that could be a dilemma.”
Kaci bites her lip and looks down.
“It’s just a weird situation because I don’t love what they’re preaching and some of the crazy beliefs they put out there. But I love my dad, even if Mike seems a little misguided at the moment. He’s all the family I have, and I don’t want to cause any problems. I don’t want to lose him either.”
I nod. “But you wouldn’t lose your father over something like this, right?”
Kaci merely sighs and shakes her head.
“You don’t know my dad,” she says in a soft voice, her brown eyes worried. “Again, Mike is just …”
Suddenly, the pretty woman jerks forward as her eyes focus on something in the distance. Confused, I turn and find an older man with a young woman next to him, her arm tucked into his elbow. He’s relatively inane looking because he’s just a middle-aged dude with thinning brown hair, a blue button down, and khakis. But the woman is interesting because she looks to be a teenager, and she’s dressed as if she’s a character inLittle House on the Prairiein a long floral gown that goes up to her chin, with full sleeves and a long skirt. Her brown hair is done in a braid that trails down her back, and lo and behold, she’s got a white bonnet clutched in one hand. What the fuck?
Kaci immediately looks down, her cheeks reddening, as the man bends his head to say something in an intimate tone to his companion. I turn back to look at my curvy girl.
“Is everything okay, sweetheart? Do you know them?”
Kaci merely continues staring at the table, careful not to move so as not to bring attention to herself.
“That’s my dad,” she says in a low whisper. “That’s Mike Stott.”
Immediately, Hunter and I understand. We put money down on the table for the bill, and then taking Kaci’s elbow, exit quickly out the back. It’s only once we’re in my truck that she exhales, her shoulders sagging.
“That’s my dad,” she repeats in a low voice. “I don’t know who that young woman is, but it doesn’t look good.”
I nod because obviously, Kaci wasn’t lying when she said her dad has gone full fundamentalist. The question is who was that girl? His sister? Wife? Sister-wife? Daughter? Given the churning in my stomach, the answer doesn’t seem promising.
7
Kaci
Thank god my dad didn’t see us at the restaurant because can you imagine the dust-up? Me, with my skanky outfit and two boyfriends, and my dad with that young woman on his arm? Who was she, anyways? I’ve never seen her before, but she couldn’t have been more than a teenager. Nausea churns in my stomach as I shake my head.
