Vada tilts her head down to catch my attention. “This is bad, Micah. I’ve never seen Meg like this. When I went to bed last night, she was giddy and happy and so in love. This morning, it was like someone turned the light off inside of her.”

Which is exactly how she seemed to me. Dimmed. Defeated.

I’m so fucking sick of this, I could scream.

I stand, ignoring Vada’s protests, and we do the dishes in silence for several minutes, me tense, Vada cautious. Eventually, she speaks, her voice quiet. “I’m not a church kid, Micah. I can’t pretend to understand this compulsion you guys have to hide your humanity at the risk of appearing human. I’ve always supported Meg in her modesty. It’s different, but whatever. She was happy. Until she wasn’t. It’s like the bottom of her beliefs fell out, and she hasn’t been able to hold herself up without them. She’s scrambling back to the closest source of reality she has, and it’s fucking her up.”

The last words are spit through clenched teeth, and I stop what I’m doing to face Vada, fully appreciating for the first time how well she understands Meg. And also how fiercely scary she can be.

Well, I understand Meg pretty well, too.

“I’m not walking away. I’m not ashamed of us. She can try to put me off, but I doubt it will work.” I return to the dishes, thinking, and my head falls back with a groan. Ignoring the dull ache, I ask, “Is that why she’s wearing the hat inside? Is she covering her ears?”

Vada snorts.

“It’s not a fetish,” I insist.

“Thank you, Micah.”

“Anytime, Vada.”

As much as I want to run over to James’s the very next morning, proverbial sword drawn to defend Meg’s honor, I know I can’t, because I’m not the boyfriend talking to the uncle in this scenario. I’m Micah, who needs to approach his pastor about his pastor’s treatment of a member of his church.

It sounds bogus when I say it like that. But it’s a whole thing, and I’m an adult, so I’m doing this by the book.

Which means I have to do something else first.

“You sure you don’t want me to come in?” Duke asks as he passes his wallet, keys, and phone across the desk and steps under the security scanner into the county jail.

“Nah. This is far enough. Besides, you’ll just punch him and get yourself arrested.”

Duke grins. “Meg said the same thing.”

“She’s a smart girl,” I say. Duke knows a little about what’s been going on, but like Vada, he doesn’t fully get what the big deal is because he didn’t grow up in the church.