“Things get jumbled in my head sometimes. At the moment, my feminist beliefs are at odds with my religious ones,” he said, tapping the worn leather cover. “Like, I think women shouldn’t be equal. I think they should be on pedestals. But sometimes the Bible talks about honoring your husband and I’m like, eff that, it works both ways.” He picked up the Bible and showed me a few of the sticky notes. “So I mark the passages I want to talk to Father Brady about. For further clarification.”

“You…read the Bible?” I blubbered. I’d never read the Bible. To me, the whole thing needed major clarification because it might as well have been written in another language. “And talk to Father? Voluntarily?”

He nodded as he put the Bible back into the glove compartment and the key in the ignition. “Come on, Hail. He puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like anyone else.”

We’d been sort of “together” for a couple months, hanging out in the backyard, looking at stars or swinging on the swings. But this was the first event that could qualify as an actual date. He talked about his faith as if I was his equal, and I usually nodded along, not knowing what to say. I’d been born Catholic and had gone through the sacraments, but it didn’t mean I wanted to have a stirring discussion about Jesus. Hell, no. So I told him once that religion wasn’t a big deal to me. He smiled and said, “That’s okay. As long as you don’t mind that it is a big deal to me.”

“I know.” I’d pieced the story together. He’d been kind of like me for years. His father was the religious one. And then his dad died. He and his mom went though some rough months. Then they started going to church more. He hadn’t said as much, but it was clear that whatever support he’d gotten from Jesus had saved them. How could I dis anything that had such a positive influence on him?

It wasn’t bad. He didn’t talk about religion unless somehow it was brought up, and he never pushed me. But he managed to get me to church a lot more. I’d go with him and his mother, and gradually I learned all the prayers and hymns so I wouldn’t look like a fool around him. And whatever his beliefs were, no one could deny that he was a fine product. Where Kane was always a little sneaky and devious, Declan would go out of his way to help people, just because.

When we got to the Renaissance Hyatt, where the prom was, he cut the engine and looked at me. “You look like you’d rather die than go in there.”