Adrenaline coursed through my veins. I couldn’t believe I’d done it. I was giddy in a way I hadn’t experienced since I was a little girl. When would I start my training? There had to be some kind of training, since there was a class for everything. Was it the same for everyone? Questions tumbled on top of each other while I waited. Thankfully it wasn’t long before Ray came back with Margo. She rushed into the room and threw her arms around me.

“I’m so happy for you,” she squealed, jumping up and down. It was a side of her I’d never seen. She was always so stern and serious. Her husband, Will, was the same way. They were only in their thirties, but they carried themselves like they were much older. It didn’t help that she always wore her hair in a tight bun.

“Thank you,” I said, giggling with her as she twirled me around the room.

“Are you nervous?” she asked.

I nodded. There were too many different emotions swirling through me to focus.

“I was so scared I couldn’t stop shaking. Mostly I was worried about how things would be when Will and I saw each other again, since it’d been almost six months.”

Will was Love International’s first disciple. He was one of the few disciples who’d known Ray before he’d given away all his possessions. Ray had found him passed out in an alley in Detroit, reeking of booze and vomit. Someone had stripped his body like a car, leaving him in his boxers and T-shirt. Ray had brought him to his apartment and nursed him back to health. He had walked him through early sobriety, and they’d been together ever since. Margo had met Will in his second year of sobriety, but I didn’t know any more than that. I was hoping she’d tell me more of her story once my discipleship was official.

“What was it like?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine being away from Scott for that long. We’d never been apart longer than a week.

“It was like being newly in love all over again, but even better because we were wiser versions of ourselves.”

Margo had been a different faith before Love International, which was probably why it had taken her so long. At least Scott believed in God, so he would be more open to whatever process they had set up for him. He’d follow through with whatever they asked him to do, wouldn’t he? My analytical mind was running wild again. I had to stay centered in the spiritual.