Grace, try as she might, didn’t know what to say to help me. All her friends had been Christians—they’d been the ones who’d introduced her to God in the first place. They’d been happy for her. I was jealous.

And Grace herself was one of the issues that was causing me no small measure of concern. We were spending more time together than ever, both in person and on the phone, but a subtle change had taken place in her over the past few weeks, like she was slowly stepping back from me. We talked about all kinds of things, and she never told me any subject was off-limits, but she seemed to shy away from sharing what she felt, what she was thinking. I tried to pinpoint what was happening, but I couldn’t define it, and I didn’t feel I could say anything until I knew precisely what to say in case I was the one building up walls and not even realizing it.

Things blew wide open one night when I broached the subject of my friends and their reactions. Over dinner at her place I asked for her insight. We talked about the people she worked with, their views of Christians and of her specifically, and how her kids would even talk to her about God sometimes.

“What about your mom?” I asked between bites of steak. “Have you told her you’re a Christian? Or your dad?” My mom had called recently, asking if I would be able to come out for another visit sometime soon; maybe I could get some pointers for how to break it to the family.

Grace shook her head and said abruptly, “Never told them,” busying herself with the green beans, and something in her face told me this was going to be a tender subject. When she didn’t elaborate, I pushed a bit further. “Are you afraid to tell them? I mean, you could tell me—”

“I just didn’t, that’s all.” Words quickly said, laced with the end-of-subject tone. “But your family sounds cool,” she said. “I’m sure they’ll be great.”

I shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know; they’ve never been that big into religion. How about your parents? Religious, atheist?”

“Undeclared. And why all the interest in them?” Snappish tone. I was on thin ice.

“Just curiosity, Grace. You never mention them.” That was no exaggeration; save for mentioning that her parents were divorced, she’d never once told me about them.

“They’re not worth mentioning.”

“Ouch.”

“What?”

“That doesn’t seem like you. I’ve never seen you express that much disfavor for someone before, much less two someones.”