Harlequin Love Inspired October 2017--Box Set 2 of 2 by Jill Kemerer

Author:Jill Kemerer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488018800
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

“So can we count on you, Rio?” Pastor Garrett McCrae’s voice held a pleading note as he wrapped up the purpose of his call. “With your personal experience with this kind of thing, I think the kids will listen to you. Parents, too.”

“I don’t know, Garrett…” Part of her jumped at the chance to speak to the church youth group—and others who wished to join them—following an incident that happened a few days ago right in Hunter Ridge. A seventeen-year-old boy had beat up his sixteen-year-old girlfriend.

But was she ready to go public? To share her story and to attempt to meet the needs of an audience looking for guidance? Even with her recent participation in the spiritual retreat, was she ready for something like this?

“Both kids involved are popular,” her cousin continued. “Come from good families. They’ve occasionally attended our youth group events. It’s not like anyone can shrug off what happened and say, ‘Well, what can you expect from that part of town or from a family like that?’ Dating violence knows no boundaries.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Neither did it know boundaries within a marriage or—she glanced to where Cash again crouched by the fence in the fading light—postdivorce.

“With your help, though,” Garrett urged, “we can get this too-often buried issue out in the open. Start dealing with it at a community level.”

Is this what you want for me, Lord? To step out and get a real-life taste of the ministry You’re calling me to?

I’m scared.

But how might things have been different if someone had come to her a few years ago and gotten her to see where her relationship with Seth was heading? Helped her to recognize the signs, convinced her she wasn’t being paranoid about the little things he’d convinced her were solely in her overactive imagination.

She gripped her phone more tightly. “I’ll do it.”

“I know this is a big step you might not feel you’re ready for. So thanks, Rio.” Garrett’s voice held a note of pride that confirmed her decision. He’d always been like an extra brother, cheering her on. “Not many know what happened to you in college. You know, why you didn’t go back after your freshman year. I think the kids will listen to you.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“And God will do the rest. Guaranteed. Thanks, cuz.”

When she shut off the phone, she noticed Cash had come up behind her and now stood a distance away, politely letting her conclude the conversation.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” It was. Or it would be once she got over what some might call stage fright. She’d never done much public speaking before, and certainly not about something so personal. “A boy at the high school assaulted his girlfriend, so Garrett’s asked me to address the youth group about dating violence.”

“Whoa. That’s a pretty heavy topic.”

“He knows that’s where my interests lie—counseling with an emphasis in domestic violence, with a particular interest in reaching young people caught up in destructive dating patterns.”

“You mentioned counseling earlier, but I didn’t know you’d be specializing in that area.

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