When Zoe got home from school that afternoon, her mother Katie was already there. She had taken some work home from the office and was sitting at the dining room table working on it.
"Mom, do you have a minute?"
"Sure, dear. What is on your mind?"
"I had a fight with Nadine," she said.
Katie looked up. Now Zoe had her undivided attention. "About what?"
"A boy, actually."
"A boy...you?" Katie said. "Is it that nice boy you and Nadine are friends with?"
"You mean Paul? No...I mean...It's this other boy from school. He's not in our church though."
Katie frowned. She supposed there were good Christians who belonged to different churches...she shouldn't dismiss him without at least meeting the boy. "Well, you know what the Reverend said in his sermon last week."
"Mom," she protested. "how did you and Dad become a couple?"
"Your father invited me to study with him. At the library."
"That's why Nadine is mad. Because I didn't reject his attempt to be nice. Is everyone who isn't in our church a horrible sinner?"
"Of course not, dear. I know you are a good young Christian and you will make the right decisions."
"That is why I invited him to talk here, in our living room. With you in the next room. You can meet him and give me your opinion."
Katie smiled. Her daughter wanted to make good decisions, and wanted her help. To tell the truth, Nadine and her mother Laura were both a bit aggressive in their faith, good people that they were.
The doorbell rang. "That must be him," Zoe said.
