Deceived: Lured from the Truth (Secrets) Read Online Free PDF

the resort restaurants.” He leads us back toward the main part of town. “Sounds like almost everyone is booked for hours. But I did find one that’s willing to take us. If we hurry.”
    “Considering this is a holiday weekend and a Friday, that’s quite an accomplishment. Well, unless it’s one of the kiosks.” I smile at him. “And even if we eat at Frank’s Frankfurters, I won’t complain.” The truth is, I would happily sit on the side of the lake and eat a can of tuna fish with this guy.
    “Are you for real?” he asks.
    “I was just wondering the same thing about you.” I laugh. “I mean, you show up out of the blue and what was going to be a boring night suddenly gets interesting.” It gets even more interesting when he leads me up to Frederico’s Italian restaurant.
    “Here we go.”
    “Are you sure?” I ask as he opens the big wooden door. “This place is usually hard to get into.”
    “They had a cancellation. The woman said if we got here within five minutes, it was ours.”
    “Awesome.” As he goes up to the hostess, I’m glad I brought my purse. This restaurant is expensive and I’m not assuming he’s going to pay for both of us. And I don’t even care if we go dutch — or if I end up paying for both of us. I think I’d give up a whole week’s pay for this evening. Well, maybe not a whole week. But at least a few days.
    The restaurant is crowded, and the hostess leads us past several filled tables. It all looks very elegant with white linens, fresh flowers, glistening silver, sparkling glassware, flickering candles. I take it all in, trying to memorize each detail so I can play it back later. She finally settles us at a quiet corner table that’s not even next to the kitchen.
    “Here you go.” She waits for us to sit, then politely hands us oversized menus and fills our water glasses. “Your waitress will be with you shortly.”
    I smile at Josiah. “This place is perfection.”
    “I hope the food is as good as everything else.”
    “I can hardly believe that less than an hour ago, I was up to my elbows in drippy ice cream,” I confess.
    “Don’t you love it when life takes you around an unexpected corner?”
    I nod happily. “I do.”
    I nearly fall out of my chair when Steffie, the short blonde from my dorm, steps up to take our order. “I thought you worked at the Blue Moose Café,” I say dumbly. She looks nearly as stunned to see me as I am to see her. “I have two jobs,” she informs me with a stiff little smile.
    “Oh … I didn’t know.” I feel a little guilty for not being more friendly.
    After placing our orders — I’m careful to order one of the cheapest meals: linguini with pesto, which is actually one of my favorites — I decide this is my opportunity to find out more about Josiah. As soon as Steffie departs, I start peppering him with questions. I quickly learn that he’s been in “the States,” as he calls our country, for five months.
    “My mum thinks I’m on a mission.”
    “A mission?” I’m confused now.
    “It’s for the GEF church.”
    It takes me a moment to remember what GEF stands for. But then it hits me — like a sucker punch. I should’ve known. This felt too good to be true, and now it’s falling apart right before my eyes. “You mean you’re part of the God’s Eternal Family church?” I ask meekly.
    “No, no, not me. Not anymore, that is. But my mum is pretty devout.”
    A wave of relief rushes over me. I’m not sure what I would’ve done if Josiah had turned out to be a member of a cult church. Not that I have anything against those people personally. I even knew a girl who went to a GEF church. She seemed really nice, until I realized she was only trying to get me to come to her church. But I already knew about GEF. My church had warned against getting involved with GEF … back before it fell to pieces.
    “That’s what broke up my parents’ marriage,” he explains. “My dad was fed up with her church.