Free Right Where I Belong by Krista McGee Page A

happy to hear her laughing, she didn’t stop to wonder if God was using her stepmother to guide her to this ESL ministry. She was sure God wouldn’t want her to be around a guy she was attracted to.
    Why purposefully court temptation? I’m sure there will be some other community service I can do. Preferably with a woman. Or an ugly old man.

Chapter 14
    A h yes.” Natalia leaned back in her chair. “ This is good food!”
    Addy had picked up Natalia from her house that evening to take her to the Spanish restaurant. Natalia quickly discovered that the food was, in fact, quite authentic. The owners were from Salamanca, as were their chefs. Upon hearing they had an actual Spaniard in the restaurant, two of the chefs came out to personally greet her.
    Natalia was thrilled to speak to someone in her native language, talking about places they knew in Spain and things they missed here in the States. Both men had lived in Tampa for over a decade, and their accents sounded more Latin American than Spanish. But it was Spanish. And for that, she was grateful.
    Once the men excused themselves, Natalia looked at Addy. She had been sitting quietly during the entire conversation.
    “I’m sorry for taking so long. I was just so excited.”
    “Don’t apologize.” Addy shrugged. “That was great. Iknow a little Spanish, so I could pick up on some of your conversation. But your accent is different. It almost sounds like you lisp when you speak.”
    “Lisp? What does that mean?”
    “Like when you said gracias ,” Addy said. “You pronounced it gra-th-ias .”
    “Of course. It’s the Latin Americans who have a different accent. Ours is the mother tongue. Just like British is the mother tongue of English.”
    Addy laughed. “So since you learned English from your British teachers, does that mean you speak better Spanish and English than we do?”
    “I guess so.” Natalia winked. “But since you’re in Spanish 3 this year and Maureen will be teaching you, you’ll be able to learn from the best.”
    The conversation continued to be light and fun as the waiters brought out the different appetizers, called tapas . Addy confessed that she wasn’t sure she liked the chorizo.
    “Properly pronounced chori-tho, ” Natalia had corrected. The sausage-like links were a little spicier than what Addy was used to. Natalia was happy that Addy liked the octopus.
    “ Pulpo, we call it,” Natalia had said. “It’s one of my favorites too.”
    Addy put her napkin down and looked at Natalia. “If you don’t mind my prying, how are you doing? I understood enough of your conversation with the chefs to know you miss Spain. I know you must miss your family and friends. I’ve seen how upset Maureen is. You seem fine with all this change, but I don’t think I would be. Are you really all right?”
    Natalia took a sip of her water and thought about Addy’s question. Natalia had plenty of friends in Spain, but she rarely talked with any of them about how she was feeling. In fact, she couldn’t remember any of them asking how she was feeling. They’d argue and debate and joke, of course. But Natalia had spent too many years guarding herself from hurts that she wasn’t even sure she knew how she really felt about most things.
    “I’m okay,” Natalia said quietly, cautiously. “I miss it, yes, but I know this is where God wants me. And to get to go to a Christian school . . . I can’t even tell you how exciting that is.”
    “I take so much for granted.” Addy tilted her head. “Wasn’t there anyone in your school who was a Christian?”
    “Not that I knew of. Some of my friends believed in God, but not a personal God. They certainly didn’t see any need to study the Bible or pray. My closest friend is an atheist, and she would argue with me all the time about why my faith is silly and I need to give it up.”
    “Wow. What did you say to her?”
    “I defended my faith the best I could and shared the gospel with her every chance