“I’m just doing this for my husband,” she insisted.
(The fact that she was willing to go according to high standards of kashrut, Shabbat, and taharat mishpacha solely for her spouse probably says a lot about them both.)
This also meant that they could now host old friends who’d already done teshuvah, now that their home was kosher. They could even invite their frum friends for Shabbat—which they did.
During one such visit, the frum guest noticed that Shabbat had ended, but Oreet hadn’t moved from the sofa to turn off the Shabbat timer or prepare for Havdalah. The frum guest offered to help Oreet with the dishes, but Oreet said, “Oh, no. I don’t take Shabbat out now. I keep Rabbeinu Tam.”
(Rabbeinu Tam maintained that sunset is almost an hour later than what most others ruled sunset to be. So people who "keep Rabbeinu Tam" end Shabbat almost an hour after everyone else.)
Needless to say, the frum guest was shocked.
Noticing her guest’s double-take, Oreet said, “Well, I simply can’t just plunge into the weekday straight from Shabbat. I find I need time to adjust from Shabbat to weekday. And keeping Rabbeinu Tam allows me that transition.” Oreet cocked her head to one side as she looked at her guest. “You don’t find that you need a transition period before starting the regular week?”
Her guest smiled. "Unfortunately," she said, "I don't."
“You know,” the frum guest said later. “Oreet isn’t really secular at all. In fact, she must have a very special soul if she was instinctively so attuned to the difference between Shabbat and weekday. In fact, I think she’s one of the frummest people I know! She just doesn’t know it yet…”
Agreed.