The Apple Tree (Sunday Morning, #2) (13)

Why did that matter? Mom did a great job of shaming Sarah and me for wanting to do anything with friends on Sundays.

“I don’t know. Why?” Gabby curled her shoulder-length brown hair behind her ear on one side while scrunching her nose.

“If they have alcohol in the house, you could decide to drink,” I replied.

Mom eyed me with displeasure, and Grandma Bonnie snickered from the extra dining room chair beside the oak buffet; her hands busily crocheting. She wasn’t a churchgoer, but we picked her up every Sunday for dinner.

“I don’t drink. That’s your thing.” Gabby stuck her tongue out at me.

“Then you might decide to have sex,” I said.

“Eww, Ben’s my friend, not my boyfriend.”

“Yes. But Mom and Dad know that given the chance to have sex, their girls will have sex with anyone.”

“Eve!” Mom’s voice jumped an octave, and Gabby giggled.

“Amen, sister,” Grandma Bonnie added, earning a scowl from Mom.

“It’s true.” I nodded. “Last month, when I was volunteering at the nursing home, I delivered some magazines to Milton Bean in his room, and I was tempted.”

“Eve Marie Jacobson,” Mom said slowly, but she couldn’t hide her grin.

Gabby covered her mouth and snorted.

“Rumor has it, Milton was quite the Casanova in his day. You could do worse, Eve,” Grandma Bonnie added with a straight face.

“Never let your father hear you talk like that,” Mom said, ignoring Grandma Bonnie’s commentary.

“Talk like what?” Dad asked, reaching the bottom of the stairs just as there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it.” I shot my dad an exaggerated smile as I passed him on my way to the door.

“Hey,” Kyle said, handing me a paper bag of apples. “Josh wants you to make him applesauce.”

I stepped aside. “Is that so?” I smiled at Josh.

They no longer wore matching suits, but I liked Kyle just as much in his jeans and white-collared shirt.

“Glad you could make it.” Dad ruffled Josh’s already messy hair.

“Thanks for the invitation, Peter,” Kyle said as I closed the door.

“I heard you met your team the other day.” Dad led them to the dining room.

“Yes. It was a preseason dinner to meet the players and their families.” Kyle pulled out a chair for Josh.

“I can’t see,” Josh complained with his head barely peeking over the top of the table.

“Eve, get the phonebook and a few other books for him to sit on.” Mom nodded to me.

I grabbed a stack of books and set them on the chair.

“Eve,” Dad scolded, removing the top book before Kyle lifted Josh onto the pile.

It was an old family Bible bigger than the dictionary and phonebook beneath it.

“What? You always say God is here to lift us up no matter what we need. And Josh needs to reach his plate.”

“Amen, sister,” Grandma Bonnie added. She didn’t believe in God, but she said “Amen” just to poke at my dad.

“Excuse our daughter. She thinks she’s funny, but she’s not.” Dad handed Mom the Bible, and she replaced it with another book.

Kyle grinned. He thought I was funny.

“Kyle, this is my mom, Bonnie,” Mom said. “Mom, this is Fred’s younger brother and his son, Josh. They moved in next door.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs.?” Kyle’s implied question hung in the air.

“My husband died. I’m no longer a Mrs. anything. I’m just the old lady for whom everyone is waiting to die.”

“Mom!” My mom gasped.

Gabby and I laughed, but Kyle restrained his, just barely.

“It’s true. My granddaughters are the only ones who acknowledge my existence, except on Sundays when I get invited to dinner so Peter can ask God to save my wretched soul.”

“I’ll never stop praying for you,” Dad said, earning him an eye roll from Grandma Bonnie.

“My mother’s grossly exaggerating,” Mom said with no examples to back up her claim before everyone sat at the table.

I took Grandma Bonnie’s bag of yarn and set it aside and then helped her to a chair at the table.

Was I the favorite? For sure. She and my mom had a strained relationship because my mom preached (lectured) Grandma Bonnie about salvation and her lost soul bound for damnation if she didn’t hurry up and accept Christ as her savior before she died. Gabby was the second favorite, but she didn’t regularly visit Grandma Bonnie like I did, which was her loss. Grandma Bonnie was funny. She had the most entertaining stories, and I could tell her anything because she was a vault.

After prayer, Dad dove into all things football with Kyle, leaving the rest of us with little to say.

“You know you’re going to have recruiters watching Drew. He’s not only the best player in Devil’s Head; he’s arguably the best player in all of Missouri,” Dad said, wiping his mouth.

Kyle nodded. “I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s got.”

Gabby kicked my shin, and I narrowed my eyes at her. She needed to work on keeping my secrets without constantly reminding me that she was keeping them. Drew was a big secret.

“Well, he’s lucky to have you coach him. Did you girls know that Kyle played football at Iowa?” Dad eyed Gabby and me like it was our cue to be impressed.