The Apple Tree (Sunday Morning, #2) (15)
“Your humor is dry like red wine, but you claim to be so sweet.”
Please keep looking at my mouth.
I could hear my heart racing.
“That just makes me unpredictable,” I whispered because I felt more out of breath than I did after winning a race.
Kyle’s white teeth peeked through his swelling grin. “That you are. You remind me of someone.”
“Who?”
He winked. “Me.”
CHAPTER SIX
THE GEORGIA SATELLITES, “KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF”
Kyle
After I put Josh to bed, I carried the phone onto the deck with the cord slid under the door and sat in a wooden rocking chair.
Adam answered on the second ring. “Hello?”
“Hey. Miss me yet?”
“Hell yes. How’s it going?”
“Pretty good so far.”
“You haven’t found a new best friend, have you?”
I laughed. “It wouldn’t be that hard.”
“Have you figured out the only good thing in that little town is your neighbor girl, so it’s time for you and Josh to return home?”
I chuckled. “Not quite. My QB this year is the real deal. I can’t miss his senior year.”
“Is he better than you?”
“Maybe. I don’t know yet.”
“When’s your first practice?”
“This week. It’s supposed to cool down a bit, so conditioning might not hurt as much.”
“They’ll still whine like the babies they are.”
I cradled the phone between my ear and shoulder and cracked open a beer. “I don’t doubt that. How’s Lizzy?”
“I broke up with Lizzy.”
I took a swig of my beer and grinned. “You’ve broken up with her twelve times. I’m not sure what it says about either of you that you keep getting back together, but I know you’re back together.”
Adam claimed he kept getting back together with his high school sweetheart because the town was small and the pickings were slim. I didn’t buy it.
“It’s just sex.”
Barking a laugh, I adjusted the phone and brought the beer can to my lips before mumbling, “It’s always just sex to you.”
“Exactly. Then she assumes it’s more, so I have to tell her it’s not, and she calls it a breakup when it’s just a clarification.”
“Well, at least you’re having sex.”
“Don’t give me that. If I lived where you live, I’d be fucking Eve every day. Maybe twice a day.”
I winced. “Man, that’s my pastor’s daughter—my brother’s best friend’s daughter. You can’t talk about her like that.”
“Like what? Fuck? Everyone knows it means Fornication Under Consent of the King.”
Again, I laughed, missing my friend already. “I don’t think anyone knows that.”
“Seriously, though, can you imagine what a scandal that would be if you screwed the preacher’s daughter?”
“I can, actually. And that’s why we’re done talking about it.”
Adam sighed, releasing a hum with it. “Remember being eighteen with surging hormones? Remember wanting to screw anything that moved?”
“I remember, but I’ve grown up. I have a child. A job. And morals. You, however, are still that guy. So I don’t know why you’re acting nostalgic about something you’ve never given up.”
“I own an accounting firm. If that’s not a job, then I don’t know what is.”
“Firm feels a bit too big for your office above your dad’s garage.”
“Fuck you, Kyle. The garage is an auto body shop, not like my mommy and daddy’s garage.”
I snickered. “I miss you already. You should move here or to a real accounting firm in St. Louis. Then we can hunt on the weekends. You can even bring Lizzy.”
“I’m missing you less and less by the second.”
“Come for a game. Maybe over homecoming weekend. I’m sure they’ll need extra chaperones for the dance.”
“As tempting as that sounds, I think you should come back here for a Broncos game.”
“Or a Chiefs game in Missouri.”
“We’ll draw straws. I gotta go,” he said.
“Lizzy calling?”
“No.”
“Baby, I’m home,” Lizzy called.
“Shit,” Adam muttered.
“I don’t know why she’s calling it home when you’re just having sex. But I’ll let you go since I’m sure the king has given his consent for you and Lizzy to fornicate.”
“If I didn’t love ya, I’d hate you so much right now,” he grumbled.
“Aw, that’s sweet. The feeling is mutual.”
The next morning, I took Josh to the first practice, but after he had a meltdown over wanting a snack (which I forgot to bring) and endlessly smacking the players on the butt, I called the Jacobsons before the afternoon practice.
“Hello?” Janet answered.
“Hey, Janet, it’s Kyle. I’m in a bind. Kindergarten doesn’t start for Josh until next week, but I have two-a-day practices this week. I took him with me this morning, and we had a few issues. Would Eve or Gabby be willing to watch him this afternoon? I’ll see if I can make other arrangements for the rest of the week.”