The Apple Tree (Sunday Morning, #2) (29)

Not pity.

Not a man appeasing his crush.

Not a neighbor being friendly to the babysitter.

“Take a chill pill when you’re around him. Act like he’s a grody old guy, and the thought of liking him is like ‘gag me.’”

I slowly nodded.

“He really said Denise smelled like dog urine?” Erin grinned, wrinkling her nose.

I smirked and nodded.

“I start classes on Monday. Of course, I’ll take the cutest guy I can find, but I’ll look for the second cutest and set you up with him.”

“Gee, thanks.” I wadded my burger wrapper and stuffed it into my fry container.

“I’m serious. Don’t be desperate.”

“I’m not desperate.”

She eyed me until I cracked.

“I’m not.” I laughed. “I’m just interested.”

“Obsessed.”

I shook my head. “Determined.”

“Delusional.”

I rolled up a tiny piece of my straw wrapper, loaded it into my straw, and blew it at her.





Sunday morning, I prayed that Kyle and Josh wouldn’t be at church, but God didn’t grant my wish. He was probably too disappointed in my lies that week to extend me a little mercy.

Erin gave me a tight grin with wide eyes when Kyle and Josh sat behind my mom and sister. They wore their matching suits again but with different ties—yellow bowties.

Adorable.

I made it through my dad’s lengthy sermon, including communion, without looking at Kyle. After the service, I gathered in front of the church with my friends while my parents made their usual chitchat.

“Hi, Eve!” Josh hugged my waist, and my friends laughed and gushed over him.

“Hey, Josh.” I ran my fingers through his dark wavy hair, and then I squatted and straightened his bowtie. “You look handsome today.”

He pressed his palms to my cheeks. “You look pretty.”

I melted in his tiny hands.

“Buddy, Eve’s talking with her friends. Where are your manners?” Kyle said, forcing me to look at him and offer a fake smile, the smile I would have given to a grody old man.

“It’s fine,” I mumbled, standing straight.

“That dress looks great on you,” he said.

I glanced down as if I didn’t remember what dress I was wearing. It was a white dress with three-quarter-length sleeves, nothing special. He was making small talk, maybe trying to ease the tension. Heck, he probably sent Josh over to say I looked pretty.

“Thanks. Nice bowtie,” I said, giving him a quick glance before looking away as if there were far more interesting people than him who deserved my attention.

“See you in a bit,” he said.

That got my attention.

Kyle took Josh’s hand. “Your parents invited us to lunch.”

Of course, they did.

“Lovely.” I plastered on a smile.

He offered my friends a courteous nod before heading to his truck.

“He’s so bad. I can’t wait for school to start,” Lizzy said. She was getting ready to start her senior year.

“I bet he’s strict with his grading system. All the grody guys are flawed,” Erin eyed me.

“I agree,” Kelly said. She was going to be a junior. “Mr. Collins is not grody, but I feel like the ugly ones are the worst teachers because they were picked on in school. And they’re determined to make everyone pay and suffer like they did.”

“Everyone’s leaving.” I nodded toward the parking lot. “See y’all next week.”

Erin squeezed my arm while leaning close to my ear. “Stay strong. He’s old and ugly.”

He looked like every woman’s dream, with a darling little boy as his sidekick. As good as I was at lying, I couldn’t convince myself or anyone else that Kyle was old and ugly.

“Two weeks in a row, huh? Are we adopting them?” I asked my parents when I slid into the back seat next to Gabby before we headed to get Grandma Bonnie.

Mom glanced over her shoulder at me. “Kyle and Josh?”

“Yeah. Who else did you invite to Sunday dinner?”

“They’re like family because Fred is the brother your father never had. So think of Kyle as your uncle or cousin.”

It wasn’t a bad idea. I had cousins, and they weren’t ugly, but I didn’t have a crush on them. I tried to latch on to that idea.

Kyle was my cousin with a cute little boy. We were all family. Incest was not only forbidden, it was gross.

After we picked up Grandma Bonnie and arrived home, I changed out of my white dress into a denim skirt and red blouse with tiny gold buttons. I still had to look nice for Sunday dinner, but white wasn’t a good choice since we were having barbecue ribs, green beans, fingerling potatoes, and, of course, apple pie with homemade ice cream.

Gabby answered the knock at the door for our cousin and his son while Mom and I finished setting the food on the table.

“Daddy got the booster,” Josh said to my mom.

Kyle smiled, holding up a booster seat. No Bibles would be sacrificed during dinner that day.

“Good thinking.” Mom took the booster seat and set it on the chair for Josh.

I headed to the kitchen to grab the basket of dinner rolls, but Kyle was in my way, so I gazed up at him with a platonic grin. “Excuse me.”