The Apple Tree (Sunday Morning, #2) (31)

Dad poked his head in the kitchen as I slid the last plate into the cabinet. “Eve, can you watch Josh while I take Kyle down by the creek and show him which trees I think need to come down?”

“I suppose,” I mumbled before following him outside.

Kyle looked at me. “Josh can come with us. I don’t want to disrupt your day.”

“Josh is the best part of my day.” I scooped him up in my arms and turned in a circle while he giggled. “I prefer him to everyone else.”

My dad laughed.

Kyle tried on a smile that didn’t seem to fit.

“Let’s go to your house,” I said, setting him on the ground and taking his hand.

“Thank you,” Kyle called after we headed toward the fence.

I slowed my steps and turned a fraction. If sincerity were flesh and bones, it would have looked like Kyle. My snarkiness fell away, and I mirrored his sincerity with a smile. “You’re welcome.”

When we reached the house, Josh wanted to play Chutes and Ladders, so we played game after game. And he kept winning.

“Josh, is your dad a happy person?” I asked, moving my girl pawn four spaces on the board.

He wrinkled his nose and flicked the spinner. “He’s grumpy pants.”

I snorted a laugh. “Why is he grumpy pants?”

“Because he says I’m trouble when I pee on the floor.”

Joy filled me like the frosting on a gooey cinnamon roll. I wanted to be a mouse in the corner, watching Kyle and Josh talk about pee on the floor.

“My dad is grumpy pants too,” I said.

Josh’s bright eyes looked up at me like he was happy to have someone who understood him. “Do you pee on the floor?”

I grinned. “Not anymore. But I leave lights on and wear clothes my dad doesn’t like.”

The back door opened, and Kyle stepped inside, kicking off his boots.

“I won four times!” Josh beamed.

“Of course you did,” Kyle said. “I bet you didn’t tell Eve you have magic board game luck.”

Josh giggled when I gave him a wide-eyed stare with my lips parted into an O. I put the pieces back into the box.

“Can you take this to your room while I say goodbye to Eve and thank her for playing with you?” Kyle handed Josh the game.

“Bye,” I said to Josh, giving him a little wave.

“Bye,” he mumbled, skating his socked feet along the wood floor toward the stairs.

“Did my dad talk you into cutting down most of the trees by the creek? He’s tired of them falling and making a dam that causes flooding.”

“Not all of them. But I said I’d help him take down three dead ones when I get time this week.”

“You’re a good man. I’m sure my dad will be thrilled to have you around. He doesn’t trust me or Gabby with a chainsaw.”

Kyle chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

“Well, enjoy the rest of your Sunday.” I opened the back door, and he followed me onto the deck.

“Eve?”

I stopped.

“If I didn’t have the responsibility of being a father, I wouldn’t think twice about being a little reckless with you,” he said.

I was afraid to turn around because I was trying so hard to be his adopted family and not the girl next door with an incurable crush. What if my idea of recklessness meant the kind of intimacy that would land my soul in Hell, and he meant letting me use a chainsaw? I no longer trusted myself to read him.

“But,” he continued, “very few things in my life have gone as planned, so I can’t promise I’ll remain steadfast in my resolve to do the right thing. This is my preemptive apology for if or when I fuck it all up.” The wood beneath his feet creaked as he took a step closer.

My lips parted to accommodate my labored breathing. I liked his vulnerability. And I liked that he was unapologetic about saying “fuck” around me.

“Eve—”

“Is this a warning or a promise?” I couldn’t look at him and act confident, so I continued down the four stairs to the yard. “Because I’m terrible at heeding warnings but relentless at making people keep their promises.”





CHAPTER TWELVE





GEORGE MICHAEL, “I WANT YOUR SEX”





Eve

“You said what?” Erin gasped as I stared at the ceiling from my bed with the phone cradled between my ear and shoulder.

“What was I supposed to say? I just spewed the first thing that came to mind. That’s totally not true. My initial reaction was to scream and beg him to be reckless with me.”

She laughed. “I would have frozen. Choked and tripped over my tongue or said something stupid and embarrassing. I’m so jealous that you had the perfect line. What did he do after you said that?”

I curled the phone cord around my finger and grinned. “I don’t know. I didn’t look back. I would have died. My confidence had a ten-second lifespan. So I got the heck out of there, trying so hard to walk and not run. But my heart was pounding, and I couldn’t hear anything around me.”

“What’s next? When do you see him again? What are you going to do or say when you do? How can you not be thinking about him thinking about being reckless with you? Gah! And what does that mean? Like … kissing you? Or more? Eve! Would you do more with him? Would you have sex with him?”