Page 119 of The Apple Tree

“I’d stay at the hotel or live in sin if Kyle lets me move in with him.”

“It’s better to live in sin than die in sin.”

I giggled. “You think?”

“Oh yes. When you die, that’s when you do all that confession stuff, begging for forgiveness, requesting permission to cross the golden arches.”

“Grandma, I think it’s a golden gate, not an arch. McDonald’s has golden arches.”

“Potato potahto.”

“I’ll tell them this Sunday after church.”

“During dinner?” she asked.

An idea hit me, and I grinned. “Yes. That. Definitely that.”

“Where have you been?”Mom asked when I peeked into the kitchen.

“After work I went to the nursing home, then I stopped to talk to Erin. Need help?”

“No. It’s just chili. It’s simmering, and the cornbread is on the cooling racks. Do you want to take some over to Kyle and Josh? Or do you want me to run over there? Your dad said we needed to give Kyle a little space. Last night, Kyle and Fred had quite an argument over everything. Kyle thinks he can do it allalone, but I know he’ll feed Josh TV dinners every night if we don’t send over some food.”

“I’ll take it over there and eat with them. Then I can make sure Josh gets tucked into bed. He might want me to stay again. If he wakes in the middle of the night, he could try to jump in bed with Kyle and hurt his arm.”

Mom cringed. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Yup, it could be bad. I’m going to run upstairs and take a quick shower.”

“Okay, hun. I’ll wrap up some bread and ladle the chili into a smaller pot.”

I took a quick shower and fully dried my hair. Even though Kyle was in a sling with a broken arm and plenty of pain, I wanted to look nice for him.

Since I had so much to carry, I packed it in my car and drove to his house.

“Eve’s here!” Josh and Clifford ran down the porch steps as Kyle slowly stood from the swing.

“Hey, Mister. How was school?”

“Good,” Josh said, taking the bread while I carried the soup.

Kyle held open the door with his good arm.

I stopped while Josh continued toward the kitchen. “Hi,” I whispered.

Kyle’s grin mirrored mine as he ducked his head to kiss me. “Hi,” he said after a slow kiss.

“How are you feeling?” I headed toward the kitchen.

“Better now.”

I shot him a flirty look over my shoulder. And he winked. God, I loved that wink.

The three of us ate dinner together, and it felt so natural. Afterward, I ensured Josh bathed, put on his jammies, and brushed his teeth. While Kyle read him a story, I tidied up thekitchen, took Clifford outside, and put a load of laundry into the washing machine.

“You don’t have to do our laundry,” Kyle said.

I turned on the washer and pivoted to face him. “I know. You don’t have to love me, but you do it anyway. So laundry seems pretty simple in comparison.”

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