Page 131 of The Apple Tree

“A son. Josh. He’s five. I love Josh so much.”

“Who are you?” She laughed.

“I know I’m eighteen, but since Kyle and Josh moved in, I’ve grown up a lot.”

“No longer sneaking alcohol?”

“Listen,grown-upsdrink alcohol.”

“Alcoholics drink alcohol like you.”

“I’m not an alcoholic.”

“Are you sure?”

“Anyway,as I was saying. I’m not just scared of Mom and Dad finding out because I’ll get kicked out of the house. I’m scared that Mom will get really low again, but this time what if she tries to kill herself?”

“Eve, I think you’re overreacting. Mom is not the type of person to do that.”

I frowned. It was easy for her to say. She didn’t know what I knew. I opened my mouth to tell her because I’d carried the burden alone for too long, but the words clogged in my throat.

“Eve?”

I quickly wiped my tears. “I’m here. Um, I should go so you don’t have a big phone bill.”

“It’s fine. You can call collect anytime. And I think you need to tell them. Keeping secrets is painful, and covering them up only sets you up for more trouble and more lies. Learn from my experience. Okay?”

“Yeah,” I whispered.

“Are you okay?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” I managed without my voice cracking.

“Tell everyone ‘hi’ and we’ll see them at Thanksgiving.”

I cleared my throat. “I can’t, stupid. I’m calling you collect from a phone booth so that nobody knows about our call.”

“Oh.” She giggled. “True. Sorry. See you in a few weeks then.”

“Bye.”

I wasn’t that girl. The one who carried hidden scars from my past. As I hung up the phone and opened the door, I pulled in a long breath and let it out while heading to my car and repeating it again.

I wasn’t that girl.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

PAT BENATAR, “LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD”

Eve

“Hey,we thought you might be taking the night off. So I’ve managed to make a frozen pizza with one arm,” Kyle said when I stepped inside the back door. “As long as I can take it out of the oven with one hand.”

“I’ll help!” Josh ran toward the oven with a hot pad in his hands.

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