Page 137 of The Apple Tree

“Kyle’s moving back to Colorado at the end of the semester,” Dad said.

All the oxygen left my lungs; it felt like it left the room.

“What? No. I love him.”

“Eve, you are the most indecisive young woman. You have no idea what you want to do with your life. You have a substance addiction. And you’re eighteen. I’m not sure you know what love is,” Dad said. “Kyle is an infatuation. He misled you. And I hold him just as accountable, if not more than you, for everything that’s happened.”

I started to say something but stopped before the words escaped because I looked at my mom’s exhausted face and red, lifeless eyes. Was I next in line to sacrifice my happiness for the well-being of others?

“Okay,” I whispered.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

WHITE LION, “WHEN THE CHILDREN CRY”

Eve

“What’s this?”I asked the next day after getting discharged from the hospital. There was a bag in the back seat.

Dad started the car. “A few things to get you by for the next thirty days.”

Mom shot me a sad smile over her shoulder.

“Uh …” I chuckled. “We’re not going home first? What about Thanksgiving? This is happeningnow?”

“Addiction doesn’t care about holidays, Eve. This way you’ll be home by Christmas.”

I didn’t have an addiction. What was happening? I thought it was a threat, a test to see how I’d react. I kept my mouth shut the previous day. It wasn’t fair.

“I didn’t get to talk to Erin or Grandma. I didn’t get to say goodbye to … Josh.”

“It’s for the best, honey,” Mom said.

“How is not saying goodbye for the best? Does Erin even know I was in the hospital?”

My parents shared a look.

“To help you save face, we’re telling anyone who asks, that you are on a mission trip.” Dad glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

“You’re lying to people?”

“We’re protecting you,” Mom said.

“From what or who?”

I looked out my window and quickly batted away my tears. The longest I’d been away from home was two weeks, and that was with friends and adults from the church who I knew. I wasn’t ripped away from my life and everyone I knew for a month over Thanksgiving.

They were protecting themselves.

Erin would know it was a lie. The truth would come out. And what about Kyle? He was okay with letting me leave? Of course he was. After all, he was taking Josh back to Colorado.

I envied Sarah for getting the hell out of Devil’s Head. I envied her for falling for someone who put her first above everything and everyone else in the world.

For the rest of the trip to St. Louis, no one said a word. My heart ached a little more with each passing mile, and my eyes never stopped leaking painful tears.

“We’ll get you checked in, and be back to visit before Thanksgiving,” Dad said, opening his door.

I grabbed my bag and climbed out. “Don’t bother. I don’t want to see you.” I headed toward the entrance.

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