Page 24 of The Apple Tree

“Hey. Miss me yet?”

“Hell yes. How’s it going?”

“Pretty good so far.”

“You haven’t found a new best friend, have you?”

I laughed. “It wouldn’t be that hard.”

“Have you figured out the only good thing in that little town is your neighbor girl, so it’s time for you and Josh to return home?”

I chuckled. “Not quite. My QB this year is the real deal. I can’t miss his senior year.”

“Is he better than you?”

“Maybe. I don’t know yet.”

“When’s your first practice?”

“This week. It’s supposed to cool down a bit, so conditioning might not hurt as much.”

“They’ll still whine like the babies they are.”

I cradled the phone between my ear and shoulder and cracked open a beer. “I don’t doubt that. How’s Lizzy?”

“I broke up with Lizzy.”

I took a swig of my beer and grinned. “You’ve broken up with her twelve times. I’m not sure what it says about either of you that you keep getting back together, but I know you’re back together.”

Adam claimed he kept getting back together with his high school sweetheart because the town was small and the pickings were slim. I didn’t buy it.

“It’s just sex.”

Barking a laugh, I adjusted the phone and brought the beer can to my lips before mumbling, “It’s always just sex to you.”

“Exactly. Then she assumes it’s more, so I have to tell her it’s not, and she calls it a breakup when it’s just a clarification.”

“Well, at least you’re having sex.”

“Don’t give me that. If I lived where you live, I’d be fucking Eve every day. Maybe twice a day.”

I winced. “Man, that’s my pastor’s daughter—my brother’sbest friend’sdaughter. You can’t talk about her like that.”

“Like what? Fuck? Everyone knows it meansFornicationUnderConsent of theKing.”

Again, I laughed, missing my friend already. “I don’t think anyoneknowsthat.”

“Seriously, though, can you imagine what a scandal that would be if you screwed the preacher’s daughter?”

“I can, actually. And that’s why we’re done talking about it.”

Adam sighed, releasing a hum with it. “Remember being eighteen with surging hormones? Remember wanting to screw anything that moved?”

“I remember, but I’ve grown up. I have a child. A job. And morals. You, however, are still that guy. So I don’t know why you’re acting nostalgic about something you’ve never given up.”

“I own an accounting firm. If that’s not a job, then I don’t know what is.”

“Firmfeels a bit too big for your office above your dad’s garage.”

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