Page 81 of The Apple Tree

Infuriating.

Sexy.

Overly analytical.

And I was mad at him for saying so many nice things to me and making me feel like a beautiful woman without needing to change a thing, and in the next breath, reminding me that we might not ever be anything more than temporary.

Gabby laughed a little. “Have you kissed him?”

My younger sister was a lover and dreamer. She wrote poems in her Bible during church and knew the words to every 80s ballad. Gabby would lose her virginity on her wedding night, notjust because that’s how she was raised. She’d do it because she liked things to follow a specific order.

A flirty look.

Holding hands.

A chaste kiss.

Months of wooing with flowers and love notes.

A grand proposal after asking our father for her hand in marriage.

Church wedding.

Wedding night jitters.

Baby nine months later.

Sarah and I were nothing like her. We rode the reckless high of raging hormones and the adrenaline rush of rolling in the sheets with bad boys who feltso good.

I wasn’t sure Kyle was a bad boy—until he got into the preacher’s daughter’s pants.

“We’ve kissed.” I smiled.

Gabby sucked in a breath and smiled. “How was it?”

“Amazing.”

“Was there tongue?” She blushed.

I nodded with a tight smile.

She narrowed her eyes. “Why do you have that look?”

“What look?”

“It’s the look you give me when you think I’m young and stupid.”

“What? No. I don’t think that, and I don’t have a look either.”

“You do. It’s your uncomfortable look. You think I don’t have a poker face, but neither do you.”

“Shh … it’s late. You need to go to bed. And I need to shower.” I removed my shirt and jeans, so she’d give up and leave.

“Um, Eve?”

I turned on the shower. “Huh?”

“Your underwear is inside out.”

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