Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 104151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Josh was too busy playing with one of his Matchbox cars, running it along his leg, to dispute the false story.
“Yeah,” I murmured, giving Kyle a thank-you smile.
“Let’s eat, everyone. I just need to grab the bowl of green beans,” Mom said as my family gathered around the table.
I lifted Josh onto his booster seat, then squatted in front of him before pushing his chair in. “I’m so sorry,” I said, getting choked up.
What if the pizza had landed on his face? What if it did leave a permanent scar and he’d always look at it and think of what I did to him.
“I wish I could make your owie all better with a kiss.” I gently pressed my lips to the bandaged area on his arm.
Kyle smiled at me as everyone sat around the table.
Mom held the bowl of green beans, waiting for me to move so she could set them on the table. “Aw, kisses make boo-boos better, don’t they, Josh?” Mom asked as I stood.
Josh nodded. “Like Daddy made Eve’s boo-boo better with a kiss.”
I laughed a little. “What are you talking about, silly?” I stood to scoot in his chair without making eye contact. “I don’t have any boo-boos.” I was a little uneasy, and I felt everyone else’s unease, too, but I brushed it off with a little chuckle and no eye contact.
Then a five-year-old imploded my entire world in ways I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams. It was the most unintentional revenge.
“Daddy kissed your boo-boo right here,” he pointed between his legs, “on the deck.”
Crash!
Mom dropped the ceramic bowl of green beans onto the wood floor.
“Uh, oh,” Josh said, leaning over the side of his booster seat to see the mess.
No one said anything or even moved a muscle.
I laughed to break the silence. Laughter was good. It was my friend. Why wasn’t anyone else laughing at Josh’s nonsense.
He saw us! Did he know what we were doing?
“That’s uh … silly.” I said, staring at the beans on the floor while scratching the back of my neck. “I’ll grab a broom and dust pan.” I risked a quick glance at the faces around me.
Gabby’s lips pressed together, eyes wide.
Grandma Bonnie’s expression bled sympathy.
Dad squinted at me and then Kyle as if the math wasn’t adding up. I hoped Kyle could help him with that since math wasn’t my thing.
But it was my mom’s livid expression, clenched jaw, and tears in her red eyes that slayed me.
I hurried into the kitchen and knocked over a few bottles of cleaner under the sink to reach the dust pan and small hand broom. When I stood, Mom was in my space.
She grabbed my wrist.
I winced as she dug her nails into my skin, and I could feel her whole body shaking.
“What have you done?” she asked, voice quivering.
I quickly shook my head. “I—”
“Don’t you dare lie to me,” she seethed.
As she blinked, releasing angry tears, my eyes burned with some impending grief and guilt, but mostly fear. I wasn’t worried about my fate, but I was terrified of hers.
The back door slammed shut, and my gaze shot in that direction. It had to be my dad and Kyle. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Gabby carrying Josh to the front door, probably taking him home to protect him from the fallout. When that door clicked shut behind them, Grandma stepped into the kitchen.
“Eve, give me a moment with your mom,” she said.
“Mother, this is none of your business,” my mom said, with her claws still planted into my wrist.
Grandma gently rested her hand on my mom’s until she released me.
“Eve, I’ve got this,” Grandma said to me.
I wanted to tell my mom it was my fault.
Confess my sins.
I wanted to beg her not to slit her wrists or drive the car off a bridge.
Or take a whole bottle of pills.
Instead, I headed to the front door. My vision blurred behind my tears as I held up my dress and slid my feet into my old cowboy boots. By the time I ran down the front porch stairs, Gabby and Josh were way past the orchard. I could hear my dad and Kyle arguing out back, but I couldn’t make out the exact words. I kicked the planter off the milk box and grabbed a bottle of vodka. Then I headed to the creek, where I followed it past our property to the hut Kyle built for me.
I loved Kyle and Josh beyond anything my young heart could have ever imagined, but as I took drink after drink of the liquid that burned my throat, all I wanted was for it all to be a bad dream.
I wished Kyle and Josh never moved to Devil’s Head.
And then I wished I was never born.