Page 66 of Want to Know a Secret?

The book club tonight is being held at Lucy Miller’s house at the end of the block. Lucy has two children, one in middle school and one in high school, so that makes me think she knows nothing of the drama going on between Leo and Bobby. Only a few of the women on the block have kids at the elementary school. So really, I just have to cross my fingers that Maria isn’t there.

And if she is? Well, I’m going in anyway. I have a right to be there. I live on this block like everyone else. And I’ve even read the book for a change, in case the impossible happens and we end up actually discussing it.

I clutch my tub of cookies to my chest as I march up the steps to Lucy’s house. Sounds are coming from within the house, which makes me think I’m not the first person to arrive. Good. I press my index finger against the doorbell and then quickly grab the cookie tub again before it falls.

I wait for a moment for the door to open. All the voices from inside have gone silent. Just when I’m about to ring the doorbell again, the door cracks open.

It’s Lucy. But she’s only opened the door about half a foot. Not enough for me to get inside.

“Hi!” I say brightly. I hold up my cookie tub. “I brought cookies for the book club. That’s tonight, right?”

Lucy’s lips are set in a straight line so that no color is visible. “We didn’t expect to see you here tonight, April.”

I keep a smile plastered on my face. “Really? Because I always come to the book club.”

“Yes, but with everything going on right now…”

Is she talking about what Bobby allegedly did to Leo? Or the alleged theft from the silent auction fund? Or my shoplifting charge?

Maybe I don’t want to know.

“Yes,” I say, “I’ve been having a rough week. I was hoping to just sort of… forget about it for a couple of hours…”

Lucy lowers her voice a few notches. “Listen, April. I just don’t think the other women will feel comfortable with you here right now.”

I feel my face turning pink. “Maybe you should ask them.”

“I did.”

I hear a voice in the background. Maria’s voice. She’s here.

That explains it.

“Fine.” Tears are pricking at my eyes, but I don’t want to cry in front of Lucy. I can just imagine what she would say to the other women. “I’ll go.”

Before I can even say goodbye, Lucy has closed the door in my face.

Now I’ve got two dozen cookies and nowhere to go. I suppose I could donate them somewhere. Is there a homeless shelter around here? I know there’s a food pantry because I bring a canned goods donation once a month, but I don’t think they accept fresh baked cookies.

That proves I’m a good person, doesn’t it? Bad people don’t donate huge boxes of canned food every month, right?

I turn back in the direction of my house. I don’t know how to explain what happened to Elliot. He knows about Bobby pushing Leo, but I haven’t told him about the PTA theft thing. I don’t know how to say those words to him, especially now. And frankly, I’m not looking forward to spending an evening with that man after what he did to me.

So instead of going home, I get in my car. I put the cookies in the passenger seat and take off.

The first place I go to is Taco Bell. Right now, I want some greasy, cheesy processed food. The kind of stuff I would never let Bobby eat, except possibly at a birthday party. I go to the drive-through window and order a quesadilla and two tacos with a large diet soda. Then I park in the lot to eat.

I devour the quesadilla and tacos in under five minutes. And then I eat about ten cookies. After all that food is sloshing around in my belly, I feel mildly nauseous, but I welcome it. Anything is better than that sick clawing feeling in my gut.

I turn on the radio in the car. It’s a Maroon 5 song I’ve heard a million times before. When I first met Elliot, he sort of reminded me of Adam Levine. That was back when he had hair. I almost laugh at the memory.

I was so happy when the two of us got married. Then soon after, we had Bobby. He was the man I had been looking for my entire life. We were just so in love. I know a lot of people say they’re in love, but Elliot and I were really in love. The kind of love where we wanted to be together every second of the day. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. From the moment I first met him, I knew he was going to be my husband and we would be together forever.

Well, there’s no point in dwelling on the past. It doesn’t matter how in love Elliot and I were back then. The only thing that matters is now.

Now we’ve got a problem.

Brianna.