Page 53 of Want to Know a Secret?

“Why not?”

“As your attorney, I would advise against it.”

I roll my eyes. “Stop it. Julie is my best friend.”

“You always say that.” Elliot rubs at the back of his scalp. “But from what I can tell, the two of you hate each other. And right now, she’s got a good reason to hate you.”

“But she’s wrong!” I plant my hands on my hips. “She thinks Bobby pushed Leo, but he didn’t.”

Elliot raises an eyebrow. “He didn’t?”

“You really think our son would do something like that?”

He shrugs. “Maybe. You never played soccer with that kid. He’s out for blood.”

I glare at him. “Whose side are you on?”

Fine.” He reaches a hand for the pie, and I smack it away. “So what do you think happened? Leo just fell off?”

“No.” I take a deep breath. “I think Owen Cooper pushed him. And told everybody that Bobby did it.”

“So Owen framed Bobby?” Elliot is smirking now. “That’s what you think?”

“Yes. It is.”

“I see.” He nods. “And what about Leo? Who does Leo say pushed him?

“Leo’s back was turned. So he didn’t see.”

“Ah. So there were no witnesses.”

I narrow my eyes. “I feel like you’re not taking this seriously.”

“On the contrary,” he says. “I’m taking this very seriously. And I’m telling you very seriously that Julie could sue us. So I think you should stay the hell away from her until she cools off. Okay?”

“Fine,” I agree. “As soon as I bring her this pie, I’ll stay away from her.”

“April…”

“Just trust me on this, Elliot.”

He shakes his head at me, but he underestimates the power of the pie. Julie and I are best friends, and if I come over with a peace offering and I explain to her my side of the story (or Bobby’s side), she’ll be reasonable. Granted, Julie does not have a history of being reasonable. But I can talk her around.

After about forty-five minutes, the pie is cool enough that I can carry it over to Julie’s house. I walk up the steps to her front door, squinting through the spotless window panes surrounding the entrance. Without a doubt, Julie and Keith have the nicest house on the block. There was a different house here originally, but they tore it down and built a new one from scratch to their specifications. Our house is nice, but it isn’t as perfect and shiny and sprawlingly large as the Bresslers’ house.

The lights are on inside, and I ring the doorbell, which I can hear chiming throughout their massive house. I wait for a minute, and part of me is starting to get worried that Julie is not going to open the door for me. She finally does, although she doesn’t look pleased. Her usually perfect brown hair is looking a little dank and stringy, and there are purple circles under her eyes.

“Hi, Julie!” I plaster on my absolute best smile. “I heard Leo was home and I just wanted to see how he was doing.” I hold out the pie. “And bring you this. Your favorite. Well, second favorite.”

She looks down at the pie but makes no move to take it from me. “Leo broke his arm. So that’s how he’s doing.”

I pull a sympathetic face. “Poor lamb. Is he in a lot of pain?”

Her lips turn down into a frown. “Yes, he has pain. He broke his arm.”

“Oh. Of course, but—”

“Thanks to your son.”