Cate Ashwood - Keeping Sweets(1)

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Copyright
Published by
Dreamspinner Press
5032 Capital Circle SW
Ste 2, PMB# 279
Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886
USA
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Keeping Sweets
Copyright © 2013 by Cate Ashwood
Cover Art by Brooke Albrecht
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the Publisher, except where
permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press,
5032 Capital Circle SW, Ste 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA.
ISBN: 978-1-62380-406-0
Digital ISBN: 978-1-62380-407-7
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition
March 2013
To my parents, who may not have always understood the things I do,
but who have never wavered in their support. I love you.
I would also like to thank all the other authors who came before me
who inspired me to find my voice, and to B. and Xto, who listened to
that voice chatter endlessly about this book from the beginning.
Keeping Sweets
1
Chapter 1
“T
HE
countdown is on, boy. Only three more days until your
graduation.”
Evan looked up from his biology textbook to see his stepfather
walking into the room with a cigar in one hand, a whiskey and coke in
the other. The oak table creaked under his weight as he leaned against it
and leered down at Evan.
Proud parents all around the country were uttering similar
phrases. Graduation was an exciting time for most people, but for Evan
and his stepfather, it signified something entirely different.
A year earlier Evan’s mother had died. She had never been a
particularly good mother, especially in the later years, but she had
loved him in her own way. Unfortunately, her love for Jack Daniel’s far
outshone the love she had for her son, and it had ultimately taken her
life. Her best drinking buddy, Phil, had become Evan’s stepfather five
years before her death.
Graduation, for Phil, did not mean parties and university
applications and family celebrations. It meant that Evan would finally
have to move out. He had made it exceedingly clear that Evan was not
welcome back home from the moment he accepted his diploma. Six
days from now. It was not a devastating blow for Evan. The sagging
house hadn’t felt like home for a very long time.
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