Want to Know a Secret?

April goes to her friend Julie Bressler’s house. Bobby and Julie’s son, Leo, are best friends, and their house is only a few doors away. However, when she gets there, their house is empty.

Seeing the new neighbor’s mailbox with the name “Cooper” on it, April realizes that she has never even met them. She thinks there’s a chance that they may have seen a suspicious person around, so she knocks on their door.

Maria Cooper answers the door. She and April introduce themselves, and then April sees Bobby sitting behind her in the living room, playing. April rushes in and greets Bobby, sobbing and scolding him for not telling her where he went. Maria apologizes profusely, insisting that she had no idea Bobby didn’t tell his mother he was coming over. Bobby told her that his mother said he could come to play with Maria’s son, Owen.

April briefly contemplates whether she trusts Maria. Based on her look of sympathy and embarrassment, she decides there’s no way that Maria is the one who sent her the text message and that she truly didn’t realize Bobby had lied.

April and Maria get to know each other in Maria’s kitchen. April judges the fact that Maria’s home is smaller, as well as her lack of food in the refrigerator. However, when she finds out that Maria manages Helena’s—April’s favorite clothing store—she connects with her. She thinks of how nice it will be to have another mother in the neighborhood that she likes, other than Julie, as Julie spends all her time working with the PTA and the neighborhood homeowner’s association.

Maria’s husband, Sean, gets home from the store. April learns that he owns his own contracting business. She compares Sean to Elliot in several ways. Elliot, as a lawyer, always dresses in suits, while Sean is wearing a faded T-shirt and jeans. Elliot also works every weekend and never seems to have time for Bobby—whereas Sean immediately makes plans to go to the park with Owen.

When April and Bobby leave, April scolds him for leaving the backyard without her permission. However, Bobby insists that Maria came to their fence and told Bobby that his mother said it was okay for him to come over. April briefly wonders if Maria would do something like that—and send her the text messages—but then quickly dismisses the idea. She is adamant that Bobby must be lying.

April serves breakfast to her son and husband. She is bothered that Elliot has to leave for work so early, but he insists that work is too busy right now. He invites her to lunch at the office, and she agrees, realizing how much she loves him even when he’s absent.

While Bobby finishes breakfast, April looks at the comments on her latest YouTube video. It has more views than her other videos. She is initially happy with all the positivity but then starts seeing the negative comments—more than she usually has. One particular comment unnerves her, which reads “April’s secret is that she is a terrible cook and a worse person. Trust me—I know” (42). The “I know” makes her especially uncomfortable. However, she simply deletes all the comments and does her best to move on.

April takes Bobby to school. Out front, she finds Julie with another mother, Kathy Tanner. April doesn’t like her because she always makes jabs at April that come off as rude.

Julie reminds April about the PTA meeting, which she has done several times. April is supportive but also considers how “intense” Julie is about everything. To get out of the conversation, she spots Maria and calls her over. April introduces her to Kathy and Julie. Maria tells them the story about Bobby coming to her house, which embarrasses April because it makes her feel like a bad mother; however, she decides that Maria didn’t do it on purpose.

As Maria notices that she is going to be late for work, she realizes that she forgot her son’s stuffed giraffe, Raffey, at home. April insists that she can go home, get it for her, and then bring it back to school for Owen.

April goes into Maria’s home using the key she leaves by the door under a plant. She checks Maria’s fridge and the pantry, judging both for how bare they are. She then goes upstairs and immediately finds Owen’s room.

Before going in, April decides to check out the primary bedroom. She opens the door and goes in, noticing how the bed isn’t even made. However, she then hears footsteps outside the door and, trying to get out of the room, runs directly into Sean.

Sean is wearing only a towel, having just showered. April notices how good his body is, having not realized it yesterday when he was wearing a shirt. However, Sean is short with her, demanding to know why she’s in his house. She explains about the giraffe, and Sean insists that he can take the giraffe to Owen. Sean then curtly dismisses her, asking for the key back.

April goes down to Elliot’s office for lunch. However, his receptionist, Brianna, stops her out front. Brianna insists that he is too busy to be disturbed and that he has a lunch meeting. April tries to go in anyway, and Brianna stops her, threatening to call security. April angrily calls Elliot, but he ignores her call twice. She finally gets a text from him apologizing for forgetting about his meeting. Embarrassed, April angrily leaves the office.

In the parking lot, April considers telling Julie what happened. However, she decides that Julie won’t understand. She also wishes she could talk to her mom, but she is in a care facility with dementia. She feels truly “alone.”

April’s phone goes off with a new text message from the unknown number. It reads, “Too bad you don’t know the secret to making your husband happy. Unlike Courtney Burns” (64). She is panicked, wondering if someone is following her. She also considers that Brianna may be the one texting her but decides that Brianna doesn’t know about Courtney.

April rides with Maria to the PTA meeting. When she knocks on the door, Sean answers, but he doesn’t seem upset about finding April in his house. Sean asks about going to the meeting, which strikes April as strange, as none of the other fathers go.

At the meeting, Julie is rude to April for being late—even though they are a half hour early. Maria comments on how “rude” Julie is, but April insists that she has a lot of popularity and power. She tells Maria that, if she puts up with Julie’s assertiveness, she’ll have a much better time fitting in.

The meeting is long and boring, as April struggles to pay attention. When they discuss the silent auction, April agrees to run it for the second year in a row. She is relieved when Maria offers to be her co-chair.

On Saturday morning, April and the other moms go to soccer. She convinces Maria to come, as she’s sure that she can get the coach, Mark, to agree to let Owen play. April manages to do so by baking Mark cookies.

April introduces Maria to another mother, Carrie Schaeffer. She and her husband are going through a divorce because he cheated on her with the babysitter. Carrie looks devasted, but she jokes about the affair and points out that she knows everyone is talking about it anyway.

Just before the game begins, Bobby comes over and tells April that he doesn’t want to play. He insists that Julie’s son, Leo, and Owen are too good. However, April encourages him just to have fun.

Throughout the game, Bobby continues to be discouraged. Leo and Owen do most of the scoring. Near the end of the game, Owen has the chance to pass to Leo or Bobby by the goal; to April’s surprise, he passes the ball to Bobby. However, when Bobby shoots, he inadvertently hits Leo in the face with the ball, and his nose starts bleeding.

Leo’s nose bleeds a lot, as Julie panics. However, Sean manages to get it to stop. Julie then turns on April, yelling at her and insisting that Bobby did it on purpose out of jealousy. She leaves, telling everyone that she is going to the emergency room. April is shaken but rationalizes Julie’s anger as fear over Leo getting hurt.

April gets another text message from the unknown number. The person tells her that he knows why Mark was so quick to give in to her and let Owen on the team. They then send a picture to April, which makes her “gasp.” They warn her not to tell anyone about the messages, or they will share the picture.

April admits that she once kissed Mark. They used to be good friends. Mark would play soccer with Bobby, and April often went out to breakfast with him. She even started complaining to him about Elliot and how neglected she felt in their marriage. Then, one day, he kissed her in her kitchen. She initially kissed him back and then stopped. She told him that she loved her husband and that they could only be friends, and Mark agreed. Despite this, April insists that she is a “good person.”

The picture April received was of her kissing Mark, taken through her living room window. She is afraid of what it will mean for her YouTube channel and her marriage if the picture gets out.

Sean takes Owen and Bobby to play soccer. April reads through the comments on her latest video and finds one that points out that she dropped out of culinary school. While it’s true, April is unnerved, thinking how very few people know that about her. However, she deletes all the negative comments and moves on.

April decides to visit Maria at Helena’s. When she gets there, the store is slow, so she and Maria talk. They discuss how good of a father Sean is, which leads April to ask if Maria wants any more children. Maria admits that Owen is not hers, as she can’t have children; he is Sean’s from a previous marriage. April then confides in Maria that she has been trying to have another child but has been unsuccessful. She is starting to feel like she is disappointing Elliot because he really wants another one.

As they talk, a young woman comes into the store. April recognizes her as the babysitter that Carrie’s husband left her for. April tells Maria, who insists that they need to do something.

While April watches, Maria goes over and takes a necklace from the shelf. She discreetly drops it into the babysitter’s purse. When the babysitter leaves, store security stops her. Maria then tells her that they will need to call the police, as the babysitter starts to sob.

April has mixed reactions to the incident. She thinks how nice it was that Maria stood up for Carrie but also how terrifying it is that Maria can be so cold.

April goes to her neighborhood book club, organized by Julie. She is grateful that it’s not an actual book club, as she never reads the book. Instead, they discuss the book for a few minutes and then socialize about their lives.

On the way, April runs into Sean, who is raking his yard. She offers him apple turnovers, which she is taking to the book club. When he grabs them, their hands touch, causing a “tingle” to go through her. She forces herself to leave, ignoring how attracted she is to him.

At book club, April mentions seeing Sean on the way over. Maria seems upset, making April wonder if she is jealous. Mark’s wife, Kathy, comments about April always having a “treat” for everyone. April thinks Kathy might know about her kiss with Mark and then wonders if maybe Kathy is the one texting her; however, she decides that there is no way Kathy knows about it.

Carrie thanks Maria for getting the babysitter in trouble. She had a prior conviction for shoplifting, so she could end up in jail or on probation. April is uncomfortable with the idea, as she did not realize the babysitter could get in serious trouble over what Maria did.

They discuss the book briefly, and then the subject quickly changes to their children. However, Maria gets the discussion back on topic. She then pointedly asks April a question about the book, showing everyone that April didn’t read it. April tries to get out of it, but Maria asks another question. Julie is angry, threatening to throw April out of the club. April is shocked. She thought no one actually read the book. She also wonders if Maria got her in trouble intentionally—as she knew April didn’t read.

As Maria and April walk home, April asks her why she would call attention to the fact that she didn’t read the book. Maria apologizes and says that she had forgotten that April hadn’t read it. She comments on how “busy” April is, but she sounds sarcastic when she says it. April wonders if Maria is jealous over the fact that she stopped and talked to Sean. However, they reach Maria’s home before they can talk anymore.

When April gets to her house, she gets a new text message from the unknown number. It says that her husband is on a “secret” phone call. She looks through the window and sees her husband smiling on the couch, talking on the phone. She tries to hear their conversation but can’t, so she quietly goes inside.

When Elliot hears April come in, he immediately hangs up. April asks what he’s been up to, but he tells her that he’s just been working.

April goes into the kitchen to put the rest of the apple turnovers away. However, she stops, and then quickly eats all five that are left. She is bothered by it, as she never eats her desserts.

Elliot comes into the kitchen to tell her he is going to bed. April asks to borrow his phone, which she can see causes him to panic. However, she can’t think of a good reason for why, so he goes upstairs.

April and Maria sit in April’s kitchen discussing the silent auction. When Maria gets up to go to the bathroom, April hears her phone buzzing. However, she realizes that Maria’s iPhone is on the table. She checks in Maria’s purse and finds a flip phone. She checks it, and there is a new message from an unsaved number asking when Maria can “meet.” April is disturbed by it, wondering if Maria is the one texting her, or if she is having an affair. Before she can write down the number, Bobby and Owen come back into the house.

Bobby is upset, and he complains to April that Owen pushed him. However, Owen then says that Bobby is the one who pushed him. Before April can settle it, Maria comes back from the bathroom and demands they both apologize. They do, and Maria takes Owen home.

After Maria is gone, April goes to give Bobby a bath. When she takes off his jeans, she notices a very bad cut on his knee. She asks what happened, and Bobby reiterates that Owen pushed him. April realizes that Bobby must be telling the truth—which means Owen outright lied. She contemplates calling Maria to tell her and then decides she might mention it the next time she sees her in person.

That night at 8:30, April tries to put Bobby to bed, but Elliot still isn’t home. She tries to text and call him, but he doesn’t answer. She calls his work phone, and Brianna answers. April is bothered by the fact that Brianna is still working with him this late. She asks Brianna if she can talk to Elliot, but she insists that he is too busy.

April decides to shower to take her mind off her fears over Elliot. Between him not answering her calls, secretly talking on the phone the other night, and working late with Brianna, she begins to wonder if he is cheating on her. However, she dismisses the idea, and the shower relaxes her.

Just as she gets out of the shower, she hears glass breaking downstairs.

April is convinced that someone has broken into her house. However, her phone is downstairs. She contemplates what to do and then decides that she has to somehow get her phone.

April makes her way downstairs. All the lights are on, so she can see that no one is down there. She sees a small hole in her front window and then sees a rock on the ground. As she picks it up to look at it, Elliot talks to her from behind her.

April is shocked Elliot is home, but he tells her that he texted her 20 minutes ago. He suggests they call the police about the rock, but April insists that they won’t do anything about it. She checks her phone and has a message from Elliot. She also has one from the unknown number asking her if she liked the “present.”

When April goes to pick up Bobby from school, Sean stops her and asks if she has seen Owen’s stuffed giraffe. April tells him she hasn’t, but Sean asks her to check with Bobby. He asks her multiple times, making April feel as though Sean is accusing Bobby of stealing it.

When Bobby comes out of the school, April notices that Sean and Owen are talking about going to the park, but they don’t invite Bobby. She then sees Julie leaving with another mom, and they also don’t invite Bobby over. Bobby starts complaining about wanting to go to Owen’s house, but April ushers him into the car, feeling uncomfortable.

At home, April sees a woman standing outside her house. She introduces herself as Nancy. Her aunt, Doris Kirkland, used to own Maria’s house. She tells April that she was hoping to see Maria, as they found a box of Doris’s things in their attic. Nancy then starts talking about how her aunt died. She was 96 years old and had a life-alert necklace with a button she could push if she was in trouble. However, she fell down the stairs and didn’t have it on her.

The conversation disturbs April. She thinks of how they all thought Doris had just had an accident, but Nancy’s story made it sound like something “sinister” happened.