He pats me on the back. ‘You’re old enough to save yourself now.’
‘You’re here early,’ Dad says as he comes down the stairs. He used to run down them, but he’s been moving a lot slower since his heart attack. ‘I thought you weren’t coming until eight.’
‘Mia and I were up at six,’ I say, ‘so I told Mom we’d be over early.’
‘You show her the orchard yet?’
‘I did. She loved it.’
Dad walks up to Nick and me. ‘I can remember when you kids were too small to even reach the branches and now look at you. You’re both taller than me.’
‘Are you boys going to join us?’ Mom yells from the kitchen.
‘Yeah, Mom!’ Nick yells back.
‘What’s she got cooking in there?’ Dad asks as we walk down the hall. ‘Smells damn good, whatever it is.’
‘There you are,’ Mom says as we join her in the kitchen. Mia’s seated at the table, eating one of Mom’s pastries, a mug of tea in front of her.
I take a seat next to Mia. ‘What do you think?’
‘These are amazing,’ she moans, reminding me of the sounds she made when we slept together. She needs to stop doing that. I can’t have my mind going back to that night when I’m having breakfast with my family.
‘Jason, would you like one?’ Mom asks.
‘I’ll wait until breakfast. But I’d take some coffee.’ I get up.
‘I’ll get it. You stay there and entertain your guest.’
Dad joins us at the table and talks to Mia. ‘Will you be coming back to visit?’
‘I don’t know,’ she says, glancing at me. ‘I have a summer job that’ll keep me busy.’
‘Maybe Jason could go see you in Madison.’
Great. Now my dad’s trying to set me up.
‘Dad, I’m teaching this summer,’ I tell him. ‘And I have baseball. So Nick, how are the trees looking this year?’ I ask, desperate to end the conversation about Mia and me. I’d love to see her again, but I doubt it’ll happen so I don’t want to talk about it.
Nick had his head in the fridge, but he backs away and closes the door. ‘What was that?’
‘I was wondering how the trees are looking this year.’
‘They’re great.’ He’s looking at me like I’m crazy for asking. ‘You were just out there. You saw for yourself how healthy they looked.’
‘How many trees do you have?’ Mia asks.
Nick chuckles. ‘I should probably know that, but I’ve lost count. We planted so many new ones lately.’ He sits down across from Dad. ‘I’m thinking of taking out that last row this year. The one that isn’t producing much.’
Dad nods. ‘I think it’s a good idea. We should do it soon. No use caring for trees we’re just going to cut down.’
They continue talking about the orchard until it’s time to move to the dining room. I really hope the matchmaking comments don’t start up again during breakfast. My family needs to stop interfering. Pushing me to be with someone isn’t going to make it happen.
‘Mia, this is my younger brother Brody,’ I say as he and Kate join us in the dining room. ‘And his girlfriend, Kate.’
Mia walks over to them. ‘It’s nice to meet you. I hear you’re opening a store,’ she says to Kate.
‘In a couple weeks. It was supposed to open earlier, but some of my products were delayed so I pushed the opening back. You should stop by and see it.’
