Justin tucked his hands into his Carhart jacket. “Thanks. We like it around here. We go all out for Christmas for the gift shops and food. We’re nearing the end of the apple season now, then Clay and Rachel take over for Christmas trees. Then maybe I’ll finally get to take a rest.”
“Somehow I don’t think that’s a word in the Manning vocabulary.”
“Not if my big brother has anything to say about it.” He laughed. “I’ll run over and get your truck. I’ll leave it out the back here. You can take the access road out of here past the Christmas trees and sneak out.”
Amber twisted her fingers together in front of her. “That would be amazing. I’m so sorry, I made such a fuss.”
“Don’t sweat it. Anytime my cousin Ian comes in, it gets even crazier.”
She frowned. “Ian?”
“Kagan. It’s a regular revolving door of rockstars around here.”
I whistled. “I didn’t realize.”
“Yeah, my cousin Leelee manages Oblivion and is married to the guitarist, Nick Crandall. Then we just couldn’t get rid of them all.” Justin laughed. “You should see it around here for Christmas dinner. We’re tripping over famous musicians.”
“I can’t even imagine.” Amber laughed, some of her tension fading. “Oh, I also have a pretty big order over at the gift shop.”
Justin grinned. “On it.”
“I hate to pull you away from your work.”
Justin shook his head. “No big deal. I’m used to being the everyman around here.” His grin was genial. “I guess I’ll see you in December. I’ll be helping with the trees. Clay always ropes me in to do the heavy lifting.”
I’d been in the planning stages for so long, the actuality of the Wonderland suddenly made me queasy. “I really appreciate you taking a chance on the village.”
“It’s all about community. We’re excited to get our name out there too. Brothers Three is trying to expand the distribution of our hard cider. It takes visibility. You’re helping us just as much as we hopefully will do the same for you. Ronan, our cider master, actually made a special small batch cider just for this event.”
“Truly?”
“Yep. We’re going all in.”
Now the queasy was a churning. “Here’s to a mutual collaboration.” I held out my hand one more time.
Justin shook it. “I’m excited, man.” He nodded to a couple chairs near the apples. “You guys can chill out. I’ll be back in a few.”
“Thanks again,” Amber said softly.
“Don’t worry about it. Honestly, you probably just sold out our weekend Halloween Hayride.”
She laughed. “That’s one way to look at it.”
“There’s always a bright side. There’s one of our new fall ciders in the cooler if you want to partake.” He winked and loped off through the big barn door.
I turned to her and rubbed my hand up and down her arms. “You okay?”
She nodded. “I almost forgot who I was today.”
Instinctively, I pulled her in for a hug, stroking up and down her back. She stayed stiffly in my arms, but finally relaxed and rested her head against my chest.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Want to sit for a minute?”
She nodded and eased away from me.There was a television tucked into the space between two of the big apple crates. A little table, mini fridge, and the cooler made up a breakroom space of sorts.The chairs were surprisingly comfortable. They looked like rejects from someone’s bachelor pad, mismatched and worn in all the right spaces.
Amber sat down without complaint. She surprised me sometimes with how unaffected she was with certain things. When she leaned down to flip the cooler open, I couldn’t stop my grin. She pulled out two bottles of Harvest Moon and handed one to me. She read the label and snicked off the top using her wide ring.
