“What is it, then?”
Colleen grinned. “There’s an old oak tree that stands at the end of my garden. It’s been there since I was a girl.”
Megs’ heart squeezed. Colleen still lived in the home she grew up in.
“Not this again,” Phyllis muttered, and Colleen shushed her.
“Anywho, the strongest and sturdiest branch of the tree juts out toward the west, and it doesn’t look possible, Megs. You’ll have to come by and see it. It sticks out so far, it looks like the tree should topple.”
“Why doesn’t it?” Megs asked.
“Well, because twenty years ago, my mother planted a grapevine.”
Megs frowned. “A grapevine?”
Colleen nodded and bent over to pull on her curls and make sure they were even. “Right. Mother intended for the grapes to grow along the fence, but each time she pulled the vine over and tethered it, it found a way to reach up for that tree. Finally she just let it go.”
Colleen stood and set down her scissors, then picked up a spray bottle. "The branch and the vine are a lot like two people in love."
Megs raised an eyebrow. “Because they go where they shouldn’t?”
Phyllis laughed, then broke into a coughing fit. Colleen set down the spray bottle and went to the back to get her a bottle of water.
“Not because they go where they shouldn’t, but I hadn’t thought of that.” Colleen took her place behind Megs’ chair, then began lifting her hair and spritzing. “That tree branch is strong and bold. It could very well stand alone and still be magnificent, but if it would’ve kept reaching, it would’ve overpowered the tree. Eventually it could’ve split the tree in two with a wet snowfall. But that vine. At first gentle, flexible, and beautifully delicate. It needed something to support its growth in the beginning, but now?”
Colleen set down the spray bottle and scrunched Megs’ curls with her hands. “Now that vine is roped and strong. It props up that branch, just as its new growth twirls around the wood each spring. Alone, the vine would slump or grow directionless.
“They each started out in different places, with different needs, but now they grow together. Support each other. Neither is better or worse. The vine is a little wild and free, it bolts and winds. The tree is so steady, I barely notice its growth from one year to the next.”
“So you’re saying love is about balance.” Megs wondered if Colleen thought of her as the tree or the vine. She almost snorted. That wasn’t even a question.
Colleen wiped her hands on a towel and clicked a diffuser onto the end of her blow dryer. “Sometimes we need strength and direction. Sometimes we need to make sure we don’t grow too rigid or overreach.”
Colleen started the blow dryer, and Megs stared at herself in the mirror. She loved the cut. A bit shorter and refreshed. She thought of Gideon as hot air hissed past her ear. He’d planted himself in Shelburne, and the image of him rooted and reaching made her chest tighten.
He can’t date his students. He’s reconnecting with Alli. He’s almost thirty and established.All the reasons why Gideon couldn’t or shouldn’t be interested in her raced through her mind.
But then she thought about their first time at Sammy’s. The way conversation flowed between them when they let it.
“All set, my dear.” Colleen set the blow dryer down.
“It’s perfect, as always.” Megs stretched her arms as Colleen removed the cape from around her shoulders.
Colleen winked. “Don’t ever forget the same could be said about you.”
Megs stoodin front of the Sugar Creek Train Depot in a puffy coat, beanie, and hiking shoes. The maple trees on Main were turning gold and bronze from the bottom up, as if someone had started a fire at their base and it hadn’t quite flickered to life.
Sean, Melissa, and Layla huddled together near the platform. Megs waved and walked over, her breath pluming in the crisp morning air. Her weather app had promised it would be sixty five degrees today, and she prayed that would happen before they started their hike on St. Ambrose.
“Morning, Megs.” Melissa rubbed her hands together and lifted them closer to the heater above the benches. “Quite the romantic trip already, don’t you think?”
Layla sniffed. “I heard that the moments you remember most are the bad ones. Even better if it was a terrible moment mixed with an incredible one. Our brains prioritize those and they stick longer.”
Melissa rolled her eyes. “They should be opening the train doors any minute.”
“Where’s everybody else?” Megs asked.
Sean pointed behind them, and Megs turned to see the other contestants and Oscar walking across the square. Her nostrils flared when she saw Gideon. He and Alli were both getting out of the same car.Hers, not his.
