Chapter One
Travis
The sweet scent of apples surrounded Travis as he walked further into the orchard, the early August heat settling over him.With each step he took, his thick boots crushed more blossoms that had fallen ages ago underneath them, sending another spray of the scent he’d come to associate with home for so long swirling into the air.As the blossoms’ aroma permeated his senses, a quiet peace washed over Travis, bringing a smile to his face as he gazed around at the trees that were now devoid of flowers.Branches were thick with leaves and budding apples that would soon become this year’s harvest.
It was the time of year Travis looked forward to most while simultaneously being the one he dreaded more than spending the evening at Branch and Brew on a busy Saturday night.While his brothers would understand his wanting to skip the latter, a night out at the bar was not his idea of a good time, the former was not only this job, but his birthright.That didn’t mean Travis lovedeverypart of it though.The sheer amount of people that would flock to the orchard, not for work, but for apple picking or a visit to the small storefront where they sold everything from his brother Felix’s apple cider to the applesauce his mom prepared and canned during the winter months was enough to drive even the most social of butterflies underground.
Travis wouldn’t label himself anti-social necessarily, he was fine hanging out with his brothers and their significant others.Hell, he lived with his parents and they were two of the most talkative people on the planet.The difference between all of those people and the strangers that would come to the orchard was that those who knew him understood why he was quiet, gruff, and why he shied away from social gatherings.People were unpredictable, their feelings too variable and messy.Nature, however, was steady and reliant.
Travis stopped to admire one of the trees he’d fertilized just that morning, smoothing his hand over the rough bark when he heard laughter in the distance.Despite his propensity to remain silent, Travis recognized the sound he’d heard often enough at his family gatherings, but this didn’t sound like the boisterous laughs of any of his brothers, their partners, or his parents.Peeking out from around the tree, Travis bristled when more shrill giggles reached his ears and the sight of a checkered blanket flashed in the corner of his eye.
There was no doubt in his mind what he was dealing with.He’d been dealing with it every spring, summer, and fall for as long as he could remember.Gnashing his teeth together, he bounded through the trees, coming to a halt when his suspicions were confirmed.Fucking tourists.It was always the same with them, coming to the orchard dressed up in clothes they were afraid to muddy and shoes that dug into the ground and cut the tree roots, greedy hands pulling and yanking at the apples in a way that could ruin their bloom for the next season before searching for the perfect spot to grab a selfie.
Always uninvited and never wanted, they had no reverence for the environment nor the harvest process, merely wanting to post on social media the evidence of their brush with the natural world.These people had been too far removed from where they got their food, too ignorant of the care and work that went into something they thought just appeared on the grocery store shelves like magic, and too lazy to try and understand the difference.The knowledge that those people were stomping around his family’s legacy had an angry huff heaving from Travis’s lungs as he pressed on further into the trees.
#norepspectfornature
He was barely at the half set-up picnic when he started barking at the group of young adults.“The fuck are you doing here?”
Two women stared blankly at him for a moment while one man held up his hands in supplication, another too busy leaning against one of the trees and typing on his phone to notice.“We’re just here for a little outdoor fun.”The man nodded to the two women who’d gone back to taking items from a basket, not noticing or caring when a light breeze carried a few napkins off into the brush.“No harm done.”
Travis heartily disagreed.As quiet as he was, when it came to protecting what his family worked so hard to build, he could getveryloud.“Much harm done.”Travis pointed to the napkins on the ground, the trampled earth that he’d poured just yesterday to help nourish the trees, and the stripped bark from where this man’s asshole friend leaned against the tree.“Pack up your shit, get the fuck out.”
The man opened his mouth to argue, but another fierce look from Travis had him backing up towards the rest of his party.“Come on, guys.We’ll find another spot.”Travis crossed his arms and stared down each and every one of them as they cleaned up their stuff, pointing angrily at the trash and making sure they left no trace of themselves behind.
As he watched their sedan make its way down the dirt road that led away from the orchard, Travis sighed, the weight of interacting with such terrible people like a boulder on his chest.It was nothing that another pass through the trees wouldn’t cure, but for the briefest of moments, he wished he had someone to share that burden with.Just because he didn’t talk much didn’t mean he didn’t feel anything.In fact, he felt so much sometimes that trying to keep it all in hurt like hell.If only he could find someone who understood that like his family did, his life would feel...complete.
Shaking off thoughts of a person that could never exist for him, Travis made his way back through the orchard, giving the occasional grunt of approval to trees that would never talk back, but he didn’t need them to.Travis didn’t need conversation, just the steady presence of something familiar.Every now and then he would stop and take a look at one of them more closely, run his hands along the rugged bark of the trunk as he murmured words of encouragement.If talking to your plants helped them grow, then it was no wonder the orchard was thriving.
Travis had watched his father do it plenty of times, taking note of how even though a reply would never come to any of his father’s affirmations, there seemed to be a conversation happening between the two.Now that he was older and tended to the trees himself, Travis didn’t just sense the connection, but was able to feel it.He and the tree were two living, breathing things, both only wanting to do their best and be left standing proud at the end of the day.But where trees grew over time and changed with the seasons, Travis seemed to be existing in the same loop he always had.The only thing that changed during the year for him were the clothes he wore and the work he did.
As Travis checked the state of the apples that were just bigger than a racquet ball, his eyes wandered over to Felix’s cider house.His little brother had big plans to expand his business and was moving to another apartment with his girlfriend, Autumn.The shed would be converted into storage for his crabapples eventually, and God only knew what would happen to the apartment above the barn that the two had previously occupied.
Earlier that morning, Felix had suggested Travis move into it as he passed over the keys to the place, but Travis had always been a little too stuck in his ways to even consider it.He’d been in the same bedroom his entire life and didn’t plan on changing that come hell or high-water.The only thought tempting him to do anything differently was the idea that maybe a lady would come along that he could share that space with.
Now, hours later, the keys to the empty apartment sat heavily in his pocket.It really was a waste to leave the space empty, but he still had no desire to live there himself.Wandering back toward the house, Travis thought about other uses for the place.It seemed silly to try and convert it back into more storage.They already had plenty of outbuildings designated for that.They could rent it out to someone in town, but the thought of having people who might not give the farm the deference it deserved rankled him something fierce.Travis would rather leave it empty than let someone come in who could possibly trash the place or the orchard.Those trees were his sanctuary, and no one would disturb it.Not on his watch.
Walking into the large farmhouse where he lived with his parents, the gray siding and stonework a sight as familiar as the trees, Travis nodded to his dad who was sitting at the small table in the kitchen, sipping on a glass of lemonade.Grabbing some of the cold, tart drink for himself, he joined him at the table.The wooden chair was stiff, but it might as well have been a cloud for the sheer amount of comfort it brought to his aching muscles.Travis regularly lounged on the hard ground outside, so anything softer than that was a luxury to him.
Groaning as his tired feet took their first real break of the day, Travis ran the cold glass along his overheated forehead, the condensation that had already gathered cooling him off nicely.“Hot as fuck out there.”
Travis’s father snickered and shook his head.“Don’t let your mother hear you cursing like that.”His dad’s eyes lit up as he talked about his wife and Travis felt a pang of envy at the sight of it.Nolan and Cora Kemp were high school sweethearts, something he’d thought he was going to have before he discovered just how deeply people could disappoint him.Even though he didn’t have anything like that himself, Travis could still admire and be proud of the fact that after thirty-six years together, his parents were still head over heels for one another.“You may be thirty-one years old, but she’ll box your ears if she feels justified.”
Travis snorted.His mom hadn’t raised a hand in anger to him or any of his brothers for as long as he lived, a raised brow and scolding tone her preferred method of punishment.“I’ll try my best.”
His best was rarely good enough when it came to swearing.Unlike his brothers, Travis tended to curse a blue streak whenever he felt the need.Maybe it was his lackluster education or maybe he just liked the emphatic nature of the words, but either way, he tried to reel it in around his mother who preferred less colorful language.
Fingers tapping the table, Travis tried not to feel too antsy about getting back outside as he sat and did nothing.The heat in the middle of the day was brutal, so he normally retreated indoors to work on other things, but today he felt too restless to sit and update spreadsheets or fill out purchase orders.The feeling had been building over the last year or so, and he knew it was no coincidence that it coincided with his older brother Beckett getting engaged.Well, Beckett was married now, Aiden was engaged, and Felix was likely to be soon enough.Travis could feel inside himself that he needed to evolve.A change was long overdue, nothing big of course, but something he could handle.The problem was, he didn’t know what it should look like or how to make it happen.
“Something on your mind, son?”Travis looked up at his dad, his hazel eyes shining with concern.“You know you can talk to your mom or me about anything.”
Travis smiled.He did know that because it had been said to him since about the moment he was born.Both of his parents were big on sharing and expressing their feelings, and while he hadn’t been quite as buttoned-up about them in the past, he felt a little too raw at the moment to get into them now.
“I’m fine.”He downed the rest of his lemonade and rose to put the glass in the dishwasher, staring out the window to the outside to help calm himself.“Probably just missing Felix.”
Travis’s dad sighed.“It will be strange to not have him so close by.”His father scratched his beard that looked nearly identical to Travis’s, only about thirty years in the future.It was short, but thick and was nearly completely gray, but that didn’t make him look any less like Travis than he always had.The two were practically twins, but where his father was all smiles and chattiness, Travis was taciturn, speaking only when he found it necessary.“Do you have any ideas what we should do with the apartment?”
Travis shrugged.“Was just about to head upstairs, research that very thing.”He had a couple of ideas percolating already, but they would require far more information before he could present any kind of plan to his dad.“See you later.”
