Daniel pointed to the list sitting on a nearby shelf. "Dad wrote us a whole list of things to do in the orchard and gardens."
She grimaced. "I'd rather fix fences."
"Me too."
Cleaning the stables went about the same as it did the last twodays. Riley worked from the other end, and even when they met in the middle, they hardly talked.
Before long, they gathered a different set of tools and headed to the small orchard behind his parents' house. His mom always insisted on keeping a garden and growing as much of their own food as possible. They grew almost every fruit and vegetable possible, making for a massive garden. The ranch hands often had to help with the weeding, but when they were rewarded with corn on the cob, new potatoes, and fresh watermelon, they stopped complaining.
"Do you remember how to prune the fruit trees?" Daniel asked as they entered the small orchard.
Riley shook her head. "I haven't helped with the pruning for years, so I have no idea."
He pulled his phone from his pocket. "Okay, give me a minute to make sure we don't screw this up."
He quickly searched for YouTube videos, fast-forwarding through them until they got to the part where it explained exactly what branches to trim off and where to make the cuts. Then he did another search to see if all fruit trees were supposed to be pruned the same.
Daniel struggled to keep his attention on his phone screen, however, because Riley stood ten feet away from him, doing all the arm stretches he'd seen her do in the stables on Saturday.
She’d likely spent another late-night session in his little gym, which only raised more questions in his mind. Did Riley struggle to fall asleep? Or was she waking from nightmares, like he often did? And what happened to cause all this unrest in her?
Once he was sure about what they were supposed to do, they got to work. The job required them to work closer together than they had in the stables.
Any time he stepped close to Riley, she sucked in a sharp breath and tensed. He wanted to believe it was the attraction between them. It was certainly still there on his part. But he recalled the way she tensed up and practically recoiled when he hugged her the other day.
No, Riley was fighting something, but it wasn't attraction.
Hating the uncomfortable silence between them, Daniel searchedfor something to talk about that wouldn't add to the awkwardness or set her off like Jake did at dinner the other night.
"Do you remember how we used to play Hide-and-Seek with Damon and Paige here in the orchard?"
Damon and Paige were Riley's cousins, who visited the ranch often when they were young. Damon was Daniel's age, so the two of them were good friends. They always got stuck playing with the girls, even though they were two years older, because their older brothers decided they were too young to hang out with the big boys.
A genuine smile filled Riley's face, and she snorted. "Paige was afraid of heights, yet she loved climbing the trees."
"She went too high every time and freaked out. Then she demanded I get the ladder so she could climb down."
Riley chuckled. "I remember the time Damon snagged his pants as he jumped out of the cherry tree, ripping a gaping hole across the backside."
"I remember the time you got hung up, literally, in the apricot tree." Daniel couldn't help laughing at the memory of a seven-year-old Riley hanging by the back of her shorts from the remnants of a trimmed branch.
Whoever did the pruning that year, didn't cut off the branch as close as they should have.
"I can't believe you just left me hanging there while you went to get our moms and insisted they take a picture before they helped me down." Riley dropped the branch she'd been holding and shoved his shoulder.
"Even your parents agreed it was a priceless picture."
"So was the memory of the wedgie it gave me. I swear it took a month for that sensation to go away."
For the next two hours they continued to reminisce as they worked, and it felt like old times. Riley finally relaxed around him, and Daniel realized how much he'd missed working with her. He loved the way he and Riley could talk about anything and everything.
Even after they finished pruning the orchard, they continued tochat while they ate sandwiches for lunch, and Daniel recognized that he hadn't only missed working with Riley, he'd missed his best friend.
"What's left on our list?" Riley asked as they walked out of the house after lunch. Again, she stretched her arms, trying to loosen up her muscles.
Daniel pulled the paper from his back pocket. "We need to till the garden, and mow and weed whack all the grounds."
"Mowing and weed whacking takes all afternoon," Riley said with a sigh that sounded like it came more from exhaustion than frustration or disappointment.
