“You know,” Bode starts, his eyes dark, “I was going to shower before we left.”
“Imagine that. I was planning on doing that too.”
“Should we maybe save time and do it together?”
“I don’t know how much time we’ll be saving…” I trail off. Grabbing Bode’s hand, I put a sashay in my hips and lead him upstairs.
Bode grabs me around the waist and throws me over his shoulder. “Better make it fast, Stevie, because we only have twenty minutes, and you know they won’t wait for us.”
* * *
“Really.You’d think we didn’t give you two enough time,” Nan moans as we all hop out of the car.
The gravel parking lot is crowded. Even with low clouds hanging in the sky threatening rain, it’s still busy.
“Twenty minutes is not enough time to get two adults and a baby ready to go,” Bode tells them.
“One adult,” Eve corrects him. “We took care of Caleb.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Bode gets the baby carrier out of the trunk and secures it to his chest before putting Caleb in it. “At least you put him in a cute outfit.”
The orange, red, and yellow striped romper has leaves and pumpkins all over it. Paired with a mini jean jacket and tennis shoes, he looks adorable. His legs are kicking in front of him as he faces out toward the orchard. A bucket hat sits on his head in case it rains.
“He’ll be the cutest kid out here.”
A wooden house with a red roof welcomes us to the Bradford Family Farms. The smell of leaves hangs heavy in the air. Tractors roll out toward fields filled with pumpkins. Wooden crates filled to the brim with apples sit on either side of the walkway.
“Want to start picking apples and then we can head toward the fields?” Bode asks.
Sunglasses cover his eyes, and a worn, plain black hat covers his hair. You would never know he plays for the Knights with the gray hoodie and plaid jacket he’s wearing. I threw on the first thing I could find that was clean—a black sweatshirt, olive jacket, and leggings. There was no use in putting on a hat when I swept my wet hair up into a bun.
By the time I was dressed and covered my face in basic makeup, we were getting yelled at.
Wet bun it was.
“Now, you know Caleb can’t eat apples, right?” his gran points out.
“You’d think I’d never done this before. Almost like she doesn’t trust me.” Bode ignores her and speaks at me, heading toward a wagon to start loading up with apples.
“What? It’s not like you’ve ever raised a kid before. Just making sure.”
I grab Bode’s free hand, and we wander through the rows of trees. Leaves are crunching under our feet as we stop every so often to peruse the fruit.
“These look good.” Bode grabs some of the apples sitting on the higher branches.
“You know this is why we always need a tall person around,” Eve says.
“So I can pick apples for you?” Bode smiles at her.
I love the relationship the two of them have. They always poke fun at one another, but you can feel the love they have for each other.
“Hey, I don’t want grubby little kid hands on my apples.”
I burst out laughing and grab a few red ones that look good. “We’ll have to make sure we get some green ones too. I can make some apple crisp when we get home.”
“Does everyone get this?” Nan asks.
“Only the people who are picking apples,” Bode points out.
