Ethan gave her a look. “We did.”
“Did you end up passing out flyers in town?”
“Nope. But I told Poppy.” He crossed his arms and gave her a lopsided grin.
As if on cue, a rumble rose up from the gravel road. A battered white church bus crested the hill and rolled to a stop by the orchard gate. The doors hissed open, Poppy stepped down first, and people began to pour out. Dozens of them. Poppy waved them on. Clover Marrow followed, arm in arm with Juniper. Clover was in a sunflower-yellow sweater beneath her black overalls, and Juniper had a book tucked under one arm like a handbag. Lucky the mechanic helped down Ms. Opal, the librarian, who wore a scarf the size of a picnic blanket. A group of teenagers he recognized from their toddler days clambered down after them.
And then came more. Parents with strollers. A trio of older women in matching sweatshirts. Two men in flannel with guitar cases slung over their backs. A little girl in sparkly boots who shrieked at the sight of the goats and tore across the grass.
Ethan swallowed hard. These weren’t just people showing up to pick apples. They were his people—his town—arriving for him, like they always had, even when he was too proud to admit he needed them.
The girls came barreling out from behind the barn. Brooke made a beeline for a group of little girls, her clipboard forgotten in the dirt. Melly raced from person to person, offering hugs and toothy smiles.
Even Emma, who had hardly spoken to anyone since she’d caught Honey packing, was smiling as she handed out buckets for apple picking and pointed kids toward the hay maze.
It was better than he imagined. Laughter rose into the air like bubbles. The sweet tang of cider drifted from the farm stand. The sounds of a slow banjo shuffle spilled across the orchard. The wind tugged gently at the bunting strung between trees.
Ethan’s throat burned as he watched it all unfold. For the first time in a long while, the orchard didn’t feel like something he was carrying on his back. It felt like something bigger. Something held together by everyone who’d just stepped off that bus.
And he welcomed it.
Ethan let out a long, slow breath. Honey’s hand found his, and she laced her fingers through his. She gave a quick squeeze, and though neither of them spoke, he understood. They both knew what this was—a farewell dressed in the colors of a harvest festival.
He tried to memorize every second. The laughter, the music, the smell of cider, the girls running wild with sticky hands and pink cheeks. He’d built this day like a goodbye gift—for them, for the town, maybe even for himself. And if he was being honest, for her too.
“Someone’s here!” Melly’s voice rang out, high and sharp as she sprinted past the hay bales.
“Who?” Honey asked.
Ethan glanced toward the road, brows pulling together when he spotted the cab driver who’d first dropped Honey at the farm. The driver climbed out of the cab, stretched like a man clocking out for the day, and ambled toward the nearest row of trees like he fully intended to help himself to a few apples while he waited. For a second, Ethan thought that was it.
But then the back door of the cab flew open.
A woman came hurtling out, crossbody bag bouncingagainst her hip as she tore across the field. Honey barely had time to drop his hand before the woman slammed into her with a hug that nearly knocked them both to the ground.
“Hello, Ruby,” Honey said, voice muffled against the wild hair of her friend.
“Look at you!” Ruby cried, drawing back just far enough to examine her. “Country woman! It looks good on you.”
Honey laughed, breathless and teary-eyed all at once. “You came.”
Ruby beamed. “Of course I came. You didn’t think I’d let you gallivant off to the Land of Oz without me, did you?”
“I should have guessed.”
“And you must be the hot farmer?” Ruby released Honey to acknowledge Ethan.
“Ruby,” Honey chastised.
Ethan laughed good-naturedly, all the weight and worry of the moment tucked away neatly. He was used to deflecting attention, to keeping himself in the background, but Honey glowed beside him. Her eyes bright with excitement. Ruby was someone Honey trusted, someone who could make her laugh like that, and that made Ethan want to stand a little straighter.
“I’ll leave you two to catch up,” he said.
He walked away, taking in the smell of the orchard, the soft rustle of leaves in the breeze, and the sight of Honey laughing freely. It struck him how much he wanted to protect this peace.
From the corner of his eye, he watched Ruby lean closer. “Tell me everything,” she said as he walked away.
Chapter 31
