Biting against the flaky, icing-covered side, I break a piece off and it melts in my mouth. Holy shit, this is amazing. I can taste the apple filling, but it’s nice and warm. Along with the icing, it’s sweet as hell. I take another bite, and all I want is a nice cup of hot coffee to go with it. It feels like fall in my mouth.
“Fuck, that’s so good. Do you create your own recipes?”
“I do. Sometimes I choose a few I find and just combine them, but these I created,” she says proudly.
“I’m going to need you to put this in the bakery for sure. Let me try the others.” I reach for another pastry and wonder how I can convince her to bring me one daily.
TWELVE
Tilly
“So, you work at an apple orchard? What’s that like?” the woman across from me asks.
She’s beautiful, with long brown hair and a symmetrical face with minimal makeup. She just moved to town, and we met at the supermarket, talking about apples of all things. When she asked me out, I wasn’t surprised, but I shocked myself by saying yes. It has been months since I’ve been on an actual date. The last time I even kissed a woman was that fiasco with the busty blonde at the bar. I’d been too busy at the orchard, trying to get all the new things Bells was implementing ready for the fall season.
“I like it a lot, I’m excited for the upcoming season. There’s a lot of new events going on.” I smile while I poke at the salmon I’m eating.
“Oh? Like what?” She’s genuinely interested in what I have to say.
“We’re going to add a lot of family activities for during the week and early weekends but also new events for adults after we close. We have our first wedding booked and we’re trying to have a masquerade night as well.” It probably sounded like Iwas bragging, which was ironic with the way I first reacted about these ideas.
“Wow, I’ve never heard of so much going on at an orchard.”
“They were my boss’ ideas. She inherited the orchard a few months ago and decided to shake things up. I wasn’t fully on board when she suggested them. But honestly, I’m impressed by how she pulled them off.” Not that I’d say that to her. I don’t want to see the smug look on her face.
“I’ll have to check it out. It sounds like a good time.”
“Yeah, my boss pulled all of it together in less than three months which is like almost unheard of. Apparently, she had a lot of contacts in the city; that’s where she’s originally from, and they helped a lot. It’s all coming together, and we have the start of the season opening next week.” I smile.
“What else do you do?” she asks.
“Well, lately all my focus is building things for the opening. Bells has me fixing all the signage, painting and of course taking care of the animals on the farm?—”
“I meant, what else do you do outside of the farm?” she asks politely.
“Oh, well not much these days. Sometimes my friends and Bells go to the local bar in town, but even on those nights we can’t help but talk about work. She’s kind of a hard worker, but she really wants this place to succeed. It’s admirable.” I smile.
My date, Jenna purses her lips and pauses before waving the waiter over. “Can we have the check please?” The waiter nods, and I look at her surprised. We haven’t had dessert, and she is already done?
“Did I say something wrong?”
“It’s obvious you’re in love with this boss of yours. So I’m not quite sure why you’re here tonight. But I don’t wish to be in the middle of some drama I can’t win.” She uses her napkin to wipe the corners of her mouth as I process what she’s saying.
“I’m not in love with my boss,” I say quietly.
“Look, it’s fine. Maybe you haven’t admitted it to yourself yet, but you clearly have feelings for her you need to work out.” She pulls out her credit card and places it on the table for the waiter.
“But I don’t?—”
“If you weren’t in love with her there’s no way you’d go on and on about her. I know more about her after today than I do about you. And that’s fine, it’s just not what I’m looking for. For what it’s worth, I hope you get her. She sounds great.” She smiles and takes off after signing the receipt.
I sit there in silence. Have I just been dumped mid-date? I push back my plate and head for the door. I’m not in the mood to finish eating and I need to get out of here. If no one overheard what just happened, I don’t need the town speculating with me sitting alone. Heading for my truck, I grip the steering wheel when I get in.
Why was everyone so insistent that there was something going on between Bells and me? Sure, we don’t hate each other as much as we used to. I got over that when I realized she was working hard to save this place. She wants to bring new people in and that means she isn’t going to be selling anytime soon. Why would she fix it up just to sell it? But that doesn’t mean I’m in love with her. I just like her as a boss. Or an acquaintance of sorts. She isn’t as bad as I originally thought, but it isn’t like that negates everything.
The drive home is quicker than I wish, and I’m pulling into my driveway. Hattie and Lina are busy tonight—Lina’s trying new recipes, which means she’s either stoned or cooking, and Hattie is having a movie night in with Ollie. I could probably join them, and they wouldn’t mind, but I don’t want to feel like an intruder. I head toward my front door when I hear an alarm going off. It’s a consistent beeping that I can only make out a bit. I grab the bat I keep in the back of my truck and head towardthe sound. It isn’t coming from my house, so I follow it toward the barn. Is someone trying to break into the horses? We have a pretty low-key system considering we live in the middle of nowhere, and it would take a lot to get on this road undetected. But I wasn’t home, so maybe someone did pass through?
Quietly, I creep toward the barn and confirm my suspicions. The beeping is louder, and I hear someone muttering under their breath, trying to shut it off. There’s a variety of beeps from the system as they try to guess the code, and I push the door open quickly, holding up the bat in case they’re bigger than me.
