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“Morning.” He had thought about that kiss, and what it meant to her, through most of the night. Had she woken this morning glad she had done it, or wishing she could take it back?

Kate opened the door farther. “Dad’s outside somewhere if you’re looking for him. I think he went down to the packing shed.”

“I wanted to ask whether he needs any more bins before they start the next section. I’ve got some spare at my place, and I can send them over with the tractor later if he does.”

“He probably will. Come in. Mom’s just made coffee, and unless your harvest has become dramatically more efficient overnight, I’m guessing you’ve been up for hours.”

Wes stepped inside and followed Kate toward the kitchen. She hadn’t hesitated to ask him in, and his bear had noticed.

Janice was at the counter pouring coffee, while Penny sat at the table beside Fox with crayons and paper spread around her. An apple pie cooled near the window, and the smell of cinnamon filled the room.

“Morning, Wes,” Janice said. “Kate, find him one of yesterday’s muffins. The pie needs to cool, but Alan was complaining that Wes keeps coming over here and we never feed him properly.”

“I don’t remember complaining,” Alan said as he came through the back door. He wiped his boots on the mat before joining them. “But if that’s the conclusion you reached, I’m not going to argue with it.”

“Neither am I,” Wes said, and took a seat at the table.

Kate set a mug and a muffin in front of him and took the chair opposite. Did Alan and Janice know their daughter had kissed him last night? Janice was handing out muffins and Alan was still wiping his boots, so probably not. Wes was not sure whether that made sitting at their table easier or harder.

He picked up his coffee. Bins. He had come about bins.

“I was looking for you,” he told Alan. “Are you going to need more empty bins today?”

“Definitely. I was going to come over and ask you later.” Alan pulled out a chair and sat beside Penny. “Half a dozen would make life easier, if you can spare them.”

“I can. I’ll get them dropped over before lunch.”

The entire conversation had taken less than a minute.

Wes drank his coffee and tried not to think about that. He looked across the table at Kate. “How’s the client with the bathroom wall?”

“Quiet, so far.” She smiled at him over her mug. “I think she’s forgiven me.”

A knock sounded at the front door before he had decided whether staying for the rest of the cup could still be considered reasonable.

“I’ll get it,” Janice said.

She returned a moment later with Eileen, who had taken off her scarf but was still unbuttoning her coat when she entered the kitchen. Her attention went first to the pie, then to Wes.

“Well, look at you.” Eileen’s eyes warmed with amusement. “You here again, Wes? I thought you had apples to pick.”

“I do.” There seemed little point offering the explanation about the bins when Eileen was already looking between him and Kate as if she had worked out everything that mattered.

Kate lowered her face toward her coffee, but not before Wes saw her smile.

Eileen chuckled and took the chair Janice pulled out for her. “Don’t mind me. I remember being young enough to find reasons not to be where I was supposed to be.”

Wes was not sure that helped.

Fortunately, Penny had more important things on her mind.

“We made your pie,” she told Eileen. “I helped with the apples and the cinnamon, but Grandma wouldn’t let me put all the cinnamon in.”

“There was quite a lot left in the jar,” Janice explained as she cut a small slice of the still-warm pie. “I decided we might want some for another day.”

Eileen accepted the plate and took a bite while Penny watched her closely. “That tastes exactly as it should,” she said after a moment. “My husband would have wanted more sugar, but he thought most food could be improved by making it sweeter. I stopped arguing with him about it after the first few years.”

Penny looked pleased with the verdict and went back to coloring Fox’s tail orange.