Page 18 of Down Memory Lane
Turning to her mom, Autumn saw a somewhat sour expression on her face. “Is that okay with you?” She wasn’t sure why she was asking for her mom’s permission to do what she wanted, but for some reason she felt the need to get the woman’s approval.
“It’s fine, sweetie.” Her mom patted her knee again and smiled. “I don’t love being in a small town again, but if this is where you want to be, we’ll be fine.” It sounded a bit like a passive aggressive acquiescence but Autumn didn’t remember her mom well enough to be able to know if that assessment was accurate.
“Thank you,” she breathed out. Looking around the room, Autumn tried to think of anything else they could do besides sit around and stare at each other or talk about her brain injury.
“Now that’s settled, would you both like to tour the orchard? It’s been a number of years since you’ve last been and I think Travis has made some improvements.” Felix rose from the couch and ushered her parents toward the door, Autumn trailing behind them. Peeking over his shoulder, he winked at her before grabbing her coat and helping her into it. “It’s a little chillier today than it has been, so we better bundle up.”
Felix placed a rainbow striped beanie on Autumn’s head, pulling it down over her ears with a smile. “Thank you,” she told him.
Her gratitude was for more than just the beanie, and from the sparkle in Felix’s eyes, he got her meaning. As the four of them walked outside into the cold spring air, Autumn felt her hand drifting toward that of her friend, and as their fingers laced together and stayed that way all though their orchard excursion, her words from earlier rang in her ears.This feels like home.
Chapter Nine
Felix
Felix smiled across the long dining table that took up most of the back patio of his parent’s house as he watched Autumn laughing with Beckett’s fiancée Willa and Aiden’s girlfriend Nicole. The morning of today’s family luncheon had seen Felix pacing his bedroom, worrying about how she would react to so many “new” people at one time, but it had been all for nothing because his best friend was dealing with it all like the amazingly strong woman he’d always known her to be.
There had been a few moments earlier when Felix had panicked, wondering if Autumn would decide to go with her parents, but she had stayed. Hearing her say that she felt at home with him had filled his heart with happiness, helping to suture some of the open wounds that had formed in the aftermath of her accident. While she could have been talking about Applewood, the orchard, or even their apartment, somehow Felix knew she had been talking about him. The Autumn he knew and loved was still in there somewhere, but even if she never fully remembered him the way she had before, Felix would do everything in his power to convince her to give the man she was getting to know now a chance.
“Felix.” Autumn’s mother Regina was looking at him expectantly. “How is your cider business? When we left it was just getting off the ground. Autumn’s told us a little, but I imagine it’s grown quite a bit from the farmer’s market if you have your own space downtown now.”
Felix nodded, happy to talk cider with anyone who would listen. Even though Lottie was looking after the bar, he’d still had to keep up on his cider making or risk losing a few batches he had aging at the moment. “It is definitely a bigger undertaking now than it used to be, but I still love it.” He looked over to see Autumn watching him and couldn’t help smiling at her. “If you like, after lunch I can walk you guys over to my little cider shack and give the tour. I’ve got to check on my apple and grape hybrid brew anyway, so it’s the perfect excuse.”
“Not sure I want to peek behind the curtain, but I could go for a taste,” her dad Joe said. “Do you think I could get a bottle or two while we’re here? I’m going to need something to do while we’re in town, and it seems like sampling cider might be one of the more fun activities.”
Felix chuckled, happy to spread the love of a good hard cider around to anyone who was interested. Keeping Autumn’s parents in good spirits was another motivating factor. The longer they stayed in Applewood, the less likely they would be to try and drag Autumn back to Phoenix again.
“I think I can spare a little, though I can’t promise you’ll be too keen on the flavor.” Anytime he’d gone to Autumn’s house for dinner, her dad had always enjoyed the meal with a small glass filled with football brown liquid. “If I recall correctly, you’re more of a whiskey man.”
Joe smiled and clapped Felix on the back. “That is a fact, but I will happily expand my horizons. Especially if it’s free.”
Felix’s dad joined in on the laughter as stood up and started gathering plates. “If you’re that hard up for a distraction, Joe, Travis and I could use some help grafting our trees if you want to get a taste of that old farm life.”
All of the color drained from Travis’s face at their dad’s suggestion. The man was nothing if not dedicated to the orchard and allowing a stranger to touch his trees was like sacrilege to him. Their dad might as well have suggested the man light a match near the driest tree.
Joe barked a laugh, and put a hand on his large belly. “I hardly call my having taught at the community college over in Redbrook farm life, but it is still a far cry from my job at the college downtown in the city.” He rubbed his bald head and smiled apologetically. “Think I’ll take a rain check on the grafting and just stick to the cider.”
