Page 39 of Apple of My Eye
‘Mamma, you don’t need to feed my friends while I’m away.’ I laugh. ‘They’re good. They’re liking their internships.’
She harrumphs. ‘And how areyou?’ she asks after a beat of quiet.
‘I’m good. It’s nice here.’
‘But not too nice,’ she says, ‘not as nice as home. You better not be getting too skinny.’
‘Not too nice,’ I agree, although when I say it my heart sinks just a little. It is better than too nice, it just happens to be so far away from her.‘I’m eating enough,’ I promise, ‘but the cooking here is nothing compared to yours.’
Chapter Seventeen
Eloise
Observed About Nick (in Chronological Order)
–He must use eyelash serum
–He smells like cinnamon
–He has dimples
–He blushes easily
–He notices spiderwebs before I do and clears them out of the way without ever saying anything
–He is deferentially polite to Dad
–He is way too comfortable with Mom (why doesn’t he find her intimidating?)
I’ve known the days leading up to the Fall Festival will be tough for weeks, but when Thursday arrives, I groan. I drank too much wine last night at dinner, something my parents only bring out when they are having a tough week, and my head feels fuzzy. My alarm is blaring. 5:30 a.m. and I know Dad will already have started his day. Evan arrives tomorrow afternoon and the festival is on Saturday. It kicks off with the farmers’ market. Usually, one of our largest of the season. Like clockwork, just as I’m doing the backwards math in my head, the smell of pie crusts wafts under my bedroom door. Mom has started baking her blue-ribbon pies.
I fumble around my room in the dark for my alarm. At the beginning of August, it was still light out when I woke up, making the early mornings infinitely easier, but as fall approaches, the mornings have gotten progressively darker. A shame, really, because the daylight gives us much more time to get ready for our orchards to churn out hundreds of thousands of crisp red apples. I pause, thinking momentarily of Nick, and how I promised I would take him up here soon. He told me yesterday that he won’t be by the house today. Today he has to ‘work on the campaign’ to turn around the Parkers’ farm. I haven’t dared check the social media accounts he’s told me about. I can’t look. I feel all sorts of tangled feelings for him—annoyance that he’s trying to fix something he won’t be around to see through, frustration that he’s made me sympathize with leaving Carnation for San Francisco, something I’ve never been able to look kindly upon until now, and .?.?. well .?.?. lust.
I spend my day working but distracted. The Parkers’ swells with workers in late August too. When I hear their voices catching on the breeze, floating down the hill towards us, Dad and I exchange glances.The Parkers must really be putting their eggs in Nick’s basket hiring all these people.
Dad shakes his head ever so slightly in the Parkers’ direction, a clear hint of his disapproval. What he’s disapproving of I’m not quite sure, it could be my plan to buy the farm or it could be the potential sale of our farm. I’ve tried not to be frustrated with their lack of willingness to talk about either thing. Neither of my parents want to talk about the sale or the loan, both demurring with ‘no use in talking about it before we see how this harvest goes.’ Which is insanely frustrating given that my future and theirs is at stake.
A strand of hair comes loose from my ponytail and annoyingly falls in front of my eyes, building frustration to anger. I can’t help but think it’s too bad Nick isn’t around to tenderly tuck it behind my ear. He’s figured out how to dissipate my moods with a smile. He’s the only person who’s ever made me wish that days on the farm would lastlonger. As much as I hate to admit it, I could use him next to me today. With each branch I prune, I analyze the kiss in the laundry room from a new angle.Should I have ignored Mom calling my name? Should I have invited him to stay the night? Will we get to do that again? Why hasn’t he tried anything else? It’s Dad .?.?. suddenly lingering when it’s inconvenient.
I’ve been undressing him more and more with my mind lately, especially now that I know what he feels like. When he walks across the field towards me with that casual, loping, sexy stride of his it makes me tingle with want all over. I want to feel the butt that looks so good in jeans. Hell, I want to nibble his ears with my teeth.
I haven’t said a word about it to Evan or Shari, I’ve only denied it. I’m waiting for Evan to meet him, curious to see what he thinks, trying not to think about how disappointed I’ll be if Evan doesn’t approve. But then I remember, Nick’s leaving. And it’s not like I’ll be visiting him in San Francisco. I’ll be busy here. But even as I think it, I wonder if a visit would really be so bad, it would be a chance to see Linden too .?.?. I shake my head to clear my thoughts. A farmer in a long-distance relationship is a recipe for disaster. Sometimes I don’t even have the energy to wash my hair, I would never be able to give the energy late-night phone calls require.
When 6 p.m. rolls around, the sun is sinking below the hills. I gaze at the Parkers’ one last time, squinting into the sun, before I head in towards the house. I think about Nick, about the way he calls me by my full name,Eloise Anderson. I think about how I really need tostopthinking about Nick.
Amie clears her throat awkwardly as I’m checking out my groceries. I’m at Hal’s for the second time today. Mom keeps running out of flour. She says her crusts aren’t baking right. I’ve tried six pies today and they’ve all been delicious. I make a mental note to tell Evan not to eat on his way here. Mom has already told me she expects him to try all twelve pies to help her choose which recipe to submit.
‘Hey, Lou?’ Amie asks. The scanner beeps as she rings up the flour.
‘Hey, Amie,’ I reply, digging through my purse for my card.
‘So, you know Nick?’
I freeze. ‘Yeah,’ I say slowly. ‘What about him?’
‘Well—’ Amie twists the ring she wears on her right middle finger ‘—I was wondering .?.?. is he nice?’
I relax. Everyone issocurious about the new guy in town. ‘Yeah.’ I feel my cheeks widen with my smile. ‘He’s really nice.’
