Page 17 of Keepsake
We had sandwiches, lemonade and oatmeal cookies in the orchard. Then we got up and picked another billion apples.
By four o’clock I was wonderfully tired. I’d plucked countless apples off the trees, collecting them in my sack before dumping them out carefully into the giant crate in the middle of the row. At the end of the day, Zach drove up on a tractor fitted with a forklift. He lifted the fruits of our labors off the grass, did a three-point turn and drove away.
“Now we all take a break,” Griffin said, his hand landing on my shoulder. “But dinner is at six sharp, and Mom gets pissed if people walk in late.”
“Gotcha,” I said as I dragged my tired body across the lawn.
I would finally sleep well tonight, right? I’d have to.
4
Lark
An houror so later I got it. Ifinallyunderstood why the men sort of lounged around in the dining room while Mrs. Shipley and her daughters put dinner on the table.
My limbs were heavy and tired, and I feltworthyof a big farmers’ meal. Like I’d truly earned it. I made a few half-assed deliveries of rolls and cloth napkins to the table before sinking into a chair and gulping down yet another glass of water.
“How was it?” May asked, plunking down in the chair beside me. I hadn’t seen her since lunch, after which, she’d been sent on a bunch of errands in preparation for the first U-pick day of the season.
“I feel great. I think I needed to spend some time in the sunshine, you know? Thank you for getting me out of Boston.” I wasn’t just saying that, either. If there was anything that could fix me up again, it was long days in an orchard. Shipley Farm was the least stressful place on earth, and I planned to exhaust myself on a daily basis.
“You are welcome!” May said, clapping her hands. “The only problem is that I thought I’d see more of you. Tomorrow Griffin has you working Norwich while I stay here.”
“But there’s tonight,” I argued. “We’re all going to the Goat, right?”
May put a hand on my arm. “Come with me to grab some stemware, would you?”
I stood and followed her into a pantry off the kitchen.
My best friend rose up on tiptoes and reached for the glasses on the top shelf. “I’m not going to the bar tonight. I’ve been meaning to tell you why.”
“Oh?” That was sort of an ominous introduction, and I squinted at May, trying to guess what she was about to say. She couldn’t go to the bar because she was…meeting a boyfriend? God, I hoped so. But if not that, she was…working a second job? Getting a giant tattoo on her butt?
Probably not that last one.
May set the glasses on a tray and then turned to me. “On Fridays I’ve been going to an AA meeting in Colebury,” she said. As the words knocked around in my brain, I saw her swallow roughly.
“Oh,” I said slowly. “Wait…foryou?”
She nodded, her pretty hazel eyes as serious as I’d ever seen them. “It’s kind of a new thing. Last summer I took Jude to a bunch of NA meetings. So I heard a lot of what was said. And that really got me looking at my relationship to alcohol. And…I didn’t like what I saw.”
“Really? It can’t be that bad,” I blurted out. And, shit! That wasexactlythe wrong thing to say. “I mean…I’m sure you know exactly what you’re doing. And let me know how I can help.”
Her eyes watered. “I’d love to be someone who knows exactly what she’s doing. But I do know this—I was drinking every night because I liked to feel numb. And I don’t want to do that anymore.”
“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.” I grabbed her into a hug, which was what I should have done in the first place. “You mean everything to me. I just had a little trouble understanding for a second there.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m sort of relieved that you didn’t say, ‘Oh thank God,finally.’”
“Well now I feel like a bigger jerk than ever,” I admitted. “Not for one minute did I ever think you had a problem. But it was college…”
May stepped back and squeezed both my shoulders. Hard. “I know. College was where I learned to love the buzz, but it didn’t become a problem until lately, okay? You are not allowed to feel bad about this.”
“Okay,” I said, studying the freckles on her nose. “Can you do that again, though? My shoulders are really stiff from picking.”
“You!” May blinked away her tears and rubbed my poor shoulders.
“Do you want me to go with you to your meeting?” I offered. “I mean, I don’t have to eavesdrop or anything, but I could ride with you.”
