Chapter 10
“We’re so grateful that you and Seth came to help,” Emily told Andi the following morning. It was the perfect early September
morning—not too hot—and the sky was bright blue. A few birds sang in the nearby trees while Emily and Andi used paintbrush
extenders to work on the side of the barn.
She had managed to finish the highest part of the wall last night, and despite her sore arms and back, she was determined
to finish painting the side of the barn by the end of the day. She was so grateful when Andi and Seth had arrived shortly
after eight, and while Jake, Seth, and Vince worked on the walls of the barn, she and Andi set to work painting.
“When Seth told me he ran into Jake and offered to help, I said I’d love to come too since it’ll be like old times. Some of
my best memories are from when the four of us hung out together. We were never bored.” Andi snickered. “Do you remember that
time we had a bonfire down on the beach?”
Emily pivoted toward her. “And you set your shoe on fire by accident?”
“Yes!” Andi cackled. “I was like, ‘Why is it so hot all of a sudden?’”
“And I was like, ‘Uh, Andi . . . look down!’” Emily guffawed and wiped her eyes. “I’ll never forget the way you danced around
while stamping your foot. I thought Seth and Jake were going to fall down from laughing.”
Andi hugged her middle while gasping for air. “Oh my goodness,” she said as she got ahold of herself. She leaned her paintbrush
extender against the wall and sat on a folding chair before choosing two bottles of water from a nearby cooler. Then she patted
the chair beside her. “It’s time for a break. Sit.” She held out a bottle of water.
Emily sank down onto the chair, opened the bottle, and took a long drink while scrutinizing their work. “We’re good painters.”
“Now that’s funny,” Andi declared. “An artist is calling me a good painter.” She sipped from her bottle. “But the barn is coming together.
I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s done.”
“Me too.” Emily twiddled the bottle cap in her fingers.
The rumble of low conversations drifted over from the other side of the barn.
Andi angled her body toward Emily. “How about the time we got together to dye Easter eggs, and Seth and Jake started horsing
around and spilled the egg dye all over the kitchen?”
“I thought your mom was going to lose it.” Emily groaned. “I felt so bad about that.”
“Yeah. We scrubbed the kitchen until it was glistening.” Andi snorted.
Emily began peeling the label off her bottle while the events of that long-ago day flashed through her mind.
She had just broken up with Evan a few days earlier, and she had been the fifth wheel with the two couples.
She was positive that Claire had been shooting her dirty looks the entire day, which didn’t make any sense.
Claire had Jake, and Emily was single. But Emily always had the feeling that her existence irritated Claire.
Lifting the bottle, she took a long drink of water.
“I always thought you and Jake belonged together.”
The comment caught Emily off guard, and she began choking on the water. She tried to suck in air, but she continued to cough.
“You okay?” Andi asked.
Emily sputtered and coughed while trying to respond.
Jake appeared around the side of the barn and rushed over to her. “Hey.” He knelt beside her and rubbed her back. “Just breathe.”
The worry reflected on his face just made the entire situation even more embarrassing. Behind him, Andi gave her a knowing
look.
Finally, the coughing subsided and Emily was able to breathe again. “I’m fine,” she told Jake. “Get back to work.”
He stood, but his face was full of concern. “You sure?”
“Get out of here,” she insisted.
He nodded and then sauntered toward the other side of the barn.
“Like I said . . .” Andi lifted her dark eyebrows.
Emily twisted the cap onto the bottle. “We’re—”
“Just good friends, right?” Andi finished her sentence and then pointed her bottle toward her. “You care about him.”
Emily threw her arms up. “Of course I do. He’s my best friend.”
“But you really care about him, don’t you?”
After peering down toward the corner of the barn, Emily lowered her voice and said, “It doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t
feel the same way about me.”
“What makes you say that?”
Emily sighed. “He can’t let go of Claire even though it’s been rocky for years.
” She summarized how Claire was splitting her time between Splendid Lake and Nashville and had been begging Jake to move to Nashville with her.
“He told me that he still cares about her, and he can’t just tell her that it’s over because things are ‘complicated’”—she made air quotes with her fingers—“between them.” She slumped back in the chair.
“It’s obvious he still cares about her. He says they’ve broken up, but she calls him all the time and begs him to give it another try.
That sounds to me like they’re still holding on to each other. ”
Andi touched her arm. “He cares about you too, Em. Don’t give up hope.”
“I’m not giving up, Andi. I’m just facing reality.”
“I disagree.” Andi pointed toward the far end of the barn. “If you paid attention to the way he just ran over here to check
on you and make sure you were okay, then you’d agree with me.”
Emily stood and picked up her paintbrush extender. “We need to get back to work.” But while she continued to paint the barn,
she couldn’t ignore the hope that took root deep in her heart.
When she heard a car pull up near the barn, she turned just as Ms. Riley climbed out of her gray Honda Accord. “Hi,” Emily
called as she hurried over. “Is everything okay?”
“Of course it is, dear.” Ms. Riley waved a greeting to Andi. “I drove by earlier and saw you all working on this old barn,
and I thought I’d bring some of my husband’s tools to use. I filled up the trunk for you.”
Emily and Andi shared a look as the older woman popped her trunk.
“Ms. Riley,” Jake called as he and Seth hurried over to join them. “What’s up?”
“She brought us some tools to use while we work on the barn,” Emily said. “Isn’t that sweet?”
His smile sent warmth swirling in her chest. “It sure is.”
They all gathered around the trunk of the car, where they found paintbrushes, rollers, extenders, and trays, along with hammers,
saws, and other tools.
“This is very generous of you,” Jake said while he and Seth began pulling tools from the trunk. “We’ll bring them back when
we’re done.”
“Nonsense,” Ms. Riley said. “I’d just be grateful to see you using them, especially for this wonderful place.” She glanced
around the orchard. “Your orchard is part of what makes Splendid Lake home. If there’s anything else I can do to help you,
you just let me know.”
After carrying the tools and supplies to the barn, they waved to Ms. Riley as she drove away.
“We have some of the nicest neighbors here,” Andi said.
Emily smiled. “Yeah. I definitely agree.”
“When was the last time we all had pizza together?” Andi asked while glancing around Jake’s small table later that evening.
Jake swallowed a bite of the delicious pepperoni pie. “The last time we were all together was high school, so it had to be
senior year.”
He was so relieved at the progress they’d made today. While the women had worked on painting one side of the barn, Jake, Seth,
and Vince had finished replacing all the rotten boards. Tomorrow they would start on the doors before Emily and Andi helped
with the painting.
Vince had left at his usual time, but Seth suggested that the four of them keep working until sundown.
When they began running out of light, Jake invited everyone back to his place for pizza.
Once the pies arrived, they gathered around his small kitchen table and began to reminisce.
Dusty, that lazy cat, continued to snore on her favorite chair in the den as if it were an ordinary evening.
“That’s actually not true,” Emily said. “We got together a year after graduation. Seth and Andi were home from college, and
we had a pool party over at Seth’s folks’ place. I remember it clearly.” When she took a drink of sweet tea, there was something
in Emily’s eyes that he couldn’t quite decipher.
Andi took another piece of pizza. “I remember that.” She tapped Seth’s arm. “You invited everyone you could track down, and
we swam until midnight, when the neighbors complained we were too loud.”
“Well, the music was too loud, but we weren’t noisy,” Seth joked, and everyone laughed. “We were never rowdy.”
“Riiight.” Andi drew out the word and then giggled.
Jake recalled the party. He’d been so excited to see some of his school friends, but Claire hadn’t wanted to go. She finally
conceded, but she’d been in a foul mood the entire evening, forcing him to leave early. He’d been disappointed—angry, really—that
they’d had to leave because she wasn’t having a good time. Looking back on that night, he realized that things were beginning
to change between them. He’d once been attracted to the way she loved to be the life of the party, the center of attention,
the most interesting person in the room, but that attraction faded as he grew up, and they started growing apart.
He could think of dozens of times when Claire’s mood had ruined their time with friends. He’d always made excuses for her,
but after a few years, he began to realize how controlling Claire tended to be.
“I know we’re turning the barn into a market,” Andi began, “but what do you plan to sell there?”
Emily took a breadstick from the box in the center of the table. “I was thinking we’d contact local vendors and really showcase
what Splendid Lake has to offer.” She rattled off the list of vendors she planned to contact.
“We can help with that,” Seth said. “Many of our customers are folks who either own stores or sell merchandise.”
Emily beamed. “Great!” When she shared a smile with Jake, his heart thudded against his rib cage.
“When is the orchard going to open?” Seth asked.
“Well, the hundredth anniversary is the last Saturday in September, so we need to open at least a few days or so before,”