Chapter 19 #2
Jake was certain he was stuck in a nightmare. He’d seen only a handful of customers travel through the orchard since the grand
opening three hours ago. Perhaps he’d missed the crowd. Maybe. Hopefully.
He walked over to the first cashier. She was eighteen years old and hard to miss, with her purple hair and her eyebrow and nose rings. “Hey, Sidney. How’s it going?”
“Slow.” She smacked her gum. “I’ve sold one basket of apples.”
“Only one?” he asked.
“Yup.” She turned toward the teenager at the next cash register. “Hey, Maddy. How many baskets have you sold?”
The brunette gave them a sad smile. “Only one.” Then she brightened. “But it’s early. I’m sure we’ll have more people later
today.”
“Right. Thanks,” Jake grumbled before heading toward the barn. Hopefully the barn was busier than the front end.
But it was empty.
Oh no. This can’t be happening.
He walked into the barn and was greeted by Emily’s colorful banner and the twinkling fairy lights. It felt like a lifetime
ago when they were dancing under those lights. Now a black cloud seemed to hover over Jake as he glanced around the empty
barn. Only two of the three vendors had shown up today—Mona Horton, selling her homemade fall decor, and Warren Lewis with
his booth full of metal signs and collectibles. The third booth featured Jake’s employee Brian Holmes handling Mom’s candy
apples and Jake’s cider.
“How’s business?” Jake asked.
Mona and Warren shared glum expressions.
“Slow,” Warren said, and Mona nodded.
Jake massaged the back of his neck. “Hang in there. It’ll get better,” he promised before walking away.
“I hope so!” Warren called after him, and Jake gritted his teeth.
Crossing over to the open-air area, he spotted Emily; she sat on a stool in front of a blank easel and twiddled a paintbrush in one hand while staring at her phone in her other. She looked completely relaxed, and the mid-morning sun illuminated her beautiful face and highlighted her dark hair.
She glanced up as he approached, and a radiant smile filled her face. “Hi.” Her smile flattened. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” He gave a sardonic laugh. “No one’s here. That’s what’s wrong.”
She threw her arms around him and drew him closer. “It’s going to be fine. I promise you.” Her golden eyes searched his.
He rested his hands on the small of her back. “This is a disaster,” he said, and his voice trembled. “I don’t know what to
do.”
“I’ll tell you what to do: Don’t give up hope.” She pushed a lock of hair away from his eyes and brushed her lips over his.
Her soft kiss warmed the cold places inside him. He wanted to believe her. He longed to hold on to the idea that the orchard
was going to be a huge success, but he was grasping at his last shred of hope.
When she pulled away, she beamed up at him before something behind him caught her attention, and her happy expression dissolved
into a frown.
“What?” he asked, craning his neck over his shoulder just as Claire disappeared into the barn. He scoffed. “What’s she doing
here?”
“I don’t know, but she didn’t look pleased. I think she saw me kiss you. I forgot where we were for a second. I’m sorry.”
He huffed out a breath. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Oh!” Emily bounced on the balls of her colorful Converse. “I have a couple of customers!”
Two young women who looked to be about their age approached.
“Is this where we take the painting lesson?” one asked.
Emily clapped her hands. “It sure is. Take a seat, and I’ll be right with you.” She touched Jake’s shoulder. “See? Everything is going to be great. Keep that cute chin up.” She winked at him before joining her students. “I’m Emily, and I’m your teacher today. What are your names?”
Jake folded his arms over his chest, and he hoped the young women had a whole bunch of friends who were wandering around the
orchard and ready to purchase apples and tchotchkes in the barn. If not, then he and the orchard were in big trouble.
“How have things been over here?” Andi sat on a stool in front of Emily later that evening.
Emily sighed and set down her paintbrush on her easel. “I had two customers before lunch and then none after that. I even
wandered around the orchard and asked the few folks I saw if they wanted a painting lesson, and none of them were interested.
I think about a half dozen customers total walked through the barn.”
“Yeah.” Andi rested her western boots on a rung. “Seth has been helping pick apples, and I was working up by the cashiers.
If we sold six baskets of apples, that’s a lot.” She frowned. “I’m afraid this may be a failure.”
Emily rested her arms over her waist. “I hate this for Jake and his family. I’ve been telling him all along that everything
is going to be fine. But clearly it’s not.” She turned toward the barn and nibbled her lower lip. There had to be a way that
she could help him, but she was coming up empty. “How can we fix this?” she asked as she faced her friend again. “We need
to do more advertising. I’ve already posted on the orchard’s socials. I’ll have to keep highlighting all of the cool stuff
we have going on here.”
“That’s a great idea. Can I help?”
“What if we took more photos of the orchard and posted them?” She pointed toward the sky. “The evening is a great time to
take good photos and videos of the trees and the barn, with the lake in the background. Would you mind taking some and texting
them to me?”
Andi nodded. “Sure, we can try that. I’ll ask Seth to help too.”
“Great.” Emily felt a ribbon of hope flutter through her.
Andi turned toward the orchard entrance and then back at Emily. “I saw Claire here earlier.”
“Ugh. I did too.”
“She was with Diane over at the house. I’m not sure what she was up to.” Andi rubbed her hands over the thighs of her jeans.
“Jake has told her more than once that it’s over, but she can’t seem to accept it. Earlier Jake stopped by. He was really
upset about how quiet the orchard was, so I kissed him. And when I opened my eyes, Claire was watching us with a dark look
on her face. She gave me a really weird vibe.” She shivered at the memory. “It was like she was shooting daggers at me with
her eyes.”
“That can’t be good.” Andi hopped down from the stool. “We’re going to be closing soon, so I’ll go see if the cashiers need
any help.”
“Okay. I’m going to clean up here and then find Jake. I’ll see you later.” Emily stowed her art supplies and then headed toward
the office.