Chapter 30
DOVE
It’s almost dawn when I have to disentangle my body from Mav’s.
We showered, which led to shower sex. We wrapped up in thick bath sheets and curled up in the bed to eat the spicy mac & cheese we made together, which led to licking mac & cheese off certain body parts.
I held his face in my hands and kissed him like there was no tomorrow.
I kissed him like it was my last chance.
Now it’s here. Time to go.
My chest aches as I sit on the side of the bed, gazing at his large body spread across it. This gorgeous man, so strong, so skilled. So fierce on the ice, yet so careful and loving with me.
I love him in a way I didn’t know was possible. I love him in a way that makes me want to give up everything and stay…
Kelani makes a noise from her crate, and it’s another cramp in my chest.
Standing, I scoop his jersey from the floor where I left it, dropping it over my head and taking our puppy from her crate.
“Hey, Kee-Kee!” I kiss her small muzzle, and she licks me right in the nose.
It makes me laugh. It makes my eyes heat, and I carry her to the back door, letting her out. Then I switch on the coffee maker and look around this kitchen I’ve gotten to know so well.
I think about Maverick at the stove adding spice to my blue box mac & cheese the same way he added color to my darkening world.
I think about dancing in the refrigerator light to “Magnolia Wind.” I think about dancing to our new favorite song, “If You’re Not the One. ” I love it, because he is the one.
“It’s too early.” His deep voice causes me to turn, and he reaches out his hand.
I step immediately into his embrace, resting my cheek against his bare chest. I can’t speak or I’ll start to cry, and I’m doing my best not to leave him that way.
We have to part. It’s going to hurt like hell, but it’s nobody’s fault.
“Let the puppy in.” I squeeze his hand before going to the bedroom to gather the last of my things.
He got his wish. Every time I move, I feel all the places he marked me. Every step reminds me I’m his. I pull on my clothes and pack my toiletries. I hesitate, looking around his bedroom before leaving and going to the door. My car is almost here.
We agreed I’d use the car service to go to the airport. He fought me on it, but I wanted to do it this way. Saying goodbye at the airport would be too heartbreaking, and I’d rather not be ugly sobbing in front of all my fellow travelers.
He pulled a thin T-shirt on, and he’s holding Kelani as we stand in the doorway facing each other. I reach out to place my hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath his skin.
“Thank you for last night.” My voice is quiet. “No matter what happens, we’ll always have it… and Boo’s wedding. I might just move into the guest cottage.”
“Keep the bed warm for me.”
I look up at his face, so gorgeous covered in a light beard. Square jaw, square chin, hazel eyes. Straight white teeth hidden behind a kind smile. This man I love.
He lifts the small crate holding Kelani. “I talked to Carla about adoption. We worked it all out, signed all the paperwork, and I want you to take her with you. I got a special ticket for her.”
My brow furrows, and I blink quickly from her to him. “What do you mean? Why?”
“She was so happy in the orchard. You love her. Your mom loves her. She’ll have more fun with you.”
A stone drops in my chest. It feels so final when he says it that way. “But what about you?”
“I’ll be gone all the time. I don’t want her to live in a crate.” He puts his hand over mine. “But she’s ours.”
I see her puppy paws pressing against the wire door, and I take the crate from him. “We’ll be waiting for you.”
His lips curl into a smile, and he puts his hand on the side of my neck. “Text me. I’ll want to know how my girls are doing.”
Nodding, I can’t hold back the tears any longer. “Tell me something no one knows.”
He slides his thumb across my cheek, wiping the tear away. “I’d give it all up for you.”
I hiccup an inhale. “Maverick…”
“Tell me something no one knows.”
“You belong to me.”
Leaning closer, he presses his lips to mine as the car arrives. Lifting his head, hazel eyes hold mine. “Stay safe.”
It’s more difficult than I expected trying to watch the Stanley Cup Finals from home. Some of the streaming services have it, but I rely heavily on Gina and Haddy texting me all through the games, letting me know what’s happening.
The Champions won the Western Conference final, defeating the team they lost to last year, the Slicks. I remember the guys talking about that team. I remember they sounded like they were already ceding victory, but they snatched it back.
When I got Gina’s text, I was standing in the middle of the peach shed, teaching the teenage volunteers how to sort peaches the old-fashioned way with marked tennis balls rolling down the conveyor belts.
I whooped so loud, jumping up and down, a marked tennis ball flew all the way into the sorting bin.
Uncle Sawyer hired Jay Hidalgo’s team to clean the trees the same way he’s done every year since before I was born. Harvest is a week of intense work for everyone involved, regardless of the number of trees suffering from root rot.
What’s different this year is the Hayes family’s presence looming over all of us.
We start every day early because it gets so hot by mid-afternoon. The workers finish before four, and they load up, going to wherever they stay for the night. I hang back in the peach shed collecting baskets and stacking unused crates for tomorrow.
We bumped the harvest up a week, so Gina can have her wedding the weekend before the peach festival. It doesn’t make much difference in terms of output, but it does mean we’re working our asses off at the same time Mav is playing the final series for the Cup.
My body has been tense every day wanting to know what’s happening.
I’ve been checking for texts from Gina and Haddy.
The series started in LA, since the Champions have had the better season over the Frost. Gina explained how it goes to me, and since they traded off wins, the guys are now headed to Atlanta for the next two games.
Mom walks down from the house, carrying a basket of snacks, and Uncle Leon is with her, holding a cooler of what I’m sure is ice water. It’s so hot, I might hop on the four-wheeler and drive over to the creek for a polar plunge.
Kelani has run up and down the hill so much, she’s now sleeping on her back under the flatbed trailer. I take a picture to send to Maverick later.
We’ve been texting. I’ve been sending him pictures of Kelani and me, pictures of the harvest, pictures of the baskets full of fresh, golden peaches.
At night I send him pictures only the two of us can see. He calls, and we talk about all the things we’d do if we were together.
“You hungry, babe?” Mom walks over with a paper-wrapped chicken salad sandwich.
“I need to drink something first.” I walk over to where Leon has just put the cooler on the concrete ledge.
My uncle Sawyer has been talking to the foreman, and now when he walks over to us, his expression is grave. The muscle in the side of his jaw moves, and when his eyes lift to my mom’s, his expression stops my breath.
“It crossed the line,” he tells her quietly, nodding in the direction of the grove. “Manny found dead leaves on the trees higher up.”
My eyes flash to the hill, and I drop the sandwich as a wobbly No slips from my lips.
“Dove?” My father calls after me, but I’m already running.
I pass them, tree after tree filled with thick green leaves. The fruit has been picked clean by the crew of workers my uncle hired. They look the same, like they always have every season. But I heard what he said. I know what that look meant. I saw where he was pointing.
Terror clogs my throat, and tears are on my cheeks. My legs ache from running, but I can’t stop. I weave through the trees until I reach it, the oldest one. The twisted one that fought so hard and wouldn’t be uprooted. My grandfather’s tree.
Sliding to a stop, I plunge my hands into the leaves, moving them away one after the other, searching for it, blinking the blurry tears from my eyes as pain sinks my chest. I’m moving all around, feeling each leaf, fighting the truth.
“He’s wrong,” I gasp, closing in on the final section. “It hasn’t found you.”
My face drops along with my shoulders. I lean against the twisted trunk, wrapping my arms around the scratchy bark. I’m holding on with all my hope… Then I see it.
On the ground at the base, sprouting from the soil, a cluster of orange mushrooms.
I scream as I fall to my knees.
With my bare hands, I rip them out, shredding them in my fingers. Then I start to dig. The hard soil tears the skin around my nails, but I don’t feel it. I claw into the ground, pulling the dirt away, searching for the roots.
I’m shaking and crying, tearing it from the earth. My skin is brown and my nails are bleeding.
“You can’t kill it!” I shout, my shoulders breaking with my sobs. “I won’t let you!”
“Stop, Dove.” Strong hands grip me, pulling me away from the spot. “Stop.”
My uncle Leon holds me against his chest, and I drop my head as I cry. The knot in my throat is a painful rock, sharp and dry.
“It’s too late,” I weep. “We lost. It’s too late.”
He rocks me in his arms, sliding his hand up and down my back, not saying anything.
There’s nothing left to say.
“We can’t ignore Digger’s offer any longer.” Uncle Sawyer’s voice is low, measured.
Mom and Dad, Sawyer and Mindy, Leon and I all sit around the dinner table in my family’s home. My sister Penny is away at school, but Tristan and Mia, Sawyer and Mindy’s kids are here.
Large platters holding potato salad, corn on the cob, pork chops, and fresh peaches are on the table in front of us. We’re all quiet. I’m not hungry.
“We can’t borrow any more money,” he continues. “And this year’s harvest won’t cover what we owe. We’re facing bankruptcy.”
I study my tattered nails. After Leon brought me back down the hill, I spent a long time standing in the shower watching the dirt run down my arms and legs. I washed my hair and my face, then I wrapped myself in a thick robe and lay on the bed.
I thought of texting Maverick. But I don’t want to distract him when he’s so close to winning. His luck is on fire, while mine has run out.
“Dove just got back,” Leon argues, but it has no teeth now. “Aren’t we even going to try and implement her techniques?”
“I’m sure Dove learned a lot of things.” My oldest uncle gives me a defeated wince. “We don’t have the money to try anything new.”
“Let me fund the coming year.” My dad’s voice is measured frustration, and my mom places her hand on his forearm. “I’m not going to let you lose the farm.”
“We’ll sell you our share of the house and the land it’s on, but you can’t waste your future and Dove’s trying to save the orchard. After today, we know. It’s over.”
It’s a punch in my chest.
My dad lifts his blue-green eyes, just like mine, from Sawyer to me. “I don’t believe that.”
His heart is as wrapped up in this place as all of ours. He met my mother here. They’ve all worked the harvest together since they were young men, but Sawyer’s right. The rot has attacked the heart.
“You’re my oldest brother, and I’ve always respected your judgment,” Mom says, her voice holding an edge. “You inherited this place when you were only sixteen, and you worked so hard for so long. I think you’re tired, Sawyer. Let us take the baton and try.”
Uncle Sawyer gives his sister a tight smile. “I am exhausted, Noel, but it doesn’t mean I’m wrong. We did our best. No one can say we didn’t fight—all of us. It’s just not meant to be.”
I can’t breathe anymore in this room.
Standing, I go to the door and run down the back steps. Kelani meets me at the bottom, and she runs with me all the way into the trees. She runs with me all the way to the top of the hill. I’m breathless when I get there, but she’s happy, bouncing on her back feet like we’re playing a game.
She doesn’t know the game is over. I drop to my knees at the twisted peach tree, in front of the hole I dug with my bare hands.
I place my forehead against the trunk whispering softly. “I don’t know what to do, Grandpa. I don’t know how to save you.”
A furry little head pushes its way between my thigh and my stomach, rooting higher to lick my tears away. I drop my leg and hug her to my chest.
The sky is full of stars like it always is on long summer nights. I watch as one shoots across the sky, and I think of him not so far away, playing to win.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I slowly move to sit, frowning at the name on the screen.
Corey
Digger and I had a chat with Sawyer. We’re drawing up the paperwork.
I frown at my phone, trying to decide if it’s time to block his number.
Dove
Take your time. We have all summer.
Corey
I’d like to have dinner with you on Friday. LaFonda’s. I’ll pick you up.
LaFonda’s is a longstanding steak house in the older part of Harristown. It’s one of those places with velvet interiors that plays Frank Sinatra hits and still smells faintly of cigar smoke.
Dove
Only politicians go to LaFonda’s.
Corey
You’re so adorable. Many of our town’s finer residents eat at LaFonda’s. I’d like to take you there, get you accustomed to the finer things.
My eyes roll, and I imagine smashing an overripe peach against his forehead.
Dove
I’ve eaten in nice restaurants, Corey.
Corey
I’d also like to renew my proposal for saving your precious trees. You know I don’t want them destroyed. Let’s talk.
Everything stops at that sentence.
Dove
I guess I’ll see you on Friday at LaFonda’s. But I’ll meet you there.
Corey
See you at seven.