Chapter 13
Another day, another early—and crowded—shift at Keller’s. Given that it was Sunday, the need to chat with Rosie, who was organizing the Harvest Festival, and Bennett, who might be able to make our displays and festival stand, would have to wait.
I walked the sidewalk to my car, smiling slightly as I glanced up at the changing leaves on the trees lining the street.
Just before I reached my car, I caught sight of Emma—Rosie’s sister—walking toward me.
She was a few years older than I was, but we’d become good friends in the years since high school.
As a couple of the only redheads in town, we shared a special connection.
She was also the local children’s librarian—and a big reason Mia often begged to go to the library when I babysat her each week.
I smiled. “Hey!”
“I was just coming to chat with you.”
I stopped, slightly surprised. “Good timing. I just finished my shift. What’s up?”
“I wanted to see if the bakery would be interested in participating in a fun little competition—just for the next couple weeks until the Harvest Festival. I’m asking some of the businesses in town.”
“Ooh,” I said, intrigued. “What sort of competition? Wait”—my eyes narrowed—“is this for the Kiss the Pig thing?”
Her lack of response was unmistakable confirmation.
Emma ran the competition every year. I’d just never participated. I’d always been in the audience watching someone else do the honors.
“It’s a cute pig,” she offered.
“Oh,” I said with faux relief, “in that case, sign me right up!”
“It’s for a good cause,” she defended. “Raising money for books for the elementary. Their catalog is…well, it’s bad. Anyway, we’ll have a donation jar at the library with your picture on it, and you’d have one at the bakery as well. You’d just remind people to donate.”
My phone buzzed, and I glanced at the screen.
Lily
Hey! Would you be able to take Mia a bit early tomorrow? I’ve got an OB appointment at 4
“So, what do you say?” Emma asked. “Are you up for it?”
“I’ll do it,” I said as I shot off an affirmative response to Lily. “But only because I love you.” I smiled and headed for my car.
“I owe you.”
“I should be thanking you,” I said as I pulled out my keys. “Kissing a pig will be the most romance I’ve had in a while.”
“That’s only if you win!”
I laughed and waved over my shoulder as I got to my car. “See you later, Em.”
She waved and headed in the opposite direction, while I hesitated at my car door.
I needed to get the third item squared away for selling at the farm, so I had an afternoon of baking ahead of me.
While the space at the sugar shack kitchen called to me like a siren song, maybe a break was warranted.
All the time I’d been spending at the maple farm was making it easy to get business and pleasure mixed up.
I could bake at home today.
I put my keys away and headed back to my apartment.
Baking maple blondies in my Easy-Bake was misery. If I hadn’t just had a very fun day baking at the sugar shack yesterday, I might have thought I hated baking altogether. In comparison to that kitchen, the one at my apartment belonged in the stone age.
But I got it done—and without any stolen looks at James—and a quick trip to Mom and Dad’s reassured me that the bars were extremely edible.
Wade happily demonstrated just how edible by consuming four in a matter of five minutes.
Even Rusty, who managed to sneak one when no one was looking, agreed they were delicious.
Morgan was getting more comfortable in the bakery by the day. She oozed confidence—some of it not quite earned yet—but I had no doubt she would make up the deficit soon enough. She was just that type of woman: smart and capable.
My resentment was melting slowly as I got more comfortable around her. She didn’t seem like she was about to kick me to the curb. She wasn’t too proud to ask me questions or observe me to learn, which I appreciated after so many years being second in command.
I wasn’t due at the bakery until ten on Monday, so I popped over to Once Upon an Inn, the town’s one tourist accommodation, to chat with Rosie Harper. She was Ryan’s age, but since we both worked on Main Street and had stuck around Autumn Ridge since high school, we saw a lot of each other.
She helped find space for a Carver Maple Farm booth at the Harvest Festival—not without a little eyebrow-raising at the partnership, though—and happily agreed to carry some of our baked goods at the inn plus offering to make a display for them herself.
I loved Rosie Harper.
Afterward, I made my way to Dust & Timber, the carpentry shop up the road that Bennett Walker ran. He offered to give me a steep discount on some of the items in the back—an array of builds that hadn’t met his lofty expectations of himself.
Nothing perked up the ears of a poor, single woman like the word discount, so I took him up on the offer and was pleased as punch to find a few things that would work for our purposes.
They were too big to fit in my car, so I told him I’d be back to pick them up in the next couple of days.
I had no doubt May would let me use their truck.
I loved my town.
I’d texted James to let him know I’d be at Horseshoe Holler around 3:20, and when I pulled up a couple minutes before that, his truck was already there. I needed to be home by 3:45, when Mia would be dropped off, so I hurried to the stables.
Archer and James were facing each other, both leaning a shoulder against the wall, looking like an ad for an equestrian magazine. Good looks ran in the family.
Archer spotted me first and pushed off the wall, and James’s head turned to follow his gaze.
“Hey, cowboys,” I said.
Archer tipped his hat like we were in a western movie. “James says you two have a proposition to make, but he wouldn’t tell me until you were here.”
“You’ll do a much better job explaining,” James said to me. “And it was your idea.”
“Only if Archer likes it,” I joked.
“You’ve got my attention,” Archer said.
I explained the thought I’d had for a longer and more autumny experience for Horseshoe Holler customers. “What do you think?”
“It’s a great idea.” Archer looked at his cousin, his mouth turning up at the side. “In fact, I’m embarrassed neither one of us thought of it before.”
My phone buzzed, and I pulled it from my back pocket. It was Lily calling.
“Just a sec,” I said to Archer and James. “I’ll be right back.” I walked out of the stables before answering—taking a call from Lily in front of James felt like a poor choice. “Hey, Lil, what’s up?”
“Sadie! Are you home?” The words came out quickly, and it sounded like she was in a car on speakerphone.
“Um, no, but I’ll be home in time to take Mia.”
“Shoot. I just realized my appointment is at 3:30, not 4. Stupid pregnancy brain!”
“Oh!” I pulled the phone from my ear to look at the time: 3:24. “I’m at the stables right now, but—”
“The stables?” Mia’s excited voice repeated in the background. “I wanna go!”
“Would that be an option?” Lily asked, her voice sounding apologetic but slightly desperate. “I’m so sorry, I just—”
“Yeah, totally,” I interrupted, eager to allay her anxiety.
During her pregnancy with Mia, her blood pressure had been a big issue, and I was not about to be the cause of her stress and the reason she couldn’t see the doctor.
“Bring her over! You can leave her car seat, and I’ll take her to my place once I’m done. ”
“Are you sure?”
“One hundred percent.”
She let out a gush of relief. “Okay, we’ll be there in two minutes. I owe you so big!”
“More time with my Mimi is payment enough.”
Less than two minutes later, the car pulled up the lane to Horseshoe Holler. I waved and walked over to them so I could grab Mia’s car seat. I figured it would be better to get Mia and say bye to Lily before heading back into the stables where Archer and James were.
I hoped the two of them were ironing out the details of our plan so I could do a quick sweep of the stables with Mia, then bribe her to head to my house with the promise of a treat at the bakery.
Lily’s door opened. “I am so sorry to do this!”
“Don’t worry about it for a second,” I said.
“Are you really okay to have her until we get back from our date?” Lily might as well have been asking me to take over as Mia’s guardian for the next ten years for how apologetic she looked as she unbuckled her. “Ry and I are grabbing dinner after my appointment.”
“Yep,” I said as Mia got out and Lily fixed her dress. “Just enjoy yourselves. Right, Mimi?”
Mia grabbed her mom’s hand. “Come see the horsies, Mommy!”
“Oh, baby, I can’t,” Lily said.
But Mia was already tugging her inexorably toward the stables.
“Oh, um,” I said, my heart immediately kicking into gear. But what would I say? I ran after them. “Your mommy has to go, Mia.”
Lily looked at me over her shoulder. “I did call the OB office to let them know I’d be late”—she looked down at Mia— “but I can only look for ten seconds, okay, baby?”
I followed, racking my brains for a reason to stop their progress, but they were already turning into the stables.
I held my breath as we rounded the corner, and Lily slowed.
Archer was gone, but James wasn’t.
He stood there, staring at Lily as she stared right back.