Chapter 22
I’d stewed and stewed over how to act toward James, but the insanity of the week before the Harvest Festival made anything beyond business talk nearly impossible.
If I wasn’t at the bakery getting things ready for the festival and tending to customers, I was getting lessons from Archer on how to drive his wagon and the team of drop-dead gorgeous Percherons that pulled it.
Most of the time, though, I was baking at the sugar shack to keep our products stocked at the farm and at the businesses in town, a couple more of whom had requested to carry products.
I saw a fair amount of James, but we were more like ships passing in the day than anything.
He was busy with maple farm tours and maintenance around the farm.
May had insisted on helping with tours, but James had put his foot down, finally agreeing to have her do the portion in the sugar shack, which didn’t require as much movement.
We saw little enough of each other that the clothes I’d left at their house for the campout appeared on the kitchen counter one afternoon when I hadn’t seen James at all.
Despite the nature of the quick interactions we did have, there was…something. Something in the way he looked at me. Something in the way I looked at him. Like a question neither of us had the answer to or even knew how to bring up.
I couldn’t see him without thinking of the campout or remembering the steady beat of his heart in my ear. The little blip on the radar of my life was turning out to be more of a stuck key, playing at all times. An unfinished melody driving me crazy.
The Friday before the Harvest Festival began, I made my way to Horseshoe Holler after my bakery shift.
Archer had double-booked the afternoon and wanted me to take my first trial-run wagon ride.
There were just two guests coming, and both of them were familiar faces in Autumn Ridge, making the stakes low if I happened to do something ridiculous.
I showed up twenty minutes before the wagon ride was scheduled and helped Archer get horses saddled for his trail ride and the Percherons hooked up to the wagon for mine. It was a chillier day than it had been so far this fall, but with the leaves almost at their peak, it would be a perfect day.
I chatted softly to the Percherons, Han and Chewie, and rubbed their necks as Archer’s guests started to show up a few minutes before the ride.
I smiled and waved at them, but my hand faltered mid-wave.
James was walking toward the stables.
“Is James going on the ride?” I asked Archer as I readjusted a harness, trying to ignore the skitter of my pulse.
“He’s going with you.”
My gaze whipped to Archer. “What?”
He grinned. Grinned like an annoying older brother proud of his shenanigans—as if I didn’t already have plenty of older brothers. It had become clear over the past few days that Archer had ideas in his head about James and me.
“Archer…”
“What?” he said with wide-eyed innocence.
“I know what you’re doing.”
“Do you? Sounds to me like you’re reading into things.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s a personal problem that you shouldn’t bring into a professional place of work.”
James came up to us, his eyes on me.
Archer grabbed his shoulder. “James is here to help.”
“Do you know how to drive a team and a wagon?” I asked James skeptically.
His mouth opened wordlessly, the answer obvious.
“He’s a good man to have with you in a pinch,” Archer said. “Just look at this upper body strength.” He punched James’s chest. “All right, I’m going to get my group on their horses. Enjoy your ride—and remember this is a place of work, so no funny business.” He winked at me, then turned away.
I stared after him like I could telekinetically wring his neck. My feelings for James were enough to manage on their own; I didn’t need Archer riling them up—or pointing them out.
“Did you not know I was coming?” James asked.
“Not exactly.”
He searched my face. “If you’d rather I—”
“No. I’m glad you’re here.”
There was a pause. “You sure?”
“Positive.”
150% positive.
My gaze snagged on Olivia and Tate in the parking lot. Liv Rawlins had been a year ahead of me in school, but she hadn’t been in Autumn Ridge for years. Tate was one of the Walker boys—Bennett’s brother—though he’d also been away from town for a while. Like most people besides me.
My brows went up as I watched them in the parking lot. Definitely dating, it seemed.
We greeted them and talked for a couple of minutes—Tate and James chatting, and Liv and me chatting—then turned to the wagon.
“You’ve got the whole thing to yourselves,” I said as they climbed into it.
Liv paused at the sight of the lone hay bale in the middle.
“You guys are really going all out for us,” Tate said.
“Sorry about that,” I said. “We’ll have a bunch more bales for the festival, but for now, that’s all we’ve got.”
“I’m just teasing,” he said as he took a seat. “This is great. Olivia likes it better this way.”
“And this is a full-service ride.” I grabbed a blanket and handed it to Tate. “There’s just the one of these too—hope that’s okay. The others are being washed.”
I winked at Liv only to realize James was reaching into the front where a couple of other blankets were stored.
I snatched his hand and gave a subtle shake of my head.
He gave me a funny look, the corner of his mouth lifting as he caught on.
I explained the plan to Liv and Tate: a ride to Carver Maple Farm, where we’d do a short maple tasting, then they’d have the opportunity to explore on their own before we headed back to the stables.
The four of us talked—not an easy task since I had to turn my head enough to be heard while keeping the reins steady—but after a few minutes, conversation naturally petered out. They talked between themselves, which left James and me to entertain each other.
I asked him for an update on May’s knee, which seemed to be healing, albeit very slowly—a comment we shared a glance over. May was a terrible patient. She could last about half the day being good, but inevitably, she overdid it the second half.
“I don’t have to ask how you’re doing,” James said. “What time did you leave the shack last night? After ten, right?”
“Maybe,” I said noncommittally.
“And you’re here doing this for Archer today. You know, you can say no, Sadie. This wasn’t what Mama or I had in mind for you, and I’m sure Archer wouldn’t want you doing this for him if he realized just how busy you are.”
I laughed softly. “This isn’t for Archer, James. I want to do this. I want to bake at the sugar shack, even if it means I don’t sleep until eleven and then wake up before three some mornings. This is the stuff that’s keeping me going. Thank you for worrying about me, though.”
The ride was what I needed. Peaceful. Beautiful. Just enough laughter to make it fun.
Liv and Tate had tasted plenty of maple before, but they humored May and listened to her spiel about the different types while James and I tended to the horses.
James got two large buckets and filled them with water, while I yanked a few fistfuls of hay from the bale Liv and Tate had been sitting on and brushed the horses.
Liv and Tate made their way into the woods after the tasting, promising to be back so we would have enough time to get back to the stables before dark.
I led Han and Chewie to a grassy area where they could graze, and May insisted on bringing James and me a glass of tea.
“I’ll get them, Mama,” James said.
“No, you won’t,” she said, her tone leaving no room for argument. “It’s my tea, and I’ll be servin’ it, thank you very much.”
James and I shared a look, then I hopped up onto the end of the wagon, my legs dangling over the edge as I rested my weight on my palms on either side of me.
James watched his mom walk to the house. It had to be tough in his position. He could only do so much to encourage May to rest. For her, the misery of sitting around was simply too high a cost for the potential-but-not-promised full recovery of her knee.
“Mia’s been asking about you,” I said, hoping to give his thoughts a happier direction.
He looked at me, intrigued. “Has she?”
“When we were at the stables earlier this week, she wanted to go in search of Mr. James in the woods. She seems to think you spend your time between working in the stables and fighting off attacking wildlife in the forest.”
He chuckled, then hopped up next to me on the wagon. “Don’t tell her I slept with a nightlight until I was thirteen.”
“Her opinion of you would never recover. Though, you may have to fight to keep your top spot on her list of favorite people. Emma Harper has made a lot of headway recently, thanks to the new Moana book she got in at the library.”
James sucked air through his teeth. “Stiff competition. I might have to up the ante and see if I can get a rhino here to wrangle.”
“They’ve got one at the Granby zoo,” I offered. “I’m sure they’d loan it out to you. The customs paperwork would be a nightmare, though.”
He laughed, and I realized how much I’d missed the sound over the past few days. Once he left back to Canada, would I forget the sound entirely? How soon would he leave?
May approached with two glasses and a full pitcher of sweet tea, which she set behind us on the wagon.
“Join us,” I said. “I’ll go get you a glass.”
“Oh, you’re a sweetheart, Miss Sadie,” she said, “but I’d better go put this leg up or I can see it in his eyes.” She looked at her son. “He’ll carry me in himself.”
James lifted his glass in acknowledgment, and she winked and left us again.
I took a sip, then set it on the edge of the wagon.
“Archer asked me if I’d drive the wagon at the Sleepy Holler event he’s holding on the 17th.
” I tried to keep my voice casual, looking down at the inch of space between our pinkies.
“He also wants our baked goods there, but I told him I wasn’t sure if you’d still be around to run a booth.
” I watched him from the corner of my eye, hoping it wasn’t glaringly obvious I was on a fishing expedition.
I needed to know how much time I had left with James.