“Didyoudo it?”
She waggles her eyebrows at me. “With Justin Greene.”
I free one hand from the wheel to tap my chest. “You wound me.”
“So you’re saying we did this together on our hot date?”
“Just the part where we climbed onto the roof. It’s where I first kissed you.”
She makes a humming sound, as if she’s searching the story for flaws. Finally, she says, “That sounds nice.”
Yes, yes it does.
I’ve been thinking about it since I was sixteen.
Apple Ridge hasa small but busy downtown area, and all its side streets are named after apples. The main street, all of four blocks long, is lined with little shops in various shades of green and red, which feels like an over-the-top homage to the fruit. There are also apple sculptures on every block. One is covered in mosaic tiles, another is formed from wire, and so on.
“This place is something,” I say as I drive past the awning for the restaurant—the Laughing Leaf—before we pull into the closest town parking lot. It’s free to park here, which is a surprise, since Apple Ridge is only forty-five minutes away from Asheville. Most of the lots in our city switched to paid yearsago.
“You hate it,” Nora says with a grin as she gets out of the car before I can even think about opening her door.
“I don’t,” I say, climbing out too. “But it feels performative, and I’m starting to question whether I like apples enough to be here.”
She comes around the car and touches my wrist. “Ilovecrunchy apples. Are we having our first fight?”
“Oh, it certainly wouldn’t be our first.”
I can practically hear Ann screaming in my ear,Offer her your arm, you fool.So I hold my elbow out to her.
She looks confused. I feel my face heating, but I say, “We should walk into the restaurant arm in arm. Give them a show. Or I can give you a piggyback ride. Then they’ll really think we’re in love. Only idiots in love walk around like that.”
She gives me anOh Cormacsmile, then threads her arm through mine. We cross the road together, my heart thrumming fast in my chest, and I know it’s not because I’m going to have to lie. Or because there’s a good chance Nora is only trying to break up José and Pansy because she’s in love with him.
It’s because she’s walking with me, our sides pressed together, and her ginger scent is all around me.
I’m here, on Main Street, about to walk the half block to a restaurant called the Laughing Leaf, and I’m happy because we’re together.
“Why are you smiling like that?” she asks in an undertone as we veer around a couple with a little girl who’s licking an ice cream cone destined for the sidewalk.
“I’m happy,” I say simply. “It probably won’t last for long, but this is a good moment.”
She surprises me by looking me in the eye and grinning back. “It is, isn’t it?”
I’m sure she doesn’t find it enjoyable because she’s with me, but I’ll let myself think it for a moment. What’s the harm in alittle self-delusion on a pleasant day? Admittedly, the weatherisn’tpleasant—the sun is beating down on us—but at least it’s not raining.
It only takes us another few seconds to reach the green awning for the Laughing Leaf. I give Nora ahere goes nothinglook as I reach in front of her and open the door.
Her gaze dips down to my forearm as she enters, and I wonder if Ann knows what she’s talking about after all.
Nora whispers, “Every time you hold the door, I know you’re secretly unhappy about it.”
“Nah, I’m happy to perform meaningless gestures for you.”
A woman with a faded blond dye job and a wide, slightly manic smile is perched behind a hostess stand near the door. The podium itself looks like it was cobbled together from sticks as part of a fifth grader’s shop project.
I sigh.
“Welcome, welcome,” the hostess says. “Do you have a reservation?”
