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Alan put the last bite into his mouth immediately.
Kate laughed. “You could at least pretend you haven’t been waiting all day.”
“I haven’t.”
Wes looked at Kate. “He has.”
“I know.”
Alan ignored both of them. They crossed back to Bramblewood together.
Kate went too, partly because her father was so obviously excited that she wanted to see the moment and partly because everybody had been working hard enough to earn ten minutes away from Wes’s trees. Janice and Eileen followed more slowly with Penny. Wes and Alan walked into one of the lower blocks.
This time Wes did not simply pick one apple and pronounce judgment. He moved through several trees, checking fruit, cutting into one, looking at the seeds and then walking farther along the row. Alan stayed beside him but did not crowd him. Kate could see how much effort that took.
Finally Wes stopped. He looked at Alan. “You start this block tomorrow.”
Alan’s face broke into a smile. “Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow. I wouldn’t have taken it this morning. By tomorrow, with the weather where it is now, I wouldn’t leave it hanging.”
Alan turned toward Janice. “You heard him.”
“I did.”
“We’re harvesting tomorrow.”
Janice smiled at him. “Yes, we are.”
For a moment Alan looked across the trees. Kate slipped her hand into his. He squeezed it. She knew what this meant to him. Not just apples. Not even the first harvest. Proof that this new life he and Janice had chosen was actually underway.
Then Wes’s phone buzzed. The moment changed. He took it out, checked the screen and frowned.
Alan noticed immediately. “What?”
“The forecast moved again.”
“How much?”
Wes looked toward the ridge before answering. “Enough that tomorrow’s going to be busy.”
Alan’s smile faded, but only slightly. “Then we’ll be busy.”
Wes looked at him. Then at Janice, Eileen, Kate and Penny standing among the trees. “We may need more than busy.”
The wind moved through Bramblewood again, stronger now, sending leaves skittering along the row. Kate looked from her father’s orchard toward Wes’s. Would there be enough hands for both? When she arrived, she would have asked whether her parents could cope. Now she was counting herself among the hands.
They had spent the day helping him bring in fruit. Tomorrow, it would be Bramblewood’s turn.
CHAPTER 18
Wes
We get to spend another whole day with Kate.
Wes glanced toward Bramblewood as he checked the trailer hitch. The sun had barely cleared the trees, but Alan’s tractor was already running somewhere beyond the boundary. We’re going there to harvest apples.
Kate will also be there, his bear pointed out.
