Page 62

Gabe ignored him and went to the refrigerator, already thinking through what they would need. “Apple hand pies would be easier than the buns. We can use the same basic dough Karina already has planned for the pear ones. Different filling, same production.”

“And people will buy them.”

“People will definitely buy them.”

Mara smiled. “There. We fixed something.”

“We’ve created a different problem.”

Her smile faded. “Which is?”

“We don’t have enough apples.”

For a second she looked at him. Then she laughed. Gabe did too, because after the night they had had, of course the solution required something they did not currently possess.

“Please tell me Bear Creek has an absurdly convenient supply of apples,” Mara said.

“As it happens…”

Her eyebrows rose.

“My friend Wes owns an orchard.”

“Of course he does.”

Gabe reached for his phone, still smiling. “You say that like it’s unreasonable.”

“I’ve been here less than a week, and so far every seasonal problem appears to have one of your friends attached to it.”

He laughed as he found Wes’s number. “I have a lot of friends.”

Mara’s expression suggested she liked that about him.

Gabe called Wes before she could ask. The orchard had apples. Plenty of them. Wes could spare what they needed, but he was busy with his own work and couldn’t bring them over.

“That’s fine,” Gabe said. “We’ll come to you.” He ended the call and looked at Mara.

“Problem solved?” she asked.

“Almost. We can’t both leave until Karina comes back.”

Production couldn’t stop while they waited, so they kept working.

It was midafternoon when the back door opened. Karina walked in wearing clean clothes, her hair still damp from a shower and an expression somewhere between rested and appalled.

“I slept far longer than I meant to.”

“Good,” Gabe said.

“I said I was only going home for a few hours.”

“You were supposed to sleep until you woke up,” Mara reminded her.

Karina pointed at her. “I remember whose idea that was.”

“You look better,” Mara said.

“I hate that you’re right.”