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“I wasn’t running away. I was racing them.” Gabe handed Toby another bag with suspicious speed.

“Uncle Wes lets them out to eat the fallen apples once he’s finished picking,” Nell explained breathlessly. “They’re so cute.”

“Well, in that case, I hope I get to meet one before I go home,” Mara said.

As she turned, she caught the look Dana gave her brother. But before she could think more about it, Nell took hold of her hand and dragged her toward a tree laden with ripe apples.

They spread themselves between the trees. Mara and Nell took one side of the row, Toby followed Gabe farther along, and Dana wandered off to pick on her own.

Toby had chosen a cluster just beyond easy reach and was stretching onto his toes when Gabe came up behind him.

“I can get it,” Toby said before Gabe offered.

Gabe didn’t argue. He stayed close enough to catch the bag if Toby lost his balance, but he didn’t reach over the boy’s head and take the apples himself. Instead he pointed toward a sturdier branch lower down. “Put your foot there. It’ll give you another couple of inches.”

Toby tested it, shifted his weight, and reached again. This time the apple came free.

“There.”

“That’s it.” Gabe moved on to the next branch.

Mara watched him for a moment. He was good with the children. More than that, he liked them, and they liked him.

Scott had always been polite with other people’s children, and quietly relieved when they left. She had told herself it would be different once they had their own. How long had she gone on telling herself that? Years. She looked across at Gabe, with an apple in one hand and Toby talking up at him, and had to look away. She wanted this. She had always wanted this. A family. A noisy kitchen and small shoes by the door.

She turned back to her tree.

By the time the last crate was full, Toby had started asking how soon they could eat. Dana herded the children back to the car, hugged Gabe, then surprised Mara with a hug too. “Good luck tonight.”

Gabe and Mara loaded the crates into the truck as the orchard slipped toward evening. Mara climbed into the passenger seat and rubbed her hands together. “That blanket I don’t need is starting to sound very tempting.”

Gabe turned up the heat. “Will you share it with me?”

Mara smiled. “Maybe after the bake sale tomorrow.”

CHAPTER 16

Gabe

By the time Gabe and Mara reached the charity bake in Bear Bluff the next morning, the field was already taking shape around them. Rows of tables and stalls stretched across the grass beneath strings of orange pennant flags, while the Ferris wheel at the far end turned slowly as the final preparations were finished. The air smelled of apples, cinnamon, and coffee.

Beside him, Mara stopped and breathed in. “Oh, that is unfair.”

Gabe glanced at her. “What is?”

“This.” She waved one hand toward the stalls, the mountains beyond them, and the leaves blowing across the grass. “Every time I think Bear Creek has reached maximum fall experience, it outdoes itself.”

She likes it here, his bear said, pleased. Maybe enough to stay.

“Technically, this is Bear Bluff.”

“Close enough.” Mara tucked her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

They both looked tired. After leaving the orchard the night before, they had gone back to Mountain View and worked late into the night, then slept for only a handful of hours before meeting again that morning.

The bakery tables nearest them were already filling with boxes. Mountain View’s cinnamon bears sat beneath clear covers, and beside Karina’s pear-and-ginger hand pies were several trays of the apple version that had occupied far too much of the previous night.

Mara caught Gabe’s sleeve. “They exist.”