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I smile back at her, turning in her grasp and smiling her way. “I think we can make something like that happen. Even if you’re a snooty McCormick.”
“Seems like something a Rowdy boy would say.”
We laugh. I enjoy being with her so much, but that encounter with her father isn’t so easy to forget.
We’re more than individuals. We’re our family.
I can’t imagine Nicole’s dad is out of the picture forever.
For now though?
Nicole is mine, and I’m going to enjoy her to the fullest.
4
NICOLE
The Burly cider press is another weekend event in the series that the county puts on to celebrate the harvest season, which obviously is a pretty big deal for a town started by farmers. This also allows all the apple growers in the county to come together and offer their own takes on cider, let people try their offerings, sell some apples and their beverages. As a lover of apples and cider, like any good Washington state girl should be, I enjoy coming and sampling a bit of everything.
Nelson and I are obligated to be here this year. We’re wearing our little fall crowns, which are done up to look like they’re made of tree branches with apples instead of gems. We throw on our sashes, which sort of clashes with my outfit, but hey, not everything about being royalty is perfect.
Our hands intermingle. We sample the ciders, give our royal reviews, and continue being a bit of a spectacle.
In more ways than one. The way people look at us is surprising.
“A McCormick and a Rowdy? Never thought I’d see the day.”
The feud is a bit of a town legend, and people don’t know what to think. Do they expect us to throw fists at one another on sight? To live up to the feud? Maybe a gun battle where we both take cover and try to take pot shots for hours, like my grandpa used to say happened?
“We had to go public about this, huh?” I say, sipping some cider and smiling despite my nervousness.
“Our hands got forced. We won the crowns by accident, after all. Everyone thought we were coordinating our costumes like every other couple.”
“We’re a couple now, huh?”
“I suppose. In a way. Do you object to being called a couple?”
“With you? Of course not.” I glance at another person giving us an uncertain stink-eye. “It’s just that I could go without being a public spectacle.”
“But we get so much free cider this way. Isn’t that a small price to pay?”
“Nelson, my family’s ludicrously wealthy. Getting anything for free just seems like I’m stealing from people.”
“They aren’t gonna object if you drop ‘em five bucks. But getting stuff for free still feels good for me. I mean, I can totally afford all this myself, the Rowdys aren’t broke, but it just makes you feel special to win something.”
We watch people on the hayride go past. They ride in the back of a big carriage pulled by a tractor and the carriage is, get this, full of hay. It shouldn’t be so exciting for farm people in the twenty-first century, but it’s part of the seasonal fun.
We stroll along, our fingers clasping, literally unable to keep our hands off one another, taking in the event that surrounds us.
Nelson’s eye twitches like he’s had a revelation. “Wait, if you’re so damn rich, why did you show up dressed as an avocado for a paycheck?”
“Oh. Right. I guess that doesn’t make much sense on the outside, huh?”
“Don’t think a pretty princess like yourself needs another grand on top of everything else you got from Daddy’s fortune.”
I smile. “I want to start my own business, Nelson. I just got back to Burly from college, and now I’m raising capital to get started.”
“Your father is refusing to just give you the money to get going? Seems kind of rude of him to deny you like that.”
