Page 4 of Cozy Girl Fall
“Honey, quick, taste this for me.” Angie didn’t wait for an answer, just shoved a wooden spoon at Penny until she was forced to open her mouth or end up with apple-pie filling all over her face.
It was tart and tangy, with the right balance of sweetness that made her mouth water. It was the flavor of her childhood and fall, of warm summer evenings spent in the garden with her parents or her friends. It tasted like her first kiss with Ethan Blake and hope and regret all wrapped up in a complicated swirl of sticky sauce.
“It’s perfect,” she said, voice tight with emotion, and her mom beamed.
“Good enough to outsell Ellen’s lemon loaf at the Halloween Orchard Fest?”
Penny smiled to herself at the thought of the festival. She’d missed a lot of the small-town events that ran every year in Magnolia Springs, particularly becausethere was no real equivalent in the city. The Halloween Orchard Fest was Penny’s favorite, had been since her parents started it up when she was seven and she’d discovered the joy of candied apples, but the bonfire in mid-October and the Christmas markets were a close second and third in her book. There was just something about being out in the cold evening air with a warm drink in hand, surrounded by people she knew, that made her feel at ease. The pace of the city didn’t leave much room for languid evenings sipping cider by the bonfire.
“Your apple pie eats Ellen’s lemon loaf for breakfast,” she reassured her mom and then frowned.Try saying that three times fast.“Or doesn’t eat it for breakfast? I don’t know. Basically, Ellen’s lemon loaf sucks.”
Angie waved Penny off, a pleased gleam in her eye even as she said, “Oh, honey, let’s not be cruel. Ellen tries her best, I’m sure.”
Only Angie Larkin could make a compliment sound like the opposite.
Fresh cup of tea in hand, Philip sat back down and glanced between the two of them before shaking his head. “I had no idea the competition was so intense. I’d have thought it would be a piece of cake. Get it? Piece of cake?”
Penny shared a look with her mom before forcing out a weak laugh. She’d been home for just over forty-eight hours and the dad jokes had already started.Though, if she was being honest, she’d missed hearing them when she’d been living on her own in San Fran. Not that she’d ever tell her dad that.
“Oh! You’ll never guess who I ran into at the grocery store.” When Penny waited in silence her mom sighed before continuing, “Tasha! You remember Tasha, don’t you, Phil? Such a nice girl. You should call her. Let her know you’re back.”
Penny hid her grimace behind a gulp of her tea and bit her tongue so she wouldn’t yell outI’m not back! This is temporary.
Instead, she nodded vaguely and tried to remember the last time she’d seen Tasha. Ethan wasn’t the only one she’d left behind when she’d rushed out of Magnolia Springs like her hair was on fire. Tasha had been a good friend and they’d been virtually inseparable during high school; Penny had often found herself thinking about her former best friend and what she might have made of her life while Penny had been gone. But, much like Ethan, she wasn’t sure Tasha would want to see her after all this time. It was one of the biggest regrets she had, leaving the way she did ten years ago, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it now. Besides, the last thing she wanted was to reopen old wounds.
Now, Penny wasn’t sure she even had Tasha’s number. Or what she’d say even if she could call. Would Tasha want to talk to her? Ten years was a long time to go between phone calls and, where girlfriendswere involved, Penny was out of practice. Sure, she’d had work friends that she sometimes went for drinks or food with, but with the way she’d left things in the city she couldn’t see any of them picking up her calls either. It seemed like she had a gift for poor departures. She could only hope that when it came to leaving Magnolia Springs this time around, she would do it right.
Maybe it was the distance she’d now gained after leaving San Fran, but, in retrospect, she couldn’t help thinking the life she’d built for herself sounded awfully lonely, with work eating up all her time and leaving little room for friends. At the very least, if there was one thing you could count on in Magnolia Springs, it was that you were never alone—whether you wanted to be or not.
3
“Gloves,” Mrs. Ashley reprimanded as Penny walked past and dipped to grab a bendy plastic bucket.
She winced but pulled the gloves out of her jeans pocket and waved them at the older lady. “Got them.” Though it wasn’t Penny’s first time helping with the harvest, it seemed like old Mrs. Ashley had somehow forgotten this, if the way she kept berating Penny was anything to go by. But Penny hadn’t forgotten everything about apple picking. For one thing, she’d remembered to wear layers, knowing she’d quickly warm up while picking. So she’d opted for her stretchiest jeans, a tank top, knitted sweater, and a coat as a top layer. By the time the afternoon rolled around it would likely be a little warmer too, and this way she could strip as needed and not worry about that horribly cold but sweaty feeling she’d get if she went the whole day in just her sweater.
Mrs. Ashley nodded stiffly, brown eyes narrowing. “You’ll be thanking me for the reminder when you get caught on a particularly stubborn branch.”
Penny smiled and hurried away before the other woman could say anything more. It had been this wayever since Penny had arrived at the orchard for her first shift that morning. Sure, she hadn’t done this in a few years now, but it was apple picking—not rocket science. Plus, the longer she stood in the orchard, the more it all came flooding back to her.
The orchard was a sea of browns, greens, and orange leaves against the pale sky. She’d arrived earlier than her parents, wanting to make the most of the dry weather. Apple picking in the rain was not her idea of a good time, so the more she could do now the better. Her parents would be in later, working in the shop that was located at the very front of the orchard in a small barn-like building. A large gate sat behind and to the left of the shop, supposedly for keeping out trespassers but Penny wasn’t sure she’d ever seen it closed. Her parents had always said that if someone was desperate enough for food that they came to the orchard then they’d rather they have the fruit than go hungry. It was a lesson Penny had taken with her to the city too, inspiring her to sometimes volunteer as a cook at a homeless shelter downtown. It was probably the only thing about San Francisco that she missed.
Gloves firmly in place and the wind trying to blow her hair in all directions, Penny walked through the central row that split the orchard into two sides for the different types of apples they grew. Penny had often thought that the long walkway between the trees would make a fantastic wedding aisle, but her parents felt it was too much work to open the orchard up asthat kind of venue. Now, of course, Penny realized that they most likely didn’t have the time to take anything else on.
Guilt stabbed at her with the thought. If she’d stuck around after she’d graduated then maybe they could have had more chances to experiment and push the business.
I’m here now.
They’d been assigned different corners of the orchard to work and her hopes of some peace and quiet were short lived when Mrs. Ashley walked to the far end of Penny’s segment, the purple of her bodywarmer catching Penny’s eye.
“Thought I’d stay close in case you needed help on your first day,” she said and Penny wasn’t sure if her grimace could pass for a smile.
“Oh, that’s very kind but not necessary. It’s not really my first day.”
Mrs. Ashley’s brows drew together. “It’s not?”
Who did she think Penny was?
“Mrs. Ashley, you do realize I’m Penny? Phil and Angie’s Penny?”
