Page 6 of Cozy Girl Fall
Penny winced but couldn’t blame her former best friend for being angry. Leaving without much of a goodbye was a shitty thing to have done, and if she could take it back she would. In all honesty, Penny had just been excited for the new life she’d been imagining—and she hated goodbyes. Plus, if she had stopped to tell her friends she was leaving … Well, she wasn’t sure she’d have been able to go at all.
“I hope you had a better greeting for my brother,” Tasha continued, the words somewhat pointed, and Penny stopped breathing for a second as she glanced around, unsure if she felt excitement or dread at seeing the only other person she’d been sad to leave behind. “He’s not here,” Tasha said helpfully and Penny relaxed. “Oh God, that means you haven’t seen him yet.”
Penny half nodded and half shrugged. “I’ve only been back in town for a few days. I’ve not seen much of anyone except my parents.”
The silence that followed felt awkward, for Penny at least as the guilt of how she’d left Magnolia Springs reared its ugly head. Tasha had a piercing way of looking at people that had been amusing to watch as a kid, but was less fun for Penny now that she was on the receiving end of it.
A shrill sound pierced the air as the milk for her latte was frothed and the barista handed over Penny’scoffee a few moments later, breaking the tension. Penny thanked her, rooted in place while Tasha gave her order and paid and then turned back to Penny like the moment of awkwardness hadn’t fazed her.
“How long are you in town for?”
Penny cleared her throat as Tasha flipped her light-blonde hair, a few shades lighter than Ethan’s, over her shoulder. “I’m not sure yet. A few months at least.”
“Good,” Tasha said, accepting her own coffee and walking toward the door with Penny at her heels. “Then we have some time to catch up.”
“That would be great.” She meant it too. If Tasha was willing to give her a second chance, she wouldn’t screw it up this time.
“Great, well, my number’s still the same. Text me and we’ll get drinks or something.”
“Sure.” Penny smiled a little hesitantly and her shoulders relaxed as Tasha nodded. “We can get the gang back together.” The words made Tasha’s face drop, bringing all of Penny’s anxieties rushing back at once.
“Do me a favor?” Tasha said after a moment, slow and considered as if she was still turning the words over in her head. “Steer clear of Ethan while you’re here. You already broke his heart once. We should avoid an encore.”
Penny swallowed hard and nodded to show she understood, only slightly unnerved by the fact that she was once again on the receiving end of Tasha’s piercingstare. Tasha wasn’t trying to be cruel with her words, she was justveryprotective of her brother. Penny knew that better than most.
In a moment, the warning look on Tasha’s face was replaced with a smile as she waved goodbye, leaving Penny with an acrid taste in her mouth that was uncannily guilt-flavored as she walked through the town square in the opposite direction to Tasha.
The fountain was on, the seats at its rim empty, and Penny walked over and sat down heavily in the shade of the magnolia tree that overhung the stone monument. Water trickled lazily behind her as late-flowering magnolia petals and orange leaves skittered across the ground and clung to the dew on her boots. The fountain had been here since the town was founded and had been one of her favorite spots to sit and think when she’d been growing up.
Her coffee burnt her tongue at the first sip but she ignored the pain and swallowed, running her fingers over the mostly smooth plaque next to her that proclaimed this fountain to be Magnolia Springs’ very ownFountain of Wishes. She couldn’t say whether the claim held any truth. She’d never bothered to make any wishes of her own, despite coming to the fountain so frequently she might as well have had her own seat reserved. But before she’d left, she’d had everything she could have wanted: a best friend who’d genuinely cared about her, a boyfriend who’d been the literal guy of her teenage dreams, and parents who’d loved herenough to let her leave for the city. Plus, back then, throwing a coin for a wish had seemed like a waste of perfectly good candy and make-up money.
She could use a little magic right then, though. It would be nice to fix things with Tasha, especially since facing her again after so long hadn’t been as awkward as Penny had thought it might be. But even if she did make amends with Tasha, it wouldn’t change her mind about how she felt at the possibility of seeing Ethan—even without Tasha’s threat. Up until Tasha had mentioned him, Penny had been doing well not thinking about Ethan, though it had been harder than she’d expected when everywhere in Magnolia Springs was filled with memories of them together.
She definitely had no intention of seeking him out, but now Tasha’s words kept running in circles through her head, making her dizzy.You already broke his heart once.Did she owe him an apology? Or would that be dredging up the past unnecessarily out of the blue? Penny couldn’t make up her mind.
Something shone on the ground and Penny leant down, picking up the quarter by her boot. As she cupped it in her hand, she wished she could change the way she’d left things. She sighed and threw the quarter over her shoulder, hearing the softplopas it landed in the fountain.
Penny knew that there was no way she could fix the past. She’d made her choice all those years ago and now she had to live with the consequences—things betweenher and Tasha, and her and Ethan, would never be the same. All she could do now was try to figure out a way to help her parents while she was here and hope she could continue helping them once she got the hell out of Magnolia Springs again.
4
By the time Penny had cleared the last of the apples from the tree and started on another it was late in the afternoon. Her legs were shaking from the repetitive bending and reaching and her nose was sore from the cold wind that had kicked up as she neared the end of her shift.
It was no surprise that her parents couldn’t manage the harvest themselves any more. It was hard work—she’d forgotten just how hard in all the years she’d been gone. Guilt stabbed at her as she imagined her parents out here, struggling in the cold, forced to leave some of the apples to fall and rot because they couldn’t get through them all.
She hadn’t realized it while she’d been in San Fran chasing her dreams, but she’d been a shitty daughter up until now. Her parents had always come to visit her, rather than her coming to them, and she’d always thought they’d wanted it that way, to have the chance to escape this suffocating small town. Except now, looking back, she wondered if maybe they’d come to her because the alternative was not seeing her.
Well, she was here now. Maybe she did have a habit of selfishness that extended past her abrupt departure from Magnolia Springs ten years ago, but she could change that. Starting now, she resolved, she would do her best to be a better friend, a better daughter.
Penny left the apples where they were—someone else would be along to gather up the day’s harvest to weigh and catalog the haul—and made her way back to the entrance of the orchard where she’d parked.
Mrs. Ashley had left hours ago, waving cheerfully, but the owner of the big truck parked next to hers had to still be out there picking apples. At least one other car had pulled in too, its owner starting later in the day than Penny—she preferred to get there early and leave before the sun could quite set.
As Penny walked through the gate that marked the entrance to the orchard, she decided to stop in on her mom in the shop, to see if there was anything else she could help with before she headed home. The door to the shop opened without a creak and Penny unconsciously relaxed as the familiar scent of apples and cinnamon washed over her.
“Hey, Mom.”
Angie looked up and smiled at her daughter, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she peered over the top of her reading glasses. The space was warm and cozy, the lights casting an orange glow over the wood interior, and by the time Penny reached the counter her mom was working at her eyes felt heavy.
