Page 14 of Keep My Heart
‘Yeah. Why?’
‘I had your dad for English.’
He looks confused. ‘When?’
‘Like 15 years ago. Is he still teaching?’
‘Yeah, but not here. He got married and moved to Eau Claire. I stayed here with my mom.’
Mr. Petro was married when he was my teacher, which means he got divorced and remarried in the past 15 years. I haven’t even had a serious relationship in 15 years, unless you count Mina, a girl I dated for over a year, but neither one of us wanted to get married. We talked about living together, but it never happened and eventually we broke up.
‘Next time you see him, tell him Nick Kanfield says hi. Or just say Nick, the orchard kid. He’ll know who you mean.’
Growing up, my brothers and I were known around town as the orchard kids. The apple orchard is a huge deal around here because it brings in a lot of tourists in the fall when people swarm the state to see the fall colors. We get tour buses, vacationers from all around the country, people from Chicago coming up for the weekend. The orchard brings a boost to the local economy, which is why my parents are like celebrities around here. That might be a stretch calling them that, but in a small town, it’s kind of true. Everyone knows them and knows our name.
‘Your parents own the orchard?’ the kid says, sounding impressed.
‘They do. You been there?’
‘Yeah, of course. Everyone has. My parents took me there every year.’ He smiles. ‘I liked the pumpkin patch the most. One year I got this huge pumpkin that was so awesome. I’d never seen one that big.’
‘My dad planted a new field of pumpkins last year. Youshould check it out this fall. Hey, I need to get going, but it was good meeting you.’
‘Yeah, see ya.’
The orchard started with just apples, but my dad quickly realized pumpkins drew in even more people than apples, so when the fields next to his went up for sale, he bought them and planted pumpkins. He gets people coming from all over to pick pumpkins, especially families and school groups. It’s kind of cool hearing that kid talk about it, like going there was something special. I’ve always just thought of the orchard as a business, but to some people it’s more than that. It’s a memory they’ll never forget.
Continuing to aisle four, I get out my phone again to check the name of the marinade.
‘Oh! I’m so sorry,’ a woman says, bumping into me. ‘Nick?’
I look up and see Lyndsay standing there, holding her phone, looking up at me with the same beautiful blue eyes that I used to gaze at as she asked me questions about her algebra homework.
‘Hey.’ I smile at her. ‘We meet again.’
‘Yeah.’ She takes a step back. ‘Sorry I bumped into you,’ she says with a laugh. ‘I was looking at my phone and didn’t see you.’
‘Same here.’ I hold up my phone. ‘Matt’s wife sent me here to get something and I keep forgetting what the name is. She texted it to me.’
‘You’re staying with Matt?’
‘I’m just having dinner there. I’m staying with Sawyer tonight.’
She smiles and I get those feelings again, the ones I felt for her in high school. I had such a huge crush on her. She was one of those girls who was gorgeous but didn’t know it, or she did, but didn’t let it go to her head. She was also really sweet. She didn’t fit the stereotype you see in movies of the mean cheerleader. She wasn’t mean to anyone. I remember the first day of oursophomore year, this girl who was new to the school was sitting alone at lunch and Lyndsay went over to her and invited her to sit at her table. How does a girl that nice end up with an asshole like Chris?
‘I heard Sawyer opened a brewery,’ Lyndsay says, bringing my attention back to the present.
‘It’s not really open yet. Well, it is, but not every night and he’s not doing any promotion to let people know. This week is more of a soft opening so he can work out the kinks before he has the official opening.’
‘I’ll have to go check it out while I’m here. Maybe we could go together.’ She seems nervous, her voice breathy, her eyes darting around. ‘I mean, just as friends, since he’s your brother and it’s his place and—’
‘I’d love to,’ I say, trying to figure out what’s going on here. Did she just ask me out? And why is she so nervous? It’s like we’ve switched roles from back in high school and now she’s the nervous, awkward one instead of me.
‘You don’t have to,’ she rushes to say. ‘I know you’re busy and I don’t want to take up your time.’
‘You’re not. I’ll be there anyway. Sawyer’s insisting I try all his beers. He’s having a tasting on Sunday. You’re welcome to join us.’
‘Um, yeah, sure, Sunday works. Or tomorrow. Either one works.’
