Page 76 of Keep My Heart
‘What does that mean? Be friends?’
‘It means we stay in touch, talk on the phone.’
‘Until she finds someone else.’
‘Yeah,’ I mutter, not wanting to think about that. ‘Oh, and I asked her about Chris coming back for the reunion. She said he won’t. He has a meeting that weekend with some guy in San Diego.’
‘See, this is why I shouldn’t listen to rumors. Half the time they’re not true.’
‘I’m going to finish this row, then go down a few. You need anything?’
‘No, I’m good.’
We continue to work, and an hour later we’re farther along than I thought we’d be. Matt really is a fast worker. With his help, we’ll get a lot more done than I could’ve done on my own. But we won’t be able to finish today, not even close. The orchard is huge. Dad needs to hire a crew to maintain it, but he won’t. He just hires temp help when he needs it.
‘You guys want something to drink?’ I hear Lyndsay yell from up the hill.
‘Yeah!’ Matt yells back. He’s on the ladder and can see her. I can’t from the ground.
‘Tell her we’ll go up and get it,’ I say.
‘We’ll be there in a minute!’ Matt yells.
‘I’ll just bring it down!’ she yells.
Moments later, she appears with two big jugs of water, setting them on the ground. She looks so damn hot in those denim shorts and wearing that baseball hat. She changed out of the plaid shirt and has on a t-shirt, a fitted white one with ‘Kanfield Orchard’ printed on it. The shirt clings to her breasts and tiny waist. She should do ads for us. We’d sell a hell of a lot more shirts if she did.
‘Nice shirt,’ I say, smiling at her.
‘Your mom let me have it in exchange for my help. I was getting too warm in the shirt I had on. I needed something cooler.’
‘It looks good on you,’ I say, loving seeing my family name spread across her chest. If things had been different, if she’d seen me as more than a friend back in school, maybe she and I would’ve ended up together. Maybe she’d havemylast name instead of Chris’.
‘How’s it going, Lyndsay?’ Matt asks as he picks up the jug of water. ‘Nick says you’re helping in the barn?’
‘Yeah. We got all the tables cleaned up and the chairs put away.’ She looks over at me. ‘I love the new barn. It looks great.’
‘Yeah, it’s a lot better than the old one.’
‘It’d be good to rent out for parties or weddings.’
‘They’ve thought about that, but it’s a lot of work. It’s basically starting another business. I’m not sure my parents are up for that.’
‘So they only use it in the fall?’
‘Yeah, as a store and as a place for people to wait before taking the tractor to the fields. And they have the fall festival in there. The festival is so big now that the outdoor space just wasn’t enough.’
‘It’s so awesome what they’ve built here. It’s really amazing.’
‘Yeah, it really is,’ I say, thinking about how much the place has grown over the years. I remember when it was just a roadside stand that sold apples, and now it’s a huge business.
‘Are you guys hungry? Martha and I were going to start lunch soon.’
‘Martha?’ I say, kidding her. I’ve never heard Lyndsay use my mom’s name.
‘She told me to call her that but it feels weird. I keep wanting to call her Mrs. Kanfield.’
‘I’m the same way with your mom. Calling her Patty feels wrong.’
