Page 20 of The Homecoming

Autumn sighed, rubbing her forehead. “There are people sitting in church who’ve done far worse the night before, and I don’t worry about it.”

Shirley shook her head. “I know waiting for marriage has gone out of fashion. I’m just disappointed that you didn’t. He should be marrying you.”

Autumn shrugged. “Can I go to bed now?”

11.

Autumn hooked up the brand new scanner she found, still in its original box, buried in the corner. The morning had been a game of trial and error: scanning invoices and getting the accounting software to auto-populate before attaching a scanned image of the invoice to the record. She came dangerously close to throwing the scanner out the door, but it finally worked. A knock came at the open door, where Daniel stood with a bouquet of flowers in a vase.

“Those are beautiful,” Autumn said. She greeted him with a kiss, taking the flowers as she lifted them to her nose to take in the floral scent. “What are you doing here?” She cleared a place on the front of her desk for the vase.

“Wanted to surprise you.”

“You are so sweet.” She pulled Dan in for a hug as they kissed again. “I love them, thank you.”

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist. “So…your mom called my mom,” he admitted, “and she told her we’ve been secretly dating.”

“What?” She shook her head and smiled. “I can’t believe this. How old are we again?”

He laughed. “Apparently somewhere around twelve.”

“Someone told her they saw me leaving your room one morning.”

He rolled his eyes. “So what? I’m not ashamed of us.”

She shook her head. She wasn’t ashamed of being with him, either. “What did your mom say?”

“She thinks it’s great, she told me to invite you over for Sunday dinner.” He paused. “Honestly, I don’t think she was all that surprised. I’m sure she’s heard the same rumors your mom did.”

“Of course,” she said. “You sleep with me, and you’re a man. I sleep with you, and I’m a floozy.”

“A floozy?” He laughed. “You are not even close to being a floozy.”

“That’s not the point.” She stepped out of his embrace, lost in her frustration. “My worth as a person has nothing to do with my virginity. All these gossiping, old biddies in town run their mouths and suddenly, I’m the town whore.”

“Don’t worry about them,” he said. “People say shit.” He moved closer, wrapping his arms around her. “Let me ask you this, are you happy with the way things are with us?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

“Me too. So that’s all that matters in our relationship. Not them.”

***

Over the next few days, Autumn and her bosses painted the interior of the farmhouse. It technically wasn’t in her job description, but she enjoyed the variety. Restoration was completed on the stone fireplace in the formal living room and the group covered it with a tarp, setting about to refresh the formal sitting room they intended to use for a variety of functions. Upstairs was remodeled into a suite where the bridal party could get ready on the big day. There was a small cottage on the other side of the barn that would be used as the grooms’ cabin. The house’s kitchen was small and lackluster; they debated whether to keep it or tear it out to create another room. However, with the place being on the National Historic Registry, they needed to check if they could remove it at all. For right now, the house doubled as their office and if they took it out, they wouldn’t have a kitchen to use. They opted to keep it and discuss usage rules later, seeing as the actual catering kitchen was in the barn.

Whenever Autumn passed by the vase filled with flowers on her desk, she smiled. Daniel made her happy, but she constantly had to remind herself that he would eventually leave.

On Friday afternoon, Ben slipped down the back stairs carrying paint supplies that needed to be cleaned. Unable to walk with a painful and swollen ankle, Brandon took him to the emergency room, leaving Autumn with the responsibility giving a prospective couple a tour of the facility while it was still under construction. She grabbed her purse from under the desk and put on some makeup for the first time in weeks. With her face done, she retrieved the artist renderings of what Huntington Farms would look like upon completion and laid them out on a table in the main room. On a second table, she arranged refreshments—a pretty gallon-sized beverage dispenser with ice water, sliced limes, and oranges alongside a decorative plate filled with cookies. The former dining room was now a temporary storage area where they kept items for weddings. She retrieved three battery-operated candles and arranged them on the stone mantel before switching them on. She also placed paper copies of the artist’s rendering in a folder along with their pricing sheet, contract, brochure, and her new business card. In the bathroom mirror, she had a pep talk, reminding herself these were lovely people looking for a place to get married and she needed to sell them the idea that their perfect wedding would happen at Huntington Farms. Getting the couple to sign on was the goal and the way to keep working with Ben and Brandon. A butterfly appeared in her stomach and she rubbed her clammy hands on her pants when a car pulled up the long drive of the house. Autumn stood back from the window, watching the couple get out and look around. She let them take in the expansive natural view before going to the door, where she stepped out onto the porch to greet them. After introductions, she invited them inside and said, “Tell me about your dream wedding.”

The meeting went better than expected. She walked the couple around the property and explained a few ceremony layouts and reception options. The bride asked many questions, and Autumn thought that she’d answered each one thoroughly. They were pleased and signed a contract right there. After the couple left, she locked the door and texted Brandon, telling him she’d made her first sale. The couple had booked their wedding for May at the farm. Brandon sent back a happy text, informing her that he and Ben were still at the hospital and that it looked like a sprain; Ben would be on crutches for a few weeks. With Ben out of commission, her role would more than doubled over the next few weeks.

12.

Autumn sat next to Dan in the back of his jeep and gazed up at the stars. On the edge of town, far from any city lights, the night sky sparkled with a million twinkling lights. She should be more pleased with such a romantic setting. Dan had pointed out a couple of constellations, but she wasn’t into it tonight. It had been a long few weeks filled with work and they had gone by like a train chugging toward a cliff that they couldn’t see until they were already being thrown over the edge.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She hated that he could read her so easily, and that hiding her feelings from him was nearly impossible “I don’t really want to talk about it,” she shrugged.

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