Page 74 of Spotlight on Poppy

The orchard had felt like a burden her whole life. It had felt like this business that was too important to her family and the town to cast aside, but it held no joy for her. But she had never used her out of the box thinking to find her place in it. Sam fit in it perfectly the way it was, he was a hard worker. He enjoyed the physical labor, which was a completely foreign concept to Poppy, but he really did seem to like working the land and researching how to best take care of the orchard. He had so many ideas for outside attractions for kids and families. He had turned the orchard into something more than it had been. Maybe she should try and do some out of the box thinking of her own and make the family business something she could be passionate about too.

She was pulling another batch of muffins out of the oven as Sam walked in. He was caked in the evidence of a hard day's work at the orchard.

“No way. Do not come into this kitchen looking that way,” she scolded him.

He smiled at her and stepped outside. He took off his jacket and hung it up, then he came in and scrubbed his hands.

“Better?” he asked.

“Slightly,” Poppy said, looking a little less annoyed.

“It looks amazing in here, Poppy. How long did it take you to do all of this?”

She looked around taking stock of the kitchen. She had made over eight dozen donuts and the same with muffins. The kitchen was covered in baked goods.

“I was actually able to get this done today,” she said with a new sense of pride.

“Well now that I know what you are capable of, I am tempted to make you bake like this for the orchard all the time,” he said.

He smirked at her trying to get a rise out of her. That was their usual schtick. He would tease Poppy about putting her to work in the orchard and she would shoot him down, but she didn’t feel like doing that anymore.

“Well, if it gets me off the register I’ll bake all day,” she answered back.

“Wait. Are you serious?” He asked, clearly taken back.

She was too busy taking in the kitchen. It really was filled with food. She needed to start boxing all of it up for tomorrow.

“Poppy, are you serious?” he asked again.

“About what?” she asked.

“That you could bake like this if you didn’t have to work the register,” he clarified.

“Yeah, I think I could. I have actually been thinking about that. I think I would like to start baking more and if that goes well, maybe we can open a little cafe.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Poppy?” he joked.

She hit him in the chest. “I’m being serious. I’ve been thinking about this lately.”

“If you are serious, Poppy, we should talk. This year has been really good for the orchard. Graham and I have been talking about building a few more features and he has some plans for his land. A bakery and a cafe would be amazing, people could spend a whole day here. Don’t kid me about this,” he said, looking almost gleeful.

She couldn’t help but smile. Sam seemed almost giddy. He didn’t get like this often but when he did, it made her happy. Generally, his role in their relationship was to keep her grounded, so when he was the one with the big dreams it made her happy. She lacked the follow through he had, it was something she had always envied. Sam would get an idea, figure out the best way to do it and then go about doing it. Poppy just could never do that. She would have an idea and do it, but she would run out of steam or get bored, whatever the reason, nothing seemed to last. But if she were to bring that same energy to the orchard, she trusted Sam would be able to keep her motivated whether she wanted to be or not.

“Also, you have to try some of Josh’s sandwiches. He’s kind of a sandwich artist. On our first date he made these amazing sandwiches with fresh ingredients. He’s a really great cook.”

“Really?” Sam asked, his brain clearly working.

“Yeah, really. It is just something to think about.”

He was quiet and she could tell he was actually thinking about it. It was amazing how much had changed in her time with Josh, but it all felt right. It felt like this was how it should have been all along. Learning lessons the hard way was something Poppy had always been guilty of, and it was looking like this was no different.

“Well, I gotta start boxing all this stuff up for tomorrow. Did you need something when you came in?” she asked.

“Oh yeah, I just wanted to touch base about tomorrow,” he said.

“I have a tent for you guys to set up hot cider and Gran is working the tent next to you guys with all this stuff. Just get there around one thirty to set up.”

“You got it.” He picked up a donut and took a bite.

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