Page 60 of No More Hiding

“And you’re dressed for it too,” he said.

She had jeans and sneakers on, a cotton shirt and a sweatshirt with her. It was sunny and low sixties, but the air had a bite to it.

“Sammie needs to go in her crate,” she said. “I bet she would have enjoyed the outing.”

“I’m sure, but no. She can stay.”

He grabbed a sweatshirt and they left to drive the thirty minutes to the orchard. There were a lot of cars there. Kids were running around, adults with bags of apples, decorations for Halloween could be seen too.

“Where to first?” she asked.

“Apples of course. Then we can bring them back and put them in the car while we get a hayride and maybe check out the bakery and the press. I’d love some cider.”

“You’re feeling like a kid again, aren’t you?” she asked, wondering if he was having memories of doing this with his sister. “Did Maureen like to do this?”

He turned and smiled. “Yeah. We used to have a competition who could pick the most the fastest when we went. She was the athletic one and always was climbing the ladder to get higher. She’d win because she got more that way.”

“Slow and steady could win the race at times,” she said.

“Not when Maureen was around.”

He never talked about his sister or Rob with sadness and she’d have to think he was coping much better than his mother thought.

They got some bags and made their way through the orchard, stopping and picking different kinds of apples.

“I’m not sure how we are going to eat all of these,” she said when they put them in her car after they paid. “Now we can get on the hayride. There are so many kids over there in line, I feel like a fool.”

“Don’t,” he said. “We don’t always get to feel like a kid at times. Trust me, it will be worth it.”

They climbed on, the guy driving the tractor, saying, “I’m Nick. Welcome and hope you enjoy the ride around our grounds. If you haven’t been apple picking yet, we hope you stop and get some delicious apples in the market or baked goods in the bakery. Can’t forget the cider either. Everything here is freshly made at the orchard. If everyone is ready, hang on and enjoy the ride.”

She grabbed Brent’s hand when it jerked as they took off. “I thought the hay would be more uncomfortable than it is.”

“Let’s hope we don’t get a rash on our butts from it,” he whispered in her ear.

She laughed. “We’ve got jeans on.”

“Something is poking through my leg,” he said. He grabbed her hand and put it under his thigh. “Help me out and move it.”

“Why do I have to?” she asked.

“No one will think anything if you are touching my leg. If I do it, they might think I’ve got bugs or something. You know how kids can be.”

She laughed and looked at the kids on the ride with them and wondered if he was joking or not.

It didn’t matter. She was having too much fun to think about it and enjoyed the ride like Nick had suggested.

They bought their cider, got some donuts to have for breakfast tomorrow, and were heading to the car to go back to Brent’s house. They even had some homemade dog treats for Sammie.

Brent stopped outside a big burgundy and deep purple bohemian fortune teller’s tent and said, “Let’s get a tarot card reading.”

“What?” she asked and looked toward the tent he was pointing at. She’d rather not, but if she said that would he think she was hiding something? She was, but she didn’t want him to know that.

“It’s neat. I always wanted to do it. We’ve done a bunch of other things, why not?”

“Sure,” she said with a smile on her face. A forced one at best. But he’d given her a great day she’d never experienced before and, for that reason alone, she owed it to him.

They walked into the tent, there was no one waiting, so they moved closer. “Have a seat,” the woman said. “You must be Vivian.”