Harvest Moon (Brook Haven Romance Book 1) (9 page)

“I do my best not to
let Drake see it, but there was just nothing left in my life that really gave
me joy any longer. Then he brought me those damned kits. I tried not to like
them just like I’ve tried not to like every damned stray that boy brings home, but
somehow they weaseled themselves into my heart and as reluctant as I am to
admit this … it feels like it’s breaking. I know that it’s just about the loneliness
and the fact that taking care of them made me feel useful and gave me something
to look forward to. Now that they’re gone, I just sit here waiting for one day
to slip into the next. It’s almost unbearable.”

Sunday afternoon while
Sophie was sitting at the computer in the office, Brenda knocked on the door.
“Come in, Mom. You don’t have to knock.”

“I didn’t want to
disturb you,” she said, sitting in the chair across the desk and resting her
crutch down next to her. “I wanted to ask you a favor.”

“This doesn’t involve a
gorgeous man and a bike ride, does it? Because he and I have that all figured
out–”

Brenda smiled. “No, but
I am happy to hear that. One of these evenings when we’re sitting in front of a
nice fire, I’d like to hear more about it.”

Sophie winked at her.
“You got it. What do you need, Mom?”

“Well, I was hoping to
borrow the car next Saturday to drive Mac to Westford.”

“Westford? Isn’t that
like a two-hour drive?”

“Yes. It’s where the
kits are. They’re at the wildlife rehabilitators there, and I think it would do
him a world of good if he can just see firsthand that they’re being taken care
of.”

“What about your foot?
Have you spoken to Brooke about driving with it?”

“Honey, I really don’t
use my left foot to drive. I haven’t spoken to Brooke about it, but I will if
you absolutely want me to.”

“No, it’s fine. You
know I don’t mind if you use the car. I just worry about you.”

Brenda laughed. “I know
… way too much. You need to have a baby or two so you can refocus all of that
unnecessary worry.”

“All in due time,
Grandma.”

Brenda’s face lit up.
“I like that. Or maybe Nana …”

“Run along now. I’m
taking reservations,” Sophie told her with a smile.

“How exciting! How many
now?”

Sophie looked like she
was about to burst as she said, “There’s only one room left, Mom! Two of the
rooms were reserved for a week! I’m so excited!”

“Oh honey, I’m so proud
of you!”

“Thanks Mom. You know I
couldn’t have done any of this without you and Drake.”

“I know,” Brenda said
with a grin. “I’m going to get dinner started. I’m really, really proud of
you.”

“Thanks.”

She left, and Sophie
went back to answering her emails. An hour passed by quickly, and Brenda called
out to her that dinner was ready. While they ate, her mother asked her, “So
have you thought any more about hiring some help for reservations and
housekeeping and all of that so you don’t have to work yourself to death?”

“I’m thinking I’ll wait
a while on that. I really want to do this myself, Mom.”

“And what about Drake?”

“What about him?”

“I was under the
impression the two of you had sort of … come to an agreement about how you feel
about each other.”

“Yes Cupid, we’ve
discussed it. After I get the place open, there will be a little rush, but it
should calm down enough to leave me with some time—”

“Baby, ‘some’ time will
not be enough for a new relationship. You’ll need to be there 100%.”

“I understand that, Mom,
but this place is virtually a new relationship too, right? I need to see this
through, and then Drake and I will see where we go. I’ve already talked to him
about that and he’s okay with it.”

Brenda looked like she
had more to say, but she held her tongue. Instead she said, “Did you know that
Drake hasn’t gone to the farmer’s market for two weeks?”

“He hasn’t? Why not?”

“Mac told me yesterday
that he’s been taking Sundays to help his other clients get ready for tourist
season as well. He told them he was too busy at first, but then he felt bad.”

Sophie smiled and shook
her head. “Of course he did. He has such a good heart.”

“Yes, he does. Oh! By
the way, Mac showed me his workshop and the statues. I love them!”

“I didn’t want to bring
it up because Drake said he’s been so sad. Has he started on any for me?”

“He hasn’t been working
this week, but he has two that were already nearly finished and he showed them
to me. One of them is a grizzly bear and the other a wolf. He said he was
planning on finishing them for you. I think you’re going to love them.”

“How exciting! I can’t
wait to see them.”

“Did you know also—”

Sophie laughed. “How
long was this visit?”

“A few hours and half
of a chocolate cake, and when I left he was smiling and laughing.”

“You’re amazing.”

Brenda waved her palm
at her and went on, “As I was saying, did you know that Drake made the furniture
in both of their places?”

“I meant to ask him
about that, but I got distracted and forgot.”

Mischievously, Brenda
said, “Really? What was it that distracted you?”

Sophie laughed and
ignored the question. “So what about the cushions? Don’t tell me that Drake
sews too and I didn’t know. I could have used him to make some curtains around
here.”

“Mac said the lady that
owns the general store in town makes those, so I think you’re out of luck when
it comes to Drake making curtains for you.”

They finished their
dinner and then cleaned up the kitchen. After Brenda left to head down to her
own cabin, Sophie called Drake.

“Hi beautiful.”

“Hey! You sound tired.”

“I’m okay. It’s Sunday,
I’m relaxing.”

“Your nose is growing.”

He laughed. “What?”

“Mac told Mom that
you’re spending your Sundays working.”

“They’re not allowed to
hang out together anymore.”

She laughed. “Yeah,
good luck telling Brenda Michelson that she’s not allowed to do something.”

“I think her daughter
got a little of that.”

“Don’t change the subject.
Listen, we’re really close to finishing everything up around here. It would be
perfectly okay for you to take a day or two during the week to take care of
your other clients and go back to having your Sundays for the market and
relaxing.”

“Nah, I want to make
sure you’re good to go. I’m keeping up …”

“I have no doubts that
you are. You’re the hardest worker I’ve ever met. But you need at least one day
to relax.”

“What did you do
today?” When Sophie didn’t answer right away, he said, “Sophie … did
you
take the day off?”

“No, but that’s—”

“It’s not different.
You need rest as much as anyone else does—maybe even more, because I’d be
willing to bet you wake up thinking about that place and go to bed thinking
about it.”

“Well then, you’re
wrong. I do wake up thinking about this place … but late at night when I’m all
alone, it’s you I’m thinking about.”

“Wow. I like that. What
do you think about me?”

“You know … how it’s
almost eight-thirty and you really should get some sleep.”

“Are you kidding?
You’re not going to tell me?”

“Is there not already
enough tension between us? I’ll tell you when this is over and we have our
date, how’s that?”

She could almost hear
him smiling. “I’m going to hold you to that. I’ve already started making plans
and reservations for the weekend after the festival.”

“I can’t wait,” she
said honestly. She still had reservations about leaving the inn in the hands of
someone else that soon after the grand opening, but she had made a promise to
Drake and she wasn’t going to go back on that. “I’m going to let you go now,”
she said. “Get some rest, okay?”

“You too, beautiful. Sweet
dreams.”

****

 
On Wednesday morning, Drake borrowed a backhoe
from one of his friends in town and was using it to fill in the potholes in the
dirt driveway. Sophie wanted to eventually pave the whole thing but told him
that it would likely be the following summer before she was able to do that, so
for now he was going to make it at least smooth and easy for her guests to
maneuver. He’d just dumped and smoothed his last load of dirt and was backing
away from the house down the long path when he saw her come outside. They had
both been so busy again this week that he’d barely gotten to see her.

She had her dark hair
in a side braid and was wearing a pair of jeans with holes in both of the knees
and a pink-and-blue plaid shirt. He watched as she pulled on her jacket and
headed toward her car. He was thinking that she looked good enough to eat and suddenly
had an idea. He put the backhoe in drive and caught up to her just as she was
reaching for the car door.

“Hey, boss, where are
you going?”

“Mrs. Larson said I
could come and pick some apples today before they start harvesting them next
week. I wanted to have some nice ones for the guests and maybe make a pie or
two.”

“Climb on up. I’ll take
you over.”

She laughed. “You want
me to ride eight or ten miles on a backhoe?”

“Why not? Where is your
sense of adventure? Besides, the really good apples are up high. You’ll never
be able to reach them from the ground.”

“You can drive this
thing through the orchard?”

“Sure, it’s like a
tractor. Come on … go for a ride with me.”

Sophie laughed again
but when Drake held his hand out to her, she took it. He pulled her up into the
partially enclosed cab of the big machine and she slid into the tiny spot next
to him. It was technically a one-seater, so the quarters were nice and cozy.
Drake started it back up and once he put it in gear, Sophie held on to him for
fear of vibrating right off the seat. When he got to the end of the driveway,
he slipped his arm around her and pulled her in for a kiss. When he let her go,
she said, “This is why you wanted to take the backhoe, isn’t it?” She had to
yell in order for him to hear her.

He grinned. “Absolutely.
Are you complaining?”

“Not at all,” she said.

He grinned at her again
and then reached across her and pulled the seatbelt over her lap. He strapped
them both in the one belt and then winked at her and said, “Here we go.”

The backhoe was old and
only got up to about thirty miles an hour, but that was okay with Drake. The
longer it took them to get there and back, the more time he got to spend with
Sophie. The day was crisp and it was becoming apparent that the change of season
was at hand. The gray clouds that overlapped each other overhead threatened
rain, and the leaves on the trees across the hill had begun to turn yellow or
copper; some of them had already begun to fall to the ground.

It took them thirty
minutes to get to the Larson place. He wondered if Sophie was thinking about
the time. She looked like she was enjoying the ride and the scenery as much as
he was until they got to the old bridge. As he headed toward it, she gripped
his thigh—which he very much liked—and said, “What are you doing?”

“This is the way to the
Larson place.”

“You’re taking this
thing over that bridge?”

“It’s fine. We used to
run tractors across here all the time.”

“Used to? You mean you
haven’t done this in a while? What if it collapses?”

Drake looked serious
and said, “Can you swim?”

“What? Yes … of course
I can swim—”

“Then you’ll be fine,”
he said. He looked like an ornery little boy as he floored the big diesel and
acted like he was going to head across the bridge.

“Drake!”

He suddenly laughed,
and Sophie realized he’d been teasing her. She punched him in the arm. “You’re
such a punk. I really thought you were going to drive across that.”

Still laughing, he
said, “It would never hold up. There’s a sandbar up here about a mile away. We’ll
cross there.”

“Punk!” she said again,
laughing too. When they got to the sandbar, Sophie once again clutched his leg
as they went across. She breathed an audible sigh of relief once they were on
the other side. That put them at the long, bumpy gravel road that led up to the
ridge. The natural vibration of the big machine coupled with the bumps of the
road had Sophie’s teeth chattering together. She had to admit, though, that
this was much more fun than she would have had taking her SUV and the main road
through town.

Once they reached the
top of the ridge, she saw the beautiful orchard below them. The wind was
picking up and the emerald-green leaves of the apple trees swayed back and
forth. Drake drove the backhoe down the steep hill and between two rows of
trees. He killed the engine, and Sophie looked around at all of the trees with
luscious red apples dangling from their branches, just begging to be picked.

She closed her eyes and
breathed in the scent. It smelled like rain and sweet apples. A lot of them had
already fallen on the ground, and Sophie saw a couple of squirrels darting in
and out of them like they were running a miniature obstacle course. The trees
looked like upside-down champagne glasses, and their gnarled trunks were so
thick that even if she stretched her arms as far as she could, she wouldn’t be
able to reach all the way around any of them.