Sunrise Point (Virgin River #19)(67)

“But Maxie loves the orchard,” Nora said, feeling a bit panicked at the very thought. “She loves to cook and garden and have tons of people around!”

“Please,” Darla said, laughing. She threw a hand wide. “This look relaxing to you?”

Nora swallowed. “Maxie loves this. I can’t imagine Tom without her here!”

“Who says Tom is staying here? Look at him out there.”

He was a pure pleasure to look at, laughing with men from the town, flirting with their wives while he bagged up apples, turning so they could admire the sleeping baby on his back. Everyone was going to be bone tired when this was over, but they’d be happy to have had all their friends together, their neighbors, their town, not to mention all the folks who came from much farther away every year.

“See how great he is? Tell me something—if he can sell apples with that little effort, imagine what he could do with a product that brings in tons of money.”

“They’re his apples,” Nora said quietly.

“Maybe not for long.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we’ve talked about the possibilities of retiring Maxie, selling the orchard and settling in a city rather than the back woods. With Tom’s experience in business, his degree and his persuasiveness with people, he could do almost anything, but let me tell you—he’d be a natural in sales.”

Nora told herself there was absolutely no excuse for feeling like she’d been sucker punched. There was nothing between her and Tom except a friendship she was very grateful for. And he deserved to have a life—a wife, children, happiness. “So…you’re getting married, then?”

“Well, we’re certainly not engaged.” She held out her hands, fingers splayed, demonstrating no ring. “But just between you and me, I think it’s only a matter of time.”

“Congratulations,” Nora said, hating the weakness in her voice.

“Thank you,” Darla said, straightening a bit. She was proud of that—being in love with Tom, counting the days until he asked her to marry him. “Well, look, I’m sure you have to get back to work and I have a little reading to do. And, I want to change clothes before evening.”

Nora bit her tongue against asking why. Instead she told a huge lie. “Nice talking with you, Darla.”

“You, too, Norma.”

“No, it’s Nora.”

“Oh,” she said on a laugh. “Right.”

* * *

Sunday at the orchard was a repeat of Saturday with lots of people turning out, and in most cases not the same people. The big difference for Nora was that her dad and Susan brought the little girls, watched them, napped them, fed them and did all that while meeting half the town.

“Sunday afternoon is my regular day to visit Nora and the girls,” she heard Jed tell someone. And, “Yes, you have it right—we were estranged for many years but by good fortune and Reverend Kincaid, reunited. Bitter divorce—I’m sure you’ve heard of such things.”

She just smiled to herself when she overheard him. He didn’t seem to have any shame or blame, just the facts. She admired that.

In the afternoon, people began to leave. First to go was Darla, her many suitcases carried to the red Caddy by Tom, a rather platonic kiss goodbye and off she went. A bit later Rosalie and Penny loaded up and departed and when Nora saw that, she bolted to their car to give them each a hug. “Will you be back?” she asked.

“See you on Thursday,” Rosalie said.

“In the meantime, see if you can get Maxie to rest a bit before the next surge.”

“I don’t like rest,” Maxie said. “I can rest when I’m dead.”

And the three of them laughed, but Nora didn’t. She carried the secret about Maxie going into retirement so Tom could sell the orchard and marry Darla.

When the October sun was lowering and the clouds moving in, Tom told her to take her kids and go. And he suggested she take her time in the morning. “It’s been a long week and big weekend for everyone. We don’t have to start at the crack of dawn. Sleep in if you can.”

She wanted to grab him by the front of his jacket and beg him not to move Maxie into retirement, not to sell the orchard and go away. Instead, she couldn’t help but smile at him. “Will you sleep in?”

“I’ll try, but when Maxie starts banging around pans and Duke sticks his cold nose in my face, I usually get up. I like mornings.”

She had learned to love the mornings as well, especially since she had a job to look forward to and more so now that she had a car to drive her there.

After a full afternoon of playing outdoors at the orchard, the little ladies were in dire need of a scrubbing and bed. Jed and Susan wanted to hang around awhile to talk to Nora, so she cleaned up her girls and settled them in bed. Just as she’d been completely unprepared for toys, clothes and furniture, her father managed to surprise her once more.

“Your friends at the orchard are wonderful,” he said. He grabbed Susan’s hand and said, “I want to make something available to you—something for you to consider for the future. And please, there’s no pressure of any kind. If you have an interest in finishing your education, I have some advantages as a tenured professor. Not only is your tuition waived, after a little checking I found out I can get you into family housing. Child care on the campus is affordable. Nora, if you’d like to go back to school, I’d like to help make that happen.”