Page 18 of Apple of My Eye

I have a crick in my neck by the time I stand up. It’s past ten in the morning, and Nick and I have been talking for hours.

He glances at his notepad, which is full of scribbled notes.

‘So next week,’ he confirms with me one more time, ‘the farms will be in full swing?’

‘Yep,’ I sigh, ‘our seasonal workers are about to arrive, and that’s when things get really crazy.’

‘Thanks, Eloise.’ Nick wipes his palms across the front of his jeans. ‘This was really helpful.’

‘Hey, the coffee was thanks enough,’ I tell him.

There’s a tiny piece of dust caught on one of his impossibly long lashes and my gaze lingers on it. Seconds pass before we both realize, at the same time, that we’ve just been staring at each other. I wonder if there’s dust on my eyelashes too.

‘Well.’ Nick glances towards the driveway. ‘I better get going.’

My heart tugs. Sunday suddenly stretches ahead of me—empty. I don’t want him to go. ‘Actually,’ I say, before I lose my nerve, ‘I was just about to head to let JJ out. Do you want to come?’

‘You mean I get to meet Joe Jonas?’ Nick asks, incredulous.

I swat his arm. ‘We do not use his full name. JJ only .?.?. You also don’t have to come if you have—’ I gesture at his notepad ‘—you know, like, things to do.’

‘Are you kidding?’ Nick asks happily. ‘Lead the way! Get it, like don’t horses go on leads or whatever.’

I laugh. ‘I’m surprised you knew that.’

Nick stills as soon as we step into North Barn. I hear JJ paw at the floor in his stall. ‘He’s excited to meet you,’ I tell Nick.

When JJ sticks his head out of his stall, nuzzling at my cheek, Nick’s jaw drops open.

‘Can I?’ He reaches his hand towards his neck.

‘Of course,’ I say, mirroring his motions on the other side, both of us stroking JJ’s coat.

‘He’s beautiful,’ Nick breathes.

JJ nickers. ‘He likes you,’ I say, feeling a rush of pleasure in my chest. ‘Here.’ I hand Nick an unripe apple. ‘He loves these.’

‘Really?’ Nick looks at me with so much gratitude in his eyes that I feel like I’m seeing what he was like as a little kid, and my heart squeezes.

‘Really. Just hold it up to his mouth.’

JJ chomps away happily as we lead him to the paddock and let him run around.

‘How long have you had him?’ Nick asks, his gaze tracking JJ as he canters about.

‘Almost fifteen years .?.?. my parents gave him to me in a last-ditch attempt to cure my loneliness. Linden had just hit puberty and decided I wasn’t a cool sidekick anymore.’ I laugh. ‘The irony of it was that right after I got JJ, I met Lily, and—’ I shrug ‘—well, you know how that ended.’

Nick grins. ‘By the frequency with which she calls you, I sure do know how that ended.’

I smile, but watching JJ my smile quickly falls. ‘He got hurt a few years ago,’ I explain to Nick. ‘We really shouldn’t be keeping him here—he’s lonely. But I can’t seem to let him go.’ Just then, he stops prancing and comes up to where we are on the fence.

‘I see why,’ Nick says, reaching out to pet him.

‘It’s no excuse,’ I admit. ‘It’s on my list of things to do.’

‘Ah yes, Eloise and her infamous lists.’ Nick elbows me gently.

‘Who told you about those?’

Nick’s eyebrows knit together as he looks at me. ‘You? You reference a list like every day. Yesterday I’m pretty sure it was something about the places you still needed to clean.’

I roll my eyes, but I’m secretly pleased that Nick pays so much attention to what I say.

After making sure JJ will be happy in his paddock for a few hours, we walk back to the path that joins our two houses.

‘What would you do if you could do anything?’ Nick asks me. We’re walking close, our shoulders bumping every now and then, and each time I want to make touching him last longer. I wish our hands would start brushing against each other too.

‘Work in a lab,’ I answer, ‘like an agricultural research lab.’

‘No way, really?’

‘Really. What’s so surprising about that?’

Nick laughs. ‘I don’t know, I thought you’d say you would travel or, like, open a café or a plant store or a bookshop .?.?. something more .?.?. aspirational?’

I can’t help but laugh at his confused expression, the little divot that appears between his eyebrows when he furrows them. I shrug. ‘I worked in a lab this summer and really loved it.’

‘Why’d you stop?’

I gesture at the hills around us, the rows and rows of perfectly spaced apple trees. ‘This won’t take care of itself.’

‘Isn’t that why you hire seasonal workers?’

‘Well, my parents need me too,’ I remind him.

‘You need you also,’ Nick tells me. ‘If working in a lab is putting your dream first, maybe you do that for a couple years and then come back if you still want to. Your parents will be fine.’

He says it so casually, your parents will be fine , but I can still feel my face fall. ‘I think they need me here,’ I say, but my voice catches, betraying my emotion.

Nick’s fingertips graze my forearm as he reaches for me. ‘Oh, Eloise, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sure that’s true.’

‘You can call me Lou, you know. You don’t have to call me Eloise.’ I switch subjects, not wanting to have to face Nick’s pity.

Nick’s nose wrinkles. ‘Really?’

‘What? My brother gave me the nickname ages ago. He couldn’t say Eloise when I was born so instead he called me “Ee-lou” and over the years it morphed into Lou.’ I pause. ‘You think it’s weird because it’s usually a guy’s name?’

‘No!’ he exclaims, his face flushing red.

Nick blushes , I think, another thing to add to the Things I Like About Nick list.

‘Well .?.?. yes. I have an uncle, Luigi. We call him Lou.’

‘Luigi?’ I laugh. ‘Wow, you are so much more Italian than I thought.’

‘Is that a bad thing?’ Nick asks, batting his eyes at me.

God, no. No, it really isn’t. Nick is moving! I remind myself, trying to fend off the butterflies that wage a war in my stomach every time Nick looks at me. ‘I think you can deal with two Lou’s in your life. I can’t bear that much similarity to your uncle.’

‘You’d be surprised.’ Nick waggles his eyebrows.

‘Isn’t Nick a nickname?’

Nick shakes his head. ‘No.’

‘Do you have a nickname?’

Another shake. ‘No.’

‘We can fix that,’ I assure him. ‘Give me a day to think on it.’

Nick beams. ‘I’d like that,’ he says, and pauses at the fork in the path. He turns back to me, holding a hand over his eyes to block the sun. ‘But I’ll keep Eloise if it’s all the same to you.’

I feel the same tug in my heart at the prospect of him leaving as I did earlier, but I can tell by how high the sun is in the sky that I’m getting a very late start to my day.

I promised Lily I would call her and I promised Mom I would help her in the garden this afternoon.

But I’m not ready to tell Nick goodbye. ‘I still don’t understand what you’ll do with all this information .

.?. you know .?.?. in October .?.?. when you leave here to never return. ’

‘Never say never.’ Nick winks.

There it is again—that swoop in my stomach when he jokes that he won’t leave.

‘Seriously,’ Nick says, oblivious to my thoughts, ‘thank you.’ He places a hand on my forearm as he says it, and a jolt of electricity runs up my spine.

‘Anytime,’ I squeak out. I smell cinnamon and mint and damn , he looks even better up close. I bite my lip.

Nick inhales, his hand lingering on my forearm. A bird stirs in a nearby tree and we both start. ‘So, I’ll see you soon then?’

‘Soon,’ I say.

‘Your mom invited me to the big dinner on Tuesday.’

‘Of course she did.’

He pauses. ‘You don’t want me to come?’

‘No. I’d like it if you came.’

He smiles. I turn to head inside before my telltale blush rises to my cheeks.

Evan: How is our budding romance coming along? Get it? BUDDING *laugh-cry emoji*

Shari: The sexy farmer of my dreams. I cannot WAIT until you get to meet him. Do you think he dresses like Luke from Gilmore Girls or more like the cowboy from that Nicholas Sparks movie?

Evan: Hmmm, probably neither because Luke is literally a diner owner and the cowboy is a .?.?. cowboy. You need to be thinking FARMER.

Shari: Got it, so overalls and a piece of wheat between his teeth?

Evan: Exactly. The wheat is perfect for Lou. Maybe that’s the key to her FINALLY finding someone she’s into.

Shari: LOL

Me: Can you stop. You both know I haven’t asked if he’s single. And he’s not a farmer. He dresses like someone that lives in San Francisco.

Me: Also, Evan, just so you’re prepared. We are WORKING at the Fall Festival. I know you’re not used to real work at your new cushy job so this gives you ample time to prepare.

Evan: He’s definitely single. He’s sending you all the signs.

Evan: You’re acting like I don’t already have my work outfit picked out. I bought the cutest new boots.

Shari: This is criminally unfair.

Evan: Two weeks until I’m King of Carnation.

Me: Hate to break it to you but the people at the old folks’ home are always king and queen. Last year it was Betty and Roger.

Evan: THERE’S ACTUALLY A KING AND QUEEN. STOP IT.

Shari: No, like can we actually stop. I was jealous enough already. I cannot bear to miss a sweet old lady and man pair get crowns. Can we go back to farm boy. Hasn’t he come by the farm like every day this week?

Me: Evan, ilysm. Also, yes, he has. *Sent with invisible ink*

Evan: YAAAAS.

Shari: *Celebration emoji*

Me: You two are forgetting about a key piece of this.

Shari: And that would be??

Me: Um?! That I hope the farm he’s trying to save fails.

Evan: He doesn’t actually care about the farm. Hasn’t he hardly been doing anything? He’s been too busy ‘interviewing’ you!

Shari: LOL!!!!

Shari: Can you get a picture of him?

Me: Are you kidding.

Evan: Just find out his last name!

Me: Guys, he is leaving in October. This is not happening so can we CUT IT OUT.

Shari: Did you mean prune it out? *Laugh-crying emoji*