Page 27 of Apple of My Eye

Chapter Twenty

Nick

I have only seen Betsy this happy the time Joe pulled her into an impromptu dance across the scratched wooden floor in the kitchen, somehow making their farmhouse look more romantic than any scene in The Notebook .

The spin around the room lasted less than a minute and Betsy smiled from ear to ear for days.

The next morning, she came downstairs with curled hair and blushed when Joe said good morning.

For some reason it made me think of my mamma.

All she wants is for me to have a love like that.

All I want for her is to be loved that way.

Today, Betsy is just as happy, her smile practically splitting her face in two. It overtakes me as well; I can’t help but feel as elated as she does.

‘I can’t believe this,’ she whispers breathlessly to me as we unpack the last of the crates we tucked under the table. ‘This is our stock for half of the year. It’s gone.’ Her eyes are wet when she looks up at me.

‘This is just the beginning,’ I say.

‘I know, I know,’ she mutters, busying herself by unpacking the apple butter. ‘I won’t get ahead of myself.’

I was actually trying to tell her to get more excited, but I don’t correct her.

The last thing I want to do is overpromise and underdeliver.

I still have to run the numbers to determine how much profit we’ve made and I need to model out the rest of the year.

How much product can Besty and Joe produce, their paths to expansion, how can they continue to advertise.

I need to walk Joe through all those things.

Betsy keeps muttering about how much Joe will hate that it was the pig that finally made their business work—I didn’t learn until today that Betsy’s soft heart is the reason they have all the pigs to begin with.

Everyone’s been asking me where Princess Peach is, so I jot down a note to remember to bring her next time.

Almost half of the people who stand in line to take a photo end up buying something from Betsy.

Her hit rate for people who buy the apple butter after trying it is almost one hundred percent.

Our problem now is that we’ve run out of crackers for them to try it on. Another thing I make note of.

The line is still snaking out of our tent when the sun crests high in the sky.

Betsy told me the farmers’ market winds down around 2 p.m. so the town can rest and prepare for the evening carnival, so I pop my head out to check and see how many more people we have to get through before we get a break.

There’s a gaggle of girls in baggy jeans and T-shirts holding up the end of the line but thankfully things appear to be cooling down.

A blonde head catches my eye as I’m about to duck back into the tent.

I’d know those braids anywhere—Eloise. I linger outside the tent hoping that Betsy can pick up the slack while I dawdle.

That’s another thing I need to think through.

Betsy and Joe will need help—more than just seasonal help.

They’ll need someone to help them run the tent all year.

Eloise is slowing as she approaches our stand. I see someone behind her. A man with brown hair spiked with blond highlights in an Anderson Farm T-shirt emblazoned with a bright red apple.

Eloise comes to a jerky stop, taking a half-step before she sees me.

When our eyes meet she doesn’t move even an inch closer.

Her eyebrows furrow, her nose scrunching up in anger.

Irritation flares through me, hot and strong.

She has no right to be annoyed that I’m succeeding.

We agreed this morning that business was business.

I walk towards her quickly, closing the distance between us in fifteen steps.

Even when she’s angry she makes me smile, so I come to a stop in front of her, grinning.

‘You didn’t think I had it in me?’ I ask, elbowing her gently in the ribs.

I don’t know what I’m expecting, but it isn’t what I get, which is Eloise huffing air out of her nose and turning around sharply.

‘Evan,’ she says, just as he catches up to where we’re standing. ‘We’re going.’

I close my mouth just in time to say, ‘Hi,’ to Evan but he’s already walking away. He gives me a wide-eyed look that says sorry, man before he turns to follow Eloise.

I watch them go, growing angrier by the minute. Eloise seemed so cool about things earlier, so apologetic that she didn’t want the Parkers to be able to keep their farm. Now she’s acting like this is personal, like I designed this project to hurt her.

After Eloise dips her head into her tent I reluctantly turn back to Betsy. Thankfully when I get back, she’s laughing, trying to take a selfie with two teens who keep telling her how adorable she is. At least something is right in the world.

As soon as the line dies down to dawdlers, I ask Betsy if I can go help Hazel.

‘Sure, honey,’ she says with a wink, ‘Eloise sure is pretty, isn’t she?’

I give Betsy a stern look. ‘I’m just being a good neighbor.’

‘Mhmm.’

Eloise, Hazel, and Evan are packing up their tent when I walk over.

Their folding chairs and table are already in the truck.

I feel a pang of jealousy that Evan was the person who helped them pack up.

But of course they don’t need me, they were doing this long before Evan or I got here.

I spot boxes of unsold goods in the back of the truck and wince.

‘Hi.’ I wave. ‘Need any help?’

Hazel clears her throat. ‘I’m going to go drop off my pies,’ she says, scurrying out of the back of the tent and towards the neighboring stand.

‘How was your afternoon?’ I ask. I feel awkward now, like the charm I had all afternoon has drained out of me. ‘How did handing out the radish-growing kits go? Did the kids like them?’

‘Fine,’ Eloise says tersely.

Evan clears his throat. ‘I think I’m just going to get one more apple cider donut.’

Eloise’s cheeks redden as he walks away.

Evan stops at the door and turns. ‘Anyone .?.?. um .?.?. want anything?’

‘No thanks,’ I muster. It’s taking everything I can to not immediately wrap my arms around Eloise. She looks completely deflated.

‘You don’t need to help us,’ she says after Evan leaves. ‘You must have a lot to do.’ Her tone has a bite to it.

‘We’re all packed. Betsy’s grabbing some stuff from Hal’s. I’m happy to help.’ I absent-mindedly scratch the back of my neck. Eloise and I never feel this .?.?. stilted.

‘It’s OK. You’ve done enough already.’

It couldn’t be any more clear that Eloise is not paying me a compliment.

‘I think the business will be good for you too,’ I say in a soft voice, the same one I use with my mom when I don’t want her to be mad at me.

‘Even if it isn’t what you wanted, maybe more people coming to your farm will change things. ’

‘You know what, Nick, it won’t work like you think it will.

The Parkers don’t have the soil health to keep their farm going no matter how much you market their pet pigs.

But that’s none of your business. It’s not like you’ll stick around here long enough to know what the impact of anything you’re doing actually is. ’

I take a step back. ‘That’s not fair. I’m making a plan for them. They’ll be taken care of.’

‘A plan?’ Eloise throws her hands up in the air.

‘Farms don’t work with plans , that’s like Farming 101.

Plans get ruined like that.’ She snaps her fingers in the air.

‘One drought, two days of too much rain, three days of an early frost. Plans can’t fix those things.

Good farming can. I thought I explained that to you—’ she lets out an exasperated sigh ‘—but you clearly didn’t listen.

This is why I should have never—’ She stops herself short, her cheeks reddening.

‘I should never have assumed you were different! Men only ever think about themselves!’

I feel myself bristle. This is bigger than me and I’m not sure if she’s talking about Linden or something else. Given the hurt in her voice, I think it might be more than Linden, it probably has to do with her parents wanting to sell their farm, but either way, it isn’t my fault

‘Selling product can help,’ I grumble under my breath. Eloise treated me like I didn’t know anything when I met her because I didn’t know anything, but things have changed. ‘Look, it isn’t my fault that your plan hinged on someone else failing.’

‘Low blow,’ she mutters.

‘Look, I don’t want to hurt you,’ I say, ‘but I can’t let the Parkers down either. Whether you like it or not this is about more than just them. My future is at stake here too. What do you expect me to do?’

She sighs, some of the anger disappearing from her expression. ‘I know. I know you’re doing this for your mom. I can’t ask you to sacrifice the future you’ve planned for her, but I can’t exactly keep helping you hurt me either.’

My heart clenches in my chest. ‘But, Eloise,’ I say, ‘I like you more than for your farming help. Can’t we just separate the two?’

She shakes her head. ‘Maybe it’s a good thing Amie wants to ask you out. Whatever happened between us was a mistake.’

‘This isn’t fair,’ I argue. ‘You’re punishing me for something you would do in my position.’

‘You’re leaving soon anyways, so I suppose we can be cordial until then.’

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. How did we go from spending every morning together to cordial . ‘Cordial? For something that isn’t even my fault?’

‘OK.’ She crosses her arms in front of her chest, her light blue eyes piercing. ‘Whose fault is it?’

I raise my eyebrows at her.

She huffs.

‘Eloise, what happened to “business is business”?’

‘What happened? What happened is that business isn’t business to me. This is my family we’re talking about. This is my life . You’re just doing a fall fling. There are no repercussions for you. I know you feel pressure to succeed at everything to make your mom proud, but .?.?.’

‘You’re acting like I’m not doing this for my degree,’ I say, but even I know the argument is weak.

‘You said it yourself it didn’t matter if you succeeded or failed, you’ll still graduate.

You have a job! Nick, you don’t understand.

I don’t know why I expected you to. But this matters to me.

This is everything to me.’ Eloise voice cracks.

Her eyes start to fill with tears. ‘You know what, just go.’

‘Eloise.’ I step towards her.

‘Go.’ She turns around, her shoulders curving inward. I watch as she scoops up a germinated radish seed, the only container left on the otherwise empty table and dumps it into the trash. Clearly it was the one she had saved for me. My heart seizes.

Just as I’m taking a step towards her I hear the clear of a throat behind me. Hazel appears. ‘I think it’s best if you leave,’ she says softly.

Reluctantly, I obey.