Page 2 of Cozy Girl Fall

The roads were largely clear, what with it being the middle of the day.

Most of Magnolia Springs’ residents were at school, work, or eating lunch around this time.

Though a handful of retired older ladies could usually be found in the park doing tai chi on most weekday lunchtimes and, sure enough, she drove past them stretching under the shade of the magnolia trees on her way out of the old town, toward the bridge that would take her out to the sticks.

Also known as her parents’ place, along with the adjacent apple orchard they ran.

The only other thing that was just as far out of town were the stables across the way from the orchard which old man Colton had owned since she was little.

When she was a kid, she’d often strolled across the field and fed the horses any apples they’d picked that were a little too bruised to sell.

During her childhood, fall was always filled with the scent of sweet apples, grass and horses, and the occasional vanilla milkshake at Cathy’s Diner in town, which had been like a second home when she was a teenager.

It was funny how quickly time passed.

The trees outside of the window were familiar as she drove by, the leaves still largely green even as a few edged toward turning yellow.

San Francisco was an altogether different kind of beast to the small town she’d grown up in; she’d always felt an edge of unfamiliarity to the city, even after she’d lived there for ten years.

In comparison, she hadn’t realized just how much of Magnolia Springs was ingrained on her heart and memories until she was driving past old haunts, able to recognize familiar turnings by the shape of tree branches alone as they flanked either side of the bridge up ahead.

In truth, she hadn’t expected that returning to Magnolia Springs would feel quite so nostalgic.

Familiar, but not. Small and subtle changes made the town feel slightly off-kilter, like looking in the mirror the morning after you dye your hair and being slightly surprised by what you find—same, but different.

Penny could probably categorize herself that way too.

She knew she’d changed in the ten years she’d been gone, but being back here …

it was hard not to fall into familiar patterns.

Waking up early for a cup of coffee with her dad, taking extra-long showers now she didn’t have to worry about her water bill, suddenly wanting to rewatch old TV shows that she’d been obsessed with as a kid but had hardly thought about since then ( Gilmore Girls was, unsurprisingly, top of the list at this time of year).

Clearly her mom was having the same problem, given that she was already sniffing around Penny’s love life.

The car jolted as she made her way up and onto the bridge over the river, the space only big enough for one vehicle at a time.

A groan from her car made her wince, the suspension having forgotten the country roads around here after its time in the city.

The sound unexpectedly shoved her into a not-so-fond memory of her first driving lesson once she’d got her permit.

It had been late summer; the heat was starting to ease off in favor of the cool evenings that marked the approach of fall, so they’d had the windows rolled down.

The sound of the water beneath the bridge had been soothing.

So soothing, she must have relaxed a little too much.

She’d nearly driven off the bridge after applying the gas a little too heavily.

The car had lurched forward, her instructor had shrieked and that had made Penny shriek too until they crossed the small bridge and came off the other side, still screaming.

Now, the drive was so familiar it felt like she was on autopilot, like at any moment she’d be turning into her high-school best friend Tasha’s drive to go to the movies or out to the springs at the top of town.

Lost in the memory, the rest of the drive back to the orchard passed quickly until she was turning into the narrow dirt lane that led to her parents’ cottage and parking on the pebbles by the side door.

“That was fast,” her mom called out of the kitchen window as Penny slammed the car door closed.

“Did you get what—” Her eyes widened and suds flew through the air, splattering against the window as her hands flew up to cover her mouth.

She choked on the soapy water as she took in the state of Penny’s pants. “What happened to you?”

Penny raised one eyebrow as she ducked under the low-hanging frame and pushed the door closed behind her.

Angie Larkin looked a great deal like her daughter, their hair the same shade of chocolate brown, and the heart shape of their faces matching one another.

But where her mom’s eyes were brown, Penny’s were a green-gray that changed depending on the light.

Water dripped from her mom’s hands, a puddle quickly forming on the wooden floor as suds continued to slip down the pane of glass that overlooked the garden and makeshift carport.

“I wore white and God laughed,” she muttered and her mom clucked sympathetically as she reached for a cloth to dry her hands and mop up the mess. “And we need to have words.”

“Oh dear, well, go ahead and get changed, honey. Then I want to hear all about your date with Jake.”

Penny bit back her groan and instead nudged off her Uggs before heading for the stairs to her left.

The creak under her feet was as familiar to her as the freckle on the back of her hand and she didn’t even wobble when she neared the top and the second-to-last step bent and gave under her foot—the warped wood had been that way ever since she could remember.

The route to her old room was the same, but the contents had changed a lot since she’d left town at eighteen without looking back.

It was the second, and smaller, of the two bedrooms in the cottage and her parents had redecorated it about five years ago.

Instead of the hot-pink walls and jewel-toned drapes she’d favored as a teen, the room was now bright and airy.

Her mom had called it modern farmhouse , whatever that meant.

But it was refreshing and she was glad to have a break from the constant déjà vu being in town gave her.

She peeled off her ruined jeans and sighed as she crumpled them into a ball.

They would probably have to be trashed, which was seriously annoying because they didn’t even make this style any more.

And even if they did, she couldn’t afford to splurge on them.

Not having a job was irritating that way.

She had some savings, but she couldn’t justify spending money on jeans when she was back living with her parents again.

After a quick shower and a change into some comfier clothes, Penny knew she couldn’t avoid her mother any longer.

Not if she wanted to maintain a semblance of privacy anyway, because her mom could and would come charging into Penny’s bedroom at any given moment that the fancy took her.

Plus, they needed to talk about the surprise blind date she had conned Penny into going on.