Page 7 of Cozy Girl Fall

Penny’s second shift at the orchard had proved much less eventful than her first—a lot less embarrassing too.

She wished her parents had provided a little more warning that Ethan was working for them before she’d found out by bumping into him unexpectedly.

She’d managed to avoid him during her shift today, and most of her was relieved because it meant she wouldn’t have to face an awkward confrontation any time soon.

The smaller, more traitorous, part of her was a little disappointed not to have caught another glimpse of her ex.

Back when they were younger, things with Ethan had always been comfortable, easy as breathing, so it felt strange now to be so torn in two about his presence at the orchard.

Inevitably, she would come face to face with him again and while on the surface that didn’t seem so bad, the truth was that she was scared of what he might say to her.

The accusations he might level. Or worse, maybe he’d moved on completely and hadn’t thought about her at all in the ten years she’d been gone.

For some reason, the last possibility stung more than any other.

She’d had a lot of time to think while working in the orchard today—a little too much time, really, because now her thoughts were a swirling mass so heavy they sat on top of her like a perpetual rain cloud. So much for enjoying the peace and quiet that came with picking.

Her mom had dinner waiting when she got home, and Penny was grateful.

The second shift had been even more tiring than the first, especially when her thoughts had been running in circles all day and her body had been on edge, jumping at every small noise in case it proved to be an approaching Ethan.

He’d never appeared, saving her from any further embarrassment but not the stiff muscles her constant tension and hypervigilance had caused.

Though, naturally, the universe made up for her lack of humiliation that day by instead forcing her to endure an interrogation by her mother.

“How did you find it today, honey?”

Swallowing a too-large mouthful of lasagna, Penny nodded. “Fine.” Her parents exchanged a look and Penny braced herself.

“Only fine?”

Penny sighed and set down her cutlery. “What do you want to know?”

Angie lit up, eyes taking on a feverish gleam that indicated only one thing: gossip. “I heard that you had coffee with Tasha the other day.”

“And I heard you bumped into Ethan,” her dad added and Penny nodded calmly even as she fought the urge to scream. Goddamn the gossip mill of small towns and perpetually nosy parents.

“Yes to both,” she said and her parents eyed each other again in a way they probably thought was subtle.

It wasn’t. At all. “I’m actually getting drinks with Tasha this Friday,” she offered and her mom beamed, happy for the new information.

Or maybe that Penny was getting out of the house for something other than apple picking.

“Oh, that’s wonderful. Where are you girls going?”

“I don’t know, I think Tasha said it was called Cocktail Club?”

Angie sipped her red wine and nodded. “Yes, I hear that’s where all the youngsters hang out these days. Of course, when your father and I were young the Last Call was the hopping place to be. It’s a shame it closed down.”

Penny’s eyes twitched from the effort of not rolling them skyward. Hopping, really? “Where are you hearing all this?”

A wave of the hand was the only answer Penny got. “Tell us what happened with Ethan.” In sync, her parents leant forward, piercing her with their eyes from across the small table, like her life was the latest episode of her mom’s favorite reality show.

“Nothing,” she replied honestly. And she was lucky that was really what had happened. He would have been perfectly entitled to be mad at her, instead he’d acted like seeing her was no big deal. She wished she could say the same, but Ethan Blake had always had a way of getting under her skin.

Their shoulders slumped, but Angie soon recovered. “Well, I hear that he’s very in demand these days.”

What was that supposed to mean? In demand how?

As if she could see the questions brewing in Penny’s mind, her mom continued, “He works in design, or architecture, right, Phil?” She didn’t wait for an answer before plowing on. “Of course, the poor boy can’t seem to sit still for more than a second. That’s why we took him on at the orchard—”

Penny grimaced, the lasagna turning to paste in her mouth as she washed it down with a large gulp of her wine and tuned out her mom’s mooning over Penny’s ex-boyfriend.

Hiring him at the orchard was one thing, they’d needed the help and of course they shouldn’t have turned it down just because it was coming from her ex.

But still, Penny thought, the adoration was a bit much.

Then again, Ethan was the only boyfriend of Penny’s that they’d met, and they’d been together for nearly four years, so she couldn’t blame them for being attached to him.

Even if it did make things harder for her.

Her dad nodded along, murmuring his agreement with a glazed look in his eyes, and Penny was right there with him until something Angie said caught her attention.

“—terrible business, we were all so sad when the news broke.”

“Sorry, what was that?” Penny blinked her mom back into focus and pushed her plate away, appetite gone.

Angie huffed but repeated herself. “His engagement. It’s been a little while since the town had a local wedding, so we—”

“Wait, what do you mean engagement? Engagement to who ?” An uncomfortable silence grew and Penny forced herself to smile, to ease the scrunched-up tension in her shoulders. “I just hadn’t heard about it before,” she added lightly and her mom nodded, unconvinced.

“You remember Shelby Patterson, don’t you?

Oh, they made such a lovely couple. They would have had beautiful babies,” Angie said wistfully, swirling the red wine in her glass and shrugging when Penny and Philip stared at her.

“What? Oh, well, you know I always liked you two together, honey, but it was good that he moved on after you left. And anyway, things didn’t work out for Ethan and Shelby, so what does it matter? ”

“Who broke it off?” Honestly, she wasn’t sure why she cared.

It was none of her business who Ethan had dated—or nearly married—since they broke up.

It wasn’t like Penny had been celibate while she’d been in San Fran.

And Ethan was nice. Tall. Funny. And had clearly been channeling his singledom into working out, judging by the size of his muscled thighs.

Anyone would be lucky to date him. She shook her head free of the reminder of those legs in her direct line of sight while she’d been on her knees in front of him.

But Shelby Patterson? No wonder she’d been sizing Penny up the other day as though they were in competition with one another.

The thought made Penny shudder. It felt a little like falling into an alternate dimension, it just seemed so wrong.

They’d never hung out in high school, and Shelby had always been …

particular. She wouldn’t be caught dead in an off-brand outfit, and she had been appalled by the pie-eating contest they’d held at the Halloween Orchard Fest one year—and even more disgusted that Tasha and Penny had taken part.

Penny just couldn’t imagine Shelby being Ethan’s type—then again, she didn’t know this new version of him, the one who’d grown up.

Not really, anyway. Maybe designer brands were now his go-to and he’d cringe if he saw the way she could put away an apple-and-pecan pie.

Angie pursed her lips. “I’m not sure. I mean, there are rumors, of course.”

“Of course,” Penny muttered, pushing up and away from the table and then gathering the dirty plates and silverware together.

“Maybe you could ask Tasha,” Angie said thoughtfully. “Report back.”

“Definitely not.” Tasha had been clear enough on where she stood when it came to Penny and Ethan. If Penny showed up with a bunch of questions about him it would raise one too many red flags.

… Even if she was curious.

Hot water poured into the butler sink and Penny added soap before dumping the plates into the near-scalding water and scrubbing at them with an intensity that made her parents give each other another one of those unsubtle looks.

“What?” she barked and they looked away.

“Nothing,” her dad said, eyes a little too wide to be honest and Penny sighed, washing the plates a little more gently.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped. It’s just weird being back here, talking about Tasha and Ethan like no time’s passed and I’m still in high school.”

Angie picked up a dish towel and began to dry the plates as Penny stacked them before pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. “You’re handling it well, sweetie.”

Penny wasn’t sure if she’d agree, but smiled anyway. “So, what else have I missed since I’ve been gone?”

Her mom chatted on as they worked together until the tableware was clean and dried and Penny’s eyes were heavy. It had been a long time since she’d done physical labor quite like apple picking and she couldn’t say it wasn’t affecting her.

“Why don’t you go on up?” Her mom said softly, wrapping her in a quick but warm hug and squeezing briefly. “Have yourself a hot bath to ease your muscles.”

“That actually sounds perfect,” she admitted. “Night.”

“Goodnight, pumpkin,” her dad called after her and she blew him a kiss as she headed up the stairs and set the bath running with a healthy dollop of bubble bath.

The bathroom was one of the more modern rooms in the cottage, with a large claw-foot tub that was freestanding against the wall opposite the doorway and a walk-in shower to her right.

The sink and toilet were hidden behind a paisley blue screen in the far left corner that matched the blue tiles in the shower and the feet of the tub.

The small pops of color made Penny smile as she locked the door and stripped off before turning on the heated towel-rail so that her fluffy towel would be toasty when she got out of the bath.

Warmth cascaded over her body as she submerged herself amidst the bubbles and reached up to turn off the faucets before the bath could overflow. She could practically feel her muscles unknotting as the heat soothed her overworked arms and shoulders.

She was used to being on her feet for long periods of time from working in a restaurant kitchen in San Fran, but picking apples for five-plus hours was a little more intense.

It wasn’t just the repetitive motions of reaching and plucking and then hauling her load down from the tree into the bigger bucket, it was the way the cold weather made her muscles tense and brace against the wind, and climbing the steps of the stool several times like it was a StairMaster.

At least she’d be in great shape in time to overindulge at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The manual labor was nice, though. Something different, yet easy as breathing from her time working at the orchard as a teenager. The only downside so far was seeing Ethan and her embarrassing reaction to him.

It had been a long time since she’d seen him, and it felt like almost as long since she’d had a boyfriend or even a casual hook-up.

It was the only reason she could think of for her body’s reaction to him in that moment, and even a day later her cheeks still pinked at the memory of his large hands on her shoulders, lifting her like she weighed nothing.

If she wanted to keep her cool around her high-school sweetheart, then she definitely needed to get that itch scratched.

Note to self: get laid before you see Ethan again.

Not by Ethan , she quickly amended to herself and grimaced.

Not by anyone in this town. Unless she wanted her parents, and the rest of Magnolia Springs, to know exactly what she was doing and with whom, then a trip out of town to the closest city might be in order.

Ideally before she ran into Ethan again and was forced to be faced with his strong jaw and stubbled cheeks and the large palms with gentle calluses that had pressed against her mouth and—

Penny shut her eyes and shook her head. Off limits .

You already broke his heart once , Tasha’s voice reminded her and Penny blew out a long breath, annoyed that her vanilla-musk bubble bath reminded her of Ethan’s sweet sandalwood scent against her lips.

If she made it to Friday without seeing Ethan again, then she would be able to look Tasha in the eye over their cocktails, knowing she hadn’t broken her promise to stay away from Tasha’s brother.

But if not … Maybe it was best to keep both of the Blake siblings out of her mind, to try to stop it from wandering.

Fuck , she thought and then, as if the universe had heard her thoughts, her phone buzzed on the side of the bath, lighting up with Tasha’s name and starting her spiral all over again. “Fuck.”