Page 27 of Keep My Heart (The Haydon Falls #1)

Nick

‘So what’s the latest on you and Lyndsay?’ Matt asks as he sets the ladder up by one of the damaged trees.

‘Nothing. We’re just friends.’

‘You wouldn’t leave your mom’s party to go see a friend.’

‘The party was almost over. I didn’t want to sit there for another hour watching couples make out on the dance floor.’

Matt smiles. ‘What can I say? I got a beautiful wife. I can’t help myself. And it was romantic with all those little white lights and the lanterns. Add in a few glasses of wine and Tessa couldn’t wait to get me home. We might’ve made another kid last night.’

‘Are you serious?’

‘No.’ He laughs as he climbs up the ladder. ‘I’m just saying, it was a good night. Great party. So what’d you end up doing after you left?’

‘I took Lyndsay to play mini golf.’

He was cutting a branch, but stops and looks down at me. ‘You took her to do what ?’

‘Play mini golf. ’

‘Aren’t you a little old for that? And where the hell is a mini golf course around here?’

‘It’s that one behind the coffee shop. Behind the parking lot.’

‘That thing hasn’t been open for like two years.’

‘Yeah, well, they left the equipment out for anyone who wants to play.’

‘That was your romantic date?’ he asks, going back to cutting branches. ‘Taking her to a mini golf course that looks like shit and isn’t even open?’

‘It wasn’t a date,’ I say, raking up the leaves and branches that collected in the grass. The grass needs to be mowed. That’s Brody’s job, but Dad probably told him to hold off mowing until he cleaned up the mess from the storm.

‘Then what was it?’

‘Just two friends going out.’

‘Let me get this straight. You left your mom’s party to go out with Lyndsay, on a Saturday night, but it wasn’t a date.’

‘Okay, for the last time, the party was almost over, and no, it wasn’t a date. I went to see her because when I dropped her off yesterday she seemed .?.?. I don’t know .?.?. upset.’

‘About what?’

‘The fake dating thing. I told you this yesterday.’

‘Actually, you didn’t. You said you didn’t want to talk about it.’

‘And I still don’t.’

‘Just tell me what she said. Does she want to date you for real?’

‘No. She knows it wouldn’t work. We both do. That’s what we talked about last night. I went to see her to make sure there wasn’t any confusion about what this is between us. And we agreed we should just be friends and forget the fake dating thing.’

‘What does that mean? Be friends? ’

‘It means we stay in touch, talk on the phone.’

‘Until she finds someone else.’

‘Yeah,’ I mutter, not wanting to think about that. ‘Oh, and I asked her about Chris coming back for the reunion. She said he won’t. He has a meeting that weekend with some guy in San Diego.’

‘See, this is why I shouldn’t listen to rumors. Half the time they’re not true.’

‘I’m going to finish this row, then go down a few. You need anything?’

‘No, I’m good.’

We continue to work, and an hour later we’re farther along than I thought we’d be.

Matt really is a fast worker. With his help, we’ll get a lot more done than I could’ve done on my own.

But we won’t be able to finish today, not even close.

The orchard is huge. Dad needs to hire a crew to maintain it, but he won’t.

He just hires temp help when he needs it.

‘You guys want something to drink?’ I hear Lyndsay yell from up the hill.

‘Yeah!’ Matt yells back. He’s on the ladder and can see her. I can’t from the ground.

‘Tell her we’ll go up and get it,’ I say.

‘We’ll be there in a minute!’ Matt yells.

‘I’ll just bring it down!’ she yells.

Moments later, she appears with two big jugs of water, setting them on the ground.

She looks so damn hot in those denim shorts and wearing that baseball hat.

She changed out of the plaid shirt and has on a t-shirt, a fitted white one with ‘Kanfield Orchard’ printed on it.

The shirt clings to her breasts and tiny waist. She should do ads for us.

We’d sell a hell of a lot more shirts if she did.

‘Nice shirt,’ I say, smiling at her .

‘Your mom let me have it in exchange for my help. I was getting too warm in the shirt I had on. I needed something cooler.’

‘It looks good on you,’ I say, loving seeing my family name spread across her chest. If things had been different, if she’d seen me as more than a friend back in school, maybe she and I would’ve ended up together. Maybe she’d have my last name instead of Chris’.

‘How’s it going, Lyndsay?’ Matt asks as he picks up the jug of water. ‘Nick says you’re helping in the barn?’

‘Yeah. We got all the tables cleaned up and the chairs put away.’ She looks over at me. ‘I love the new barn. It looks great.’

‘Yeah, it’s a lot better than the old one.’

‘It’d be good to rent out for parties or weddings.’

‘They’ve thought about that, but it’s a lot of work. It’s basically starting another business. I’m not sure my parents are up for that.’

‘So they only use it in the fall?’

‘Yeah, as a store and as a place for people to wait before taking the tractor to the fields. And they have the fall festival in there. The festival is so big now that the outdoor space just wasn’t enough.’

‘It’s so awesome what they’ve built here. It’s really amazing.’

‘Yeah, it really is,’ I say, thinking about how much the place has grown over the years. I remember when it was just a roadside stand that sold apples, and now it’s a huge business.

‘Are you guys hungry? Martha and I were going to start lunch soon.’

‘Martha?’ I say, kidding her. I’ve never heard Lyndsay use my mom’s name.

‘She told me to call her that but it feels weird. I keep wanting to call her Mrs. Kanfield.’

‘I’m the same way with your mom. Calling her Patty feels wrong.’

‘I still call her Mrs. Kanfield,’ Matt says, leaning against a tree as he gulps down his water.

‘We should get back to work,’ I say to Matt, then I look back at Lyndsay. ‘We can eat whenever you guys are ready.’

‘Okay!’ She smiles and goes back up the hill to the house.

My gaze remains on her the entire time. That cute little ass. Those tan, lean legs.

‘You gonna stare at her all day or get back to work?’

‘What?’ I look over at Matt and see him smiling at me.

‘She is pretty fucking hot,’ he says. ‘She’s even hotter than she was in high school.’

‘Yeah, she is,’ I mutter, picking up the rake.

‘I don’t know how you keep going out with her without something happening.’

Things did happen, but I’m not going to tell him that.

‘I told you, we’re just friends.’

‘You sure about that? Because the way Lyndsay was looking at you, I’d say she wants you.’

‘She wasn’t looking at me.’ I start raking. ‘You’re just giving me shit.’

‘You didn’t notice?’

‘Notice what?’

He laughs. ‘She couldn’t stop staring at your chest. How the hell did you get like that, anyway? You got a trainer or something?’

‘I did, but now I just work out on my own. I lift to relieve stress.’ I look down at myself, shirtless and covered in sweat and dirt. ‘I look like shit. If she was looking at me, it’s because she thinks I need a shower.’

‘Yeah. With her.’

I laugh. ‘You’re full of shit. Get back to work.’

A half hour later, Lyndsay returns to tell us lunch is ready. This time I notice her looking at me, at my chest and arms, but I’m not going to read anything into it. She made it clear she only wanted to be friends when we talked last night.

‘This salad is great,’ Matt says to my mom as we’re having lunch. We’re eating outside on one of the picnic tables since Matt and I are too much of a mess to go inside. We’re both sweaty and covered in grass, dirt, and leaves.

‘Lyndsay made it,’ Mom says, smiling at her.

‘One of my yoga students gave me the recipe,’ she says.

‘The steaks are good too,’ Matt says.

‘Mrs. Kanfield made those,’ Lyndsay says. ‘I mean Martha.’

Mom laughs. ‘Old habits die hard. Earlier I called her little Lyndsay, like I used to do when she was younger.’

‘How’s the barn coming?’ I ask. ‘You guys almost done?’

‘We still have to put the tables away,’ Lyndsay says.

‘I can do that. Those tables are heavy.’

‘I don’t mind doing it,’ Lyndsay says. ‘It’s a good workout. And I’m not in a hurry to leave. My mom went to lunch with a friend. If I go home, I’ll just be alone.’

‘You’re welcome to stay,’ Mom tells her. ‘But you don’t have to keep working. You’ve done enough.’ She looks at Matt and me. ‘The same goes for you two. You boys have done enough for today. I don’t want you spending what’s left of your weekend out working in the fields.’

‘Mom, I want to. Dad needs the help.’

‘And I don’t mind staying,’ Matt says. ‘Tessa’s out with the kids and I don’t have any appointments this afternoon.’

She sighs. ‘Okay, but no later than three. After that, you quit for the day. And Nick, I’m making you a nice dinner tonight before you have to head home tomorrow.’

I glance at Lyndsay. ‘Mom, I’d love to, but I kind of already have plans.’

‘Nick, it’s okay,’ Lyndsay rushes to say. ‘We can skip it. ’

‘Skip what?’ Mom asks. ‘Were you two going to dinner?’

‘We don’t need to,’ Lyndsay says. ‘You go ahead with your plans.’

‘I’m taking Lyndsay to dinner to celebrate her graduation from college,’ I tell my mom. ‘She never celebrated it and I wanted to do something special for her.’

‘I didn’t know you went to college,’ Matt says, munching on his salad.

‘Community college,’ she says. ‘I got an associate degree in accounting.’

‘Accounting? I thought you hated math.’

‘Nick convinced me it’s not as bad as I thought.’ She smiles at me. ‘He was an excellent tutor.’

‘What if we celebrate here?’ Mom says to Lyndsay. ‘The boys could come over. You could invite some friends and your mother. It’d be like a little party.’

‘Oh, no, I couldn’t have you go to all that work,’ Lyndsay says. ‘And you need to take care of your husband. You don’t need to throw me a party.’

‘Did I hear something about a party?’

Dad appears, looking much better than he did this morning, and he’s walking like he has more energy.