Summer at Orchard House: An utterly compelling and heart-warming summer romance (Blue Hills Book 1) by Ellyn Oaksmith

Author:Ellyn Oaksmith [Oaksmith, Ellyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838887506
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2020-07-12T18:30:00+00:00

He couldn’t stay away. He’d gone on another date with Celia last night and found himself glancing discreetly around the Campbell’s bar, hoping Carmen was there to see him with another woman. What if Carmen didn’t care? That would crush him more than he’d admit. Even to himself. Mostly he worried about not being fair to Celia, who’d looked lovely last night. She’d seen Stella, had reminded him that Stella was dating Paolo, which meant she’d gotten her hair done. He’d complimented it, saying it looked nice.

“It’s shorter, right?” Evan had asked, trying to engage.

She’d laughed. It was a different color. Or was that what she said? He couldn’t remember. He’d tapped his glass, signaling to the waiter that he needed another. A nagging voice in the back of his mind said he was drinking to get through this date. Even when he was fighting with Carmen—and if he was honest with himself, that’s what they did—there were sparks. He felt so brilliantly alive around her. Fascinated.

The date stretched on. When Celia had suggested a walk by the lake, he’d wracked his brain for excuses. It was too early for bed. He had pickers coming in the morning, but Paolo took care of that. What he’d really wanted to do was go home and swim. Because Carmen would be checking on the grapes, walking the fields. In a weird way, it felt like they were communicating because they always went out at the same time. The humid dark, the sound of the lake, distant voices on the water coming from Wapato Point.

It felt intimate. Shared.

He knew it wasn’t rational, but it felt like they had some kind of agreement. A ceasefire every night.

Did she feel the same way?

All these thoughts ran through his brain as Celia told him about growing up in Chelan. The only time he could focus was when he wondered if Carmen had had the same experiences. He needed to end it with Celia. She was a nice woman. She deserved better.

Earlier today, he’d walked down his driveway and back up Orchard House drive carrying a box of eggplants. They were left over from a wedding. Maybe the Alvarez household could use them. That was the excuse he made to himself. It was a flimsy pretext to see her again, even though nothing between them had changed. The kitchen hands had taken the box from him, staring at it like he’d offered them coal. One of them thanked him and went back to their lists, which seemed to perplex them.

“We’ve got like, twenty-three for dinner tonight?” asked the girl.

“Twenty-three people?!” the boy screeched. “Dude, my cooking experience is like, opening a can of Pringles.”

The girl crossed her arms. “That’s not what you told Ms. Alvarez.”

He shrugged. “I thought she was hot. And I needed credit.”

The girl pushed her hair off her sweaty face. “Great.”

“So, is this for a wedding?”

Both teenagers stared at Evan, surprised that he was still there.

The girl shook her head. “No, this is for like, people who are picking grapes.

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