Sweet Apple Christmas by Anne Chase

Author:Anne Chase [Chase, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Publishing
Published: 2018-10-27T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Minutes later, Holly hopped into her mom’s car, set the boxes of scones and chocolates on the passenger seat, turned the key in the ignition, and felt the engine rumble to life. After buckling in and pushing the seat back a couple of notches — she needed a bit more leg room than her mom — she headed out of town into the heart of the valley. With the car heater on high and the radio blasting “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” she sang along as her neighbors’ homes and farms flowed by, the familiar music and Christmas decorations and the army of snowmen — Heartsprings Valley loved its snowmen — lifting her spirits. Northland Orchard was about fifteen minutes away, nestled at the base of Heartsprings Ridge. She recalled being there once or twice as a kid during the autumn harvests, but her memories of the place were hazy at best.

A few minutes outside of town, she turned off the valley’s main road and headed down a winding lane, her headlights playing across the fields, the snow-topped fenceposts marking her progress. Soon enough, spring would arrive and the fields would once again burst with the hay and sweet corn that farmers coaxed from the valley’s soil. But for now, the fields lay fallow, patiently waiting for winter to pass.

The lane’s dips and curves required her careful attention, so she slowed and focused. She’d always been a decent driver, but living a short walk from the cafe meant that days often passed without being behind the wheel of her car, and it was easy to fall out of practice. As she hugged a bend, she noticed her mom’s Santa Claus ornament swinging gently from the rear-view mirror. A smile came to her lips. Her mom loved her rear-view mirror decorations and was always updating them to reflect the time of year: something with hearts for Valentine’s Day, red-white-and-blue for the Fourth of July, scary-funny for Halloween, turkey-related for Thanksgiving, and of course Christmas-related for her favorite holiday of the year.

Up ahead, the lane began to gently rise. She was getting close to the orchard. Her headlights caught a row of apple trees, branches bare as they hunkered down for winter, followed by another row of trees and then another.

She topped a crest and caught her first glimpse of the farmhouse up ahead, its white clapboard siding sporting Christmas lights twinkling merrily in the darkness. She passed a wooden sign that read “Welcome to Northland Orchard” in the same distinctive lettering she’d seen on Gabe’s apple butter jars.

The lane ended in a wide, well-lit gravel parking area in front of the farmhouse. Several cars and trucks were already parked there, including Gabe’s. Holly pulled in next to his and took a deep breath as anxiety fluttered through her. She turned on the overhead car light and aimed the rear-view mirror at her face. Yes, her lips needed a touchup. She reached into her handbag, eventually finding her lip gloss, which she pulled out and applied.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.