The Promise of Pierson Orchard by Kate Brandes

Author:Kate Brandes [Brandes, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781942545514
Publisher: Wyatt-MacKenzie
Published: 2017-04-21T18:30:00+00:00

C H A P T E R 2 0

LeeAnn

WHEN THEY CLOSED for the day, Jack sent the harvest crew home early. He helped her lock up the fruit barn.

“We picked over an acre. I’m beat,” he said, shutting off the lights and stretching his back. “My whole body aches.”

She put her arm around his waist. “I know a cure for that. Come with me.” She started off away from the house.

“LeeAnn. I want to go to bed.”

She came back to him and pulled him by the arm. “Trust me. You need this.”

“Need what?”

“It’s our anniversary, so you have to do what I say.”

He smiled despite himself and followed her, pretending to drag his feet.

She ran ahead of him toward the creek. “Catch me if you can,” she yelled over her shoulder.

“I’m too tired to run. I’ve been trying to tell you that,” he said, jogging after her anyway.

When they reached the edge of the swimming hole they’d played in as kids, LeeAnn took off her pants.

“That water is gonna to be freezing,” he said.

“It’s a warm evening.” She pulled off her shirt and bra. She had his attention.

“Your turn,” she said, smiling at him. He took his shirt off and then the rest of his clothes.

She whistled at him and then jumped into the water and went under. When she came to the surface, her hair was slicked back, leaving her collarbone and shoulders exposed white in the moonlight. “Come on. Jump.”

He stepped in at the edge to his ankles. He gasped and then dove in and surfaced next to her.

“Doesn’t it feel wonderful?”

“It feels cold.”

She wrapped her arms and legs around him.

“Okay, now that feels wonderful,” he said as she pressed against him. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d wake up every day, work myself to the bone, sleep, and do it over again. You give me a life worth living.”

“Big speech.”

“It’s a full moon,” he said, tilting his head toward the reflection in the water.

He nuzzled her neck and kissed her.

“We’ve never done it in Silver Creek,” she whispered.

The memory receded. LeeAnn opened her eyes and saw the raven tattooed on Wade’s forearm. For a long moment she struggled for orientation.

Turning toward the window she lay staring at the moon. She heard a crinkling noise, like paper flapping. The heater for the room under the window blew warm air. Behind a chair next to the window, an edge of something fluttered in the moonlight. She got out of bed and looked behind her. Wade still slept. She slipped on her clothes and then went to the chair. Behind it she found a board tacked with a paper map. She pulled it out and stared. So many pins. Two colors. A green one pierced her parents’ farm. A red one was stuck in the middle of the orchard.

She let the board slip from her hands onto the chair. She put on her shoes and let herself out of Wade’s room.

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