Authors: Reggi Allder
CHAPTER 23
On
the morning of the pumpkin patch grand opening, Amy unlocked the door to the newly painted tack room, now the gift shop.
Would Wyatt show up? She stopped that thought. She didn’t have time to think about anything but getting the pumpkin patch ready for the wanted visitors.
Just then Vanna come up beside her. She balanced a box and a shopping bag in her arms. She set her packages on one of the picnic tables. “Amy, the place looks rad.”
“Thanks. I painted the room and Wyatt put up the shelves and brought in the tables. I couldn’t have done this without his help.”
“Nice to have a hunk around the place.” Vanna winked. “Anyway, I’ve got Emma’s crafts. She knitted the cutest hats for babies and kids. See, orange pumpkins and black cats with the ears sticking up.”
“They’re wonderful.” Amy turned one over and examined it. “I know they’ll sell.” She rummaged through the bag. “Whoa, I don’t know how she finds the time to make so many.”
“She and her mom and grandma make them so fast, they’re a little factory.” Vanna reached into the box. “Here’s Laurie’s stuff. Homemade candles and her husband made wooden blocks and these cute wooden cars.”
“Man these are great. I’ll buy a candle and Bobby would love one of these cars.”
“Hey, Amy, we’re supposed to make money not buy them all.”
“You’re right, but they’re hard to resist.” She grinned. “I hope the moms and kids feel the same way. We can tag them and put them on the shelves around the room. Oh and I got paper decorations. I thought we could string them up in the windows and hang them from the rafters above the picnic tables.” Amy held up a paper ghost. “Spooky.”
They both laughed.
“I’m so excited. This place looks better than I could’ve imagined—Vanna, what if nobody comes here?”
“They will.” Her friend arranged the kid’s hats in piles.
“So much depends on this day being a success. I sure need the money and I know Emma and Laurie do too.”
Well, the kids from my preschool class are coming. And they’re all excited. I had them meet at the school playground. I’ll get them and bring them here in the van. Between word of mouth, and the ads and tweets, people will be here. Mom’s on the way from the ice cream parlor with the vanilla ice cream for the pie alamode and she made raspberry ice for Bobby and anyone else who wants some.”
“You guys are the best.” Amy hugged Vanna.
“Don’t worry it’s all going to work out. Got to get the kids. Be back soon.”
“Okay. See ya.”
Vanna ran out the door. The screen door slammed behind her.
Amy stared after her. What would she do with all the apple and pumpkin pies if no one showed up? She winced at the thought. And the crafts her friends were depending on selling, what would she do with them? Think positive. She had to think positive. That’s what she always told Bobby to do. Just then she realized it wasn’t as easy to do as it was to say.
The sound of Wyatt’s pick-up truck interrupted her thoughts. He’d come after all. Relived, she let out a sigh. In the back of her mind, fear of abandonment had caused her to believe he wouldn’t return. He’d walk out of her life just as her mother had done.
***
Wyatt hopped out of the cab and turned to see his brother’s red X4 BMW pull into the driveway.
“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you here.” Wyatt said as his brother got out of the driver’s side of the vehicle.
“Not going to miss the big event.” Wes hesitated and held up his hands. “That’s if my sorry ass is welcome here.” He grinned, but stayed close to his coupe. “I like pumpkin pie as much as the next guy.”
“Come and get some.” Wyatt pulled Wes close and slapped him on the back then released him.
He wondered how Amy would react when she saw Wes. He knew she hadn’t seen him since his brother called her a slut.
She didn’t have siblings and might not understand that many times, through the years, siblings fought and then forgave each other. Just the way it worked, especially with brothers. They were linked for life. Any woman involved with him would have to put up with the Wes and his ways or the relationship wouldn’t work out.
“Come on Bro, I’ll formally introduce you to Amy. And this time show some of your cowboy charm to her. I’ve seen how nice you can be when you want to.”
“In other words just smile and keep my mouth shut.”
“Yeah, you got it right.” Wyatt chuckled.
The aroma of apple and pumpkin pie permeated the room as they entered the old but remodeled tack room. The din of mothers and their children’s voices filled the large room. It looked like Amy wasn’t going to have to worry about having too much pie left over if the families eating at the table were any example of what could be expected for the rest of the day.
People milled around the edge of the room admiring the handicrafts Amy and her friends had for sale. A wooden truck caught his eye. He ran his hand over the smooth wood. Bobby would dig this. He tucked it under his arm. He ignored Wes’s look of surprise.
True to his word, Wes made a sign of zipping his mouth.
In the crowded room, Wyatt spied Amy standing behind the cash register taking money from a mom. The sound of the cash register rang as he approached.
She glanced at him, her strawberry blond hair in a pony tail tied with a big black bow. In a slim fitting orange blouse, straight black jeans, and orange pumpkin earrings swinging from her ears lobes, Amy pushed up her glassed from the bridge of her nose and grinned at him.
Damn, she’s cute.
“Wyatt.”
“Hey,” he said. A warm glow sparked in him sending a hunger for her shooting through him.
Her expression suddenly turned grim and her eyes narrowed as she looked at Wes standing next to him.
“Amy.” Wes nodded.
Her body stiffened and her lips tighten to a thin line.
“I thought we could make a fresh start.” He hesitated. “Sometimes I can be as ass.”
“I’ll attest to that,” Wyatt agreed
“Yeah, you can,” she said.
Wes grinned and held out his hand. “Peace?”
“Yeah. Okay.” She shook his hand.
“The pie smells awful good,” Wes sniffed and looked toward the makeshift kitchen.
“Take a seat and I’ll bring you some,” she said.
Wyatt stared at a kid sitting alone a picnic table. The only kid who wasn’t eating pie.
“Bobby.”
“Hi Wyatt.” Bobby scooted over making room on his side of the table.
“Big guy, this is my brother Wes.”
Wes sat across from them.
Amy came to the table and asked, “Do you want apple or pumpkin? Or a little of both?”
“Both sound good to me,” Wyatt said.
“For me too.” Wes grinned.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
“Not eating the pie kid?”
“I have Celiac Disease. I can’t eat it.”
“Sorry kid.” Wes cringed and seemed at a loss for what else to say.
“It’s okay. Sophie made my special raspberry sherbet,” Bobby said as if he was used to the awkward reaction.
Wyatt watched his brother squirm.
“Whoa, Bobby, I hope Sophie made enough sherbet for me and Wes too. Her sherbet is way too good to pass up.”
Before he could answer, Amy was back with pieces of pie for Wyatt and Wes.
“Enjoy.” She served the dessert. “I better get back to the cash register.”
“Her son wiped a drip of the pink sherbet from his chin with the back of his hand. “The stuff’s kind a messy. Mom says I gots to use my napkin, but I dropped it on the floor and now it’s dirty.”
“No worries kid. I’ll get you another one.” Wes rushed away from the table.
Wyatt sensed his brother’s relief at being able to find an excuse to leave. Wes had never spent much time around kids, let alone a sick kid. Just then, he realized he didn’t think of Bobby as a sickly kid.
Bobby scooted closer and leaned against him. It seemed the natural thing to do, so he put his arm around the little boy.
“Mommy is busy. She can’t find me a pumpkin til everyone goes home. But the best ones will be gone by then. There’ll only be the ones nobody wants.” The little guy stirred his sherbet then licked the spoon. “Can you help me find a jack o’ lantern? Uh, after you eat your pie?”
Wyatt wanted to smile, but then he saw the little boy’s serious expression and knew it was a big deal to him.
“Sure big buy. I’ll eat in a hurry and we’ll get out there and find a really special one just for you.”
“Wyatt?”
“Yeah.”
“You can have some of my sherbet.”
“Thanks buddy.” He gave the little boy a quick hug.
Bobby jumped up and ran toward the back of the room where Sophie was standing near a refrigerator.
Amy came back to the table with Bobby. She carried a bowl of sherbet. “Wyatt, Bobby wants you to have some of his sherbet.”
“Thanks. Join us”.
“I’d love to, but I’m the only one who runs the cash register. I used to be a bank teller, so my friends think I should do it.” She flicked a stray hair from her face. “I hope you like the pie.” She pushed her bangs out of her eyes. “We’ll be closed at six. If you’re still here, I’ll make you dinner.”
“I look forward to it. Let me know if I can help.”
“Thanks—I will.”
He watched the sway of her backside in the tight black jeans and thought about stripping the jeans down her firm legs and then carrying her to bed, after Bobby was asleep of course.
When they finished eating pie and the raspberry sherbet, he and Bobby ran to the pumpkin patch. Wes followed close behind. Wyatt watched Bobby touch each pumpkin to see if it might be the right one for his jack o’ lantern.
Wes stood next to him and back a few feet from Bobby.
“I never thought I’d see a time when you’d take interest in somebody else’s boy,” Wes whispered. “He’s a cute kid. I’ll give you that. But who’s the father?”
Wyatt shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
Wes stared at him a surprised expression spreading across his face. “But Bro…”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“You got that right.”
They walked behind Bobby, dodging the other kids that ran searching for their “special” pumpkin. A sense of peace spiraled through Wyatt as the patch filled with the sounds of happy kids laughing. They would never know the loneliness and abandonment he’d experience when he was their age. Never feel the void careless parents created in their unwanted children.
After seeing the bitter relationship and the breakup of their parents, he and Wes had agreed to stay unattached, no wife and no kids.
Then he’d observed Amy’s grandparents cope with the ups and downs of their marriage, the financial slumps, and the lost of love ones. But still they stayed together. Wes hadn’t had that advantage. But Wyatt had seen what a relationship could be when the two people worked together as a team. Yeah, sometimes life was tough, but wouldn’t it be even harder without a partner to get your back when things were bad?
As the pumpkin patch filled with kids and their families, Wyatt had to admit Amy had done a spectacular job advertising the event. She’d worked hard with her Facebook page and her tweets, not to mention the human interest stories in the newspapers.
“Wyatt, look,” Bobby shouted. “Here’s my jack o’ lantern. The bestest ever.” The little boy hugged a pumpkin big enough for Bobby to sit on.
Wyatt strolled slowly around the pumpkin. “Whoa, big guy, this
is
the best ever. But I think we’re going to need your wagon to bring it to the house.” He looked at his brother standing in the field, a bored expression spreading over his tanned face.
“Bobby, my brother can wait here and guard the pumpkin while we go get the wagon.” He slapped his brother on the back. “Right bro?”
The look of boredom on his brother’s face turned to disbelief.
Wes opened his mouth to speak, but before he could Wyatt said, “It’ll do you good to be out in the sunshine with the kids, Bro.” He laughed. “We’ll be right back.”
“You owe me.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Wyatt knew he was in for it. Wes would get his revenge. Still, he smiled.
“Big time, Wyatt. You owe me.”
They left Wes surrounded by squealing kids, a look of apprehension spreading across his face, a lost doggie in a herd of children.
Bobby ran toward the house and his red wagon.
It took longer to find and empty the wagon than Wyatt thought it would. He hoped Wes had stayed with the pumpkin. If he left it and some other kid got the one Bobby had picked out, the little boy would be heartbroken. A realization that the boy’s feelings were important to him struck hard like a punch to his chest and for a second he didn’t move, instead, he took a long slow breath.
When they got back to the patch, Wyatt noticed his brother talking to a willowy blond with straight hair hanging down the back of her white shirt. Her well formed rear was expertly displayed in a short denim skirt. Black tooled cowgirl boots hugged her slender calves.