The Apple Tree (25 page)

“
Thanks for not freaking out too much about… me.” He shoved his hands into his pockets.

She twisted a strand of hair around her finger. “I was freaked out, but I’m growing used to the idea.”

“
Okay, well… I’ll see you tomorrow morning then,” he said.

Her neighbor’s cat approached them and meowed for someone to pet it. He ignored the cat, unable to take his eyes off Bianca’s lips.

“
Okay, tomorrow.” She stood rooted in place.

“
Okay…” He swallowed. “Bye.” Turning, he walked quickly back to the truck.

Bianca stepped inside the apartment, leaned against the door and sighed. She’d wanted to touch him desperately. She wanted him to touch her. She wanted him to push her against the door and kiss her until her knees became weak.

Did he like her in that way at all or did she only imagine his flirting before? She stepped over to the window and peeked out the curtain. His blue pickup still sat on the curb under the streetlight, the engine running. Levi sat in the driver’s seat for an entire minute, until he suddenly opened his door.

Her breath caught as he jogged up the path toward her apartment. She ran to the front door, her fingers struggling with the lock. The knob turned and she yanked it open just as he reached the porch. Her chest thumped erratically as she stepped outside.

He scooped her in his arms and pressed his lips to hers.

Her entire body reacted with burning fire. She reached her hands up to his face, clutching his jaw as the stubble scratched her hand. Her fantasies of kissing him had been nothing compared to the real thing.

His lips moved with hers. Softly at first, but built until they both gasped for breath. It’d taken him so long to touch her that all she expected was a chaste peck and the intensity caught her by surprise. He pushed her backwards, against the cold wall until the length of his body pressed into hers and his fingers moved around the back of her neck, sliding through the roots of her hair.

She groaned and clutched him tighter as the woodsy scent of him filled her senses. This was definitely better than a peck.

He echoed her with a deep husky groan of his own.

As their lips moved against each other, she knew that this was it. That she would never be as hopelessly in love with anyone else.

His mouth left and he pressed his forehead on hers, catching his breath. When he pulled away enough to look at her, his eyes were smoldering liquid silver.

“
Goodnight,” he whispered.

Peter sat in the driver’s seat of the generic Honda civic he’d borrowed to be less conspicuous. As Levi and Bianca embraced under the glow of her porch light,
Peter’s hands squeezed the steering wheel, turning his knuckles white. He clenched his jaw, shut his eyes and took a deep breath, unable to watch Levi stealing his only hope. That bastard had once been his best friend. Someone he trusted.

“
Why is there a goofy grin all over your face?” Levi had asked. He stood by the woodshed outside the elder Cabrera’s home, where Peter’s parents and sister lived.

Peter laughed. “Clara doesn’t want to tell anyone yet, says it’s early, but I’m going to be a father.”

Levi smiled and slapped him on the back. “Congratulations! I’m happy for you.”

Peter laughed, the grin still spread across his face. “Thanks. When are you going to get yourself a woman?”

“
I don’t know. Mama is still trying to get me to ask Edith.” He shoved his hands into his pockets.

Peter shrugged. “She’s a fine girl. It’s not like you got many to choose from out here in Oregon territory.”

Clara stuck her head out the door. “Come in you two. Anna is bringing out the apple pie.”

Levi rubbed his stomach and then turned to Peter. “I found an apple tree on my land, brought some over to share.”

Peter raised a brow. “Delicious. We just planted a tree on the side of our house, but it will be several years before it produces.”

Levi gave him another pat on the back and headed out to the small wooden house, grinning as he passed Clara.

She walked out to where Peter stood by the edge of the woods, her eyes narrowed.

Peter laughed. “I couldn’t help it. I had to tell someone.”

She rolled her eyes.

“
Come on, darling. Let’s have some pie.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, leading her inside.

She shook her head, holding her hands over her beige cotton dress. “I can’t. You go eat. I’ll stay here.”

He pulled her closer, facing her. “You’re still feeling sick? Are you sure this is normal?”

She nodded. “Mama says it will pass in a couple months.”

“
So, you can tell your mama but I can’t tell my best friend?” Peter laughed and brought his lips to hers.

Levi knew what Peter had lost. He knew how he’d suffered and now he wanted to sabotage the only chance he had at a small piece of happiness. True, Levi had met Bianca first, but she was the only thing that made Peter feel alive again after more than a hundred years of torture. Levi was not going to get away with this.

B
ianca lay awake in her bed, clutching a quilt around her shoulders. Her lips tingled and a giddy smile filled her face. How could she sleep after a night like that? Her toes fidgeted beneath the blankets and every time she closed her eyes, her head replayed the kiss on the porch.

But so many questions remained unanswered. Where did the apple tree come from? How did Levi know about it and not Peter? How was it all even possible? She sighed and flopped over, facing the wall.

He would always be beautiful. The idea was comforting, that he’d always be here on this earth, forever. But, she only had a few years before she out aged him. How could he possibly still want her when wrinkles formed around her eyes and her hair grayed? She took a deep breath and ran her hand over face, imagining what it would look like in a couple of decades.

A few short years, that’s all she had before she’d start to disgust him. Unless she ate an apple also… but then someone would die. She groaned. Life was so unfair, not that she’d ever thought it was.

She pushed the thought from her mind and glanced up at the clock, twelve-thirty. Sleep needed to take her soon or she’d be exhausted tomorrow. She closed her eyes, relieved she’d had the foresight to invite him for breakfast. There was no way she wanted to wait any longer to see him again.

Levi tossed and turned under the cotton sheets on his bed. Every cell in his body wanted to drive back over to Bianca’s apartment right then. She knew about him, and she still wanted to see him again. And she’d kissed him— really kissed him.

He sighed and flopped over, his thoughts still lingering on the way her lips had responded to his. How had he gotten through the last one hundred and eighty years without her? The problem was, she’d only be around for a short time, maybe seventy years, before her body succumbed to the natural forces that his never would.

He rubbed his hand over his chin, cursing the perma-stubble. The evening he’d eaten the apple, it’d been a couple of days since he’d shaved. And now, if he took a razor to it, the hair would immediately grow back to the same length it’d been since that fateful day. Really inconvenient for special occasions… and making out.

The pillow grew flat beneath his head. He sat up and fluffed it before flopping back down. If he only had seventy years with Bianca, then he had to make the best of it. He’d take care of her, until she took her last breath and then he’d probably become a shell of a man, like Peter. But there’d be time to think about that later. Today, tomorrow, he’d live in the moment and make as many memories as he could.

When Peter found out they were together, (Were they actually together?) he’d be angry and probably tell his father they had a bargaining chip. He bit the inside of his cheek. The only way to protect her would be to take away the thing his uncle Charles wanted.

The apple tree.

He’d debated cutting it down many times over the years, but uncertainty always stopped him. Was his life connected to the branches? Although, if there was anything worth dying for, it was Bianca. He’d pray about it.

Early the next morning, Bianca immediately hopped out of bed and took a shower. She put on a pretty floral dress and then stood in front of the bathroom mirror blow drying and curling her long hair. Her stomach fluttered as she applied lip-gloss and then took a long look in the mirror. It was silly to get fancied up when she had to change into her ugly work uniform in just a few hours, but she wanted to look her absolute best when she saw Levi again.