Falling for Autumn

Chapter 2

pulled up the gravel lane and into the parking lot. When the orchard opened for the season, the employees had to park in the pasture for overflow visitors, but this was training weekend meaning up front parking was ours.

Which was good because it was 7:16 am.
I thought one stop light on my way here might have been broken it stayed red so long. The thing is no one is out. This area is largely college students. Meaning life on Saturday's doesn't really begin until 10 or 11am at the earliest.

I got out of my car and grabbed my bag. I had finished my coffee, but the anxiety over being late was making me scatterbrained.

I turned to head inside and looked up and was met with the greenest eyes I'd ever seen. Those type of eyes that put you into a trance. I blinked and looked again and took in the owner of the eyes. He was near my age. Short brown hair. Athletic build (definitely works out). Essential he was hot. And I saw a smirk on his face while looking at me.

I glanced to my left.

Hat.

I forgot to put on my hat.

Looking at my reflection in the car, I can see why he thought I looked funny.

Fuck. What is it that when you look your worst every hot guy suddenly appears. On those days where you feel good about your appearance, dare I say even attractive, you see no one. Like suddenly all attractive people stayed inside that day. Maybe it's pscologicsl but someone should look into that.

Back to the task at hand. Hat on. Hot guy long gone. Headed to the door. 7:20 am.

I shuffled into the cafe of the orchard and found a seat in the back.

Mrs. Everly was at the front and gave me a look. Her husband was busy clicking through his PowerPoint and didn't seem to notice my lateness.

The Everly's owned the orchard. I met Mrs.Everly my freshman year at the farmers market. Off season they have a booth there where they sell fruit that's for sale, baked goods from the cafe, and honey from their hives

My mom was visiting and we stopped by and she easily befriended Mrs. Everly. The topic of my job search came up and Mrs. Everly excitedly suggested I come work for them.

I had no idea what to expect that first year. The orchard had anything and everything you might want to experience in fall.

The cafe was open year round. They served amazing fresh baked goods and during the fall there was every fall treat you could imagine. They had a year round staff working at the cafe. It opens at 8 am on Saturday's which is why the we had to be here early.

The rest of the operation is only open from the first day of fall (September 22) until the Saturday before thanksgiving.

To start there's a general store that sells tickets to the activities, picked fruit, baked treats from the cafe, cider, honey, and other miscellaneous items from locals like art and jewelry (the Everly's are big on supporting others). If you are assigned there you work the register or restock.

Then there's the activities.

A petting zoo. (Not the best assignment. Animals are cute but waste removal is not the best task.)

Corn maze. (Have to keep track to make sure everyone comes out. It's even open at night with flashlights. There's checkpoints throughout where you punch your ticket. It gets boring directing people and keeping track of how many people are in there though. I always go through it at least once though. Mr. Everly creates a new design each year.)

Hay ride. (Mr. Everly or his son Daniel take care of this. They turn it into a haunted experience for Halloween.)

Apple picking. (There's a large portion of the property that is Apple trees. Tons of varieties. Working here means helping with ladders and keeping an eye on people. Ladders are heavy if you were unaware though.)

Pumpkin patch. (A few people are asked to help people assist with lifting and transporting the pumpkins.)

Pumpkin carving. (My favorite station. One person is assigned to a tent where we provide families the option to carve the pumpkin here where they don't have to worry about the mess. We also provide supplies, aprons, and stencils of popular designs. It's unique to what I've seen before. I like to help the kids bring their creation to life. And the parents look relieved to have someone help control the mess carving can be.)

A local florist also sets up a booth selling fall flowers.

A hike you can take along the property. (There's a stream and a small pond along the hike and you are immersed into trees that at the right time have the prettiest shades of red, yellow, and orange. The hike is around 3 miles.)

A stage. (On weekends there's tons of entertainment booked here. In the afternoon and evenings local band perform. Local organizations will often book the stage in the mornings for different competitions and events. You can see anything from Apple baking competitions to pet costume contests.)

On week days there's a separate staff and the weekend staff is made entirely up on students from the local university.

So here I sit with a group of about forty students.

I looked around. There's quite a few people I recognize from previous years. Cliques seemed to form even here. I don't think that is something people ever outgrow.

There are a few new faces. I'm searching for a certain set of green eyes even if I keep telling myself I'm not. Clearly just preparing for possible further embarrassment. Yep. That's it.

I then land on another face I recognize. Did I mention all hot guys appear when you look your worst? Current point proven.

In our dorm freshman year it was common knowledge the two hottest guys were Sam Blackwell and Ashton Green. They were best friends and roommates. Every girl worshipped them. In the dining hall they were always surrounded. I had classes on and off over the years with both boys but we have never spoke. I'm not exactly the memorable type so I don't they'd recognize me.

But sitting across the room was Sam. He was at a table with two girls who worked here last year Darcy and Teigan. And a guy was sitting with them who was also new.

Of course he'd be friends with the girls who seem to enjoy belittling me. They even came up with a cute nickname for me...farm girl. I mean I've been called worse. The logic wasn't there on this one though. I've never lived on a farm. I lived in a small town which is the same thing to them. They also seemed to take great issue with my appearance. From my hair to my clothes. I mean we were working on a farm soo.....I wasn't aware this was suppose to be New York fashion week. I never saw pumpkin guts on any of the runways....yet. (You never know with fashion.)

I continued to scan the crowd until I came back to the Everly's.

They had become a second family to me. After meeting my mother, Mrs. Everly took me under her wing in a way. She and my mother bonded over children living far from home. The first year I worked here she began inviting me to the family's monthly dinners. At first I felt like I was intruding but soon I bonded with the family like I'd known them forever.

Mr. and Mrs. Everly has two sons. One was off at college and I had never met. Nick. But everyone spoke highly of him. The other was Daniel who lived close by and was married to Charlotte and they had three kids, Liz, Zach, and Daisy. I even babysat for them on several occasions.

Those Sunday dinners made me miss home less and gave me a familial connection. Whether I spent the day in the kitchen with Mrs. Everly, played hide and seek with Liz and Zach, listened to Charlotte tell me about her most recent parenting articles, watch Mr. Everly and Daniel debate whatever sport they found on tv, or just sat with baby Daisy on my lap, I just felt like the chaos of their family brought calmness to me.

The presentation ended and the Everly's began buddying people off. They would pair an experienced worker with a new trainee. We each were expected to know the responsibilities for each area that was we could fill in and move around as needed.

I sat there waiting and said hi to a few people who I had met in previous years then I heard my name.

"Autumn Mills will be training....Henry North."

I stood up and the guy next to Sam did as well. Standing I realized he was ridiculously good looking. Am I actually awake? Do I have a head injury? When did guys everywhere become this good looking?