Chapter Thirty-Three

“Wow, sis, you’ve outdone yourself with this pie.” James talked with his mouth half-full. “You need to get this recipe, honey.” He held his fork out with a nice-sized bite of pie on it for Avery. They were sharing a piece. Weirdos were training for another marathon and watching their empty calorie intake.

Avery took the bite and a dreamy sigh escaped her. “Oh my gosh, I might need a piece of my own.”

“Are these apples from Baker’s Orchard?” Ma asked. That was the orchard near the office.

“No.”

Not sure why, but Ma gave me a shrewd look as if she knew how I had, or should I say, who I had acquired the apples with. “Grocery store?”

My eyes hit my plate. “No.” Why did it matter?

“Where, Samantha Marie?”

Was I in trouble? All eyes were suddenly on me. Everyone was still sitting around the table since the Bears were playing on Monday night. The timing was awful.

“Weatherby Orchards.” I quickly shoved a bite of pie in my mouth, hoping to deter any more questions.

I swore I could feel Reed’s glance from down the table. The same Reed who helped pick the apples and kept me warm on the chilly fall day yesterday, with hot chocolate and other means. Means I was beginning to crave.

I felt sixteen again, wishing I was alone with him right now. I could still feel his warm breath against my neck and the shivers it caused. But that had nothing on the way his lips felt on mine. We spent so long getting lost in each other at the orchard, we didn’t have time to buy a bike. I didn’t regret it one bit. I would do it all over again, from watching Reed from below on the ladder—what a sight it was—to the way he kept pulling me behind the trees to kiss me thoroughly. We are talking pushing me up against the trees, messing up my hair, making me think of things I shouldn’t be kind of kissing. I needed to stop thinking about it now or I was going to have to excuse myself from the table to throw some ice cubes down my sweater.

But all that had nothing on the easy, no-pressure conversation. He was happy to listen to me gush about Cody and blather on about how stressed I was about my upcoming speech at the Women’s League luncheon. He didn’t even mind when I talked about how hurt and angry I was that Neil had yet to show up to one of Cody’s games. Their team was still undefeated, and Cody threw for his first touchdown Friday night. The kid was still on cloud nine. Reed had just listened.

And I loved listening to him talk about his students and players. I could tell he genuinely cared for them. So much so, he went to school every morning early to tutor those that needed extra help. There was never a silent moment between us, except when we were speaking a language that required no verbalization, unless you count those gasps I couldn’t help but letting out. I think Reed was now making it his mission to make sure I did that often. I wouldn’t complain about it at all.

“Weatherby Orchards? Why so far?” Ma’s suspicion brought me back to the present. Too bad, I was enjoying reliving yesterday. Unfortunately, her suspicious tone had the added effect of making everyone at the table, except my son and nephews, look my way with scrutinizing gazes. Reed joined in. He had to, or it would have looked suspect, though I swore his lip twitched.

Thankfully, I had an excuse ready to go. This probably wasn’t good. If Cody every found out, how could I ever tell him not to sneak around? Or worse, what if he already was and he was so good at it that he hadn’t been caught yet? Yet was the operative word. I would find out eventually. I hoped. I was at least thankful Cody knew I had gone to pick apples. It was hard to miss the baskets of them on our island.

I gave Ma my best smile. “They have Granny Smith apples, which make the best pies, in my opinion.”

“I won’t argue with that.” Dad took another large bite of pie.

I hoped it would end with that, but where there was Mimsy, there would always be a show. She eyed her glass of water before her cataract eyes hit me. “Samantha Marie, you’re blushing. Perhaps you decided to partake of some forbidden fruit while picking mankind’s downfall.”

Did she really just say that? By the snickers around the table I would say yes, yes she did.

A deep sigh escaped while I tried not to roll my eyes at my grandmother. “Mimsy, there is no evidence that Adam and Eve ate an apple. For all we know, that was symbolic.”

“And what was it symbolic for? Sex, I tell you.” She was itching to get her hands on her glass of water.

Her great grandsons ran out of the room with their pie, laughing as they went.

“Are you having sex?” Ma was now in a panic. Her fork dropped and clanged against her plate. “You promised me you weren’t.” She was practically on the verge of tears.

How did we get here? It was apple pie, for crying out loud. All eyes were on me, except Reed. He was shoveling pie in his mouth at record speeds. And James had a hard time focusing because his body was shaking so hard trying to hold in his laugh. My sisters-in-law gave me we-are-so-sorry smiles, but better you than us.

Dad surprised me and tried to come to my rescue. “Sarah, lay off her, she’s a grown woman; we can’t tell her what to do.” I knew he meant that, but in his father eyes, I could see he was hoping I wasn’t partaking, as Mimsy called it.

I gave him a thank-you smile.

Ma did not like that at all. She conjured up the worst evil eye in the history of vile looks. The temperature in the room dropped to Siberian Tundra levels. “Joseph, so help me, I’ll sell your ice boat on eBay.”

That was an idle threat. I didn’t think Ma knew how to do that. I still had to help her order things on Amazon.

“We’re having a house built!” blessed, wonderful Peter shouted.

Every head whipped his and Delanie’s way. It was the first time ever I saw Delanie look irritated with her husband. She had obviously wanted to keep that a secret by the look of her scarlet tinged cheeks and clenched fists. Peter kissed her head as if to say sorry. I mouthed my thanks to the pair. I felt horrible and grateful all at once. At least no one at the table considered purchasing a home a sin.

Scratch that. I should have realized if apple picking was cause for concern, so was building a house, at least where Ma was concerned. While the rest of us were bombarding them with normal questions like where, when, who’s the builder, and why didn’t you say anything before, Ma studied the pair. I could see her blood pressure rising. It was almost enough for me to falsely admit I was having sex to protect Delanie from the wrath building up in Ma.

“Ma, I’ll help you with the dishes.” I stood and picked up my plate with a half-eaten piece of pie on it, hoping she would follow me. I figured it was better not to blurt out that I was breaking my mother’s top commandment, especially since the man I was secretly dating was sitting at the table. He may wonder if I was dating other men and why I wasn’t sleeping with him. Not like he had asked me to or that we had ever discussed any sort of relationship status. A fact I was grateful for, I might add. It was one of the reasons I liked dating Reed, he seemed to be in it only for fun. He wasn’t putting any pressure on me, nor I on him. We never discussed our future or what it was we were doing together. We just had a great time no matter what it was we were doing, even if it was talking on the phone. He was exactly what I needed.

Ma wasn’t falling for it. She didn’t even acknowledge me. I sat right back down, bracing for the cyclone that was about ready to blow. The final straw came when Peter reluctantly admitted where they were moving.

He reached under the table, I assume to hold Delanie’s hand. At first I found it odd, but it made more sense when he said, “Bridgefield Estates.”

A hush fell over the table. Everyone but Mimsy seemed to know where that was. I knew because it wasn’t all that far from my house. I frequently drove by the gated community with the gorgeous houses on my way home from the office. The question on everyone’s mind was . . . well, Ma went ahead and voiced it.

“I knew it. I knew it.” Ma’s penetrating glare at Delanie blew the vile look she had given Dad moments earlier out of the water. “I just knew you were into something illegal. How else could you afford to live in such a community?” Ma held onto the table like it was all that was keeping her from going ballistic.

No one else thought Delanie was into anything illegal; Peter would have never married her if she had been. But we were all wondering how they could afford to build a house in a community where, according to the signs outside of Bridgefield Estates, the starting price was $750,000. We all basically knew how much money we each made, except for Delanie. We assumed, or I had, that it couldn’t be much since they’d been living in a small apartment ever since they moved here. And there was nothing in Delanie’s appearance or clothing to suggest she was rolling in dough—she always had a vintage boho look going for her. Nothing expensive. Maybe those diamond studs in her nose were the real thing. I assumed cubic zirconia.

If we thought Ma was mad, she had nothing on Peter. He rose slowly and deliberately, like an ominous figure, and threw his napkin on the table. His green eyes bore into Ma’s.

“I’ve had enough of you disrespecting my wife.”

With those words, Delanie stood and took her husband’s hand and leaned into him. Her face was beaming up at him with pride and love. Her diamond nose ring seemed to sparkle brighter.

Peter let go of her hand and securely wrapped his arm around her waist. “Delanie is the best person I know, and until you recognize that and apologize to her, we won’t be coming back.”

Peter demanded with his eyes that Ma do exactly that. Immediately, if not sooner.

Never had a more stubborn woman lived, except the woman who’d given her birth, who was taking pictures with her smartphone. I told Ma we shouldn’t have given Mimsy that.

I couldn’t help but catch Reed’s eye to see what he thought of it all. It was a good thing we weren’t serious. He would have bailed on me. Was this part of the reason Neil left me?

Reed pressed his lips together with brows raised. I could tell he didn’t want to linger too long on me, but his eyes said we would talk later.

We all focused on Ma to see what she was going to do. She, too, stood. “I did not teach my children to talk to me this way.” So much for her doing the right thing. “And I know when people are keeping secrets, so be careful, son, about which side you choose.”

Families shouldn’t have sides.

The table erupted. Dad was now up, telling Ma to apologize, which didn’t go over well at all. Mimsy was snapping pictures of this Kodak moment. I prayed she didn’t know how to get on any social media sites. Oh, have mercy if she did. James and Avery were also trying to talk some sense into Ma, who now had marched out of the room in tears muttering how ungrateful we all were.

Peter and Delanie walked out hand in hand without another word to any of us. I couldn’t blame them. To be honest, it was a long time coming, but there had never been a rift in our family. Deckers were loud and obnoxious, but we stuck together through thick and thin. I prayed Ma came to her senses. This was not worth losing family over. We had already lost too many.

All that was left at the table was Reed, Mimsy, and me. Reed smiled at me before Mimsy added to the joy of the day.

“Samantha Marie, you never did say whether you were having sex or not.”

Reed chuckled under his breath.

I stabbed my pie with my fork. “No, Mimsy, I never did.”