Sage awoke to a pounding on her bedroom door.

“H-hello,” she called.

The door flew open. Otis Rogers stood in the threshold, looking as if he had sprinted to her room from the town square.

“Otis, what’s going on?” she asked, pulling the sheet around herself so he wouldn’t see her skimpy pajamas.

He opened his mouth and closed it again, then shook his head.

“Just get dressed and come out as fast as you can,” he said.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, launching herself out of bed as ice water filled her veins. Farms were dangerous places if safety protocol was forgotten for even a moment.

“No,” Otis said quickly. “Something’s very, very right.”

He stepped back into the hallway.

Sage scampered over to the closet grabbed some clothing and dashed to the bathroom to freshen up and dress.

When she came out he was waiting in the hallway.

“The thing is,” he said, as if they were already mid-conversation, “it probably wouldn’t have been so big, but the first people to arrive put pictures on Instagram.”

“Pictures of what?” Sage asked, mystified.

“Well, you’ll see,” Otis said, walking faster.

He beat her to the front door and held it open.

She stepped out the door and onto the front porch.

Cars filled the gravel lot and spilled onto the lawn.

A line of people stretched from the peach orchard down the drive and out onto the roadway.

And it was barely even light out.

“Good morning,” Riggs said from where he stood on the porch. He must have been waiting for her.

“Wow,” Sage said, looking out over the crowd at the farm.

“I’ll just let you two talk,” Otis said, backing into the house.

“Did you make this happen?” Sage asked.

“Not directly,” Riggs said. “And it wasn’t even my idea. Not really. It was yours.”

“What do you mean?” She turned to him, scrutinizing his face.

Riggs smiled down at her.

“Do you remember when you said that if we wanted the farm to earn enough to open again next year that we would need to sell the fruit for twice what it’s worth?” he asked.

She nodded.

“The price for fruit-picking today is three times what your grandmother charged,” he said.

Sage looked out at the crowd again, amazed.

“Do you remember when you said that the only thing people in this town wanted to see was aliens?” he asked gently.

She nodded and turned slowly to face him again.

“You were right,” he said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So I talked to my brother last night.”

“Your brother?” Sage echoed.

“Yes,” Riggs said. “Bond is out there with Posey and baby Estrella Grace. They’re going to do a hayride with the kids every two hours today.”

“They’re here,” Sage said.

“Yes,” Riggs replied.

“And that’s why so many people are here,” she said, still trying to get her mind around the idea.

“Correct,” he said.

“And the news report, that something is weird about the peaches?” she asked.

“Since my brother is here, everyone assumes that it’s some kind of alien magic making the peaches grow,” he said. “Now everyone wants Stargazer peaches.”

“Stargazer peaches… and they did grow fast because of alien magic, so it’s not an empty rumor,” Sage murmured. “That’s… that’s… that’s brilliant.”

“You like the idea?” he asked.

“I love it,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing as tightly as she could.

Happy tears prickled the insides of her eyes and she felt him kiss the top of her head. No matter what her mind told her, she had never experienced anything in her life that felt more right than being in his strong arms.

“Come on,” he said gently. “Want to meet them?”

“Yes,” she said, her apprehension gone for the first time since she came back to the farm.

They descended the porch steps together, hand in hand.

“We’re out of bushel baskets again,” Arden yelped, jogging toward them looking like she’d just run a marathon. “Oh, hi, Sage!”

“Hi,” Sage replied. “I’ll go grab the spares out of the shed.”

“Can you help me hitch the hayride to the tractor?” Arden asked Riggs.

“Sure,” he said. “I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he told Sage.

She smiled up at him and then headed for the old storage shed next to the orchard.

Dozens of families roamed the trees, picking peaches and laughing. Tansy mingled among them, pointing out the best fruit and demonstrating techniques with the picking sticks.

Meanwhile, Bond and Posey and the baby were surrounded by a ring of children who shyly touched Posey’s pretty pink dress and capered around to try and amuse baby Estrella Grace.

It was a perfect day, and Sage allowed herself to relax and enjoy the kind of optimism she’d been longing for.

Riggs was right. Everything was going to be just fine.

She hummed to herself as she opened the storage shed.