Apple-y Ever After - Chapter 19

"Were you really going to buy this apple peeler?” Milo asked Saskia.

She was gorgeous in the golden fall light, hair in her trademark pigtail braids, her magnificent curves on display. She dropped the piece of jewelry she was holding.

“I don’t know,” she stammered out. “Is fifty dollars a good deal?”

It wasn’t a bad deal, but Milo saw an opportunity to be a little theatrical with Saskia, so he took it. “Are you kidding me?” he scoffed. “You want fifty dollars for this?”

“I bet Little Miss Dripping in Jewelry has fifty bucks. What’s it worth to you?” the homeowner said, turning first to Saskia.

Saskia cocked a hip, wise to the game she’d been invited to play. “Based on how you’ve got this jewelry priced, you’re a real scam artist,” she said. She held up a handful of pieces to him. “Here’s what you’re going to do. You’ll give me all these for a hundred dollars, and throw in the apple peeler for free. As a goodwill gesture for trying to take me for a ride earlier.”

She pulled cash out of her purse and fanned five twenties in front of him. He handed her the apple peeler, snatched the cash away from Saskia, and walked away.

“What are you doing here?” Saskia asked Milo.

“The orchard posted about this garage sale. I decided I would come and look for apple peelers.”

“I got you a pretty good deal on one, didn’t I?” she asked, grinning. She handed him the peeler. As their fingers brushed, he craved more of her.

Milo only had the bravery to challenge the guy’s pricing scheme because Saskia was there. Somehow, he knew he could rely on her in that moment, despite the static of their last date.

“Can we go somewhere and talk?” he asked.

“I know a place,” she said.

After swinging by the Clemens Orchard booth for cider and doughnuts, they sat in a gazebo in the little Main Street green space.

He spoke first. “I overreacted in the corn maze, and I’m sorry. Doing something thoughtless isn’t the same as being hurtful and I should have given you the benefit of the doubt.”

“I should have given you the map instead of throwing it away,” Saskia said. “I never realized how nice it would be to pass along a job I don’t want to someone who might enjoy it.”

So Saskia had also been reflecting on how they’d messed things up. Did that mean she hadn’t written him off entirely?

“Do you think we can try again sometime?” he asked.

“Let’s try again right now,” she offered.

“Perfect,” he said, pulling the informational packet out of his pocket. “I hoped I might run into you here, so I optimized a route to hit all the yard sales with jewelry,” he said.

She plucked the papers from his hand, set them on the bench, and stood up, taking him by the hand. He stood up too.

“Let’s try something else first,” she said, and leaned in for a kiss. Autumn leaves skittered into the gazebo and swirled around them. As he tasted her cinnamon lips and felt her plush body, he expected to feel dizzy, his spirit kicked up like the leaves around his feet. Instead, he felt perfectly steady. Balanced, even.

Saskia pulled away from the kiss and pointed to the papers. “Your route has antiques, too, right?” she asked. “I don’t know that we can do better than free, but I bet we’ll find another good deal on an apple peeler.”