Page 57 of A Fall to Remember

Shelby’s heart flopped. He wasn’t a late bloomer now. He was devilishly handsome with those wide eyes, cleft chin, and shaggy hair. Every time he smiled, his dimple seemed to get deeper and deeper. She wanted to reach out and kiss it. “Welcome to the party.”

“Is this making me sound pathetic?”

“No. Not pathetic,” Shelby answered truthfully. It was making her fall even harder for him. “I’ll be completely honest with you. I’m envious of your relationship with your mom. For what it’s worth, I think you should tell her.”

“Yeah?” He sounded unsure.

“Give your mom some credit. I’m one thousand percent sure she can handle this.” She was. What she was less sure about was how she was going to survive the remainder of the weekend, watching Pete fall more in love with Lacy.

The universe was so unfair sometimes.

She had finally met someone worth falling for and her literal job was setting him up with someone else.

44

JIM

The pumpkin weigh-off was like nothing Jim had ever experienced. It felt as if the entire population of California had descended upon the poor, unsuspecting farm. Throngs of people cheered and hollered as pumpkins the size of small cars were hoisted by heavy machinery onto a giant scale designed for semi-trucks. What was most interesting was the variety of growers. Each one had a chance to introduce their prized pumpkins before being weighed. There were professional farmers who owned commercial farms, but there were an equal number of novice growers—people from all walks of life and backgrounds who had taken on the task of trying to produce the world’s largest pumpkin. From chemical engineers to pilots, schoolteachers, and custodians.

His favorite was a young guy from Marin County who was an artist by day, and a pumpkin grower by night. He named his pumpkin “Big Betty” and told the crowd all about how he sang to Betty under the moonlight, tucking her in under a thin sheet.

“I had no idea the pumpkins would be this big,” Jim shouted to be heard over the cheers and applause. They hadn’t discussed the kiss or why Miranda had bolted last night. Maybe it was better that way—keep things light while he found a way to tell her how he really felt.

Miranda beamed as she pointed to a life-size banner of last year’s winner posing with his pumpkin. “It’s always a marvel how they can even transport these beasts, isn’t it?”

“Have semi, will travel?” Jim made a funny face. “Actually, that’s not a bad hook, is it?”

“Shelby would approve,” Miranda replied with a twinkle in her eye.

Jim had been floored when Shelby suggested he and Miranda cover the contest on their own. Apparently, Voyager was enthusiastic about the idea of her focusing on Pete’s dating adventures. He wasn’t convinced Pete was as thrilled with the concept as Shelby. He’d noticed how Pete had wrung his fingers together and forced a smile when the four of them had met shortly before the start of the weigh-off to go over plans for the remainder of the day. Shelby had gushed about how well the posts with Pete and Lacy were trending and rattled off several shots she wanted to set up throughout town.

He couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong, but he also sensed a subtle layer of tension between Pete and Miranda during their brief strategy chat.

Miranda had asked Pete twice if he was okay, and Pete had responded curtly, his entire body stiffening.

If Shelby had picked up on his energy, she gave no indication. “We’ll divide and conquer. I want to get some video of Pete and Lacy down at the beach. I know it will be crowded, but that’s kind of the idea. We’ll take the angle of them zooming in on one another, like they only have eyes for each other. You two go ahead with the pumpkin weigh-off as we discussed, but please stick with the plan and make sure you use the filters and the captions I sent, okay?”

Jim had to conceal a smile. Shelby was back to business today.

That was fine with him.

He had a new appreciation for where she was coming from. And he was thrilled that he and Miranda would have more time together, just the two of them.

“Why don’t you scoot to your left?” Jim said to her as the next pumpkin was lifted onto the scale. “Talk me through what’s happening.”

“How?” Miranda asked, beaming at him with that bright smile that seemed to make any care or worry vanish in thin air.

“In your own words. Be natural. Think of the camera as me. You’re just talking to me. I’m a good friend, visiting for the weekend, and you’re giving me the rundown on the pumpkins.”

Miranda bobbed her head in agreement. “Now that, I can do.”

They spent the next half hour shooting a variety of clips from different angles. Miranda was a pro. She took direction easily. Not that he had much to offer her in feedback. It was more making sure she was framed well in the shot, or asking her to repeat a phrase if the background noise was too loud. Multiple times, they burst into fits of giggles trying to get through a few of the “approved” one-liners Shelby had vetoed.

“Jim, come on, I have to say this—‘let’s give ’em pumpkin to talk about’ or ‘oh, my gourd, I sure love fall.’”

“Right? I tried to convince Shelby that sayings like ‘go big or gourd home’ and ‘the gourd, bad, and ugly’ just roll right off your tongue, don’t they?” He had run his witty one-liners, but Shelby, who had shredded the idea instantly, also agreed that Miranda shone when she didn’t have to worry about the perfect script. “I do love ‘hello, gourd-geous’ and ‘oh, hey, gourd-looking.’ Both work for you. You are absolutely gourd-geous.”

They had a good laugh and ultimately abandoned most of the clever pumpkin puns.