Page 132 of Forbidden to Fall

I’d hired Zoey on as an assistant a few months back when business picked up too much for me to handle at the sugar shack.

“I sent her home for the day. She was here early this morning doing some experimenting, and I thought she deserved a few extra hours for her weekend.”

One thing I’d promised myself when I’d hired her was to take her suggestions seriously. She’d had some good ones recently.

Keller’s Bakehouse was going strong. Morgan was a skilled businesswoman, and since our offerings didn’t overlap, we coexisted as enablers of Autumn Ridge’s gluttony.

I looked around at the kitchen, my eyes catching on the Sweets by Sadie sign James had had Bennett make. It was the same logo that was printed on all the boxes, stickers, and bags in the sugar shack.

“That should be good,” I said. “My parents will be here soon, I imagine.”

“They already are.” James slung his arm around my shoulder, and the ring on his fourth finger glinted in the stream of light through the window. It was a couple of months old, but I still smiled whenever I saw it, just like I smiled when I saw the one on mine.

“They’ve been chatting with Mama inside for a good twenty minutes.” He opened the door. “They’re probably three glasses of sweet tea deep by now.”

“At the very least,” I said. “Dad loves that stuff.”

It was still hot outside, but it would cool off quickly once the sun went down in an hour or so. We had a few weeks until we started gearing up for leaf peeper season, and I’d never looked forward to it more than I did now. We’d already hired on a few high school students to help with the Harvest Festival booth, and Archer’s tours were almost sold out for his second season offering the ride to the maple farm.

When we caught sight of Ryan and Lily, I made a beeline for baby Alfie. He was the calm to Mia’s storm—chunky, smiley, and used to being manhandled by his adoring older sister who struggled to be gentle.

“Are Wade and Ari here yet?” I asked.

A laugh burst from Ryan.

“It’s not funny,” Lily said, but she was reluctantly smiling.

“What?” I asked, intrigued.

“Wade went in to work today and found he, uh, wasn’t alone in his office.” Ryan’s gaze went to James, a speaking look in his laughing eyes.

“Did they…?” James asked.

Ryan nodded, his shoulders starting to shake.

“It was goats, though,” Lily said. “Not chickens like when you guys did it.”

James considered this twist on the old prank they’d played on Dad when he was principal. “Not bad.”

“We walked so they could fly,” Ryan said dramatically.

“He and Ari should be here soon,” Lily said. “She said they’ll meet us at the spot.”

James ran inside to get his mom and my parents, and when they emerged two minutes later, Dad was fisting two full pitchers of tea, ostensibly to take into the woods.

May navigated the stairs and the path to the sugar shack without a limp, the result of her reluctant visits to a physical therapist for three months in the spring.

Armed with ingredients for camp dinners, the entire group headed into the woods with Mia at the helm, eager to show she knew the way.

Wade and Ari joined just in time for the cooked dinners, and the next ten minutes were a blur of laughter as Wade recounted in great detail the Great Goat Ambush he’d just survived. Naturally, Dad felt the need to relate his own experience with the chickens, and by the time James brought out the components of his special Nutella croissant s’mores, everyone’s cheeks and stomachs ached.

I looked around at the fire-lit smiles and Alfie sleeping in his mom’s arms and felt the squeeze of contentment around my heart. It was hard to believe how far we’d come in just a year.

For a long time, I’d kind of wished I was a Keller.

Being a Stevenson and a Carver was a million times better.

A few hours later, only James, Ryan, Mia, and I were left around the fire.