Sour Apples Read Free Page B

dancer, but I’d bet he’ll be out there on the dance floor anyway.”
    “Yeah, and he’ll ask every little old lady there to dance at least once. You’ll be lucky to get one dance in. How about you?”
    “Do I dance?” Meg searched for an appropriate image. “I would call myself…enthusiastic. Kind of stiff, but Ienjoy myself. I don’t get much practice.” She hesitated a moment. “You know, Seth brought up the idea of expanding the orchard onto his property again. When do I have to decide, if we want to plant this year?”
    “Oh, like yesterday,” Bree replied. “Seriously, we’d need to order stock, and set aside time to prepare the ground, and plant the trees once they arrive, and all that. You serious about it?”
    “Does it make financial sense?”
    “You and your numbers! It depends on your long-range goals. You know you’re going to lose some trees every year, but usually we replace those as needed. But a whole new batch? You want me to do a cost-benefit analysis?”
    Meg laughed. “Since you asked, yes. Keep it simple, like one page. And tell me what you’d recommend we plant.”
    “Will do. I can work on that while you’re out dancing.”
    “What the heck am I supposed to wear to this thing?”
    “Your overalls?”
    Meg looked at Bree to make sure she was kidding. “So, jeans?”
    “Yeah. Nobody dresses up around here. And comfortable shoes.”
    “That I can handle. You going over to Michael’s later?”
    “Maybe. Or if you’re going to be out, he might come here—his place is pretty cramped. And messy.”
    “Fine with me. Okay, I’ve got some errands to run, and then I’d better allow time to primp, even if it is casual. Seth says there’s food there, so you’re on your own for dinner.”
    “I won’t starve. Have fun at the party.”
    As Meg drove from place to place, picking up groceries, prescriptions, tools, and whatnot, she found herself once again thinking of the changes in her life over the past year. She had no memory at all of any mention of the Spring Fling the prior year, but why would she? She had barely been in town a few weeks by then and had had no social life. But now—well, she was lucky to have found a group of peoplehere she liked spending time with. While she had never before thought of herself as a historian, she had found she enjoyed digging into the past in Granford, where it had some personal relevance. She felt connected to the people who had built her house and who had lived in it before her. Maybe that was one reason why the idea of planting heirloom apple varieties appealed to her: she wanted to see an orchard like the one her ancestors could’ve known.
    She was back by five and took a leisurely bath, then found a clean and unshabby pair of jeans that fit well. Rifling through her half-empty closet, she realized that a lot of her clothes hung on her now—she had lost weight since she arrived the year before, or at least had transformed it into muscle in different places, but she hadn’t had the time or need to spruce up her wardrobe. She added a belt and a lightweight sweater, let her hair air-dry, then put on a bare minimum of makeup and was ready to go. She went down to the kitchen and fed her cat, Lolly, while she waited for Seth.
    Seth was prompt, as usual. “Hey, you look nice.”
    Meg felt flattered but said, “I wear this kind of thing every day, you know. Do we need tickets or anything?”
    “We’ll get them at the door. They’re holding them for me.”
    “What, they’re sold out?” When Seth nodded, she said, “Okay, and I’ll pay for the pizza.”
    “Deal. Shall we?”
    Seth drove to the high school, which lay just past the center of Granford on the main road through town. Meg had been there only once before, to vote in the fall elections, but the brick and cinder block building reminded her of her own high school. “Isn’t there anywhere else in town to hold an event like this?” she asked Seth.
    “Not really. The church