by Meg Easton
Whitney laughed. “Probably not. Tomorrow it is.”
Eli pulled his phone out of his pocket, looked at the screen for a moment, and then said, “The store’s too busy for Grace and Max to handle on their own. I’ve got to go.” He got out his wallet and left money for lunch on the table. He took a breath, like he was about to say something, and then hesitated. After a moment, he just said, “See you tomorrow,” then hurried out the door.
Whitney could still hear the voice in her head telling her to raise her guard because it had slipped a bit, but she just kept running her finger down the neck of the swan, her mind going back to every Friday night as teenagers when they’d come here, and he’d fold her a swan. Eventually, she put all the papers back into the folder and slid them into her bag, then carefully scooped up the swan to take back to her office. For old time’s sake.
Chapter Eight
Eli showed up at the church five minutes late and slid into a seat at the back of the congregation. The truth was, he’d only been inside a church a handful of times since leaving Nestled Hollow. But going to church on Sundays was what he did back when he lived here, so it just felt natural to go. And if he was being even more honest, he’d admit that Whitney was a much bigger reason why he went. Most of the time he’d been around her, she’d been distant. Cautious. But there were a couple of times when things felt more natural between them, and it made him want to be around her even more.
He scanned the congregation, and found her four rows from the front, in the middle of the bench, surrounded by people, making faces at a toddler who bounced on her lap. Of course that’s where he’d find her— right in the middle of the people. Maybe he was making a mistake wanting to see her more. The town loved her. Him, not so much. He didn’t want to bring her down.
When the meeting closed, he realized he hadn’t paid attention to anything the pastor had said. He’d heard of people having amazing experiences when going back to church for the first time after a long absence, but apparently he was a little too rusty. He’d have to come ready to focus next time, if that was even possible. Maybe he’d have to sit behind someone super tall so he couldn’t see Whitney if he wanted to.
While everyone headed out onto the lawn for a potluck and socializing, Eli slipped away. He’d have leaped at a gathering like that back in Sacramento, but there were too many old-timers here who would probably appreciate it if he didn’t stay.
Besides, he had a picnic dinner to prepare.
He was a passable cook, but he couldn’t make something that would need to stay warm for their trip up into the mountains. Plus, there was the added complication that the only kitchen appliances his hotel room had were a mini fridge, a microwave, and a coffee maker. But using mostly pre-cooked ingredients from Elsmore Market, he made a mean turkey bacon avocado sandwich on focaccia bread, if he did say so himself. He’d also bought a veggie tray and dip, a few different types of chips, and, right at the end, he threw in a couple of mint brownies, because if he remembered correctly, Whitney was a fan. He bought ice packs and an overpriced fabric cooler from his parents’ store, and stuffed the ice packs in the three inch high section of his mini fridge dedicated to freezer space.
At 4:00, Eli arrived at the ski lift and Whitney was already there, chatting with the man at the base of the lift. She was wearing the same outfit she’d been wearing at church— a mid-length denim skirt, dark brown boots that went up to her knees, a dark brown vest, and a deep orangish brown shirt that brought out the auburn in her hair and made her face radiant. A quilt was folded over one arm and a bag slung over one shoulder, and when she saw him coming, he could swear he saw her face brighten. He had all the fall inspiration he needed right there.
“Hi, Eli,” she said as he neared. “You remember Don Anderson, right?”
Eli nodded—Don was the father of a guy he’d been friends with since the fifth grade— and shook Don’s hand. “Good to see you again.”
“You too,” Don said. “Been staying out of trouble?”
Eli bristled. Everyone always assumed he was being a troublemaker. It had been a long time since high school. He tried not to let it show and just said, “Yes, sir.”
“Tell your dad hello from me. He’s a good guy—he’s helped me out of a pinch more than once. I hope his recovery goes well.”
“Will do.”
Don looked up the mountainside. “This is a slow time of year, and there’s not a lot of people I’d make a special trip out here on a Sunday to start the lift for, but by golly, Whitney’s one of them. I’ll make sure you get to the top. There’s a cell tower on that ridge right there, so you should have reception. Just give me a call when you’re ready to come back down.”
“You’re one of the best there is, Don,” Whitney said.
“That’s what I want my headline to say,” Don said, winking, and then letting out a rumbling laugh. “Now you two kids go have fun and get lots of ideas.”
Don started the ski lift, and Whitney and Eli stood on the spot marked on the ground, and hopped onto a seat as it came around to them.
“It didn’t even occur to me that the ski lift wouldn’t be running right now,” Eli said. “Thanks for working your magic with Don.”
“It’s the least I could do after you volunteered to bring dinner.” She flashed him a smile that made his heart jump.
Eli loved Sacramento for so many reasons. But as the lift rose up the mountain and the fall leaves exploded with color all around him, he couldn’t remember why he’d ever been in such a hurry to leave a place like this.
Whitney shuffled the blanket to the side, and then pulled her camera out of her bag and took off the lens cap, pushing it into her vest pocket. She started taking pictures of the fall leaves on her side of the lift, then a group of trees off Eli’s side caught her attention, and she leaned that way to get the picture. She kept taking more, adjusting slightly, until she was leaning with her arm brushing against Eli’s. She smelled amazing— like cherry blossoms. He didn’t know how long it had been since he’d last smelled cherry blossoms, and before that moment, he wouldn’t have thought that he even know what they smelled like, but he was convinced that was what the smell was.
She finished taking shots and straightened back up. “How did you like the sermon today?”
“You saw me?”
She pulled the lens cover out of her pocket and put it on the camera, then slid the camera into her bag. “I saw you sneaking out the back before the luncheon.”
“It’s not really my scene.”
“Unless I’m thinking of some other Eli Treanor, it’s totally your scene.”
Eli looked out across the sea of trees.
Whitney sucked in a quick breath of air then nodded slowly. “You flinched.”
“I what?”
“When Don asked if you were staying out of trouble, you flinched.”
He’d hoped it hadn’t been obvious. “You do remember one of the reasons why I wanted to get out of here right after high school, right? The people in this town don’t like me a whole lot.” He had been going for a light, joking voice, but he could hear the bit of bitterness that crept in. He hoped Whitney hadn’t noticed. But Whitney always noticed.
“That was twelve years ago.”
“And you heard Don— they still think I’m a troublemaker.”
Whitney laughed. He hadn’t remembered her laugh being so musical. Then she turned in her seat, one leg bent, took his hand in hers, and looked him in the eyes. Just like she used to do when she really wanted him to pay attention to what she was about to say. Eli wasn’t sure he could pay attention because all he could think about was how Whitney was holding his hand and her leg was touching his, and it felt like electricity was zinging up his arm.
“Remember back when we thought everyone in town hated us?”
Eli nodded. Like it was yesterday.
“They didn’t. It took me a while to realize it, too, but they weren’t mad— they saw two teenagers who had lost their
fathers— mine permanently to cancer and yours temporarily to failing marriage-induced drinking and separation from your mom. They were worried about us. Concerned that the stupid ways we were coping were going to ruin our futures. It wasn’t the last hardship this town has seen me through. It was during the next one that I really understood that they were trying to help. I know this town well. Trust me: they don’t hate you.”
Eli shrugged and looked back out at the trees. He absolutely believed that. For her. For himself— well, he’d believe it when he saw it. She turned back to the front, and he glanced back over at her. He wondered what the next hardship she faced was. It sounded like there was even more than that. But by the look on her face, she wasn’t ready for him to ask. And besides, if he did, she’d probably want more answers from him, and he wasn’t ready, either.
Whitney picked up the blanket as they neared the end of the lift. Then the lift jerked to a stop, making their car rock back and forth. They both turned to look behind them, as if they’d be able to see what was wrong.
“Did he think we already made it to the top?” Eli asked.
Whitney shook her head. “He has binoculars.”
Her phone rang just then, and she answered it. After a moment of one word responses, she said, “Okay, thanks, Don.” Then she ended the call and turned to him. “Mechanical problem. He’s going to try to fix it, but he’s guessing he might need to call someone to come in. He said it could be a couple of hours.” Her brow furrowed. “And the end is right there,” she said, motioning with both hands for emphasis.
Eli leaned forward, looking down at the ground, and then looked back at Whitney, grinning. “Wanna jump down? It’s only like six feet.”
“Are you serious? Jump?” She leaned forward, looking down at the ground, a nervous expression on her face.
“Well, not ‘jump’ so much as lower ourselves down and drop. It’ll only be a couple of feet we’ll have to fall. It’ll just add to the adventure. Give us a story to tell.”
Whitney bit her lip, the motion drawing Eli’s eyes to them.
“I’ll catch you.”
She hesitantly nodded. “Okay. If you’re sure.”
Eli smiled one of the most genuine smiles he’d had since arriving in Nestled Hollow. This was the kind of thing he did all the time with Ben at TeamUp. He’d felt off kilter and like he’d stepped back into high school for so much of the time he’d been here, but this made him feel like the real Eli just came back. He grabbed hold of the bars on the side of the car, swung his legs over the edge, dangled for just a moment, hanging from the cart, and then dropped to the ground. The angle of the mountain caused him to stumble a couple of steps, but he’d been close enough that he didn’t fall.
“Now drop the stuff down to me.”
Whitney grabbed the cooler by its strap, lowered it as far as she could reach, and then dropped it to him. He caught it easily, set it on the ground, and then raised his arms again. This time, he caught the blanket as she dropped it.
“I’m going to drop my bag with my camera down to you, but you’ve got to hold that blanket out like it’s a trampoline and catch it in there, okay?”
Eli dutifully arranged the blanket for optimal bag catching. She held it out by its strap, and then pulled back a bit. “I’m serious; you have to catch this carefully, no matter what. Even at the cost of your own safety.”
Eli chuckled.
“I’m serious, Eli. This is my camera, and it cost more than my car.”
He adjusted the blanket enough to give her a Boy Scout salute, even though he’d dropped out before getting his Eagle. “On my honor, I swear I will not drop your camera.”
She held the bag out again and dropped it this time, and it fell right into the cushion of the blanket. He made a show of setting it down as gently as humanly possible, away from where she was about to drop down herself. She did the same thing he’d done— held on to the bars at the side and swung her legs down. But then she screamed and kicked her legs wildly. “I changed my mind! I don’t want to drop down!”
Eli grabbed at her legs at the knees, scooping them together. “I’m right here. I won’t let you fall.” She was up too high for him to grab around her waist, though, and knew she’d be off balance if he tried to just hold her with his arms wrapped around her knees. “I can keep holding on to your knees, and you can drop down to sitting on my shoulder, or I can let go of your knees and catch you in my arms. Which would you prefer?”
“Catch me in your arms,” she said.
“One, two, three!”
Whitney let go, and Eli caught her, only taking a slight steadying step. Her arm immediately wrapped around his neck, and she breathed in fast, her face blushing with excitement.
“You good?” Eli asked.
Whitney let out an exhilarated laugh, her face inches away from his. “I clearly do not have enough excitement in my life when you’re not around, Eli Treanor.”
He set her down on the ground, handed the bag and then the blanket to her, and put the strap of the cooler over his shoulder. Then he wrapped his hand in hers and led her the twenty feet up the mountain, like it was no big deal that he was holding Whitney Brennan’s hand once again.
Chapter Nine
Whitney regularly had dinner with a couple dozen families in town. She played after dinner games with them, each family having their own types of games, some indoor, some outdoor. She went out to eat and have fun with groups of singles in town. She hung out with the entire town at once with every celebration. She had meals with tourists and showed them around.
But she hadn’t realized how much she missed this kind of fun. The Eli kind of fun. The kind where caution was thrown to the wind along with whatever plans they had, and spontaneity took over. At the landing area for the lift, she took in the fresh air and the view. If Eli had grabbed her hand again and said, “Let’s climb over the crest of this mountain,” she wouldn’t have hesitated. She had that much energy.
“The view up here really is incredible, isn’t it?” Eli stood at the edge of the flat area, looking out across the valley.
Whitney stepped up to him and looked out at how the mountain tops all around them looked like hills rising up, covered with greenish grays of evergreens and the deep, fall colors of the oaks, maples, and aspens. She took off her lens cap and brought her camera up, looking at the town through the lens, focusing in on Main Street, and snapping picture after picture. Something about seeing it from this height made it magical. Then she turned to the right a bit, and took pictures of the lake and the few people riding paddle boats on it. Sometimes, the worst thing about taking beautiful pictures of scenes with incredible color was knowing that when she put them in the paper, they’d all be printed in black and white.
She put the lens cap back on and turned around when Eli did.
“I guess we are now officially on the hunt for inspiration,” he said, stepping away from the ski lift and onto the pathway skiers took to get to the top of the Silver Valley trail on the left. Then he turned up a pathway made by animals, Whitney following close behind. They had only been walking a few minutes when the thick underbrush opened up into a field of dry grasses surrounded by maple trees in the most vibrant oranges and yellows. A few of the leaves had fallen from the trees and onto the small field. Eli turned around to face her. “We need to close off Main Street.”
“We... what?”
“Do you think we can get the Main Street Business Alliance to do it? There are other places to park, right?”
Whitney nodded slowly. “There’s that big field just beyond Main. We could use that as a parking lot. Are you thinking we should make Main Street into a pedestrian mall for the day?” No one had ever done that before.
He spread his arms wide. “What about if we came up here right before the festival, when the leaves have finished changing color and are falling to the ground. We could gather them up, take them into town, and cover both sides of Main Street with them. You wouldn’t even be able to tell
that it was a normal street with parking spots and lines painted. It would look like up here.”
“The Christmas lights,” Whitney said, the excitement of all the possibilities practically exploding out of her. “We can ask Sam in facilities to hang them from the tops of the buildings on one side, spread all the way across Main Street to the buildings on the other side, just like at Christmastime. But before he does, we can hang fall leaves from them, dangling down at all different heights. Then it will look like the leaves are right in the middle of falling. Imagine how incredible that will look at night when they turn on the lights.”
“It’d be amazing. And those arches you wanted to use,” Eli said. “We’ve got six— we could place one at both openings of both the northbound and southbound sides, and use the other two where Center crosses through Main. Maybe weave through branches with fall leaves, and they could be the entrance into the Fall Market.”
Whitney had a lightness in her chest making her feel like she was floating as she paced around the field, unable to stay still with so much energy coursing through her. “Campfires.”
Eli stopped moving and looked at her.
“We need campfires. Fall Market always gets cold once the sun goes down, and so people aren’t so willing to stay outdoors. If we got a bunch of campfires going, maybe get cut logs for people to sit on around the campfire and socialize, they’d stay longer. They’d get warm and shop for longer. There are enough people in town with those portable metal fire pits that I bet we could borrow.”
Whitney spread the blanket on the ground, then sat down and pulled the folder out of her bag. She started drawing in all their ideas with the sharpie, and Eli scribbled all their ideas in a notebook as they came rapid fire. Before long, Eli had filled a page of notes, and Whitney had a drawing of Main Street that she knew would be a winner.
She held it up and they both grinned at it. “The credit for this goes to you. Coming up here to brainstorm was brilliant.”