Out of the Blue

by Elizabeth Holland

  “Yeah, I know,” he huffed.

  “I don’t think you do,” Hailey took a step closer to him, stomping her feet in the dirt. “You might see this place as some gold mine or something, but to me it’s a pit. It’s more work than I care to take on, it’s a whole life of responsibility and dedication that I never saw for myself. Sure, I’ve got money and no timeclocks to punch, but it isn’t what I wanted.”

  “When?” Tom came down the steps as he tightened his gaze over hers.

  “What do you mean, when?”

  “You said it wasn’t what you wanted. Like you’ve changed your mind.”

  “Well, I haven’t.”

  “You sure? Sounds to me like you don’t know anymore.”

  Hailey was clenching her teeth, but she couldn’t hide it. Those pink cheeks were giving her away.

  Tom took a step closer to Hailey, trying to soften his voice as he spoke. “What are you so afraid of?”

  “What makes you think I’m afraid of anything?”

  “If we’re friends, then tell me why you want to go back to Lansing.”

  “I don’t have to defend myself.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “You might as well have. I have my reasons, that’s all.”

  Hailey was practically holding herself as she twisted around in the afternoon breeze. Her hair out over her shoulders and her skin all golden from the sunlight.

  “Why not be honest with me, then?” she said.

  “How?”

  “Why didn’t you just come out and tell me about Matt when we first met? I told you I was meeting with him, and all you did was call him a jackass.”

  Tom shrugged. Honestly, he didn’t really think about it. He was too occupied by her presence to keep his thoughts straight.

  “What do you want to hear, Hails? Maybe you should have realized who I was by now.”

  Hailey looked like she was going to slap him again, but instead, she just walked in a circle and shook her head.

  “Where do you think I got the name for my bar from?”

  “It looks like a port!”

  Tom rolled his eyes.

  “Is she still with him?”

  “Is what?”

  “Caroline, right? Because if he’s here, I bet she is too.”

  “What do you care?” he turned his back on her to go up the stairs.

  “What if I do? What if I care about this town? These people?”

  Tom didn’t have to look back over his shoulder to know Hailey had gotten closer. Nevertheless, she was still mad and she was going to stay mad because he wasn’t about to change who he was.

  “What’s your deal?” she pushed at his back. “Why won’t you talk to me?”

  “Why’s it matter?” Tom faced Hailey and watched as her nose flared out in anger. She wasn’t getting the answers she wanted, and it only made her look sexier than ever. Loose strands of her hair falling over her face, rosy skin, pouty lips. “You’ll be gone in a week, and then you and I will never see each other again. Why should I waste my time?”

  “Waste your time? What about my time?”

  “You don’t have timeclocks to punch.”

  Hailey’s mouth dropped open.

  “If I’m such a waste, why are you making an effort to come over here and see me? Why are trying to be nice even though I’m messing up your perfect little town?”

  “Maybe I’m just trying to talk some sense into you.”

  “You think I don’t know what I’m doing?” Hailey met him, nose to nose.

  “I think you need someone to be real with you.”

  “You know what, Tom?”

  “What?”

  “I think we’re done talking.”

  Hailey went right up the stairs, passed Tom and into the house.

  “No, I don’t think we are,” Tom followed her right in.

  “Damnit, Tom, stop coming in here without knocking.”

  “Don’t act like you don’t like it,” he marched right up to her where she stood on the second stair. Here she was a little taller than him, and it was interesting to look up into her eyes.

  Hailey opened her mouth like she had something to say, but Tom was done hearing her excuses. He stepped up and pulled her waist against his body and she didn’t fight at all.

  “Tom…”

  “I don’t care if you’re leaving or not,” he said, getting close enough to feel her breath on his lips.

  “I guess I do,” she said, and pulled away. Tom just stood there as Hailey went up the stairs and into the bedroom and shut the door.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Hailey, I’m sorry I just thought you knew.”

  “It’s not your fault, Josie. I was too focused on myself.”

  “I’m so used to everyone around here knowing everything. I should have said something.”

  “Really, don’t blame yourself. I already got mad about, and probably made things horribly worse than they should be.”

  “Don’t let it get to you,” Josie smiled. “We still love you.”

  “How can you?”

  “Huh?” Josie was putting her homemade coleslaw into the fridge.

  “I’ve been here for about a week. How can you like me so much?”

  “Well, I guess true friends are kind of like true loves.”

  Hailey didn’t know about that; she hadn’t been in a solid relationship with anyone for years. Even her coworkers didn’t invite her out on Friday night.

  “When you know, you know.”

  Hailey nodded, even though she was hesitant.

  Josie went around the counter and got the hot dogs and chips from her grocery bag. Sliding them over, Josie piled up the items for Hailey to put away. As she shoved the hot dogs in the fridge, she spotted the biscuits from the other morning and just froze.

  “What’s the matter?”

  Oh, where to begin?

  “He made me breakfast,” she mumbled.

  “Who? Tom?”

  Hailey nodded. “No one’s ever made me breakfast. Well, besides my parents.”

  “Sounds like the perfect morning to me,” Josie had a sly grin on her face.

  Hailey, though, was feeling lost all over again. “Josie, I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “Hailey, it’s alright. None of us do.”

  “No, I don’t mean with life and stuff, I mean with this place, with Tom.”

  “I knew what you meant,” Josie sat down on the stool and leaned over to tap Hailey’s hand.

  “This was supposed to be easy. I should have been home by now, talking to Dr. Vorheim about my new office.”

  “What?”

  Hailey leaned over the counter and put her head in her hands. “I’m trying to get a promotion back in Lansing.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah.” Hailey shrugged and went to the couch. “Instead, I used up all my vacation time to stay here until the festival, just so I could bury my Great-Aunt Dierdre and sell her empty old, lonely house.”

  Josie turned around in the stool and looked over Hailey like she’d gotten an idea.

  “What?”

  “Are you worried about ending up like Dierdre?”

  “Huh?”

  “Is that why you don’t want to be here?”

  Hailey laughed off Josie’s comments.

  “You are,” Josie got up and came right to Hailey and plopped down at her side. “You’re nothing like her. She chose to close herself off from everyone. Shoot, Hailey, you asked me to go shopping with you.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything.”

  “I get it. You’ve probably been so busy with your job that you don’t make time for yourself. But don’t you see? That’s going to make you feel more alone than this orchard ever will.”

  “But am I supposed to just forget about my four years of college and the internship I begged for? What about the overtime I put in as an office clerk?”

  “Well, don’t forget about it.”

  “Am
I expected to just move here and accept that I had wasted all that time when this was my true fate?”

  “Fate?” Josie started laughing. “I mean, I think you’re taking this a little heavy.”

  “I can’t just start over.”

  “Who’s starting over?” Josie sat at her side. “Maybe everything you’ve done so far has led you to this moment. That makes all your work an investment.”

  “I’m not meant to be here,” Hailey shook her head.

  “And where are you meant to be?”

  Hailey chewed at her lip for a second. “Did you know I work in a museum?”

  Josie shook her head.

  “It’s the same one my dad used to work in, before he died.”

  “Yeah, I knew about that.”

  “Or else, he’d be here, dealing with all of this instead of me.”

  “What do you think he’d do?”

  Hailey scratched her brow. “He’d probably retire and move here. Even though he didn’t care too much for this place, he had a lot of pride in family.”

  “What did he do at the museum?”

  “He was the director. I’ve planned out the next few years of my career so that I’ll become a director by the time the current one retires. And then I’ll get to sit in my dad’s chair and make the decisions he used to make. In his old office, looking out over the park they named after him.”

  “Wow.”

  “I’ve been doing everything I can to make it happen. I mean, it takes time, and the right degree, but I have my plan. I’ll be right there, ready for that role when the time comes.”

  “But?”

  “I don’t really know if it’s what I want anymore.”

  “It’s never too late to change your mind.”

  “It isn’t?”

  “No,” Josie popped in the seat with a bit of eagerness. “My uncle was in med school for almost six years, then one day, he fell in love with soap making. Isn’t that funny?”

  “A little.”

  “Well, he started his own business and he’s so happy. He’s got a big shop over in Pine Valley, and he just loves that he changed his career.”

  Hailey leaned back in the sofa and caught sight of Tom passing by the window, and she popped right back up. It wasn’t that she didn’t like how she felt around him, she just didn’t know what it was she was really feeling. Every time he came near, she got a rush of flutters all through her body. It was nice sometimes, but other times it made her nauseas.

  “Josie, I just need to get this stuff over with and get back home. I’m sorry.”

  Hailey got up and went to the kitchen, and Josie stayed right on her heels.

  “I know you might not ever think of this place as home, but I hope you know how much we like having you around.”

  Hailey leaned over the counter and sighed. This is exactly what she didn’t want to happen. Now she was going to hurt someone, now she was going to let someone down.

  “I can’t just stay here in this old house like Dierdre did. Watching things happen around me, growing old all alone. It’s not the life I want for myself.”

  “Maybe that’s not the life you’d get if you stuck around. Maybe you’d be surprised.”

  “I doubt that. I may not have known Dierdre well, but when I did see her, she looked miserable. She was always trying to be better than everyone else, sticking her nose in the air when others passed by. She never gave my mother any respect.”

  “You don’t have to be like that. Just because you take over this orchard doesn’t mean you’ll become her. I want you to know, this place won’t bring you loneliness, it hasn’t yet. You have that choice. It’s what you do, not where you end up.”

  “Jo, can you help?” Jacob yanked the screen door open for a second then rushed back down the stairs.

  “Come outside, forget about all of this, and just be. Don’t worry about things so much, you’ll be fine whatever you choose.”

  Josie gave a smile, then she went outside and called for Jacob to see what he wanted. Hailey, though, started to pace around the living room.

  She didn’t expect to find a friend in a week, but that might have just happened. It was hard to tell; Hailey wasn’t used to having friends. Always the kid in the library with her nose in a book about ancient cultures, always the teen who stayed home on Saturday nights to watch documentaries. Hailey had come a long way since her youth, and she’d changed a lot. Charities and exhibits and fundraisers were the end game, but they weren’t really who she was, and she knew it. She loved history, just like her dad, but it had given her a different outlook than he. His work focused on preserving the remains of humanity’s beginnings. Her work, so far, was focused only on reaching the top. It was sad, really.

  In the window, Tom came by a few more times, now gathering some firewood from beside the shed. He had his sleeves rolled up, and his hair was messy from the wind. She could go right out there, apologize, be one of them. It’d be easy. The orchard would be easy. Waking up whenever she pleased, meeting Josie for lunch, taking walks to the beach around sunset. Hell, she’d been so wrapped up in the mess of selling, she hadn’t even been to the beach.

  Looking over the marshmallows and chocolate bars she’d got the other day, Hailey had a choice to make. Sit here and be alone or go join the others. She tossed the items into a basket and went right outside. Hailey carried the basket to the patio table, over by where Tom was building a fire. She stopped and watched him stack the logs into a pile and couldn’t help but trace his body with her eyes. When he stood up, he ran his fingers through his hair and gazed out to the trees. If only she knew what he was thinking, then this night would go a lot smoother. But no, instead, his eyes landed on hers and she almost couldn’t move. Her heart started beating faster, her face warmed. God, stop staring at me!

  “Nice to see you out here, Hailey.”

  Why Hailey? What happened to Hails?

  “They’re going to start down by the creek. It’s a nice quiet place.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been down there before. It’s been years, though.”

  There couldn’t have been more space between them. Hailey shook her hair in the breeze and shivered.

  “You need a jacket?”

  “Maybe later.”

  “After the sun goes down, we’ll sit around the fire. You won’t be cold.”

  No, she didn’t think she would be.

  “I’m glad you’re doing this. You were right, she deserves a proper burial.”

  “Well, thanks.” There were his dimples, shining through that humble smile he couldn’t help but show. It was that very thing right there that was making her warm, from the inside out, all the way deep down where she had fought all week to ignore.

  “And, I’m sorry that I hit you.” Hailey took a step closer to Tom, but she kept her eyes to the grass. “I’ve never done something like that before.”

  “Oh, it’s alright. Didn’t even leave a mark.”

  Hailey looked up to his face to find it perfectly tan, just like his bare forearms.

  “I heard Josie brought some coleslaw.”

  “Yeah, homemade, she said.”

  “It’s the best you’ll ever have.”

  “I bet.”

  Hailey rocked from her heels to her toes, shoving her hands into her back pockets. She couldn’t just stand there gawking at him, so she tried to occupy her eyes. It didn’t work, though. Every time she found something new to look at, she’d catch herself searching for his chest, or his neck, or his jawline.

  Tom leaned back as the fire finally took, the flames rising up as high as his chest. “I think we should get out there before it gets dark.”

  “You got the urn?”

  “Mr. Whitmore carried it down already.”

  “Alright.”

  “Ready?”

  “Yep.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Hailey had come down the path with Iris, and Tom had tried the whole time to hear what she was saying. It was no good, though
, since they just kept giggling to themselves.

  “You want to say anything?” Tom asked Mr. Whitmore, who was leaning back against a tree. He’d brought the urn down to the creek a little before the others had come.

  “No, thank you,” he tilted his head in respect.

  Jacob took the urn and went over to the creek. It was a narrow waterbed, stemming from Mack’s River about half a mile from the orchard. The creek itself ran through the back part of the eastern side of the orchard, dividing the older trees from the newer ones. The farthest row was in sight, and the gazebo tucked back there was just as green as Hailey remembered.

  “Well, Dierdre,” Tom spoke up as he joined Jacob. “Really, I thought there’d be more to say, but when it came to you, words didn’t usually matter. I guess, I just want to thank you for being there for me when I was certain no one was. It can be hard to deal with things when you feel alone,” Tom paused as he caught sight of Hailey watching him with curiosity in her gaze. “But with the right people, in the right place, you never are truly alone.”

  Josie and Iris nodded along to Tom’s words, but Hailey just kept looking up at him.

  “Alright,” Tom gave the okay for Jacob to spread the ashes out. It took him less than thirty seconds to pour the remains of Dierdre Holloway out over the land and the water. And then it was over.

  Walking back from the creek, Tom and Hailey went slow behind the others.

  “That was nice, what you said back there,” Hailey tucked her hair behind her ear as she spoke. In the peach colored light from the sky, she looked like an angel to Tom. Something from a dream, Hailey’s hair glistened and her skin was just starting to blush. Tom could smell those lilies again and it made him lift his hand, readying to touch her, but she turned and caught him before he could.

  “Thanks. I meant every word.”

  Tom was trying not to bump into Hailey as they walked down the dirt path, but their hands kept grazing one another’s. By the fourth time, Hailey had a smile that was impossible to ignore. She was also starting to shiver. A nice breeze wrapped through the trees, but Hailey hadn’t put on a sweater. She tightened her arms around her body and started to walk a little faster.

  “You want my flannel?”