Offices and Orchards (A New Adult Sweet Romance)

Chapter 27

On Friday morning, she packed up her things from the visitor's room at Beauregard, and returned to Harvest Hills on the bus.
It was November now, and the trees had mostly let go of their leaves. The vibrant, brilliant array of hues that had been on display the last time she had done the drive between Brighton and Harvest Hills, were now covering the ground in a brown, crunchy blanket. Although it was still beautiful, it was clear that Fall was preparing for its inevitable departure, and the landscape was nearly ready for all of the changes that came with winter.
Autumn realized that the changing of the seasons was reflected in her life too, and that, like the trees, she would have to lose some leaves to move forward. She would also let go, moving forward into the winter and another fresh start. Relationships were just like the seasons, some of them come and go, and for the ones that do last, there are still many changes that happened within them anyway.
Back at her apartment in Harvest Hills though everything was still the same. She sat her luggage on the floor, dumped the keys on the kitchen counter and surveyed the mess she had made while trying to pack up so quickly for the trip.
It had been a good few days now since things had happened, and she had not been too upset with Grandpa there, but now, back in her own apartment, on her own, seeing a sweater Harvey had left over the back of one of the dining chairs,a familiar lump rose up in her throat. She forced it back down.
From somewhere in her handbag, her phone rang. It was Amber, who had been blowing up her phone since she too, must have heard the full story of the bet and Autumn's sudden disappearance. She let it go to voicemail. Immediately, the phone started ringing again. This time it was Adriana, still in Bora Bora, in one of those beautiful hotel rooms out on the water, and wrapped up in newlywed bliss, no doubt. She also had called and texted a few times.
She had numerous missed calls from Harvey, texts too, and a few emails. she had read all of the emails and texts and listened to the voice mails. They were all similar, and none of them persuaded her to speak to him. It had only been five days, and she didn't know how she wanted to respond yet. A fresh lump rose up in her throat, and a new wave of tears formed in her eyes. Grandpa said to keep myself busy to focus on the important stuff.
Autumn opened the blinds to the balcony, letting some of the day's last light come in. She dragged her luggage into the bedroom. She had laundry to do, and a lot of clothes to put away. She had grabbed her mail from her mailbox on the way up too, and she sat on the bed and there was a small stack of mainly junk mail: sales brochures and catalogues, and a few letters were in there too. One from her bank, another statement, I thought I had changed to online statements? She thought, as she opened an advertisement for a new insurance they were selling. The next was an 8x11 printed white envelope, with the words Albion Mill on the front. She ripped it open , nearing tearing its contents.
A new residential building was being constructed in Harvest Hills, and Autumn had signed up for a promotional package from them at Adrianna's suggestion, more for fun than anything. She was far too young to consider buying a house, but she had done it as motivation. Inside the envelope was a glossy brochure of the new building, still under construction, and images of the area in which it was located. It was in the Heritage district, but near the edge of the CBD, on a site which was formally a mill, built by Scottish pioneers in the 1930s. She flipped through the fancy brochure, taking in all of the photos. It had always been her dream to own her own place, and such a luxurious apartment building with everything she could want right there on her doorstep: the building would have a lap pool, fully equipped gym, and an entertainment deck on the rooftop, with views over Lake Golden. She could sit up on the deck with a wine to watch the sunset. This was motivation for work!

Seeing Harvey every weekend since orientation had finished had been a major distraction, and maybe it was not a bad thing to refocus on work and myself. She called Adriana back.
"Autumn! So glad to hear from you! How are you? Are you ok? I wish you could be here with me, it's so beautiful,"
"I'm quite happy I'm not with you on your honeymoon actually, Ade"
"You know what I mean. William told me what happened, with you and Harvey I mean,"
"Yeah, it wasn't that nice, but I had a nice week with my Grandpa, and came home to a fabulous brochure for that new residential complex in town. Do you think I'm too young to go look at them?"
"Oooh, I have some news about that! Seeing as it looks like we are going to settle in Harvest Hills for a little while, William bought us a place in there! As a wedding gift to me. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be neighbors?"
"I wasn't serious Ade- I'm far too young for that."
"Autumn?" William had grabbed the phone. "Can you call him please?"
"Hi William,"
"He's a mess Autumn, please give him a call,"
"Maybe," she said dismissively.
"We've gotta go," Adriana had the phone back. "Talk soon. Take care. Love you. Byeeee,"
Hearing Adriana so happy made her smile. It was nice to have a partner in crime for life, Autumn realized, and a bonus that it happened to be one who could afford to buy condominiums as wedding gifts. She had enjoyed spending time with Harvey, they had done all sorts of wonderful new things together and she had liked the affection and the excitement of it all. She had also liked the orchard and Fallfest. Oh, it was so beautiful up there, she sighed. But I don't need to go to McIntosh's, there are pick-your-own orchards all over the place, she thought. It would be even better to go orchard exploring and find my own favorite place. What is happening to me?I really am turning into my old fall loving self. 
That was what she would do, spend a morning wandering around the Village, she still had not seen very much. Then head out to one of the orchards somewhere in the afternoon. She still had all day Sunday to get ready for work, something she did not want to worry about just yet. Being gone away for a week, and not even replying to emails over that time meant that her inbox would be packed and no doubt Derek would have a new project, waiting for her on her desk first thing Monday morning. Maybe she could even join Amber for crossfit? Nah, she said to herself, one more week off would be fine. Amber does not even know I'm home.
As had become her habit, she read a couple of blog entries before settling in to sleep.'Most of the maples have started to lose their color, although one outside my window is still stuck in mid-summer. The oaks still have a little ways to go, as do the apple trees, which almost always seem to stay green long after the woods around them have turned. I am feeling a satisfying sense of accomplishment as we enter the last push to get in the harvest before it falls off the trees.
With only a week or two to go in the season, we have started picking all the later season apples. The Mutsu, Golden Delicious and Red Delicious are some of the last apples to ripen. With a few days last week dedicated to cleaning up several different orchards of Empires, Cortlands, Macouns and Galas picking the remainders of all for cider, the promise of the late season apples was still only a promise. Come Saturday morning after an all-night rain, I awoke to a fog. Hoping for a late start in order to let the trees dry out, pickers slowly made their way down to the kitchen to get their first cup of coffee, giving the orchards a few extra minutes to dry.
We picked the last of the Golden Delicious this morning. It started out cold and wet, the hands numb, not wanting to grip the apples. I could see my breath as I filled my first bin. The morning was not ideal: the fog held in the moisture, sometimes seeming to make the trees wetter rather than dryer. Every time you would reach for an apple, you would be showered with drops of water cupped in all the leaves on the branches above you. Without much warning the sun broke through, striking the apples in such a way they almost seemed to glow. By mid-morning we moved on to Cameos and then Romes and the last few Jonagolds. By the early afternoon, the clouds began to clear and the sun burned through. It was good picking and nobody seemed to really want to go to lunch, for me, lunch ended up being an apple as I sat on my picking bucket taking a break.
We finished the day picking a couple bins of Mutsus, which seem to be some of the largest apples in the whole orchard. I had never picked Mutsus until this season, but it was always promised by other veterans to be a great apple, and for an apple picker that usually means a large apple that fills the bin quickly and doesn't bruise too easily. The promise had had been fulfilled, the Mutsus were a great apple to pick.
As the bins filled the day moved forward and the sun fell lower in the sky. By the late afternoon we had moved to long east/west rows. As the sun reached the horizon I could peer down the row at one of the more beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. Each time I returned to my bin to dump another bucket of apples into it, it seemed as though the colors had gotten a little deeper and more brilliant, till finally the light began to fade entirely. By this time hands were being rubbed together as the chilly night air moved in with the deepening of dusk. The softball-sized Mutsu fruits were nearly all gone now and before long, so too will the rest of the orchard be, I realized. After seeing my breath, I knew it was time to be heading back to the bunkhouse for some hot food and a hot apple cider, another day of harvest under my belt.'