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AJ led me across the street and down a private road that veered
off
the county highway McDonald’s occupied. “I think I saw this from
the
highway,” he explained as we walked.
“Saw what?”
“An apple orchard. Huge trees, gorgeous apples.”
“On a private farm, no doubt.”
“So?” He looked at me, grinning a challenge.
My first instinct was to protest further. But, then, I remembered
our
conversation at the restaurant. “Okay ...” I agreed.
When we found the orchard, I sighed in amazement. The trees
were
huge, and the apples were gorgeous ... I picked one off a tree and
bit into it.
“Mmmm ...”
AJ found a large tree at the center. “Come on, let’s climb,
see if the
best apples are at the top.”
“Climb them?” I echoed.
“Yeah ...” He hosted himself onto the bottom branch and
grinned
back at me. “Haven’t you ever climbed trees before?”
I snorted. “AJ, I grew up in Kansas with two older brothers.
There
wasn’t much else to do but be a tomboy ... of course I’ve climbed trees!”
I
picked out one of the trees next to him. “Last one to the top
has to buy
dinner!”
For all his talk, he wasn’t much on action ... I was at the top
of my
tree before he was halfway up his. As I watched him climb, I
picked
another apple and polished it on my shirt. His muscles strained
as he hung
onto the branches ... his face glistened with sweat. Okay, I
admitted to
myself, he was damned sexy. But, good girls don’t fall in lust
with guys
they’ve only just met, I reminded myself ... or, at least, if they
do, they don’t
do anything about it.
When he finally made it, he sat on a branch and wheezed.
“Wow,
that was harder than I thought!”
“That’s what you get when you smoke a pack a day,” I teased.
“Oh, bite me.”
“That’s original,” I commented, not admitting to myself how
interesting the suggestion actually sounded.
Suddenly, we heard a commotion from down below. “I thought
I
saw someone coming in here,” a voice said.
I looked at AJ, panicking. He put a finger to his lips and
gestured to
the leaves on the trees -- they hid us fairly well. We remained
silent as two
men appeared below us. “Damned kids,” one of them grumbled.
“Always
stealing my apples. I told them I’d have them arrested the next
time I
caught them!”
“Well, I don’t see them now,” the other one pointed out.
“We’ll
have to set up watch and catch them next time.”
When they disappeared from sight, we slowly climbed down from
our trees, trying to make as little noise as possible. On the
ground, we
tiptoed slowly away ... but, just before we reached the path, I stepped
on a
branch, snapping it.
“There! I heard it again ... get them!” one of the
men cried from
behind us.
“Run!” AJ hissed, and we took off.
I never knew if the farmers saw us -- we ran at full speed out
of the
orchard, across the highway, and to our car. I had it started
and moving
before AJ’s door was even closed.
When we were back on the main highway, I burst into laughter.
“Oh my god, that was so juvenile!”
“But it was fun, wasn’t it?” AJ asked between his own laughs.
“Yeah, that’s a word for it ...”
I looked at him, and noticed a leaf stuck in his hair, which made
me
laugh even harder. For nearly ten minutes, there wasn’t a sound
in the car
besides laughter and the occasional gasp for breath.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so good.
