14. Kenzie

14

KENZIE

K enzie sat in the passenger seat of Aidan’s truck as they made their way through the village toward Ambler Road.

She was feeling super awkward with Aidan for some reason. And Walt was dozing in the back seat, so he was no help at all breaking the tension. She knew this was just a friendly outing, yet there was a touch of ambiguity.

Aidan had been alternating between gazing at her appraisingly, and pointedly growling and looking away all day long. The growling and looking away were classic Aidan behavior, and she was learning not to take it personally.

But the gazes were new, and she thought maybe just for her. Something about having his eyes on her made her feel all melty inside, like she would do just about anything to win one of his elusive half-smiles, even if he cut it off quickly and got growly afterward.

We’re just going to Cassidy Farm to see the animals with Walt, she reminded herself .

Even though she was beginning to think she would like to go on a date with Aidan Webb, she also really, really liked Walt. It would be much more fun to go to the farm with him than without him.

Kenzie had never given much thought to having children. Her schedule with the ballet company kept her far too busy and physically drained to even date. She tried not to worry about it too much.

But spending time with Walt was suddenly making her want kids. And maybe because she had never made room to feel it before, the pull to be a mom was so strong it almost took her breath away whenever he leaned on her shoulder or laughed so hard that he almost fell over.

I don’t want just any kid…

But she had to stop that thought as soon as she had it. She was pretty sure nothing could put more pressure on the budding attraction she and Aidan shared than thinking she wanted to be Walt’s mom.

“You okay?” Aidan asked, glancing over at her and snapping her out of her thoughts.

His deep voice sounded a little amused and he looked relaxed, which suited him.

“I’m trying to remember how long it’s been since the last time I went to Cassidy Farm,” she said, feeling bad for lying, but also pretty sure that if she told him what she was actually thinking he would take her straight home again.

“Right,” he said. “If not for Walt it would have been forever for me too. It’s really nice though, just like you remember it. I promise.”

That made her smile .

“What?” he asked.

“You knew I wouldn’t want things to change,” she said.

“The world changes so fast,” he said, nodding. “But things here move a little more slowly.”

“Why do you think that is?” she asked.

He frowned, but she knew he was only thinking.

“I guess we’re pretty happy with what we’ve got here,” he said after a moment. “We want to make things better, of course. But we generally try and make things better without tearing down what we already have.”

“That feels right,” she said, nodding.

“It’s different compared to New York City,” he said, quirking an eyebrow. “Right?”

“Honestly, I haven’t really seen much of New York City,” she heard herself admit. “I mainly spend my time in the rehearsal hall or the theatre, working on a dance form that hasn’t changed since the fifteenth century.”

“Huh,” Aidan said, sounding surprised at the idea.

“Holding onto tradition is basically my whole job,” she said, shrugging.

“Well, you’re going to love Cassidy Farm then,” Aidan said, turning onto Route One and heading them away from the town and community college and into the rural part of Trinity Falls.

“Do they still have the best pumpkin pies?” Kenzie asked.

“Yes,” Aidan said. “You can’t even reserve them online. You have to come in person before Thanksgiving, just like when I was a little kid.”

“Do they still have pony rides?” she asked, laughing .

“They sure do,” he said. “Walt loves them as much as I did.”

“They must at least have a new sign out front,” Kenzie guessed. The old hand-painted sign always made her smile, but times were changing and surely the farm would have replaced the sweet little sign with something more impressive now that you could have just about anything you wanted printed out or produced without a lot of fuss.

“I’ll let you wait and see,” Aidan said. “They do have a BeeBop account now. I think it’s run by one of the grandkids. It’s pretty cute, the videos they post of the orchards and the visitors having fun.”

“That sounds amazing,” Kenzie said. “Just the right amount of change, then.”

They drove on in silence for a while, and Kenzie found herself gazing out the window at the dormant fields. When spring came they would be golden and green with wheat and corn, but for now they slept beside the bare-branched trees lining the road.

Will I still be here in the spring?

The question had been in her mind in a negative sense so many times lately, as she found herself facing up to how serious her injury was. Even if she did manage to heal enough to dance again, rupturing one Achilles tendon made it all the more likely that she might rupture the other or get hurt in some other way while trying to protect that leg.

This was the reality of aging in the dance world. Trying not to get injured, guarding small weaknesses, and working through pain were just part of life. There was no such thing as a perfect dance body, and the longer you danced, the more you broke down the one you had. Only experience, care, and luck could keep a dancer in her pointe shoes past the age of thirty.

When she thought about being home permanently, it had been with a sense of loss and sadness.

But the longer she was back in Trinity Falls, the more she felt that coming home might just be fate. After all, Grandma Lee had made her an incredible offer, and of course she had always wanted to fall madly in love and get married someday…

“Here we go,” Aidan said, bringing her back to the present before she had time to follow that line of thought to somewhere dangerous.

Kenzie looked up, and there was the same old wooden sign, freshly painted.

“Oh my gosh, they didn’t change it,” she said, delighted. “It still has the apples and the horse.”

“They should never get rid of it,” Aidan said firmly.

“You’re right,” Kenzie agreed. “It’s iconic.”

“What’s that?” Walt asked from the back seat.

“Someone’s awake,” Aidan said. “We’re here, bud. Great timing.”

Kenzie smiled at the way Aidan’s voice always warmed and softened when he spoke with his boy. Walt definitely brought out the best in his dad.

“Can we get a snack?” Walt asked hopefully.

“Sure,” Aidan said, glancing at Kenzie. “As long as our guest doesn’t mind. ”

“I’d love a snack,” Kenzie said. “Great idea.”

Aidan pulled into a nice spot in the gravel lot and turned to Kenzie with a stern look.

“Wait there,” he told her.

“Uh, okay,” she said.

He got out and closed the car door behind him, heading over to her side.

“I have to wait too,” Walt told her sympathetically.

“Your dad takes good care of you,” she told him.

Aidan opened her door and then lifted her gently to the ground. For a moment she was encircled in his warm arms. He smelled like fresh-sawn lumber and the spicy aftershave her grandpa used to use. Too soon, he was grabbing her crutches and handing them to her before going back to get Walt out of his car seat.

Kenzie took a deep breath and tried to get herself together.

Don’t think about what he smells like.

“I want my snack,” Walt said, the minute his feet hit the ground.

“Let’s go then,” his dad said. “We have to take our time though, because Kenzie is on crutches.”

“And because I have short legs,” Walt said.

Kenzie smiled and waited so she could walk beside Walt. The little guy reached up for his dad’s hand.

“Can I swing?” Walt asked, reaching out his other hand to Kenzie, as if to take hers.

“Oh, Kenzie can’t do that right now,” Aidan replied. “Not while she’s on crutches.”

“Oh,” Walt said sadly.

“Maybe we can do that with Uncle Simon,” Aidan told him. “Next time we see him, we’ll ask him to help me swing you.”

“When you get better, I can swing,” Walt told Kenzie.

“That sounds like fun,” she told him, glancing over at Aidan.

But Aidan’s jaw had gone tight, and he didn’t smile or agree.

A family heading up into the parking lot with a cart filled with chrysanthemums and poinsettias said hello as they all passed, and Kenzie didn’t have time to pick apart why Aidan had been offended at the idea of swinging Walt between them.

In no time, they were approaching the big octagonal barn with its grocery store and shops.

“We’ll go to the picnic tables on the side,” Aidan said. “That’s where they have the best snacks.”

Kenzie nodded, wondering if he was planning to get candied apples or apple cider doughnuts. Both were specialties at Cassidy Farm. She definitely wasn’t the only kid she knew who had broken her braces on a Cassidy Farm candied apple.

They passed several people who called out their greetings to Aidan and Walt, and finally made it to the patio on the side, where a bunch of picnic tables were set up.

Just like Kenzie remembered, there were several groups of teenagers camped out at the tables, eating candied apples or drinking apple cider and laughing. But Aidan led them past the candied apple stand and the window with the doughnuts to the little blue cart with soft pretzels .

“How many, folks?” the twinkly-eyed old man at the cart asked.

“You like pretzels, right?” he asked Kenzie without waiting for a reply before holding up three fingers to the man.

“Coming right up, kids,” the man said. “What a good-looking family.”

“I’m going to put mustard on mine,” Walt decided, before anyone could correct the pretzel man.

“Me too,” Kenzie told him. It had been forever since she had enjoyed a nice soft pretzel.

“Hello, there, Aidan and Walt,” Michael from the hardware store said as he sat down at a nearby picnic table with a paper cup of hot apple cider. “And is that little MacKenzie Forrest? Wow. Your grandma used to bring you into the hardware store when you needed supplies for scenery, you know?”

“Hi, Mr. Michael,” Kenzie said, calling him by the slight honorific her grandmother had encouraged when she was a kid.

Michael let out a belly laugh and raised his cider to her before chatting her up about the weather and asking after her grandmother.

A few minutes later, Kenzie, Walt, and Aidan were each holding a warm pretzel in a sleeve of waxed paper. Aidan paid, tossing the change into the tip jar, and the man pointed them toward a small table beside the cart, where bottles of mustard waited.

Aidan patiently got Walt’s pretzel ready for him while Kenzie did hers.

“That looks great, Walt,” she told him, holding out her own so he could see that she had put her mustard on in zigzags.

“Yours is funny ,” Walt said, cracking up.

Aidan was finally finishing up the mustard on his own pretzel when a kid on a skateboard came barreling toward them.

Everything seemed to slip into slow motion as Aidan stepped away from the table with his pretzel. Kenzie could see exactly what was about to happen, but there was nothing she could do to stop it.

The kid on the skateboard saw him and called out, but couldn’t change his trajectory in time. And as Aidan started to turn around, the kid slammed into his back, planting the pretzel against Aidan’s chest for a moment before it bounced off and flew through the air, landing in the nearby goat enclosure, where a small black goat bolted it down immediately.

“A-are you okay?” the kid asked, his voice shaking a little. “I’m so sorry, sir. I’ll buy you another pretzel…”

Aidan turned slowly to the kid and Kenzie almost gasped at how thoroughly painted with mustard his flannel shirt was.

He’s going to scream at him, and this poor teenager is going to cry in front of his friends. He’ll be talking about it in therapy when he’s thirty…

It took her a moment to realize that the reason Aidan wasn’t yelling was that he was laughing so hard he wasn’t even making a sound.

“Oh,” the boy said.

“The pretzel,” Aidan gasped, bent over with mirth. “Right to the goat… You couldn’t do it again if you tried. ”

Suddenly, the boy was laughing too, though more with relief than anything else.

Kenzie was fully stunned. She shook her head, her eye landing on Michael, who arched one brow and eyed her, as if to say he was impressed with her. Though what she had to do with it, she had no idea.

Aidan finally wiped his eyes and straightened up.

“That was funny, but you’ll be more careful on that thing in a crowd from now on, right?” he said in a gruff but gentle tone.

“Of course,” the boy said. “But, your shirt...”

“I’ll throw it in the wash when I get home,” Aidan said, shrugging. “Be safe.”

“Thank you,” the kid said, heading off to join his friends.

“Your pretzel, Daddy,” Walt said sadly as Aidan peeled off his flannel and rolled it up, mustard-side in.

The charcoal gray thermal shirt he wore underneath showed off his narrow waist and muscular arms and chest so well that Kenzie had to look away for a minute.

“I lost my pretzel,” Aidan said. “But just think, we got a funny story to tell everyone, and this is the best day in that goat’s whole life.”

Kenzie giggled, glancing over at the goat, who was watching them with what she chose to believe was a hopeful expression.

“You can have a bite of my pretzel, Daddy,” Walt said, holding it up.

“Come get another one on the house, kid,” the soft pretzel man called out in a friendly voice.

“We’re okay,” Aidan told him. “Thank you. ”

“Nonsense,” the man replied. “It’s my new Buy-Three-Get-One-Free deal.”

Aidan jogged over and got his replacement, sticking a bill in the tip jar when the man turned away, and then squirting mustard on the new pretzel before coming back to join them at the table.

“Now what?” he asked as he sat on the bench on the other side of Walt.

“I want to see the animals,” the boy squeaked excitedly.

“Okay,” Aidan told him. “But keep your wits about you when we get to the goats. I hear one of them has a taste for pretzels.”

Walt laughed his adorable throaty laugh and Aidan winked at Kenzie over his head. He looked so relaxed and happy, and it made him more handsome than ever.

This is the Aidan Webb I remember from back in school, she thought to herself in awe.

They spent the day enjoying everything Cassidy Farm had to offer. Walt saw all the big farm animals and even fed the ducks from the little bridge over the pond.

He played on the playground, and the three of them went through the corn maze, laughing all the way. And they even explored the plant nursery on their way to admire the big Christmas display.

On the other side of the yard past the nursery, a forest of fresh cut Christmas trees cut off the view of the parking area. The scent was incredible, and Kenzie wondered if she was even going to get herself a tree. She’d been alone for Christmas before when she was in a production, but during those times, she’d been too busy to dwell on the idea. It would be strange to spend the holiday in the house without her parents.

It’s too much trouble to do a tree when I’m on crutches, she decided. Besides, remembering that it’s Christmas will make me sad if I’m alone and not even dancing.

“You okay?” Aidan asked, concern in his eyes.

“Yes, just missing my parents,” she said, shaking her head and feeling like a child, as usual.

“Will they be back in time for Christmas?” he asked.

“They thought I’d be wrapped up with The Nutcracker until Christmas Day,” she said, shaking her head. “We normally do our Christmas thing the week after, so they didn’t think twice about booking their trip.”

Aidan only nodded thoughtfully.

She waited for him to say something sympathetic or something that would encourage her to look on the bright side, but he didn’t. Somehow, it made her felt seen and listened to in a way she hadn’t realized she was craving.

Walt dashed back to them from where he had been looking at a display of Cinderella among the poinsettias with a couple of other children.

“Now what?” he panted happily.

“How about the market?” Aidan asked.

Walt nodded with a surprisingly happy look on his face. Kenzie didn’t remember liking the market when she was little.

When they got inside, Walt showed Kenzie all the beautiful fruits, homemade treats, and a display of wooden puzzles and trains she didn’t remember from her time there. Aidan filled a cart with poinsettias and produce while they looked at the fun stuff, so that they could be ready to check out before Walt got bored.

He’s a really good dad, Kenzie thought to herself, watching the two of them smiling and talking quietly in line beside her.

By the time they were back in the truck and headed home, Kenzie was feeling relaxed, sleepy, and happier than she’d been in a long time. They drove home in comfortable silence, with everyone clearly feeling a little worn out from the adventure.

“Wait there,” Aidan told her again when he pulled into her driveway.

This time she braced herself when he lifted her up and set her gently on the ground, leaning across her to grab the crutches.

But his scent and his warmth still lingered. There was something about his larger-than-life presence that made her feel safe.

“I have something for you,” he told her as she stood there, gazing up at him like a fool.

“Okay,” she said.

“Go on around to the back,” he told her. “I’ll meet you back there.”

She did as she was told, hearing him reassure Walt that he was just walking something around to the back of the house.

When she reached her own back door, she waited, her imagination going wild, making her think that maybe, just maybe, the thing he wanted to give her out of Walt’s line of sight was a kiss.

But he appeared a moment later, a gorgeous pot of scarlet poinsettias in his arms.

“This one’s for you,” he told her. “Should I put it by the door?”

“It’s beautiful,” she said, feeling melty again. “Thank you so much. By the door is great.”

He set the pot gently on the ground. When he straightened, she held her breath. Aidan’s eyes were so intense, and his jaw was tight again, almost like he was angry. But he couldn’t be angry.

It hit Kenzie that the job was done. Once he walked away, he’d have no reason to visit her anymore. Unless he asked her out. Which didn’t seem likely.

“I… I should get back to Walt,” he said, looking down at the plant.

So that was it then.

“Sure,” she told him, trying not to let the hurt show in her voice or face. All those years of performing were helping her now.

Aidan looked like he was about to go, but then he shook his head and looked up at her with a wry smile.

“My aunt and uncle wanted to bake cookies with Walt tomorrow,” he said. “Do you want to do something?”

Do something?

What did that mean? Why was she so terrible at things like this?

“Just us?” Kenzie asked without thinking.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll come by for you around ten?”

“Sure,” she replied .

“It’s a date,” he said, winking at her.

It’s a date…

She was grateful that he headed back to his truck before he could see her leaning against her own back door, feeling like she just might melt into a big puddle right there on the welcome mat.