Chapter 15

Megs kept a tight grip on the pen as she signed the rental contract for the loft room at Max Crew’s real estate office downtown. Monday, October 2nd, was her official move-in day. But, since there was nobody living there, Neeley assured her she could start bringing stuff over whenever.

This was real. She was leaving her childhood home and someone else would be living there.

"Perfect, thanks for coming down.” Max took the application from her and dropped the edges on the counter to line up all the pages. Megs glanced over and noticed the Oscar Calloway book sitting next to his computer. The edges looked worn. “Normally landlords are supposed to do this themselves, but since Tom lives out of town, I take care of it for him.”

“Nice of you.”

Max chuckled. “I don’t do it for free.”

“I’d hope not. Thanks, Max.” Had she not been in such a hurry, she would’ve asked him about the novel. Probably better she didn’t. Megs waved at Max and left the office. It was a simple interaction, but that was one of the main things she’d missed living in Chicago. Seeing so many familiar faces when going about day-to-day business.

Two more shifts at Green Mountain and then she was officially done. Well, kind of. She’d given her two weeks notice after accepting the job at the medical center, assuming she brought in her certificate Monday, but Mandy at Green Mountain hadn’t found a permanent replacement for Megs yet. So, she was still going to do one shift a week to make sure John wasn’t having to work seven days a week.

On Monday she’d be working in an office. She’d be using the skills she’d learned over the past three weeks, which felt insane. Only a few weeks ago she thought she’d be serving lattes forever. Now she’d have a job she could announce to nods and smiles instead of getting a look that read wait, how old are you?

They’d ask if she liked it, and she’d say it pays well. Just like Alli. Megs sighed and sat in her car. That wasn’t fair. Maybe she would like it. Perhaps she’d decide this was what she’d wanted to do all along.

She started the car and drove down Main. Today was Thursday, which meant she had no class and the entire evening to herself. The perfect opportunity for a haircut.

Megs stopped in front of Colleen’s salon and parked, then grabbed her purse and walked in. There were still tape marks on the door where the finalist list for the audiobook competition had been posted.

Colleen greeted her warmly. "Megs! It's been ages! What can I do for you today?"

"Nothing too drastic.” Megs looked at her reflection in the mirror. "Just a refresher. I think I’m starting to get triangle hair."

Colleen laughed and motioned for her to come to the back for a wash. This woman had been cutting her hair since she could remember, and though Megs wasn’t the best at self-care, this salon always felt like a piece of home when she made the time to come in. Considering all the change in her life lately, that reality was comforting.

Colleen scrubbed her scalp, then conditioned her hair, rinsed, and wrapped it in a towel. As she brushed it out and began snipping her wild curls, Colleen steered the conversation toward the romance audiobook competition.

“Is Sylvia paying you to get more information?”

Colleen barked a laugh. “Your mother wouldn’t have to pay me, you know I’d tell her for free.”

Megs grinned, but chose her words carefully. Gossip spread like wildfire among the Sugar Mamas of Sugar Creek. Her mom wasn’t technically old enough to get an official invitation, but she had no doubt it would come.

“Well, Oscar Calloway is as charming in person as he seems online,” Megs said, and the other women in their chairs tittered like school girls. Megs laughed. “My mom keeps telling me he’s single, and I can’t imagine why.”

Colleen swatted her cape-draped shoulder. “Can’t imagine why. Pshaw. Any man would be lucky to have your interest.”

“I am a package deal. Great at making coffee, no real direction in life—” Megs gasped as Colleen whirled the chair around.

“I’ll have no talk like that in my chair, understand?”

Megs snapped her mouth shut, and Colleen slowly swiveled her back to the mirror. “You don’t need to be a package deal. That’s not what love and romance is about.”

Megs sighed. She was hearing a lot about what romance was and wasn’t lately. “Someone told me recently they thought romance came after you got to know each other, not before.”

Megs considered this. That definitely changed the popular definition.

“Too true,” Phyllis interjected from two chairs down.

Colleen nodded. “I agree, it’s all the little things that come from a soul-deep love and respect from one another. But that’s what romance or love looks like, not what it is.”

Megs waited for her to continue, but Colleen just hummed to herself as she combed and cut. She was going to make this difficult, but Megs was too curious not to play her game.

“What is it, then?”

Colleen grinned. “There’s an old oak tree that stands at the end of my garden. It’s been there since I was a girl.”

Megs’ heart squeezed. Colleen still lived in the home she grew up in.

“Not this again,” Phyllis muttered, and Colleen shushed her.

“Anywho, the strongest and sturdiest branch of the tree juts out toward the west, and it doesn’t look possible, Megs. You’ll have to come by and see it. It sticks out so far, it looks like the tree should topple.”

“Why doesn’t it?” Megs asked.

“Well, because twenty years ago, my mother planted a grapevine.”

Megs frowned. “A grapevine?”

Colleen nodded and bent over to pull on her curls and make sure they were even. “Right. Mother intended for the grapes to grow along the fence, but each time she pulled the vine over and tethered it, it found a way to reach up for that tree. Finally she just let it go.”

Colleen stood and set down her scissors, then picked up a spray bottle. "The branch and the vine are a lot like two people in love."

Megs raised an eyebrow. “Because they go where they shouldn’t?”

Phyllis laughed, then broke into a coughing fit. Colleen set down the spray bottle and went to the back to get her a bottle of water.

“Not because they go where they shouldn’t, but I hadn’t thought of that.” Colleen took her place behind Megs’ chair, then began lifting her hair and spritzing. “That tree branch is strong and bold. It could very well stand alone and still be magnificent, but if it would’ve kept reaching, it would’ve overpowered the tree. Eventually it could’ve split the tree in two with a wet snowfall. But that vine. At first gentle, flexible, and beautifully delicate. It needed something to support its growth in the beginning, but now?”

Colleen set down the spray bottle and scrunched Megs’ curls with her hands. “Now that vine is roped and strong. It props up that branch, just as its new growth twirls around the wood each spring. Alone, the vine would slump or grow directionless.

“They each started out in different places, with different needs, but now they grow together. Support each other. Neither is better or worse. The vine is a little wild and free, it bolts and winds. The tree is so steady, I barely notice its growth from one year to the next.”

“So you’re saying love is about balance.” Megs wondered if Colleen thought of her as the tree or the vine. She almost snorted. That wasn’t even a question.

Colleen wiped her hands on a towel and clicked a diffuser onto the end of her blow dryer. “Sometimes we need strength and direction. Sometimes we need to make sure we don’t grow too rigid or overreach.”

Colleen started the blow dryer, and Megs stared at herself in the mirror. She loved the cut. A bit shorter and refreshed. She thought of Gideon as hot air hissed past her ear. He’d planted himself in Shelburne, and the image of him rooted and reaching made her chest tighten.

He can’t date his students. He’s reconnecting with Alli. He’s almost thirty and established. All the reasons why Gideon couldn’t or shouldn’t be interested in her raced through her mind.

But then she thought about their first time at Sammy’s. The way conversation flowed between them when they let it.

“All set, my dear.” Colleen set the blow dryer down.

“It’s perfect, as always.” Megs stretched her arms as Colleen removed the cape from around her shoulders.

Colleen winked. “Don’t ever forget the same could be said about you.”

Megs stood in front of the Sugar Creek Train Depot in a puffy coat, beanie, and hiking shoes. The maple trees on Main were turning gold and bronze from the bottom up, as if someone had started a fire at their base and it hadn’t quite flickered to life.

Sean, Melissa, and Layla huddled together near the platform. Megs waved and walked over, her breath pluming in the crisp morning air. Her weather app had promised it would be sixty five degrees today, and she prayed that would happen before they started their hike on St. Ambrose.

“Morning, Megs.” Melissa rubbed her hands together and lifted them closer to the heater above the benches. “Quite the romantic trip already, don’t you think?”

Layla sniffed. “I heard that the moments you remember most are the bad ones. Even better if it was a terrible moment mixed with an incredible one. Our brains prioritize those and they stick longer.”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “They should be opening the train doors any minute.”

“Where’s everybody else?” Megs asked.

Sean pointed behind them, and Megs turned to see the other contestants and Oscar walking across the square. Her nostrils flared when she saw Gideon. He and Alli were both getting out of the same car. Hers, not his.

"Did you get a cut?" Layla asked, reaching out to touch Megs’ curls poking out from under her knit hat.

“I did. Impressive that you can notice something like that when it’s covered up.”

Layla preened. “I’m extremely detail oriented.”

The group didn’t say much as Oscar greeted them and handed out their tickets. When the doors opened, they rushed aboard and found seats in the primary passenger car. The last time she’d been on this train was the year before playing the role of an elf in Santa’s workshop. She doubted she’d audition this year. What job would be willing to let her off work Thursday and Friday at three o’clock to get into costume?

The train lurched as it pulled away from the station, and its slow, rhythmic chug lulled Megs as she gazed out the window. After going to class last night and then waking up early this morning, it didn’t take much.

“Gorgeous,” Alli murmured from the bench across from her as they pulled into the gorge.

Megs snorted, then realized her pun wasn’t intentional. “That was a missed opportunity,” she muttered. She could’ve sworn she caught Gideon’s lip twitch across the aisle.

“They don’t have leaves like this in Burlington.” Oscar beamed at them from the front of the car.

The world outside the windows was awash with reds, oranges, and yellows, and nature's canvas only grew more vibrant as they ascended. This was the beauty of the Sugar Creek train. The Autumn Rambler, or whatever they changed it to each fall. The goal wasn’t the destination, so it never went so fast that you couldn’t soak in the views.

Sean started telling a story of some commercial he’d done in the Smoky Mountains, but Megs tuned him out. Today, she was glad she came. Not because she was trying to impress anyone. Not because she hoped Gideon might still be interested in her, though of course she did, and not because she might win the competition and be able to save money.

For a year straight she’d been so worried about what she was going to do next or what she shouldn’t do next, or how she’d flubbed her opportunities, or how she wouldn’t get any more opportunities, Megs couldn’t think of a single day when she’d simply enjoyed herself. There had been moments here and there that pulled her out of her head, mostly involving Haley and karaoke, but never an entire day.

That was going to change now. Here she was leaf peeping on a historic train in the town where she grew up while standing at a personal crossroads. Tonight she would receive her certificate. Tomorrow she’d finish her last official shift at Green Mountain—even though she’d continue helping them out once a week, that didn’t really count. Monday she’d start her new job and less than two weeks after that, she’d be living in her loft.

Today, she would take in the colors, breathe in the mountain air, and enjoy being alive. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to live her dreams the way she’d hoped. Or maybe love wasn’t the only thing that required balance.

Once the Rambler reached the top of the loop and pulled up alongside the platform, their group disembarked. The sun was out, and the scenery was breathtaking with towering aspens fanning golden coins against the clear blue sky.

Oscar led the group to the trailhead. “Does anyone need to use the bathroom or apply sunscreen before we get going?”

Cassie and Layla both left the group and headed to the restrooms while Oscar’s crew took photos and video of the contestants. When the two of them returned, they started off.

Megs drew a deep breath, letting the morning air fill her lungs as her shoes crunched over fallen leaves. The group spread out like a string of beads on the trail.

"Finding any inspiration for your next audition?" Sean asked. His arm brushed hers as he stepped over a tree root.

Megs smiled politely. “I’ve been surprised, actually. These outings have improved my ability to get into character.” She wasn’t making that up. With so little romance in her life, whatever the definition, she needed all the inspiration she could get.

Sean snorted. “That’s funny.” Megs looked up the trail, not bothering to correct him. “How was your group coaching?”

“It was interesting, you?”

Sean shook his head. “Complete joke. I’m only here because I have to be. Calloway has to see the difference in quality between auditions. I mean, I have years of . . . ”

Sean droned on, but Megs caught voices behind her and tuned him out.

"You might surprise yourself," Gideon said. “Sometimes what we think we want isn’t what we need.”

“But sometimes it is. It’s too bad I can never tell the difference.” Alli laughed.

Megs’ stomach twisted.

“ . . . it’s not hard, you know?” Sean finished.

“Mmhmm.”

The trail wasn’t difficult, but Megs found herself wishing it were. With Gideon and Alli behind her and Sean continuing to ask and answer his own questions, she wished she could bolt up a hill, hike until she was breathless, and find some solitude.

After another fifteen minutes, they entered a clearing, and Megs seized her opportunity to move far away from Sean. She had no idea if this was the end of the hike or a mid way point, but either way, she wasn’t going to walk next to him another step.

Oscar sat on a boulder and took a swig from his water bottle. "Fall is the season of romance, my friends," he proclaimed, sweeping his arm out to encompass the vibrant foliage. “I dare you to be uninspired.” Megs rolled her eyes, and Oscar caught the motion. His eyes danced. “What, too dramatic for an actor? I thought this would be a safe place.”

Melissa adjusted the straps of her small backpack. “You’re safe with me. Be as dramatic as you want.”

Oscar smiled, then flicked his eyes back to Megs. “Places like these, they’re for dreamers.”

What was it with this guy? Was he truly this romantic at heart, or was he putting on a show? Either way, there was something charming about his commitment. Megs lifted her water bottle and took a sip. Oscar leaned back and lifted his face to the sun. Then, a few minutes later, he stood and led them back onto the path toward the train.

Leaves crunched under their feet as they walked. It didn’t take them long to reach the trailhead where they’d started.

“I know it’s only eleven-thirty, but I’m starving.” Layla wrapped her arms around her stomach.

“I think they have snacks in the—” Megs stopped when she noticed the small crowd gathered on the train platform. “Are the doors not open? I thought it was heading back to town at noon.”

Oscar approached a man in grease-stained overalls standing off to the side of the main group, and Megs hurried forward to listen. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Train's broken down. Don't know how long it'll be before we can get 'er up and running again."