“Do you love it?” Archie asked, wiping his greasy chicken lips. “Robin was right about this place.”

“Totally,” I said, surveying the restaurant. “This place is busy. I wonder who supplies their vegetables.”

“Maybe you could?”

“Maybe next year, I don’t think I’d have the quantity for this place though.”

“Something to check out,” Archie said. “I think I’m going to enjoy this new school.”

I smiled. “I’m so glad. I want to come in and help you set up your classroom when it’s time.”

“Yes, I’d love that, but we don’t have to think about that for another month and a half,” he replied.

“Robin came by today. She brought us cookies,” I remarked.

“She said she was going to visit. I like her too. I think she’ll be fun to work with. She has a lot of energy.”

“She sure does… and she’s your mentor?” I raised my eyebrows.

He laughed. “Does that bother you?”

I put my hand on his. “Not really. I just like to tease you.”

“It’s good I like being teased by you,” he replied with a grin that melted my insides.

“I’m glad we’re getting settled here. Even with the shock of Angela’s murder, I think this is the right place for us. The right place to start our life together.”

“Me too,” Archie agreed.

I savored this moment, sitting in a strange chicken restaurant in the middle of nowhere. There was a time when I didn’t think I had any type of future ahead of me. Always running from the past. Now I was Mrs. Archie Greencastle. I was safe and whole. Archie and I were lost souls before we found one another. Neither of us had any family, and few friends. My parents died when I was seventeen; I had Aunt Lou after they passed, but she was gone now too. Archie’s family was his mother and sister, and they’d died in a car accident, a few years before we met. We married at the courthouse, just the two of us. Us against the world. I rather liked it that way. Sometimes we give our trust, our friendship, our love to people that didn’t deserve it, or used it. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

I learned from my mistakes.

EIGHT2023

Aimee

The summer moved quickly, and we were into July before I knew it. I was so busy setting up the store, with Archie’s help, weeding and watering the garden. The plants took off in the rich soil much to my delight. Red, plump tomatoes hung heavy on the fuzzy, thick green vines. Plants sprouted, growing green beans, sugar peas, tall green stalks bursting with Silver Queen sweetcorn. And my blossoming friendship with Robin grew, as well.

I liked Robin. She was high energy and so much fun. She made me laugh, pretty much every time we hung out together, which was often. She usually visited us, but I went over to her parents’ house from time to time. They had a lovely dairy and alpaca farm. I enjoyed watching the alpacas playing in the fields together, such sweet animals. My favorite was a girl with light brown fur and the most soulful eyes named Belinda. Such an affectionate girl whenever someone petted and talked to her. An absolute sweetheart.

Robin had horses too. I had taken riding lessons as a child and rode horses in my early twenties for a time. Getting back into riding exhilarated me. Sitting atop a beautiful, strong horse, galloping across the fields, wiped away any worries plaguing me at the time. I was free and living in the moment.

Today, July 23rd, was opening day for Poplin Fresh, my little market. Archie and I had stocked the shelves yesterday and everything was ready to go. I was a bundle of nerves all night, hoping opening day would go well.

I put my coffee cup in the sink and walked outside. Archie fed the chickens in their coop behind the barn at the right of the house. I watched my feathered girls pecking away at the feed.

“Fourteen eggs today,” he said, walking out of the coop holding a full basket. “These chickens lay a lot of eggs.”

“Lucky for us,” I remarked. “Let me clean them off; I’ll take them to the store with me.”

“I’ll do it, I’m going with you anyway,” he said. “Can’t miss opening day.”

“If you insist.” I smiled, following him inside.

I walked around the store, arranging things, making sure everything looked just right. Bright strawberries, plump blueberries, carrots, tomatoes, peas, green beans, and cucumbers filled the display areas. The refrigerated case was fully stocked with brown eggs and some strawberry pies I’d made. Another display area showcased my homemade strawberry jam, and assorted fruit pies, apple, cherry, and blueberry.

“This is it,” I said to Archie excitedly. I unlocked the front door and looked at him expectantly. Nobody came in. I hadn’t expected a big rush, of course, but I had hoped for a few people to be excited about the store opening.

“Don’t worry.” Archie gave me a hug. “People will come.” I saw his kind eyes, desperate to ease my disappointment, or distract me from it. “This summer is going so fast. In two weeks, I’ll be getting my classroom ready.”

I laughed. I’d take the change of subject. “Crazy, right? Everything is coming together. I…” My gaze traveled to the refrigerated case. Something didn’t look right.

“What’s wrong?” Archie asked.

I opened the case and picked up a familiar bag of organic dates. Familiar, but not something I’d seen in many years. I held up the bag. “Did you put this in here?”

Archie looked at the bag. “Dates? No, not me.”

“Oh, okay,” I took the bag to the back room and stared at it, a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

The morning, hazy, hot and humid, a typical July day in Pennsylvania, had yet to reach its heat index as Archie, Robin and I hiked on the Appalachian Trail in the Blue Mountains, not far from our new home.

Archie stopped and took a long drink from his water bottle. “How far is this lookout?”

“Not far,” said Robin. She held the leash to her dog, Daisy, a sweet, gray Labrador. Daisy barked, causing us to move farther down the rocky trail under a veil of green maple, oak, and other assorted trees in the forest.

Sweat dripped off my forehead, but I was happy to be on the trail, out in the wilderness, feeling the heartbeat of nature. Robin liked to hike too. She went most weekends and when she invited us to go along, I jumped at the chance, excitement racing through me. I hadn’t been hiking for quite a while, but it used to be part of my regular routine. Archie, however, wasn’t too thrilled. He enjoyed the outdoors on a limited basis.

He swiped at a fly on his arm. “Seriously, is it much farther?”

Robin laughed and we turned a corner in the woods, an opening in the trees visible up ahead. In minutes we’d reached it, and were rewarded by a breathtaking panoramic view of the valley. The large, smooth white rocks provided a perfect spot to sit and enjoy the view. Farmland stretched out below us, dotted with houses and barns. Forests spread out among a few large ponds, and the sky above was bright blue punctuated by white, endless fluffy clouds.

The setting, although different, took me back to other hiking experiences, other vistas that spread out before me in such a magnificent way. I closed my eyes for a moment and inhaled. Archie’s and Robin’s voices drifted away, and I could almost smell the scent of sacred herb in the air. I imagined my body, clothed in a simple white flowing gown, swaying in a hypnotic movement, my hands raised to the heavens. An energy vibrating through me, igniting sensations of a highly conscious state.

“What are you doing?” Archie’s voice broke into my self-induced trance.

“What?” I asked. My eyes flew open. My arms were raised high into the air. I was moving my body from side to side as Archie and Robin stared at me. “Um, nothing.” I put my arms down and stared at the view.

We sat on the rocks, eating turkey sandwiches and apples, watching hang gliders take off from a grassy runway nearby. The one about to jump off the side of the mountain had a triangle wing of a bright green sailcloth with a neon yellow stripe down the middle. He stood a distance away from the edge of the cliff, then began to run, jumped off the edge, and sailed into the sky, like a bird taking flight.

“Oh, that’s cool,” Archie remarked. He took a bite of his sandwich, staring at the hang glider.

“Yeah, it is.” I turned to Robin. “You ever try it?”

“No.” Robin shrugged her shoulders. “That’s not for me.”

I nodded and bit into my apple, watching the hang glider drift off into the open sky, and sail smoothly through the air, seemingly effortlessly. Like a dream taking flight.