“Adele, you remember my sister, Eden?” I started. After she dipped her chin, I continued, “Right. Well, this is my other sister, Piper.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Adele said.
“Likewise,” Piper returned. “I’m just glad my brother finally decided to share you with the rest of us.”
“Um,” Adele began, but Piper waved her hand in the air.
“It’s not your fault,” Piper assured her. “Riggs has just been keeping the fact that you two were seeing each other to himself.”
“We’ve not even gone on a real date yet,” I argued.
Piper shook her head at me, looked up at the clock, let out a laugh, and noted, “And yet you’re here for breakfast with her at seven-thirty in the morning.”
Before I had the chance to give her my retort, Eden chimed in, “And what a surprise it is. Adele, help yourself to anything here. We’ve got all sorts of donuts; Riggs can tell you what we’ve got. But if you want my recommendation… if you like a cake-style donut, the pumpkin cake is the way to go. If you prefer a raised donut, the traditional glazed or sugar-raised can’t be beat. And if you want something heartier, I’d suggest the cinnamon roll.”
My eyes went to Adele. I could see she was taking in everything Eden had just said while looking around at all the donuts that were made. Just as I was about to pipe up, she asked, “Would it be alright if I had more than one? They all sound amazing.”
This woman was positively made for me.
Knowing that she could get up in the morning and eat a couple of donuts with me felt like Christmas morning.
“Help yourself, babe,” Piper encouraged her.
“Thanks,” Adele replied.
Then she looked up at me before moving closer to the donuts. I grabbed a bakery box, tossed a few in for myself, and held it out for Adele to put in her selections.
Once we’d filled up our box, I took her by the hand and notified my sisters, “Adele and I are going to be taking care of the apples this morning.”
“School is closed today, isn’t it?” Eden asked.
“Yeah.”
“That’s cool,” my sister responded.
“Yeah, but our brother decides to put her to work anyway,” Piper mumbled. “You know, you could have taken the day off and done something nice with Adele.”
“It’s okay,” Adele started. “I’m actually really looking forward to apple picking.”
Nodding at her, Piper said, “Alright. Just make sure that he does get you away from the farm to do something other than work at some point.”
Adele laughed. “I will.”
“Have fun today,” Eden called out as Adele and I walked back toward the front of the bakery.
“Thanks,” we said in unison.
Adele and I grabbed two cups of coffee and some napkins before we walked outside. I escorted her over to the picnic bench we had sitting outside the market. Once we sat down, I opened the box of donuts and turned it toward her so she could select whatever she wanted first.
After she grabbed the pumpkin cake donut, I snatched up an apple fritter. Adele took one bite, closed her eyes, and moaned.
“Oh, this is so good,” she expressed.
I watched her enjoying the donut and silently praised myself again for seeing to it that I didn’t miss the shot with Adele. It was like she could find joy in the simplest things. And if she wasn’t finding it wherever she was, she created it. Just like she’d done during that photo session.
She took several more bites, not once looking up to say anything else to me.
Finally, I asked, “Are you enjoying that?”
Adele popped the last bite in her mouth and nodded. After she had chewed and swallowed it, she lamented, “I’m sorry. It’s just that it was really good, and I was starved. I think it was all that work last night and this morning.”
Laughing, I turned the box back in her direction and urged, “By all means, help yourself to more. We’re going to spend some time out on the farm today, but I do have plans for some work indoors later this afternoon. I want you well fed.”
She eyed the box of donuts before she looked up and stated, “You don’t have to tell me twice.”
A few bites into our second donuts, we heard, “My eyes must be deceiving me.”
Damn it.
Leo was here. And that meant I’d turn around and find Sam and Layne with him, or they wouldn’t be far behind.
I turned around and saw that it was the worst-case scenario. All three of them were walking toward us. My eyes quickly shifted to Adele. She didn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable by their approach.
My brothers stopped by the table and Sam said, “The infamous Adele.”
Before I could put a stop to their teasing, Adele declared, “That’s me. You all must be Riggs’ brothers.”
“We are,” Layne confirmed. “I’m Layne.” Then he pointed to his left and shared, “This is Sam.” When he switched his hands and pointed to his right, he added, “And this is Leo.”
Adele nodded. “It’s so nice to meet all of you. I guess I owe the three of you my deepest gratitude.” When their brows pulled together, she clarified, “It’s thanks to all of you that I’m sitting here now stuffing my face with delicious baked treats.”
“Holy shit, she’s even better than the pictures,” Leo marveled.
“She looks like this, and she likes to eat. How did this happen?” Sam grumbled.
“Um…” Adele trailed off.
Noting the confusion on her face, I jumped in and explained, “They’re jealous of me right now, Adele. That’s what’s happening.”
Still puzzled, she asked, “But why?”
I grinned. “Because their plan was to pull the ultimate prank, if you will, by having me enter into that photo session contest. It backfired because not only did that shoot go really well, but you’re now here eating donuts with me this early in the morning.”
Realization dawned and she whispered, “Oh.” She thought a moment before turning her attention back to my brothers. Then she reasoned, “Maybe one day Riggs can pay you back for this.”
I let out a laugh.
“It’s not likely that it’ll work out as well for us as it did for him, though,” Layne noted.
“You never know. It could,” she assured him.
Layne didn’t respond.
Sam looked at me and asked, “What’s on the agenda for today?”
“We’ll be up taking care of the apples once we finish breakfast,” I answered.
He nodded his understanding before he shared, “That’s good. We took care of most of the livestock already this morning.”
That was good to know. While I knew they had said they’d pick up the slack if I decided to pursue things with Adele, I wasn’t quite sure how happy they’d be about it. I would typically tend to the livestock in the early mornings. Since my brother’s knew that Adele was coming back to the farm last night, they must have assumed she’d spend the night. Or, at the very least, they assumed I’d not get to bed early and one of them would need to cover for me. Either way, it didn’t matter what made them do it. I was just glad that it had gotten done.