“And then what happened?” Tom asked.

“Then?” she said.

“Well, you have two kids… .”

“Oh,” she said. “Well, by the time I realized what was going on I had a one-year-old and was pregnant, living on assistance in a hovel with my useless boyfriend living off me. I was twenty-one, broke, had no family and no money and Chad said we were coming to Humboldt County because he had found work, but Fay came before. It was winter in the mountains and he left me with a newborn baby and a toddler in a house that didn’t even keep the wind out. If it hadn’t been for the kindness of strangers, I don’t think we would have survived.”

“What work did he come here to do?” Tom asked.

“He said he got a job with a farmer,” she said with a rueful laugh and a slight flush. “I don’t think it was your regular kind of farmer—it was Christmastime! Do farmers hire hands at Christmas when the snow is four feet deep? I think it was a grower and I think Chad either got fired or ran or maybe even robbed the guy before he ran. He abandoned us, but he came back about six months later looking for money and the men in town caught him trying to shake some money out of me. Jack, Noah, Preacher. Mike V., the town cop, was there, the sheriff was called and Chad is now in jail. He’s going to be in jail for a while. Hopefully long enough to forget about us.”

Tom had turned in his driver’s seat. His arm was rested on the top of the steering wheel; he balanced it on his wrist. The other arm was stretched out along the seat, toward her. He just stared at her for a long moment. Finally he said, “You’ve had a tough time.”

She took a breath. “I wish I’d made better choices.”

“You were young.”

“I had girlfriends who were as young, but protected themselves much better.”

“Yeah? I had friends who were better at lots of things than me. But I can grow a real pretty apple.” And then he tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear.

“I am very impressed with your apples,” she told him.

“All those things you didn’t feel you had the best instincts for before? You’ll be so much better at that now,” he said.

“I had a very sweet maternity nurse when Berry was born,” Nora said. “She was a grandmother, she said. And she felt so sorry for me that my mother wanted no part of Berry’s arrival—she wouldn’t have missed her daughter’s delivery for the world. And she said, ‘You will do so much better than that. You will.’ And when she put Berry into my arms she said, ‘Congratulations. This is your new best friend for life.’ So now it seems like more than one person I admire believes in me.”

He just looked into her eyes, silent.

“I should pick apples,” she said.

He came out of his trance. “Right,” he said, putting his truck in gear.

* * *

She was so young, Tom thought, to have had to learn so much. And this worldly education in life had not only been achieved with complete lack of support, at least to this point, but with a couple of helpless little kids. And he’d already known she had a messy past, but the story she told only made it sound worse than he imagined.

Throughout the day, while he tended the trees and crop, he thought about that, comparing her to himself. He was almost thirty and had just realized he was ready to settle on the orchard, take on a wife and family, and this decision that was both emotional and practical, had taken a lot of consideration. He hadn’t been even near ready two years ago and five years ago it was a possibility that terrified him. But he’d left the Marine Corps knowing that was the next stage of his life.

And had come back to Virgin River? Where the hell did he think he was going to find a wife here? All the girls he thought were hot in high school were spoken for, as were most of the young women in his age range in the coastal towns. In fact, a lot of them had already been married and divorced with a kid or two. No, that wasn’t what he was looking for at all. The whole kid thing scared him enough without taking on someone else’s kids.

He was so preoccupied that he was relieved when Junior told him that no extra hands were needed over the weekend. And when he gave Nora her ride home, she seemed cheerful when she jumped out of the truck. “Well,” she said, “I’m having a family reunion this weekend. Do you have any big plans?”

“Nothing for me,” he said. But he thought maybe he should try to get out of town for a day, maybe a weekend. “Enjoy yourself. Pick you up Monday morning.”

* * *

Tom sat at the kitchen table in the house, cup of coffee in front of him and his laptop open to his schedule. But rather than scrolling or typing or figuring, he tapped his finger idly. A lot of what ran through his head was asking himself how Nora could be different enough so that she’d be more right for him. No kids, for one thing. No doper ex, for another. I mean a few beers, a joint, that was one thing—but hooked up to a guy who went to prison for felony possession? A little too far into the deep and dark underworld. Yeah. And then there was her youth. Twenty-three was young, but twenty-three and been around the block a few times? He didn’t expect a virgin, but for God’s sake.

No one had seemed to notice his thoughtful mood.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Maxie said.

He smirked and looked up at his grandmother. Except her, of course. He grumbled something about having things on his mind.

“And cranky,” she said. “Trees talk back today?”

“I know you think you’re very funny… .”

“Maybe this will perk you up,” she said, pulling a slip of paper out of her pocket. She unfolded it and tried to smooth it out. “A girl called you. She’d like you to call her.”

His mouth dropped open. He wasn’t working on anything with any girl anywhere. He stared dumbly at his grandmother.

“Well, it didn’t cheer you up but it did get your attention,” she said, handing him the paper.

“Aw, this isn’t a girl, this is Darla—the woman who was married to Pritchard. Bob Pritchard, a guy from the Corps who was killed in Afghanistan. She’s the woman I stopped off to visit on my way home.” He ran a hand over his head. “God, I hope she’s all right… .”

“She sounded just fine,” Maxie said. “Very happy, very friendly. She told me you’d said very nice things about me.”

“But what does she want?” he asked.

Maxie leaned toward him. “She’d like you to call her,” she repeated softly.

He just stared at her.

“I could leave the room,” she said, “But I can’t make dinner anywhere else, so why don’t you just go upstairs or out to the office.”

He still sat there for a moment, looking up at a silver-haired grandmother who was much shorter and always seemed much taller. “Right,” he finally said, picking up his laptop and heading for the office in the barn. And on the way he thought, How do I expect to hook up with a woman when I’m so dense?

And yet, he sat at the desk for a while before picking up the phone because the truth was, if Darla was in a place of grief and pain, he really didn’t feel up to it. He still had those moments over Pritchard that clouded his eyes and closed his throat. There had been about six marines trying to get him to the helicopter when he was holding on to life by a breath.

That was a year ago. She might be lots better by now even if he wasn’t. So he dialed.

“Tom!” she said excitedly.

“How did you know it was me?”

She laughed into the phone. “Caller ID, Tom. I assumed it was you and not your grandmother who was calling me. What a sweet woman, by the way.”

“Sweet,” he said.

“How have you been?”

“Fine. Good. Well, at least reasonable. You?” he asked with trepidation.

“Much better,” she said. “Much, much better than when you were here. I think seeing you and hearing about Bob and about the war and all that—I might’ve been a little emotional and maybe gave the impression I was going to be a wreck forever. Bob wouldn’t want that. I’m getting along very well, actually. In fact, I’m going to be in your part of the world—I’m taking a post-grad course at UC Davis, not all that far from your little town. I’ll be there for about eight weeks.”

“Post-grad?”

“A pharmacy course. It’s full-time and I’ll have studying to do, but I don’t have labs or classes on weekends and I figured while you’re picking apples, I could get a little reading done. That is, if you feel like getting together. I don’t want to impose.”

“That’s right,” he said. “You’re into pharmaceuticals.”

She laughed. “In a good way. I have a town house lined up—my company has been sending sales reps through this course for years and has a lease on a town house I hear is nice. I’ll be going back to Denver when the course is over, of course. But, I’ll be there next week and don’t have much going on. Want to come down? There are some nice restaurants around there.”

“Aw, we’re picking apples, Darla.”

“Well, gee. I knew that—I searched apple harvest in Humboldt County on Google. I could always come to see you. I’m sure there’s a motel nearby… .”

Yeah, he thought, I’m going to get right on the list of smoothest bachelors in the U.S. “Darla—we have more room than we need and Maxie loves having company. Just let us know when you’ll be here. It’s not fancy, but it’s homey. We don’t have a lot of restaurants, however. No nightlife here at all, in fact, but there are some really good views and the apple pie is top-notch.”

She laughed, a very musical sound, a very happy sound. No, he decided, she wasn’t coming to Virgin River to grieve and cry. She was coming to visit a friend. And Darla might be widowed, but widowed from one of the best guys he knew. And there hadn’t been kids yet. And she was older—twenty-eight or so. Smart, pretty, self-sufficient.

“I love apple pie,” she said.

“Do you like mountain vistas? Ocean views? Redwoods?” he asked, finding himself getting a little excited.

“I’ve never seen the redwoods.”

“Well, if you can get away from the books for a few hours, I know where they are,” he told her.

“I know it’s your busy season… .”

“I take a day off now and then. When can you be here?”

“I’ll get to California next week. I want to unpack a few things, check my class schedule and then I might be able to head up there on Friday. It’s not too far. A few hours, right?”

“Right. And cell phone reception is spotty, so don’t count on it, especially in the taller trees and mountains.”

“Tom,” she said, kind of seriously. “I emailed you. About three times. You didn’t answer. I was a little afraid to call… .”

“Aw, damn, I’m so bad about that. Darla, hardly anyone emails me and it’s all junk. I’m sorry. I haven’t looked lately.”

“But don’t you do business online?”

He laughed. “We’ve been doing business with the same people for years. We drive the truck into town, to the stores, unload the apples and hand over a paper invoice. Maxie is on the computer more than I am.”

“Well, that’s a relief. I thought maybe you were avoiding me.”

“Not a chance. This is one of the nicest surprises I’ve had in months.”

* * *

Since Nora had been talking to Jed for a couple of weeks, exchanging the occasional email as well, she was comfortable that she was getting to know him and like him. But still, his first visit to her humble home was a little nerve-racking. Her phone rang at noon and he said, “Hi. I know we said afternoon and it’s about one minute after, but I’m in the area. When can I come over? I don’t want to intrude. I really hope to be invited back.”