Offices and Orchards (A New Adult Sweet Romance)

Chapter 20

When Canadian thanksgiving weekend rolled around, Autumn and Harvey left immediately after work on a Friday afternoon. It was a longer drive this time - a couple hours to Orchardfield Village rather than just the hour or so it took to get to the family orchards, but the brilliant yellows, oranges, reds and remaining green leaves in the dying light of the day made the drive the most beautiful yet. They sped past stone walls, red barns, white churches and historic architecture, stopping for the occasional selfie along the way. On such a clear day, and with fall in full swing, the light seemed to bounce off of the foliage, creating a radiant glow in the early evening.
By the time they turned the car off of the highway, it was dusk, "You ready?"
"I wouldn't be Autumn Barnett if I weren't ready," that was what her dad used to say. Was that you talking to me dad? The thought took her aback.
But Autumn used to be the same way, ready for anything: she used to pride herself on being able to adapt to any situation that came her way. Yes, she was sometimes nervous and anxious, but she always prepared herself so well that she was never worried. Things had changed in the last few years, since she had lost him, but recently what with getting the job and succeeding at Staffordshire and Wells, probably her biggest achievement to date, and becoming more and more comfortable with Harvey, she almost felt like she was becoming her old self again. And hadn't it been such a long time.
But all the exams, assignments and interviews hadn't left her as nervous as she was feeling at this moment. She had never met a boy's parents before.
"Can you just remind me about everything?"
"Well, I was born in Chicago, and started at school when I was three years old. My first grade teacher's name..."
"Not absolutely everything," Autumn laughed. "What do your parents do again?" She questioned as she checked her appearance in the mirror, doing slight retouches. "My father's retired,"
"How long's he been retired for?"
"About a year now. He worked at S and W before that."
"Your father worked for S and W?"
"I never told you? Yeah, in the tech department - he helped build it actually."
"Wow! And your mother?"
"She's an academic, but spends most of her time volunteering these days."
"I'm just a bit nervous about meeting everyone," The patter of her heart was from excitement too, but the closer they got to his family home, the more the nerves took over.
"You just be yourself."
"I can manage that." She was being earnest.
Harvey turned off the road again, and a lit house appeared in the distance, but house was not the right word. It was a red-brick country-mansion. Tall white columns flanked the white front door steps. The driveway was lined with ornate decorative bushes on both sides with spotlights on them. There was a circular driveway around a fountain which Harvey steered around, stopping right in front of the door. "Here we are,"
Autumn looked around them as they stepped out. Her throat tightened and she held Harvey's hands as they walked up the stairs together. She wanted to make a good first impression, because she could see a future with him. The realization of that at that moment did nothing to slow her racing heart.
As they stood in front of the front door, the sound of music drifted to their ears. Harvey gave Autumn a small smile, some measure of nervousness etched on his face as well. "In we go," he pushed open the door and they stepped into a grand entryway with a tall ceiling. "Mom? Dad?" Harvey called out as they made their way into a traditional New England countryside living room, with wall panelling, washed wood furniture and striped upholstery of soft, neutral, outdoorsy colors. An attractive short-haired blonde woman walked into the room from the other side just as they did, "Harvey!" The woman before her wore a short navy dress and had a huge smile on her face. She made her way over quickly to Harvey and gave him a big hug. "Mom," Harvey's smile was wide as he hugged her, "it's been a long time."
"Yes, it certainly has. It's so good to see you!"
"This is Autumn," Autumn stepped forward, holding out her hand, steadying it as she did so. "Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm Beatrice."
Beatrice took Autumn's hand and shook it firmly. Her eyes seemed to be taking in every inch of Autumn, but when she met them, there was a smile there." I've been hearing a lot about you Autumn. You're doing great things for both the company and for my son, it seems." Autumn beamed at Beatrice in surprise. "I'm not sure who you've been speaking to, but that's good to hear."
""Is Dad around?"
"Graham," Beatrice called out, "Harvey's here. He's around here somewhere, he's looking forward to seeing you both," Autumn was flattered to be included in such a statement. "Actually, we've all been looking forward to meeting you Autumn, we are glad you are here," Harvey flashed a smile at Autumn behind his mother's back, as if letting her know that round one was done, and that she'd passed with flying colours. "It's my pleasure," Autumn exhaled in relief.
"What can I get you to drink?" Beatrice asked, as they followed her into the dining and sitting room, "Drink?" Beatrice offered again.
"A sparing water please, and thank you," she said to Beatrice, not sure if she was supposed to ask for a real drink or not.
Two men stood talking off to the side of the dining area, glasses full of amber liquid in their hands. The older man had dark hair, with streaks of gray throughout. The younger was also dark. "Harvey!" His father exclaimed, moving in close to embrace his son. "You're looking well."
"Autumn," He turned to her, lips turned up into a welcoming grin. They went through the introductions. Harvey looked like his mother whereas Kenneth looked exactly like his father. Graham was friendly. "Are you the one that's been making Derek's year?"
"You know Mr. Chan?" Autumn asked in quiet surprise.
"Oh, yeah. We go way back. He started after me, and is much younger, but we became fast friends. Don't tell him I told you this, but he's got a fondness for chocolate. Give him a box at Halloween and watch how you become his favorite intern, if you're not already," Graham was just as charming as Harvey was.
"Why didn't you ever tell me that?" Harvey quipped.
"You really should have known by now," came the reply to Harvey's mock scowl and Kenneth's laugh. Kenneth held out a hand to Autumn. "I'm Kenneth, it's nice to meet you." Beatrice handed Autumn a flute and said to everyone, "Now that Harvey and Autumn are here, let's have dinner?"
There were cream colored paper name cards with gold lettering all around the table. The plates had a fall harvest motif on them, and the rust coloured serviettes had been folded into horns of plenty. Decorative corn, gourds and other harvest items lined the centre of the table. It wasn't unlike her family meals at home: her aunt always did an amazing job of decorating the table according to the season or event. The only difference was probably that her aunt bought her decorations at the dollar store. She couldn't imagine whoever had decorated this table shopping in the dollar store.
"The table looks lovely!"
"Thank you! I did the calligraphy myself, kind of a hobby of mine, but Graham did the rest," Beatrice said.
"There's an old five and dime shop in the village where I got all of this," Graham tapped the side of his nose to indicate secrecy. Autumn realised she had judged these people without knowing them- they had bought it all at the dollar store.
They all sat as the appetisers were brought out by Graham and Beatrice. Each plate had a little card next to it identifying what it was, as well as the ingredients with which it was made. Autumn picked up the card. The first course was oysters with apple ginger mignonette.
"Apples," Autumn murmured.
"Of course!," came Harvey's reply.
"I've never had oysters with apple before,"
"You've eaten oysters before?" Beatrice asked.
"I'm from Maine. We have them with lemon at our place. In Australia, they serve them with bacon, barbeque sauce and onions."
"Kilpatrick style," exclaimed Graham.
"Yes, exactly. Apple though, sounds delicious." She picked up an oyster, and let the concoction slide into her mouth. "Yup, Delicious," she said as the others did the same.
The family spent most of the meal catching up with each other and plans for the weekend were firmed up: "Once we are settled in here, I'm going to take Autumn into the village - Autumn is a summer lover, so I have some work to do on her,"
"A summer lover? You're doomed in this family," Kenneth said, laughing.
"You're going to Fallfest?" Graham said.
"Shh, that was supposed to be a surprise!" Harvey protested. "You'll see," he told Autumn, giving her hand a little squeeze under the table.
After dinner, Harvey walked Autumn up a spiral staircase, to her room, and asked her if it was ok if he left her to go and spend some more time with his brother. Autumn did not mind, replying that the bathtub was calling her name. It had been another long week of interning.
Her room was something out of a home renovations magazine, just like the rest of the house. It was a very masculine room, with a dark leather chesterfield, and olive green and cream tones, but lovely all the same. In the ensuite bathroom were his-and-her sinks, a waterfall shower and a deep, two person gray stone tub that took up its own wall. She filled it up, selected a summer peach scented bubble bath and as she lowered into the water, smiled to herself. Wouldn't take long to get used to this, she sank down to her chin, laying her head back on a rolled up towel. Why had she been nervous? His family was so nice.
Autumn did not hear the knock on the bathroom door but jumped to attention when he heard Harvey calling softly to her.
"Goodness! You scared me."
"I'm sorry."
"Just a second. I must have dozed off," Looking down at her wrinkly fingers, she realised she must have been in the tub for quite some time. Autumn quickly wrapped her hair up in a white towel popped on a matching white robe, and went to the door.
"Sorry to interrupt," he did not sound the least bit apologetic as he took in her towel-clad body with a mischievous smile.
"How's your brother?" She asked. "He's fantastic, you'll meet his wife tomorrow. They have a baby on the way,"
"How wonderful,"
"Well, I just wanted to come and wish you goodnight,"
"Would you wait a minute? I'll get dressed and we can hang out a bit?"
"There's been something I wanted to talk to you about anyway," Harvey sat on the bed. "It went really well today didn't you think?" he asked her while she got dried and dressed into her pyjamas, a pair of cotton shorts and a t-shirt.
"It was so nice. Your family is great,"
"You made quite the impression on everyone,"
"So relieved to hear that. So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Well, I wanted to thank you for the last few weeks,"
"They've been so much fun,"
"They have, haven't they?" He took a deep breath. Autumn was also nervous, not sure what he was about to say, "So, I was wondering, Autumn, if you'd like to be my girlfriend?" he produced a jewelry box.
" I got you something to wear tomorrow at the party,"
She opened the jewelry box to reveal some pearl earrings.
"I thought it would go nicely with your dress tomorrow,"
"Oh, thank you so much Harvey, they're beautiful,"
She leaned over to give him a hug, a little self-conscious her towel was going to fall down. He pulled her back, his eyes travelled over her face, searching. She wanted to ask him what he was looking for, but she was easily distracted when he placed a gentle kiss on her lips and as always, she melted right into him.