"Yep. I think his arthritis is acting up again. He was having a hard time collecting them, so I helped."

Putting his arm around her shoulders, he hugged her to his side. "How about a cold one? We can talk about what furniture you'll need to take with you."

Meg blinked back tears. "Thanks for understanding, Pop."

"I knew it was coming, but why now? Why today?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I was driving past the water tower and it hit me."

He pressed his lips to the top of her head. "I hear Rod'll have to marry Susie."

Meg smiled and reached for the door. "He loves her."

He nodded and held the door for her. "Your sisters might not be ready to let you move out, but I think they'll come around."

"You aren't mad?"

"Not a bit, Meggie, everyone has to spread their wings sometime." Their eyes met. "Seems that now is your time."

"I love you, Pop."

"I love you more."

Chapter 3.

"You've gone to such trouble, and all for an old biddy like me."

"Aunt Trudi, you're worth every effort. How's the scampi?"

"Perfect... and my favorite." She narrowed her gaze at him. "Did you call your mother to ask what I'd like to eat?"

"Of course. How else would I know?"

They ate companionably for a few minutes before he asked, "What do you make of Megan Mulcahy?"

His great-aunt slowly smiled as she lifted another forkful to her lips. Finishing the bite, she sighed. "You are a wonderful cook, Daniel. Did you know that some women couldn't cook if their lives depended upon it?"

He shrugged. "Hunger is a great motivator." He looked over at her and grinned. "I really love to eat."

They were laughing when he got up to clear their places. "I'm trying out a new topping for the apple tart. I'd like your honest opinion about it."

"Of course. Now, getting back to Megan, she's the hardest working of the three girls."

"She looked like she'd been inside that furnace she said she repaired earlier today." He remembered wanting to brush the smudge of dirt off her nose. "I thought she was much younger when I caught her."

"Caught her doing what?" Trudi leaned across the table toward him to hear better.

"Falling off the fence. Remember?"

"Hmmm... yes," she answered. "Of course I do. I was just thinking."

"You've got that look in your eye, Aunt Trudi."

"Megan hasn't dated, except for when that young man who left to play football for Ohio State comes back to town."

Dan really didn't think he wanted to know but needed to ask. "And how long ago was that?"

"A dozen or so years ago."

He stopped midpour and set the coffee carafe down. "You have to be kidding me."

Trudi shook her head. "I wish I was. That Van Orden boy broke Meg's heart. But what I don't understand is why she settles for a week or two of happiness out of fifty-two. He is keeping Meg right where he wants her-here in Apple Grove, waiting for his call." She paused to draw in a breath before continuing. "A year or so after he left for college, Meg's mother died, and Meg retreated from everything but taking care of her sisters and working at Mulcahy's with her father."

At his aunt's encouraging, he picked up the coffee and started pouring again.

"Let me help you with that, Daniel dear."

They worked together and had dessert served and coffee poured before they got back to the subject of Megan. "Maybe she really loves the guy."

"I think not dating anyone when he's not around has become habit," Trudi said before sipping from her cup. "You can bet a man like Van Orden has a bevy of beauties at his beck and call back there in the city."

He couldn't help himself; he laughed. "You haven't lost your flair for embellishing the facts. You could give grandma a run for her money."

"She learned everything she knows from me. I am the big sister, you know."

They were laughing again when he leaned over to squeeze her hand in his. "It's great to be here. Thanks for putting in a good word for me."

"Your resume spoke for itself. All I did was make sure it was added it to those applying for the job. Every one of the applicants had the same consideration from the board, in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't, but it's good to know. In case anyone asks, I'll be prepared."

"Oh, there will be a few making comments, after all, this is Apple Grove and everyone knows everyone else's business. If one person is in favor of something, there are two more who are against it."

"Should I be worried about anyone in particular?"

"No one except Meg for the moment."

"It was funny, she kept trying to get me to tell her who I was making dinner for without coming right out and asking me, but I don't think she heard me tell her I was cooking for you."

"And how did that make you feel?" his aunt pressed.

He didn't even have to think about it; he knew. "Flattered. It was interesting, but she mentioned Peggy McCormack. Why do you think that was? I didn't really pay the woman any more attention than anyone else I met at Bill and Edie's wedding."

His aunt nodded. "Meg's always been a bit touchy about the fact that her sisters inherited their father's height and she her mother's diminutive stature. Peggy and Katie are both tall, like the younger Mulcahy sisters."

"That's crazy. Who thinks of things like that?"

Trudi wrinkled her nose as she set her coffee down. "Women are fragile creatures sometimes, Daniel. Best you remember that."

He cleared away the last of the dirty dishes and asked, "Are you ready for me to take you home?"

"Yes, thank you, dear. Dinner was such a treat... and I did enjoy dessert. It's not often a handsome man goes to such trouble for me."

He studied her as he waited for her to rise. "Are the eligible bachelors all blind here in Apple Grove?"

She patted her hair and laughed. "Lord love you, Daniel. It's good to have you here."

"It's good to be here and to know I'm not all alone... I have family."

"There are times when it seems like friends desert you, but family will always be there," she said as he held the back door open and ushered her through. Arm in arm, she let Daniel lead the way outside to his car.

On their way through town, Aunt Trudi happily chatted about what was new over at her garden shop and the various plants she'd be "putting to bed" for the coming winter.

"Mom still rakes the leaves into her gardens for the same reason," Dan told her.

When they passed the town square, she said, "I'll be putting in mums and ornamental cabbages here in the morning."

"Do you plant them all by yourself?" Dan asked.

His aunt drew herself up in the seat next to him and huffed out a breath. "I am perfectly capable, young man."

"Yes, Aunt Trudi," he agreed, smiling at the eccentric picture she made sitting there wearing her khaki jodhpurs; a white, button-down, collared men's shirt; and her Wellingtons. "But that's not the point-"

"Thank you for agreeing." She waited a few minutes before adding, "Robert Stuart usually stops by to help on his way in to the Gas and Gears."

Dan felt better; he was worried that his eighty-year-old aunt would try to do the work all alone. "That's good because I don't have a moment to spare until after practice tomorrow."

"I could use a hand over at the shop Saturday morning if you're free."

"I'll be there," he promised. A glint of chrome glistened in the moonlight off to the left. "Aunt Trudi, what's over there?"

She looked out the window and answered, "The back side of the cemetery. Oh," she sighed.

He recognized the sleek black pickup before he noticed the compact curvy form of the woman who intrigued him. "Meg?"

"She must be troubled," Trudi lowered her voice to just above a whisper. "She always visits her mother when she is."

"Do you think we should-"

"Leave her be," his aunt said. "Some things are best done alone. She's a strong young woman who has been carrying too heavy a burden, but doesn't always let it show."

"I thought she lived at home and worked in the family business?" How could that be a burden?

Trudi shook her head. "Some of the strongest people I know work for family. It's never easy; you can't just up and quit if you don't like the way you're being treated or if the business isn't bringing in enough money. Families stick together, weather storms together and all of life's trials."

"Is that what it was like working for your grandmother?"

She smiled. "I loved working with her. Grandmother Phoebe knew I'd have to be tough to keep her business flourishing after she turned it over to me. I'm grateful for every day that I had working and learning alongside her."

He thought she'd finished and was about to speak when she softly added, "Hard to believe she's been gone close to thirty years now."

Dan wanted their dinner date to end on a positive note, so he changed the subject. "My granddad still isn't speaking to me. It's been three years."

"I heard from your grandmother that he was softening in his attitude once he discovered that you hadn't sold the card outright, just pawned it. Too bad that the pawnbroker sold your Mickey Mantle card right out from under your nose."

"Yeah." He didn't often think about his exbest friend and was surprised that it wasn't quite as raw a feeling as it had been the last time he had. "She knew I was a diehard Yankee fan. How could she not see it was a symbol of how much I loved her?"

His aunt patted the back of his hand. "So you pawned the card, but didn't sell it? You were planning on buying the card back?"

"That was the plan, but my ex-friend and ex-fiancee changed that."

"I'm truly sorry, Daniel," his aunt soothed. "But things have a way of working out the way they're supposed to."

Dan cleared his throat and confessed, "She flushed the diamond ring I gave her."

The sharply indrawn breath had him feeling a tiny bit better. He'd shocked his aunt, which meant she agreed with what he hadn't even had a chance to say.

"Bitch."

Shock had him slowing down, putting on the brake, and turning to look at her. "What did you say?"

"You heard what I said, young man."

He swallowed his laughter; he didn't want to get his aunt riled this late in the evening. He'd save it for Saturday morning when he planned to be at her shop. Needing to distract her, he said, "I heard that since they got married, he's in debt up to his eyeballs."

His aunt sniffed and nodded. "Serves him right. He bought her love, Daniel. Don't you forget that she willingly sold it to the highest bidder."

He had no response to that. His great-aunt was whip-smart and had hit the nail on the head. "Thanks, Aunt Trudi."

She smiled as he helped her from the car and into the house that sat behind the garden center she lived and breathed for. "Thank you for a lovely evening."

"You're welcome. It's a rush to watch someone eating my food with such gusto and enjoyment."

She tilted her head to one side and pushed a loose hairpin back into the bun on the top of her head. "In that case, you should know that I'm partial to lasagna."

He laughed and hugged her tight. "How about Saturday after we finish up doing whatever is it you need help with?"

"I'm expecting a delivery of hay bales midmorning on Saturday, but need to make room."

"Could you use a couple of extra hands?"