Page 51 of The Fall Classic

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After a frantic hour and forty-five minutes at the farm where I can hardly keep up with the demand followed by the typical rush at the factory between seven and eight thirty, I’m exhausted by the time my break rolls around. My phone alarm sounds at 8:49 AM, and a flutter of excitement hits me—a flutter quickly squashed by reality.

Logan won’t be at Meant to Bean, so I have no reason to drive to Mullet Ridge. No reason to get excited.

This next hour isn’t the highlight of my day anymore—not this week, at any rate. It’s break time, plain and simple.

I put up the “On Break!” sign, shutter up my truck, drop onto an upturned bucket, and read The Giving Tree, thinking about Logan’s argument that the Tree has sacrificed too much.

It’s not hard to see why he thinks that way. I even feel an uncomfortable niggle when I read it that way …

But it doesn’t resonate with me. I’m not sure what that means. I scratch my temple and bump Logan’s hat—which I forgot I was wearing. I take it off and get a whiff of that practical combination of soap and shampoo that probably smells like half the men in this state. But a scent is like a T-shirt: Not every man wears it well.

And no one wears either like Logan does.

I’m surprised by how much I miss him being part of my day after such a short time. But if he’s become part of my day, then haven’t I become part of his, too?

This is so silly, I think. Whether he has feelings growing for you or not, the fact is he won’t be in Mullet Ridge forever. He probably won’t even be here through the fall.

I know this. I really do.

And that’s why it’s so confusing when I take a deep breath and feel the embers in me stir even more than they did last time. There are sparks in my chest that have stubbornly refused to go out.

I don’t want them to go out.

I snap a picture of Logan’s cap and send it to him.

Georgie

Someone left this on the Little Free Library.

Logan’s response comes in before I’ve even set my phone down.

Logan

How does it fit?

Georgie

I don’t know.

Logan

You haven’t tried it on? You should try it on.

Georgie

That feels presumptuous of me, don’t you think?

Someone probably forgot it.

Logan

Someone did not forget it.

Someone left it for you.

Georgie