Harper walked Pippi down to the Sin Bin one Monday afternoon in October. Tommy closed the bar on Mondays so that he’d have one day off a week, but had asked her to come down to help him get ready for the Cedar Falls Apple Festival that was taking place that weekend. It was one of the biggest community events of the year, and Tommy had agreed to cochair the refreshments committee. He needed some help organizing the registration, and Harper had readily agreed.
“Believe it or not, I’m great with a spreadsheet,” she’d said.
She pushed open the door to the bar and called out, “Hello! Tommy, we’re here.” She let Pippi off her leash and the dog went running to find her other favorite human. Harper was sure it had to do with the little bits of bacon he’d save for her from the kitchen.
“In the back!” Tommy called.
Harper made her way to his offices. There were papers everywhere and Tommy looked ragged.
“Wow, it’s like a tornado came through here.” Harper assessed the situation. “How can you work like this?”
“I know. It’s awful. I really need to get more organized.” He got up to give her a hug and they kissed lightly on the lips.
“Okay, we can clean up later. What’s up?” she asked.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I’m lost. There are too many moving parts to this festival. And I’m already dealing with complaints about booth locations. I’m afraid the Hungry Hens are going to peck Porker’s Provisions to death before this is over. He took his baseball cap off and smoothed back his hair before putting it on again. “I’ll think twice before I offer to do this next year.”
“As my mom used to beg me, ‘Stop me before I volunteer again.’” She looked for a place to sit.
Tommy cleared a space on a chair for her on the other side of his desk. “Here, take this spot, and let me try to make some sense of these piles.” He kissed her cheek, and she smiled warmly at him. Pippi stood on two legs looking for his attention. He picked her up and tucked her into his chest.
“Would you mind grabbing my laptop?” Harper asked. “I left it on the bar when we came in. I made a sample spreadsheet we can use.”
“Sure, be right back.” Tommy retrieved the laptop and returned to his office. He handed it to Harper, and she showed him what she’d already accomplished. The chaos was being tamed right in front of his eyes.
After a couple of hours, Harper got up to stretch. “I’m going to run to the ladies’ room. If you want to keep going, you can input these vendors and their booth numbers.”
Tommy came around to see what she was pointing to, and she showed him the two columns she wanted him to continue filling out.
“I see. Got it.”
“Shall I make us a couple of sandwiches?” she said. “I know where everything is in the kitchen.”
“That would be great. Though I should be making sandwiches for you. You’re saving me here.” He gestured around his chaotic office.
“Next time.” She left the office then came back right away and put her head around the doorframe. “Turkey, Swiss, mayo, no mustard, salt, pepper, dash of tabasco, lettuce and tomato? Side of chips?”
“Perfect.”
Harper liked knowing his order—it felt intimate yet easy. With Tommy there was no pretending, no drama. That wasn’t something she’d felt with previous guys she’d dated. With Kai, she always felt on edge, wondering if she was pretty or interesting enough to be with him. But around Tommy, she lost her self-consciousness and could just be herself.
It wasn’t lost on her that she’d met the first guy who ever made her feel comfortable in her own skin and that she was about to go back to Manhattan where the dating scene was horrendous.
Sometimes, she’d let her imagination go to places where she and Tommy stayed together right there in Cedar Falls, with her writing novels and teaching, and him growing his business and maybe even opening that ice cream shop on the farm that he dreamed about.
After a few minutes of these daydreams, she’d shake herself back to reality. She didn’t believe that staying in Wisconsin was an option for her.
Harper made the sandwiches in the bar’s big kitchen, placed them on two sturdy paper plates, and added pickles that she found in the fridge. She managed to pick everything up in one go thanks to a waitressing job she’d held for a couple of summers and headed back to the office.
As she walked in, she saw Tommy staring at the computer with his eyes wide, his face red, and one hand covering his mouth. He moved quickly to shut the laptop.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, concerned the entire file may have been lost and they’d have to start again.
Tommy was speechless. “I... uh... I... wow... Harper, I didn’t know... and I’m like... wow.”
“Tommy, what is it? What are you talking about?” she asked, her brow creased.
“Well, I... I wanted to look up something about the festival, so I minimized the spreadsheet to get to the internet, and then I suddenly was reading these paragraphs about... well, about... a god and a goddess in a death match on the ice in the heavens and then they... they...”