Silas stayed with them as they picked and chose several more jars from the shelves.

Watching him, Alanna saw the dejected expression he was attempting to shield by asking her if she had ever tried chow chow.

“No, I haven’t. What does it taste like?”

“Similar to relish.”

“That makes sense since that’s what it looks like.”

They browsed around the store until Greer caught up with them.

“You see the jugs of apple cider?” he asked. “I got two for me and one for the youngins.”

“We got six,” Silas told him, lifting them to place them on the counter. “And Jimbo is getting another three. Each of the boys will get their own jug, Ginny, and Alanna.”

“He has more out back?” Greer asked eagerly. “Might as well get a couple more to freeze for me.”

It took Jimbo three more trips to the back room before Silas was ready to check out.

“Anything else, Silas?”

“Each of us will take one of those caramel apples, and you can bag seven more for us to take home.”

Alanna took one of the apples Jimbo held out for them. The caramel melted in her mouth, and the apple snapped under her teeth, which she nearly spat out in surprise when Jimbo told Silas how much he owed.

“You okay?” Matthew asked when her hand went to her throat.

“Did Silas buy the whole orchard?”

“No.” Matthew stared at her in amusement. “He bought three cows, two pigs, two—” He stopped at seeing her aghast expression. “Never mind. You’re better off not knowing.”

“You think?” Greer quipped, taking a big bite of his apple.

“Alanna, you and Greer can go on back to the truck while Matthew and I load up the dollies. We shouldn’t be long.”

She wasn’t crazy about being left alone with Greer, afraid he would say something that would send her over the edge and find herself back in jail.

Thankfully, Greer was too busy eating his apple to talk.

Climbing into the back seat of the truck, she started to close the door.

“Don’t bother. I want to take a gander of that hand of yours.”

“It’s fine.” She attempted to close the door again.

“I’ll just open it again,” he warned, opening the door to the front seat.

Alanna lifted her head to see what he was doing. Greer was taking out a first-aid kit from under the seat.

He put the stick from the candy apple in the trash Silas had hanging from the glovebox, then moved back to where she was sitting.

“Scoot over.”

Alanna scooted over on the seat, watching as Greer climbed inside to set the red box on the seat between them.

Opening the box, he took out a small bottle of hand sanitizer and squeezed some on his hands. When he was done, he held out his hand. “Now let me see.”