In the fourth week of August, the peach harvest coincided for ten days with the start of Golden Supreme apples, and a week or so after that, the sweet Galas. This was “the overlap,” as Ellie’s father often referred to those hectic days, which meant a new crew of apple pickers joined the crew of peach pickers who had been working for weeks. Menno was one of those who showed up just after dawn, and while Ellie had her own chores making apple pies, fritters, and cider for the family store and market, she was aware of Menno’s attentive gaze each time she glanced his way. This made her smile, as she enjoyed her time with him, though they were still only double-dating.

During one of the overlap days, Ellie was driving the smaller horse-drawn wagon with bushels of apples to the cider shed, and Sol was coming from the other end of the orchard in the spring wagon with more bushels to unload. He halted Nelly and jumped out to tie the mare to the hitching post in front of the shed.

Spotting Ellie, Sol came around and looked up at her. “Let me haul them in for ya.”

“Denki, but ain’t necessary.” She walked along with him to deposit the first bushel with Rudy, who was already turning the cast-iron wheel and grinding another big batch of apples Dat and his crew had brought in earlier. Mamm had hosed them off and was feeding the newly washed apples into the hopper.

Sol headed back down the wood ramp for more bushels and quickly returned.

Ellie thanked him again.

“Anytime,” Sol said before turning to go out for more.

“Someone’s mighty attentive,” Rudy said, grinning at her.

“He just likes to help” was all Ellie said. She sure didn’t want to get tongues wagging about her and Sol being too friendly. It wouldn’t be right. And besides, it wasn’t true. Not really.

Ellie suddenly awakened during the night and heard the patter of rain on the roof. Often when rain showers came, she relished the comforting sound in her room. And sometimes, if it was warm enough outdoors, she’d creep downstairs and sit on the porch in her bathrobe, breathing in the wonderful earthy scent of the rain.

Once, soon after moving into this uppermost bedroom, she’d spotted a leak and hurried downstairs to get a bucket from the utility room, then fell asleep to the steady drip, drip. In the morning, she let Dat know, and he and Evan got out the extension ladder and patched the roof.