Page 34 of The Fall I Fell

‘Noted.’ He blushed as he started the ignition and the tractor kicked into action.

‘Is it just us?’ I looked around the orchard when we drew to a stop.

‘Is that okay?’ He reddened again, his eyes searching my face for any expression. ‘The rest of them are off drilling the east field, but this needed doing before we lose the fruit to the frost.’

‘Of course, it’s okay.’ His sudden nervousness confused me, but I tried not to overthink it. ‘I was just wondering whether or not to wear a hardhat if Alfie was going to be around on his usual apple-lobbing shenanigans.’

‘You’re safe from everything but gravity, don’t worry.’

When we got to the orchard, Jacob jumped from the tractor and offered his hand to help me down. I took it, and his blush seemed to spread over to me as though I’d been infected with his nervousness.

The afternoon stretched on, with stolen glances, silly jokes, smiles hidden behind trunks, and touches fumbled over apples. Granny’s words rang around my head and suddenly I was noticing every gesture, every curl of his lips. Each one filled me with hope that he felt the same. Soon the sky burst into colours so vivid it’s as though the trailer of Braeburns had projected its hue across the horizon for miles and miles. The whole world became our orchard.

‘I bet you don’t get this in London,’ Jacob commented, biting into his third apple of the day, its juice rolling down the shining skin, then down his stubbled chin where he swiped it away with his open palm. All I could imagine was the sweetness of his skin as the sugar glistened against it in the setting sun. As he swiped his tongue over his lips, I found myself mirroring him, the taste hitting me as though I was sampling the very nectar of Jacob lips.

‘Sunsets?’ I remarked sarcastically, hopping up into the trailer. Unable to hold the weight of my own body, I laid back against the spot with no apples and stared up into the wide sky.

‘No … I’m not that much of a country bumpkin. I know you have sunsets.’ Jacob slid in beside me as though it was the most natural thing in the world. ‘I just mean one so wide, so uninterrupted, so free. No skyscrapers getting in the way, only clouds and sky so vast you have no idea where it ends.’

He was right. Lying there beside him felt like the edge of a new world. The sound of the natural world around us filled me until I became the birds, the trees, the breeze. I was the rise and fall of his chest, I was the goosebumps that covered his arms, I was the soft rhythmic beat of his heart.

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, but I didn’t need to. I was tucked into the crook of his arm that had inched closer to wrap around me. My heart throbbed, and I could feel it pulse in every inch of my body. I could finally breathe again when he closed the gap and pulled me to him, and we melted into one another.

‘I could stay here forever.’ I breathed. The smell of him, mixed with the sweet aroma of the apples, enveloped me until I was sure I had landed in some sort of fantasy.

Tighter still he pressed me to him. We were so close now that I was sure he could feel my heart thumping against him, and I could feel his. I could no longer tell where I finished and he began, the both of us threaded together by the pulse of our hearts that beat out the same rhythm. I was in love with him. My mind knew it, my heart knew it, and now my body knew it exceedingly well.

Jacob hummed in agreement. ‘If we can’t stay forever, we should stay at least until the stars come out.’ He turned towards me, his face so close, his eyes so dark that they reflect the sky like tiny planetariums.

‘Mum would kill me if I stayed out after dark.’ Reality began to hit as more of the light slipped away. But I couldn’t move, even if I had wanted to. I was bound to him, my limbs only moving if it meant getting closer.

‘Then we only have a few more minutes.’ He slid his hand along my cheek, his fingers finding their way into the strands of my hair as he caressed me with such gentle affection that I shivered to his touch. Instinctively, I hooked my leg over his, my whole body urging to be as close to him as humanly possible, and then some. I could have transcended all of science in that moment if it meant him absorbing me into him and us becoming one.

‘We should get back …’ I whispered, afraid of what I wanted, thrilled by the prospect of what could be. He was so close now, that as I spoke, my lips caught on his in a ghostly caress, just enough to leave me wanting, needing more.

Jacob looked at me, and he smiled. That crooked, perfect, smile. He leaned towards me, his breath hitting my lips and sending them tingling in an explosion of feelings I’d never felt before. I need him. Desperately.

‘Ava.’ His whisper sent a tremble down my whole body as I jolted against him.

Thud.

My heart just about dropped out of my chest as an apple hit the trailer with an echoing bang. Jacob sat up with such force, that I too was pulled upright with the motion, my head spinning.

‘What the—’ Jacob started, but the sight of Will answered all the questions we might have had.

Will smirked as though he knew exactly what he’d interrupted ‘Come on, lovebirds. Mummy says it’s time for beddybyes.’

I could have punched him.

Chapter 19

Now

Callum finds me tucked away in Granny’s old sitting room surrounded by various papers, all scrawled with designs I’d started and then crumpled in anger. Since I interrupted Jacob and Pen in the treehouse three days ago, I thought there would be no better time to throw myself into my exhibition prep. It has absolutely nothing to do with avoiding him; the fact I’ve managed to keep away from his presence entirely in that time is merely a coincidence. At least, that’s what I tell myself.

‘If you wanted to bury yourself, surely the garden and a shovel would be more effective than paper?’ my brother says, shifting some of the sheets with his slipper before settling down into Granny’s armchair.

‘Har har,’ I reply dryly, balling up another sheet and tossing it at him.