Falling Like Leaves (Bramble Falls, #1)(51)

When I arrive, everyone’s waiting outside for me.

“Mitchell!” Coop yells when he sees me walking up the driveway.

“Cuz! You made it!” Sloane calls.

“There she is!” Jake says with a huge grin as he jogs toward me. I yelp as he scoops me up and carries me over to our group of friends. He sets me down next to his SUV and says, “Get in, losers.”

“I’m picking the playlist!” Asher announces as he opens the car door.

“Dream on, Ash,” Jake says. “It’s driver’s choice.”

Asher sighs. “I guess we all already know what we’re listening to, then….”

Jake slaps him on the shoulder. “Only to the goddess herself.”

As Chloe, Hannah, Sloane, Asher, Preeti, Slug, and Jake climb into the vehicle, Cooper turns to me.

“How’d the rest of the day go with Fern Berry?” he asks.

“She’s just Fern,” I laugh. “And we had a great time. It was really sweet of her to surprise me.” I arch an eyebrow at him. “I didn’t realize you were still such a foodie, though.”

He opens his mouth to answer, but he’s interrupted by the sharp honk of the car horn.

“Come on, Coop!” Chloe calls out the front window as she leans over Jake. “Get in. I have to sit on your lap. There aren’t enough seats.”

Cooper tears his gaze from me and climbs into the SUV. Chloe sits on his lap, and I get into the open passenger seat next to Jake. He blasts his favorite playlist as he pulls out, and everyone, including Asher, starts dancing in their seats and scream-singing along to “Getaway Car.” I turn around, grinning hard at this group of friends I’ve somehow acquired. Chloe holds her phone to my mouth, urging me to sing. I laugh and join in, singing into my pretend microphone.

When my eyes snag on Cooper, he grins and winks at me, and I turn to absolute goo.

Ugh, I am down bad.





Chapter Twenty-Three




The following Saturday, I’m totally dragging as Sloane and I make our way back to the town square, where kids are screaming and laughing from inside the hay-bale maze we spent all night building. We were here until almost two o’clock in the morning setting up the children’s activities and came back at seven o’clock to prepare for the Autumn Spice Sprint. Now, endless gray clouds smother the afternoon sun.

And I still haven’t satisfied my harvest spice latte addiction.

A chilly autumn breeze nips at my skin and sends leaves swirling all around us, decorating the ground in shades of orange, yellow, and crimson. Their familiar earthy scent mixes with the scent of cider and doughnuts wafting from the vendor tents and food trucks on the lawn. I tuck my chin into my red scarf and pull my cardigan tighter around me.

After my conversation with Fern last weekend, it’s hard to ignore the way autumn in Bramble Falls has somehow filled the New York–shaped hole in my heart.

“How are you so happy?” Sloane grumbles between yawns. “I’m too tired to be happy.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “What makes you think I’m happy?”

“Uh, you’re smiling like a weirdo?”

“Oh.” Huh. “I don’t know. Fall just feels different here for some reason. Don’t get me wrong, I love autumn in New York—there are all kinds of great farmers’ markets in the city, the fashion is top-notch, and Central Park is an absolute dream. But somehow out here it just feels, like, distilled or something. There’s an incomparable coziness to it.”

“Yes! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” she says, throwing her hands in the air. “Come for the apple picking and pumpkin carving, stay for the coziness.”

I smile at her as we enter the town square. “Hey, I’m just here for the harvest spice lattes.”

“And the boy who makes them…”

I stop breathing. “What? Who? Cooper?”

“Precisely,” she says with a smirk.

The blood drains from my face. If Sloane can tell I like him, then everyone can tell. He can tell. And that’s not a topic I want to broach right now. Not with him and not with my cousin.

“What are you talking about? Cooper and I are friends. A few weeks ago you were saying the same thing about Jake and me.”

“It’s rare, but I was wrong,” she says. “I mean, Jake definitely likes you, but your heart beats for our little baker boy.”

“Little baker boy?” I shake my head. “I literally have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“There’s no point in denying it because I know.” She grins at me. “If it helps, I think he might like you, too. He’s always staring at you.”

I sigh. “Just shut up. He is not.”

I’d know because I’m always staring at him.

“Yeah, okay.”

“Attention, Bramble Falls residents and visitors!” Aunt Naomi shouts into her megaphone from the gazebo. “Welcome to this weekend’s events! The Autumn Spice Sprint will begin in five minutes! Participants should make their way to the gazebo now!”

“There’s Asher,” Sloane says, nodding at where he’s waiting to race with her. “Come cheer for us.”

I follow Sloane to the gazebo and stand off to the side, desperately wishing we’d left twenty minutes earlier so we had time to stop for a coffee before the race.