“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.”
“I told you it’s fine.” Holding her apple, she tucked her bandaged hand in the crock of her other arm.
“I told Knox I would make sure you’re healing okay. If you won’t let me, I can take you to the emergency room and get them to do it for him.”
She held her bandaged hand out for him to unwind the gauze.
“It looks much worse than it is. The blisters popped …”
Greer stared at her hand. “It’s getting infected. Are you running a fever?”
“N—”
She wasn’t finished answering when she felt Greer’s hand land on her forehead.
“What are you doing?” she said, pulling her head away.
“Checking for fever. Eat your apple. I have some work to do.”