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“I love fall,” Charlotte stated with a happy little sigh as she looked up to watch a few crispy yellow leaves flutter from the nearest tree.
“Oh yeah?” Steve asked, his fingers tightening around Darcy’s. “What do you love about it?”
She turned around to talk to them, walking backwards to Darcy’s dismay. “Well, the air’s colder so I can wear my pretty coat again,” she said, glancing down at the red wool peacoat that hung open over her sweater and jeans. “And it’s almost Halloween and I can dress up and get a bunch of candy—”
A passerby almost crashed into her and shot the three of them a glare as he continued. Darcy beckoned with her free hand and pointed to her other side. “Eyes front, please,” she requested, pleased when Charlotte did as she was asked without skipping a beat.
“And we get to go to the farmers market instead of the grocery store for all our veggies and maybe get some pumpkins to carve…” Her blue eyes widened innocently as she peered around Darcy to aim them at her father.
Steve shook his head. “Not yet, Char,” he said with a laugh. “If we carve pumpkins this weekend, they’ll be mush by Halloween.”
“Not if we get new pumpkins before Halloween.”
Darcy laughed. “How much gourd art do you need to do in one month?”
Charlotte shrugged. “I don’t know. But more than one would be fun.”
“You can get a few small pumpkins to paint this weekend,” Steve offered a compromise. “But that’ll have to do until it’s closer to the 31st.”
Charlotte considered this with a twist of her lips. “That’s fair,” she decided. “Can I go pick them out now?”
“If you get them from either that cart,” Steve pointed to one straight ahead, “or that one,” he motioned to one off to the right. “Where we can see you, then yes.” He reached for his wallet and handed her a ten-dollar bill.
She took it quickly and folded it into her pocket. “How many can I get?”
“How many can you carry?” Steve countered.
Darcy laughed as Charlotte’s nose wrinkled in consideration. She pulled her remaining shopping bag from her purse and handed it to the nine-year-old. “Go nuts, Peanut.”
They paused by an empty bench as Charlotte dashed off toward the closest pop-up tent to examine their pumpkin selection. Darcy took stock of the beets and rainbow carrots she’d purchased and condensed them into the same bag as the vibrant, yellow spaghetti squash.
“What else do we need?” Steve asked, dropping down to sit beside the purchases. Darcy glanced up from her reorganizing and felt a smile play across her lips. Steve frowned in confusion. “What?”
She shook her head. “Nothing,” she insisted. “I just really like that shirt.”
He glanced down at the faded red and dark blue plaid he’d thrown on at the last minute an hour ago. When he looked up, it was with a mischievous sparkle in his eye. “It’d probably look better on you.”
Darcy’s smile widened as she felt her cheeks tinge pink. “We still need apples if I’m going to do turnovers tomorrow morning,” she said, looking back down at her list, suddenly flustered by the way Steve was looking at her.
“Apples,” he nodded and sat back on the bench, a self-satisfied smile still on his lips. “Which I assume also means apple cider.”
“And apple butter if they have it,” Charlotte added as she appeared at Darcy’s side with a woven tote of gourds.
Steve leaned forward so his daughter could show him her purchases. “I see you went for quantity over size,” he commented.
Charlotte shrugged. “You said as many as I could carry,” she reminded. “You and Darcy can paint some too if you want.”
“Okay, so we’ve got apples, cider,” he glanced from Darcy to Charlotte, “apple butter,” he raised his eyebrows. “Anything else?”
“Gabriella’s is back this week,” Charlotte said with a hopeful glance in Darcy’s direction and a point of her finger north. “She has sweet potato scones this time.”
“Oh yum,” Darcy’s mouth practically watered at the thought of Gabriella’s sweet-potato, hazelnut scones. She glanced back at Steve. “We need a box of those,” she informed him. “They’ll change your life.”
Steve got to his feet and shook his head with a grin. “All right, if we’re all going full basic on this farmer’s market, I’m gonna need a pumpkin spice latte before we go any further.”
