The Dating Game

Signs of spring are everywhere - and most of them say "garage sale." That's right, Spring in Orchard Hill means that it's time to clean out those closets and sell all your old junk to your neighbors.

The Orchard Hill Community Church held its annual Spring Fling recently. The Youth Group hosts this craft fair/luncheon/worship event. While I was there, I overheard this interesting bit of conversation between Faith Fielding and Andrew Thomas.

Dropping any hint of subtlety Andrew asked “How is your date going?”

Faith narrowed her eyes at him. “Just fine. How’s yours?”

“How’s my what?”
“Your date. You know, Harmony.”

“Oh, yes. That’s going fine, too.”

“Now that we’ve established that, what will we have to talk about?”

Andrew leaned forward. “Joseph’s a nice guy, but don’t kid yourself that he’s ready to make a commitment.”

She gasped. “What makes you think I want one from him?”

“So this is just a fling?”

“It’s just a date. One date. I’m hardly going to start picking out china patterns. You’re worse than Kevin.”

“Kevin is upset about you seeing Joseph, isn’t he?”

“Andrew, this is none of your business,” she told him firmly.

None of his business. It seemed as if Faith was shutting him out all of a sudden, and he didn’t like it. Not one little bit. He stared at her, willing her to understand.
“You never used to say things like that to me. We used to share everything. What changed between us, Faith?”

“I think you’re mistaken.” Her voice was cold, and it shook a little. “We’ve never shared everything. You just didn’t notice before, and I don’t understand why you’ve suddenly started caring.”

“We didn’t share everything? I shared everything. What have you been keeping from me?”

“Why don’t you just go find your date, Andrew?”

Anger swelled in his chest, and he answered her in a mocking voice. “Go find your date, Andrew. Go home Andrew. Don’t you have work to do Andrew? You keep pushing me away.”

She stood. “Then maybe you should take the hint.” Faith walked away, moving through the crowd to leave him stranded at the café table.

Hmmm. What could be going on there?

Until next time,
Cora Applebaum

LASR Reviews Appearance

Cora Appelbaum here again. It seems that Orchard Hill is in the news all over. Kara Lynn Russell, who has written down some of our local happenings, has an interview posted at the Long and Short of It reviews. You can find out all kinds of personal tidbits from what authors she likes to what time she gets up in the morning.

Word is, tomorrow, April 23rd, Kara will be at LASR's Yahoo Group, just in case anyone has questions for her. I hope someone asks her who does those great covers for her Orchard Hill books.

Cora Appelbaum

Kara Lynn at Fallen Angels

You can get the scoop on Orchard Hill chronicler Kara Lynn Russell over at Fallen Angel Reviews. She was recently interviewed by Linda H. there. You can read the interview here.

You can tell all your friends about this little tidbit. Just don't tell anyone that Linda H. got the info before me.

Until next time,
Cora Appelbaum

Spring in Orchard Hill

My grandmother always said that it had to snow on the robins three times before spring would come. Our robins must have weathered those three snowfalls because spring has come to Orchard Hill.

The sun is shining and the tulips and daffodils are blooming. I love watching the children go past my window on the way to and from school. They seem to be blooming, too as they shed heavy winter coats and boots for colorful spring jackets.

And speaking of school, the word is that school secretary Faith Fielding will not be returning to work in the elementary school this fall. What could make her want to leave after spending ten years with Orchard Hill's beloved principal, Andrew Thomas?

Could it have anything to do with Andrew's decision to enter the dating game again, for the first time since his wife passed away eight years ago? The following scene from his office was given to me in strictest confidence, so if anyone asks, you didn't hear it from me. ;)

“What’s up, Andrew?” she asked.

“Well, this is a personal matter,” he admitted. “Robin asked me to do something, and I need your advice.”

“Oh, how is Robin doing?” asked Faith eagerly. “I got an email from her last week, and it sounded like her classes were going well.”

“Yes, she’s fine,” Andrew told her. Normally, he would be happy to go on about his daughter. But now, he wanted to put this promise behind him.

“I’m so glad. I know she was nervous about going away this fall, but Robin’s got your charm, Andrew. She must have oodles of friends already.”

“And admirers lining up to carry her books,” Andrew added wryly. “But as I was saying, she made me promise something last night, and I want to take care of it.”

“Oh?” Faith tilted her head at him, curiosity in her eyes. “What did you promise?”

“I promised to go out on a date.”

Faith felt herself go still. A date? Her heart sped up. For years, she’d been hoping Andrew would ask her out. Was this it? Was it finally going to happen?

Wait a minute. Did she want him to ask her out just because Robin told him he needed to go on a date? But maybe it wasn’t that way. Maybe it was more that she’d given him her blessing. Faith knew Andrew would never get involved with someone Robin didn’t like.

Oh, who was she kidding? She’d take a date with Andrew any way she could get it. Even when she’d first started at the school, she thought Andrew was strikingly handsome. In the ten years they’d worked together, his salt and pepper hair had gone completely to silver. But she thought it looked great on him and made his gorgeous dark blue eyes stand out even more.

But, as handsome as she thought he was, physical appearance was the least of the reasons Faith loved him. His sterling character, charismatic personality and generous heart drew her to him. “So who’s the lucky lady?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Andrew leaned over the desk, and Faith found herself drawn to him as if he were a magnet and she a hunk of steel. “I wanted to ask you…”

“Yes?” her voice came out barely louder than a whisper.

“I wanted to ask you…who I should ask.”