Pumpkin Patch Change in Plans

"It's not that, Grandpa." Rylan tried to explain, although the man did have a point. Rebecca, the woman he had been dating when the accident happened, left before what remained of his leg was lost. He had the distinct feeling that she was more interested in his potential monetary value than him when he looked back on their relationship. Rye had thought they had been in love.

"She sure didn't seem to care about your injury. That woman was smiling at you. What is it then?" Grandpa Joe smiled through his scruffy gray beard.

"Davis dated her brother, and things didn't end well." Rylan shook his head.

"Ah, guilt by association then. Well, you're not him, and she's not Shawn, wasn't that the guy's name?"

For a smaller midwestern city, no one batted an eye when Davis came out. The family knew before Davis, or probably before he was ready to admit it. His brother would roll into town in a few weeks, just in time for the harvest festival.

"I know, Grandpa, but that's not all. I had math class with her and never really gave her the time of day outside it." He gave another head shake in disdain for his over-inflated ego in high school.

"I'm sure you both grew in four years, Rylan."

"And you've gotten more stubborn. This works now, Grandpa."

"Thanks, son."

"By the way, I donated a field trip to those two."

"I'd say you gave it away because of a pretty smile, but you're more like your grandmother than you'd like to admit. That's just what she would have done." Grandpa patted him on the shoulder and gave him a little smile before he limped back to help a family of four check out their round orange prizes.

Andrea -- A few weeks later

"It's all caved in..." The pristine wood floor of the gym that had been recently completed was a part of the same bond issue that had the commons torn apart. Ninety-mile-per-hour winds blew through the city last night and peeled the roof from the new gym like a tin can. It was rare for a fall storm to pack so much power. They were very fortunate that the damage was contained to only the main gym. The basketball and wrestling teams would have to use one of the satellite gyms this year without much in the way of a crowd.

"What are we going to do now? We've never missed a homecoming dance, Andi." Mrs. Landers, the freshman class assistant principal and lead for the homecoming dance, panicked. That wasn't something in the woman's usual bailiwick. When she had been the administrator for her class in high school, the woman had always been absolutely calm in the controlled chaos that teenagers could be.

"Did you try the community center?" Andi inquired. Each faculty member had to help with one of the dances, and Andrea liked to tackle extra assignments at the start of the year if she could.

"Already booked for a craft fair that weekend." The older woman shook her head. "It wouldn't be that big of a deal to cancel, but it's the seventy-fifth homecoming dance for the school. What am I going to do in a week?"

"I might, MIGHT, have an idea." Andrea patted the distraught woman on the arm. "I think you have more to worry about. Give me a day or two to see if I can get something put together." I wonder if Rylan is watching game tape with the QBs?

"Thanks, Andi. We haven't lost anything if you can't work a miracle. At least we have the weekend to get this cordoned off."

Andrea waved adieu and hiked across the sprawling school to see if Rye was using the study room or the coach's history classroom, where they invariably studied tape from last night's game. He seemed to be impacting the sophomore quarterback, who had been thrust into a starting position due to injury.

During the last few weeks, Andrea had several conversations with Rylan. For some reason, Cynthia made her call to make the field trip arrangements. Grandpa Joe had answered the phone, but he, too, handed the job off to his grandson. She and Rye were developing a teasing friendly relationship, much as they had in calculus.

After their respective practices, they bumped into each other several times and walked out to their cars together. Andrea had forgotten how silly and funny the man could be, though she was elated to learn that his sense of humor had expanded beyond the bounds of puns. He wasn't the meathead jock that he was portrayed as by the media. Andi had known that, but people change in the time in college. Maybe he had let the success go to his head. She tried not to mention his accident, figuring he got enough of that out of everyone else.

"Hey, Andrea! What are you doing here on a Saturday?" Rylan called out from behind her, a playful tease in his voice. His crutch was gone, but he still had quite the limp as he meandered through the hallway with a trio of colas in his hands. Every week he seemed a little more confident with his artificial limb.

"Have you seen the gym?"

"Kinda hard to miss driving up here. It looks like one of those pop-top cans with a half-torn lid. We had to delay film study by a few hours to ensure the rest of the building was structurally sound."

"We're lucky that storm came through at three am and not during the game last night."

"Or during the bus ride back. I'd hate to see what would happen if a 90-mph wind gust hit a school bus broadsided." Rylan shivered a little. "It's nice to have a little good luck occasionally. Are you walking toward the study room for any particular purpose?"

"I was checking to see if you were here. I think I need a favor."

"Oh yeah, what would that be? Other than a little more sparkling conversation. You get that for free." Rylan smiled widely. He looked good with the goatee he sprouted in the last couple of weeks. The shade of brown was a little darker than the short, well-quaffed hair on top of his head.

"I wouldn't mind a little more of that either." Andi did her best to return the smile. She hoped he was catching onto the flirty tone of her voice. "But I need something a little more substantial and tangible at the moment. Is the party barn booked for next Saturday?"

Rylan handed her the colas so he could pull out his phone from the pocket of his khaki shorts. "Let's see... There is an indoor wedding on Sunday, so it would need to be cleaned spotless after the homecoming dance."

"How did you know I would be asking about the dance?"

"An educated guess, the gym is a wreck, and the commons are closed. Why else would you need space on such short notice?" He smiled. It was nice to see that he hadn't lost his confidence. "Unless you have a surprise shotgun wedding that needs to be thrown."

"I don't think that's a thing you plan for." She smiled back. "Don't worry. We have a budget for the space."

"For you, no problem. I just need a favor in return. Davis isn't in town until late on Saturday, and we need some help putting up a few things. It involves ladders." Rylan reached down and knocked on the attachment point of his artificial limb. "I'm not great at them anymore and don't want Grandpa on one either."

"I have a committee of students that will help decorate on Saturday morning during the game. Would that be enough?"

"I'd like to get a few new lights up before the students arrive. You got Thursday free after cross country practice?"

"It's a date." Andrea blurted out and then felt her face get hot with an embarrassed blush.

"I mean, I could order pizza. You might have to wait a little longer for me to cook for you." As they got to the film room, he winked and backed into the door with a smile.

Rylan -- Wednesday of that week

It had taken a couple months, but Rylan was starting to get the hang of his new prosthetic. The stump still ached by the time he got through his day, but the sharp stabs of pain when he moved wrong no longer seemed to course through him like an electric shock. He wasn't sure if it was because he had learned to use the thing better or if more healing was taking place.

Rye had gotten up early to hook up the old pickup to the flatbed trailer that served as a hayrack ride tour of the couple hundred-acre farm that used to number in the thousands of acres. It felt good to put in some physical labor for once instead of just wrestling with spreadsheets and labor schedules. The kids would get a kick out of the pumpkin patch and corn maze. He'd have to check with Cynthia to see if the mechanical building with the old combines and tractors was safe enough to show the kids. Rylan would have loved seeing those when he was a second grader.

The old Ford pickup was a conglomeration of the body of two old trucks that his Grandpa Joe had put together to make something old and working for Grandma Martha's new venture. Underneath the frame and chassis had come from a modified 90s-era ford pickup. It rode much nicer than it looked with the hard-earned, sunbaked patina on the fenders. The flaking paint had been sealed to arrest the corrosion and ensure that none of the guests would get tetanus from it. The engine was even newer than the frame. It was a crate engine from a half-decade ago after the 30-year-old V8 finally roared its last. Rylan hoped that it was either destined to make the trip to Arizona with Grandpa Joe or he would be able to make him an offer. Grandma had even got her husband to add air conditioning about five years ago.

When he was a senior in high school, right after the engine swap, Rylan had snuck the keys to the truck with his grandma's permission. He won a trophy with it at a car show two towns over. Although Grandpa Joe had acted angry about it, he kept that trophy in a place of honor. It would be years until he admitted that the anger was for Rylan's father's benefit. He was secretly delighted that Rye showed the initiative.

Having a regular group of kids come through the farm again would be great, and Rylan wanted to ensure everything was perfect for them. A year ago, fears of a pandemic resurgence kept classes from scheduling anything. Maybe you're trying to impress Andi through her friend. Rye mused to himself but shook it off as he knew this was more about the memory of his Grandma.

It was ten am when the bright yellow bus pulled up. Thirty-five very energetic children marched out of the bus with five parents and a pair of teachers. Cynthia and Andrea both emerged from the bus. "Andi? Surprising to see you here on the field trip. Don't you have a class at the high school? Or are they teaching second graders calculus now?" Rylan said in a low voice as he greeted the pair of teachers.

"Miss Bradford's fellow second-grade teacher was sick, and it was easier for me to find a sub for my class. It's Miss Thomas around the kids, Mr. Borgmann" She winked at him.

While Miss Bradford and the parents were dressed in jeans and boots that seemed appropriate for the farm-based field trip, Andi wore a brilliant red dress and a blue shawl over her shapely shoulders and fetching pert breasts. She had suitable hiking boots at the end of her long running-toned legs. With some effort, he had to keep himself from taking even covert peeks at her fantastic ass to avoid being caught by the parents.

"No jeans for you?" Rylan asked as the kids watched a demonstration of how pumpkins were grown and harvested from the fields.

"Cynth sprung it on me last minute. I'm trying to get the kids dressed up for the home meets. If I'm asking them to do that, I can't very well shirk it myself."

"It looks great on you, if slightly out of place."

"I'm just glad I had my hiking boots in my car. High heels look nice but don't mix with mud." She smiled slyly. Rylan thought he had caught her checking him out a couple times as they toured the easy-to-access land before lunch.

"Never tried it myself." He grinned.

Rylan had to leave the tour to take care of some little figurative brush fires cropping up. There was much to get done on the property before the big grand finale of the harvest festival dance next weekend. He had to wave off some workers coming in to set up the haunted corn maze. Rye wanted the second graders to be able to wander through it before some of the displays were set up for the weekend. A few of the presentations would frighten the kids even in the bright sunlight. They could get things prepared this afternoon while the students painted pumpkins. He noted that perhaps some sillier displays for the younger kids during the daytime might be a good idea for future field trips.

Although the students brought sack lunches, Rylan baked a few pumpkin pies from his grandma's old recipe. They were a big hit with the kids and parents alike.

"Trying to impress Andi?" Cynthia wandered by the dessert table while the parents gathered the children and spent some time on the play equipment outside the party barn. Cynth had the shiftiest-looking smirk as she took one more spoonful of whipped cream while she closed the container.

"I had no idea she was coming along when I was baking the pies yesterday. Though I wouldn't complain about impressing her too." Rylan returned the smile without blinking. In his few encounters with the woman, she seemed to be the ornery type that dug in if one flinched. She was pretty but reminded him too much of Rebecca to steal his heart. He didn't care one wit that she had a son already, though he knew that scared a lot of guys his age away.

"Wait, you baked them? You can cook, and you're this handsome? How come some woman hasn't snapped you up?"

"It was easier when I was training and lifting to cook for myself at home. My parents didn't need to worry about the special diet I was on." Rylan ignored the last part of Cynthia's questioning because he knew that being a broken man had a lot to do with it.

"I think she's into you." Cynthia started to walk away. "Ask her out sometime if you're interested. Trust me, you're interested." She turned around with a smirk before mercurially changing back into teacher mode as she stepped out of the barn.

After they got recess in, the class loaded onto the big flatbed trailer. It was a hayrack ride in name only, each kid had a bench seat to sit on, and a safety rail enwrapped the whole trailer save for the stairs that would get chained off when the steps folded up. The insurance company had the rig very closely inspected before it was allowed to be used.

"I need one volunteer." Thirty-five eager little hands went up almost instantly in response to Rylan's request. "I need it to be a big person. The gates are a little heavy."

"Why?" Asked a pale little blonde girl with pigtails and an inquisitive smile.

"Well, getting in and out of the cab with my leg is a little slow, and we need to keep the gates closed, so our dogs don't get into mischief."

"Are you part robot?" A boy with dark hair and tan skin yelled out loudly. He was missing one of his front teeth, and the r sounded more like a w.

"I guess you could say that, but I prefer part cyborg." The kids all seemed to get a kick when he knocked on his leg. "It goes better with Mr. Borgmann."

"Miss Thomas could help you out." Volunteered another of the boys. This got a round of cheers from the class that may have been egged on by Cynthia.

"Only because Miss Bradford needs to be with you." Andi let him help her down from the cart. Her hand was soft and warm, and he got a tiny smile from the beauty.

"You just wanted more time with me, didn't you?" Andrea said when Rylan opened the passenger side door for her.

"That's a bonus, but I did need help with the gates."

The pair laughed and played around like they were back in math class together in high school. Andi dutifully hopped out of the truck without complaint to operate the four gates on the slow tour of the farmland. An intercom allowed Rye to point out all the sites along the way. Miss Bradford did an excellent job both expanding on the points and bringing them down to the children's learning level, at least for the parts he could hear through the open windows.

The children got some more exercise wandering through the corn maze; their reward for making it through was a pumpkin each. After a resounding round of pumpkin painting, it was time for the children to leave. Grandma Martha would have been proud of the farm becoming a place of youthful wonder. It even got a nod of approval from Grandpa Joe.

"This was great. What do you say, kids?" Cynthia prompted the children.

"Thank you, Mister Cyborg!" All thirty-five children said in near unison.

"Would you mind dropping Andi by the high school? You have football practice tonight, right?" Miss Bradford said softly as the kids piled back on the bus. "It would save me a trip."

"Don't worry about Cynthia. She likes to stir the pot, but she means well." Andi smiled as she hopped in the truck with Rylan a few minutes later.

"She reminds me of a big sister. I never had one, but my cousin Ariel could be a handful."

"That's a fair assessment."

Andrea -- Saturday morning

There was something special about Rylan. He was intelligent, funny, and hadn't let the world stomp on his soul when it so quickly could have. The more she hung around him, the clearer it was to her that Rylan, outside the math classroom, was the false persona. He was closer to the nerdy, competitive, humble, and honorable boy she knew well from class. The one she had a crush on years ago.

On Thursday, she thought he would kiss her when he helped her down a ladder. They shared a moment as they stared into each other's eyes with a smile. He might have if Grandpa Joe hadn't walked in on them. The mischievous part of her almost wore a skirt to help out on Thursday. It might have been fun to blow Rylan's mind as he held the ladder for her. Might have been the shove he needed to ask me out.

Rylan wouldn't be here this morning as the football team was playing a noon game. The football stadium's lights had been another casualty of the storm. A rare midday game would keep them from needing the lights before the arrays were replaced by a new LED system. Andrea and Mrs. Landers supervised a dozen students as they transformed the barn into a space reflecting the diamond anniversary theme of the dance.

The students melded the anniversary with a Halloween theme; it was the spooky season. On one poster was a jack-o-lantern with candlelight-shining diamond-faceted eyes. Their school mascot was wearing a witch's hat in another, with a giant gem in hand. Trick-or-treaters were being handed jewels, not candy. It was going to be a long day as she was also scheduled to chaperone for the dance.

"On-di!" A familiar voice rang out behind her.

There was only one guy in the world that ever decided to call her On-di. Three years is too long to hang on to your anger. Andrea turned around and waved at Davis, Rylan's always impeccably dressed younger brother. He was clad in a loud western-inspired outfit. Everything about the young man was flamboyant, and it looked like his time in college had turned up the volume.

Davis had a pair of orange ostrich-skin cowboy boots. The puckered leather almost had a diamond pattern where the feathers had been plucked. His dark pants looked like raw denim, exquisitely tailored to his body and secured with a gleaming silver belt buckle. His look was completed by a bombastic pattern of pinks and blues in a pearl snap long-sleeved shirt and a white cowboy hat replete with a pink feathery accent. He wasn't as tall as Rylan and kept his face clean-shaven, but they had similar brown eyes.

"Davis? I didn't think you would be here until late tonight."

"My job didn't need me today, and I heard someone was decorating my barn. I had to lend a hand. Someone has told me you've been spending a lot of time with my brother. What's up with that?" The man smirked.

"I don't know, he's cute and funny, but..."

"But what, Ony?" His eyes were on the decoration that Andrea was trying to fashion on the high-top table.