The late afternoon sun hung warm and golden over the sprawling family orchard, casting long shadows between the neat rows of apple and peach trees.
The air was thick with the sweet scent of ripe fruit and freshly turned earth.
Daphne’s mother, Elena, had declared it “family bonding time,”
dragging everyone out with baskets and gloves despite the summer heat.
Daphne had rolled her eyes at the idea but came anyway, mostly because her boyfriend Kyle was visiting for the weekend and she needed some kind of distraction.
Elena chatted animatedly with Jeremy, Daphne’s stepfather, as they moved ahead down the row.
Jeremy was a tall, broad-shouldered man in his late forties with strong arms from years of manual work around the property.
His deep voice carried back to them occasionally
