Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run novel Chapter 52

Life’s challenges had toughened the folks in North Ashford. Even when the world seemed to forget them, they’d hitch their trailers and haul their goods off to nearby towns to sell. It wasn’t enough to make them wealthy, but it was enough to scrape by, though it took a lot of effort.

This year, however, unexpected heavy rains had everyone caught off guard; no one was ready for it. Clara approached with a humble demeanor despite her injuries. This caused the orchard workers around her to exchange uncertain looks until a few of the younger ones spoke up.

“It’s just three days anyway. She knows about this. Maybe she really can help.”

The others still looked a bit skeptical, but they nodded in agreement.

Addison quickly moved behind Clara to check her injuries, but Clara shook her head. “I’m fine.”

It was hard to believe she was fine; her back was likely bruised all over. But Clara was already stepping into the young workers’ tent, giving Addison instructions as she went.

“Send a message to every customer who placed an order with us. Tell them that I did a personal check and found that North Ashford apples are sweeter. We’ll ship those instead. If they’re okay with it, we’ll send them out. If not, they can get a refund.”

Addison looked confused. “What’s the reason for that message? We’ve got over twenty thousand orders. If we just ship them, no one would know the difference between South Ashford and North Ashford apples. We could sell them all in a flash; they wouldn’t taste the difference anyway. Plus, North Ashford apples are delicious.”

Clara glanced at the young men whose faces were filled with anger and quickly stopped Addison. “For the people of North Ashford, selling their apples as if they were from South Ashford is a slap in the face. Years ago, South Ashford pushed them out of prosperity. If they let their apples ride on South Ashford’s reputation now, it’ll be like saying they’d rather let their apples rot in the fields.”

In this world, a lot of people are stubborn and prefer to stick to their principles, like the folks from North Ashford.

The older generation never bowed their heads, so naturally, neither would the younger ones. It was a part of who they were.

Some might call them stubborn, but having your own set of principles isn’t such a bad thing. At least these folks wouldn’t betray others like people from South Ashford.