Summary: Annie preferred the life of Oak Tree Town to the business of her old, city life. It offered fresh air, lazy days and a new, patchwork family she's grown accustom to. Best of all, it offered Raeger: a quiet, stunning local chef that took her breath away. While the idea of a relationship with Raeger seemed like an unachievable dream, Annie seems to find him wherever she turns. But when she the idea becomes something of a reality, the family she's grown to rely on starts splintering, and the quiet life she's built becomes nothing but noise.

A/N: Hi Friends! Welcome to my newest Harvest Moon story! I guess now it should just be referred to as my Story of Season's story, but it still feels so weird to call it that. I actually started writing this forever ago, and completely forgot about it, so I figured it would be cool to give it a shot again and see where it goes. I'm sure I had an idea in mind when I wrote it, but what that is I can't actually remember. So come on this fun adventure with me and let's see where this story takes us!

Spring

Mornings were my favorite. Back in the city, all of my friends were night owls. Every night after work they would go out for dinner or drinks or both. Sometimes they would be successful in dragging me out the door with them, but most of the time I was sneaky enough to leave just before they finished their own work and head to the subway to spend the night at home—just me and my cat Luna.

It didn't take a lot of thought to send in my farming application. Actually, it didn't take enough thought. I just kind of did it. One afternoon when I was sifting through the mail over a bowl of cereal I saw the pamphlet: Farmers Wanted! Come live your dream life as a small-town farmer in quaint Oak Tree Town. This ranch, recently abandoned by the former party, is the perfect spot for a fresh start. Interested? Send in the attached application today!

I wasn't sure farming was my "dream life", but something about it called to me.

Here in Oak Tree, the rest of the town loved mornings too. Maybe that's why I felt so at home so quickly. When my application was accepted I almost laughed it off. Who in their right mind would actually drop their life to go run a farm in god knows where? Me, apparently. Because it was only a few days before Luna, my suitcase and I were shipping off to Oak Tree and I was starting a brand new life.

When I walked outside that morning the sun was just barely streaming through the trees. The land they'd given me was pretty deep in the woods. It took a long time to get there from town and was surrounded in a wall of forests. It was the most secluded part of the secluded little town.

"Good morning, Maisy," I chirped at the cow lazing around in the pasture beside my house. In my wicker basket, I pulled out a brush and shined her coat, making sure to get the spots she had clearly mashed into the dirt. My mornings were now a swirl of this: brushing, milking, watering, harvesting. There was something about getting most of my work done before the rest of the town was awake that settled my soul.

Over the pasture and down the road, I could see a far-off figure puttering through the fields on the land next to mind. Eda was probably almost done with her morning, and I was just getting started. She glanced over, and must have seen me watching her, because soon she was raising her arm up as high as her fragile old bones would allow and waving at me. I waved back. It was no use to call out to her; she wouldn't hear me anyway.

Eda was the first person I got to know when I got here. Veronica, the Guild Leader, introduced us, and Eda was nice enough to take me in for a little while they continued to clean up my place. She was excited to hear that I was new to farming, and dropped everything that first week to teach me the basics of the trade. She had been running that place for decades, after all. She was the expert.

"Good morning, Annie!"

The singsong voice called to me when I was watering my turnips in the field a little ways away from the house. I glanced up, shielding the sun from my eyes enough to see the figure balancing himself on the fence and leaning in toward me.

"Hi, Fritz," I called over my shoulder.

Fritz was another farmer in town. There were a lot of them actually, more than I was expecting. With that flyer and everything, I just assumed they needed someone because of the lack of farmers. But this place was bristling with them. It was nice, of course, to have people to walk me through what I was doing. But it was a little intimidating too. They were all a lot more experienced than I was…

"They're selling more seeds at the general store, you know." Fritz leaned up against his palms, the soles of his shoes balancing on the bar just a step up from the tall grass. I needed to have Maisy head over to this side of the yard to graze someday.

"Oh yeah?" I asked, sprinkling the last of my crops with the watering can. "What kinds?"

Fritz started listing things: potatoes, grass seed, he even thought he saw a seedling for a peach tree. He wasn't one for fruit trees, really—it took too long to grow—but he knew I had been eyeing the ones at the farm closer to town.

All of this talk of seeds sparked something in my head. I looked up at him. "Did you remember to water those new turnip seeds you planted, by the way?"

Fritz scrunched his nose, indicating that no, he had not, and sucked in a heap of air through his teeth. "Oops," he said.

There were five of us farmers in town, three of which I would consider to be tenured. Fritz was not one of them. He lived next door to Giorgio, who was passionate and experienced. Of course, because of that, he picked on the run-down farm that Fritz struggled to run. So when I got here, and Fritz and I became friends, I promised to help him keep it up enough to earn a little respect from the Giorgio. It was proving to be harder than I thought.

"Fritz," I laughed. "That's like, the third day in a row."

"I'm sorry!" he smiled and rested his chin on his forearms. "There's so much to remember, I get confused."

By now, I had managed to step across enough of my crops that I was beside him at the fence. I leaned up against it, watching him settle into his spot and smile at me. Fritz had kind eyes. That was my favorite thing about him. He had deep, brown, doe eyes and expressive eyebrows. They made him easy to read, and easy to talk to.

"I know you do." I tried to sound sympathetic. "But you're gonna need the money if you want to shove your summer harvest in Giorgio's face."

"Ugh, you're right." Fritz pushed himself back upright and hopped off of the fence. "What does your day look like? Want to come keep me company?"

I glanced back at my crops, counting the beds and trying to remember if I had planted anything new recently that would forget about. But Maisy was milked, the hens were fed, I was sure I was good.

"Sure," I told him, dropping the watering can at my feet. I made a note to pick it up later on. "I think I can manage that."