Chapter 2
Conceptions
The next morning, after dutifully delivering Cliff another order of toast, Ann made sure to carefully avoid him. She was still angry about the pot incident the night before and at the same time embarrassed by the fact that he thought she was too uptight. Therefore, she decided to have as little to do with him as possible before he left the following day. She happily chatted with Harris and kept herself busy in the kitchen to mask the fact that she was purposefully steering clear of him. She was not proud of it, but she simply couldn't bear the thought of speaking to him again for more than five seconds.
On the other hand, she couldn't stop thinking about him constantly. She wondered where he had come from and how he had the nerve to show up and do whatever he pleased, pissing off people who were just trying to help him. She thought about the way he had looked at her, as if he had been trying to make her feel uncomfortable. If that was indeed his goal, it had worked. But it had also made her feel breathless and dizzy, and she couldn't explain it. Nor did she want to.
She thought next about Karen. She considered warning her that he was a pothead, but then she decided against it. Karen wouldn't care, would she? She wondered guiltily if Karen had ever tried pot. She remembered Cliff telling her she might be surprised about some of the villagers. Part of her still doubted that was true, yet she really wasn't sure.
A little before noon, she was shaken from her thoughts by her father. They were in need of more eggs, and so he requested that she pick some up from the chicken ranch. Ann quickly obliged. She took off her apron, washed her hands, and headed out from the inn, careful not to look over toward where Cliff had been sitting as she left.
As Ann approached the ranch, she found a ruffled Popuri chasing one of the hens in the yard. Ann couldn't help but laugh a little at the display. The pink-haired, immaculately dressed girl was running in circles with her arms outstretched, trying to lure the chicken into her arms by clucking frantically at it. She watched for a moment and then went to help her tortured friend. Together, they cornered the hen, allowing Popuri to scoop it up and quickly throw it into the coop. Once things had settled down, Popuri looked over at Ann and sighed.
"Phew, thanks Ann. Didn't think I was ever gonna catch that stupid thing." Popuri looked over at the hen and stuck out her tongue. "Anyyyway," she continued, flattening her hair and smoothing out her dress before smiling over at Ann, "what's up, Annie Fannie?" Popuri was probably the only person in town who could get away with calling her that.
She smiled back, trying not to roll her eyes. "Mmm, not much. Just stopping by for some eggs. And to say hello, of course. How's your mom?"
Popuri's mother was limited in movement after she had contracted a rare disease a couple of years after Popuri was born. Her father had left shortly thereafter to search for a cure, but had yet to return. It was a sensitive topic for her older brother, Rick, but Popuri did not seem to mind talking about it.
"Oh, you know," she said as they started making their way inside, "same ol', same ol'."
Ann greeted Lillia at the counter when they entered the ranch. Rick appeared to be out. Ann assumed he was hanging around with Karen, as per usual.
"Hello, dear," Lillia replied with a warm smile. Lillia was perhaps the sweetest person Ann knew in the village, and she had become a motherly figure to her after her own mother had passed away almost ten years back. "How have you been? Did you need some eggs?"
Ann nodded as Popuri went to grab a few cartons from their cooler. "I've been well, been keeping busy. Dad's been teaching me a lot about business lately. I didn't realize how much work went into running the inn."
Lillia smiled knowingly. "Yes, it is always more complex than it seems. I'm sure you will make a fine businesswoman though, so don't worry."
Ann thanked her and handed her the payment. She made to say goodbye, but Popuri cut her off as she handed her four cartons of eggs.
"Hey, so, who's that guy staying at the inn?" she asked, obviously burning to know.
"Oh," Ann replied, trying not to seem too uncomfortable at the question. "That's, uh, Cliff. He's just here 'til tomorrow, though..."
Popuri giggled a little at the name. "Ooh, Cliff. Sounds manly. I saw him briefly yesterday as I was heading back from the church. He's pretty cute."
Ann grunted in a noncommittal way. Popuri continued on with her musings.
"You know, it's too bad he is only here for one more day... I could use a little romance," she said wistfully. "Of course, Kai is back in a couple weeks for the summer… maybe something will happen with him this time." She sighed, but she looked hopeful.
Ann gave her a reassuring smile. Popuri had always taken a liking to the charming, adventurous, and handsome Kai, who only came to Mineral Town during the summers. Even Ann had to admit that he was one fine specimen of a human being. But his personality was a little too over-the-top for her, and besides, Popuri had made sure that all the girls in Mineral Town, and perhaps beyond, knew that she had a claim on him. Unfortunately for Popuri, however, Kai had yet to show any interest in starting up a relationship with her.
Popuri seemed to have gotten lost in a daydream. Ann took the opportunity to say goodbye to her and her mother and then she headed cautiously back toward the inn.
Cliff seemed to be away from the inn for most of the afternoon. Ann wondered where he had gone and half of her hoped that he had packed up and left early. Yet the other part of her couldn't help wanting to see him at least one more time before he left Mineral Town, to get some type of closure, to find some kind of redeeming quality that would salvage her view of mankind. Or something like that.
In the early evening, Ann began wiping down tables in preparation for the dinner rush. This was the inn's most busy time of day, for on the weekends the bar would open at eight, and they would have a steady stream of customers from then until midnight. These nights tired her out, but she loved them; beside from seeing a side of some of the villagers that she didn't get to see during the daytime, she loved the joyful atmosphere resulting from the week coming to a close.
The door opened and Ann instinctively looked up. Her panic dissipated when she noticed that it was merely a tired and sweaty Gray coming in from the blacksmith's shop. She wondered why he hadn't gone by the library to visit Mary as he usually did, but from the look of him, chalked it up to an especially bad day at work.
He trudged over to the table Ann had just finished wiping and sat down with a heavy thud.
Ann passed him a smile. "Long day?" she asked as he took off his hat and ran his fingers through his dampish hair.
He nodded. "The old man's a tyrant."
Ann often listened to Gray's complaints about his sixty-something year old grandfather, Saibara. He was the town blacksmith and had taken on Gray as an apprentice when he turned thirteen. Gray didn't seem to have the knack for it, however, and stubbornness seemed to run in the family, often causing the two to butt heads. Ann patted him consolingly on the back.
"I'm sure he's just tough on you because he sees that you have potential," she told him, even though she knew that it was probably not the case. "You'll see."
Gray grunted and seemed to be too tired to continue griping. Ann went over to the bar and filled him a cold mug of beer. She sat down at the table as she plopped it down in front of him.
"So, how is the roommate situation going?" she asked him, trying not to seem too interested in it. She couldn't help wanting to know Gray's opinion on Cliff.
He took a long sip from the mug and wiped his mouth. "Um, not too bad, really. Don't see the guy much."
Ann nodded. She recalled how Gray had been out the night before, when she had caught Cliff smoking. She wondered if Gray would have been okay with him doing that.
"Why'd you agree to let him stay in your room? We have another room next to it that's completely open, you know."
Gray looked over at her and shrugged. "I know. But it's nice to split the bill occasionally. We're both a little tight on cash," he replied. "Besides, he won't be staying much longer, from what he's told me."
"Yeah," Ann said. She thought to herself for little bit. "Well, better get back."
"Oh, yeah. Thanks for the beer."
"Don't mention it." Ann smiled at him as she got up. She hit him playfully on the back with the rag as she walked away.
As the bar filled up later that evening, Ann felt a growing anxiety every time the door opened. She had gathered that Cliff was staying another night from what Gray had told her, and she knew that he had to be coming back sometime.
She decided to take her mind off of him by chatting with Karen and Rick at the counter, where they normally sat on Saturday nights. It was amusing to see how much Rick tried to impress Karen. The two had been close friends since childhood, and Rick was obviously head over heels for her, but he would never formally admit it. It was hard to tell if Karen held any of the same feelings for Rick. Ann assumed that she did in her own way, but she was not tied down by him in any sense. Karen had had sex with him drunkenly on more than one occasion, which is why Ann suspected Rick was often giddily happy on Friday and Saturday nights. But she had never considered him a boyfriend and had slept with two other men, one being Harris and the other from out of town, since she had first slept with Rick. Karen was usually not very shy in disclosing these things to Ann.
By the time the bar had closed and Karen had dragged out a giggling Rick by the hand, Ann had not seen Cliff. In an odd way, she felt slightly discouraged. She figured that he had slipped in and gone upstairs while she had been distracted or in the back room washing dishes.
Her father finished counting and sorting the cash for the day, then asked Ann if she would finish the cleaning. She nodded and grabbed the dish rag. He kissed her on the forehead. "Thanks, pumpkin. You do a good job around here," he told her. She smiled up at him. They wished each other good night and then he headed into the back room.
Now that she was alone, she could not stop her mind from wandering. What was it that she wanted from Cliff? An apology? She felt as if he had somehow wounded her pride. Here she was, thinking of herself a perfectly personable and friendly person, and he had shown her that she did not always act in such a manner. She realized that she was more or less disappointed in herself, not him. So he was a little different. Who was she to judge? She didn't know where he had come from and what he had been through. But still, she couldn't stop feeling a little hurt as well as a little mad.
She was three quarters of the way finished with the tables when she distantly heard the door creak open. It did not register that someone was approaching her until he had walked up and stood behind her. She turned and jumped a little. There he was, staring at her keenly with his deep brown eyes, as he always seemed to be doing.
"Oh, uh, hi," she managed to get out. "Sorry, didn't see you come in."
He smiled at her. "Don't worry about it," he said. He sat down at the table. "Any chance you're still serving? I'm starving."
She was taken aback by him and his forwardness. She couldn't think of a reply, so she went into the kitchen and grabbed what she could find. She made him a turkey sandwich on rye with mayo, pickles, and lettuce. She decided in her own defiant way that he would just have to accept it, like it or not.
She brought it out to him and set it in front of him without a word. He thanked her and began stuffing it into his mouth. She shook her head and then went back to wiping the last of the tables.
"Hey," he said, in between bites. "Look, I know we didn't get off to a great start. But I would like to be friends, if that's all right with you. So, uh, maybe we could start over?"
Ann stopped and turned toward him. "What? But why? Aren't you leaving tomorrow?"
He shrugged as he finished off his sandwich. "Just an idea," he replied.
She stood, unresponsive. He took his plate and set it on the counter. Then he waved goodnight as he ran up the stairs, two at a time.
