Chapter 2.

- Chelsea -

I decided to back off for a few days to let Vaughn settle in and decided to spend the rest of the day and week extreme fishing to get a bit of extra cash. I was planning on asking Gannon the next day to build me a chicken coop and then the following day to build me a barn, so I knew I was going to be blowing a lot of money in one fell swoop.

Thursday was a blisteringly hot day, so I dressed extra skimpily whilst sitting out in the sun fishing, planning on leaving way before the boat arrived to avoid unwanted attention from the crew.

"So that Vaughn's something, isn't he?" Denny greeted as he sat next to me on the beach where I'd retreated to to eat the lunch I'd packed for myself. I just shrugged.

"He's pretty quiet, that's for sure."

Denny hummed. "Pretty good looking." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You interested?"

"Nah, I like my men less rough around the edges." Denny laughed and after looking at him for a few seconds I decided I didn't care if he was joking or not.

"Just don't try steal Elliot from Julia." Is all I said on the matter. Denny snorted, then brought the conversation back round to Vaughn.

"No, but for real, he seems like a good guy." His eyebrow was raised in question and I realised that Denny was trying to hook me up, not himself. A quick mental picture of Denny and Vaughn holding hands and walking down the beach flashed before my eyes and I found myself attacked by a sudden laughing fit. "It's not that funny." Denny pouted. "I think you'd be cute together." I grinned at the fisherman.

"I'm not laughing at that." An image of Denny pouting and playing up his hurt to Vaughn, batting his lashes with his chin resting on his hands followed the previous one and I had to hold back my giggles. "But it's a moot point anyway. I don't need a man in my life right now – I'm about to get some animals and we've got a fair few festivals coming up this summer. And even then, does Vaughn really strike you as the relationship type of person?"

"Maybe not." Denny conceded, "But then, we barely know the guy. He might be the perfect boyfriend. And even if he's not a relationship person, there are always exceptions to the rules and hey, you might make him one."

"I'm not going to make him anything he isn't, Den." I frowned. "You don't just try and make people something else because what they are doesn't suit your preferences." I sighed at how hot tempered my words were, reminding myself that the people on the island were a lot more easy going than those I knew back in London. Not everyone had a twisted past, not everyone had two meanings to all the words they said, not everyone took life so damn seriously. I stood up, brushing off my legs and grabbing the basket I'd brought with me that morning to dump my fish in. It was nearly overflowing now and I decided to get out of the heat for a while and go ship it before finding Gannon. Obviously I was getting a bit cranky.

"Jeez, Chelsea." Denny was laughing as he stood next to me. "I know that. I was just saying that people change when they like someone – try to become a better person and all that." I didn't hear a thing of what he said because I had turned around before he started speaking and spotted the man of the hour standing about two metres away, blushing and desperately tugging on his hat. Great, I thought, how much did he hear? Putting on a smile I walked towards him. Denny waved but moved in the opposite direction to fish from the dock. Traitor.

"Morning, Vaughn!" I greeted as brightly as I could.

"Afternoon." He drawled, his accent drawing out the second syllable. His voice did something funny to me, I swear. Freaking cowboys.

"You settle in alright?" I asked, pausing for a second next to him. I had every intention of just saying hi, making nice, then running away to blush in peace, and thought I'd get away with it as his only reply was a curt nod. Before I could start moving again though, he spoke.

"You mean what you said?" I frowned, thinking back.

"Of course." I nodded. "So long as you're not running around killing people, you're not doing anything wrong and people don't have the right to try to make you be something else just to become more socially acceptable or some such rot." He gave me the tiniest of nods and tugged on his hat again. The silence stretched a bit and I shifted. It hadn't felt awkward the day before, but now after knowing that he may have overheard Denny trying to set me up with him, I just wanted to get out of there. "Alright, well. I'll see you around. I'm about to go get Gannon to build me a coop and a barn so I'll be in need of your services pretty soon." I started walking, but before I got far, he called out.

"Sorry for er, fallin' on you, before. I have trouble with depth perception sometimes." I smiled and looked over my shoulder.

"No need to apologise." I called back. "See you, Partner!" And then I all but ran to West town, upturning the fish into the iced compartment of the shipping bin.

I went home for a little while, putting away some fish I'd kept in my rucksack and setting some herbs to simmer in a pot for soup. Grabbing myself a cup of chilled herbal tea I'd put in the fridge that morning, I went and sat outside on an old tree stump. Looking around my field I felt pride well up inside my chest. I'd recently bought some new seeds from Chen – his stock was boasting onion seeds which I gladly took on, and now my field was tilled (around the tree stumps and rocks which I couldn't get rid of yet) and full of corn sprouts which were already taller than I am, tomato vines which were bearing some massive tomatoes and tiny little shoots of onions. I envisioned a chicken coop with lots of chickens running around outside, pecking at the grass and a barn with a few cows, maybe some sheep, all frolicking in the sun. For the first time since crashing on this island, I felt grateful for this opportunity. I'd never forget how lucky I was to be sitting here under the sun, rather than under the sand, but I was going to make the crew's sacrifice worth it; I was going to revitalise this land and surpass its former glory.

Finishing my tea, I hopped off the stump, put the cup back in the sink and turned the heat down on my soup. Time to find Gannon and get a chicken coop construction going!

~.oOo.~

Saturday morning saw me all but skipping to Mirabelle's shop. Gannon had finished the barn the night before and the coop the day previously and both were perfect! I'd also harvested my second lot of tomatoes that summer, and they were even better than the ones I'd done back in June. Walking into the shop front, I all but sang out,

"Morning!" To the room.

"Morning, Chelsea." Julia sang back at me, bustling around with stacking the bags of feed kept behind the counter. Mirabelle was doing some morning inventory behind the till and I craned my neck around the room looking for a cowboy.

"Where's Vaughn?" I asked, moving to stand in front of Mirabelle seeing as I'd need feed for the animals regardless of whether the animal dealer was awake to give me them.

"Oh, didn't he tell you? He's only here on Wednesdays and Thursdays." Julia said, dumping the last bag of feed on the pile, then twisting to pop her spine. She sat down on a smaller pile and wiped her forehead.

"Does Vaughn ever tell anyone much of anything?" I replied, disappointed I wouldn't be able to get any animals for another fortnight. Julia laughed her tinkling laugh. "Well, if I've got time to re-earn it, I might as well blow all this money on feed then." I sighed, dumping a bag of money on the counter. "How much can I get?"

"Including the milker and brush you'll need, you can get…" she trailed off, typing some numbers into her calculator. "Well, dear, if you split the remainder evenly and spend all of it…you can get 225 bags of chicken feed and 112 bags of fodder."

"You have got to be kidding me." Julia groaned. "That sounds like a bad math question. I refuse to be the manpower behind the operation that'll get all that from here to the ranch. You'll just have to wait for Vaughn to get back and let him do all the heavy work." I laughed.

"Do you have that all in stock, Mirabelle?" I asked. She looked down at her inventory sheet and nodded. "I'll do the transport myself then, it's fine. I've got an old wheelbarrow on the farm, I'll just spread it out over the course of the next few days if that's alright with you?" I stuck my tongue out at Julia. "That way princess doesn't have to break a nail."

"Oh that's just fine and dandy." Mirabelle said, already putting my money away in the till and amending her inventory lists. "I'll just set them aside out in the barn for you so you can come and go as you please without worrying about disturbing us."

"Ta, Mirabelle." I turned to Julia. "I'm going to grab the 'barrow and do a run now, but then I'm going to Taro's to check up on the weather. Wanna come with?" She went pink and grinned, nodding enthusiastically. I'd discovered pretty quickly after she moved in that she had a thing for Elliot. I'd been worried after my breakdown that Elliot may have become attached to me – not necessarily romantically, but protectively enough to be confused for it – but the moment Julia walked into the room any possible torch he could have ever held for me was immediately extinguished in the light of the beauty that Julia was. Of course the poor lad hadn't yet had the courage to ask her out, even though they'd been dancing around each other for two months now. Julia was pretty old-school when it came to romance – she liked to be wooed, have the guy making the first moves and paying for dates and all that. Which therefore meant that they were both still single because Elliot was a pretty nervy guy and Julia's looks were intimidatingly gorgeous. "I'll be back in a bit then." I winked at her before setting off for my farm.

At least this way I had time to think up of good names for my animals.

~.oOo.~

Over the next few days I wondered if someone had broken Taro. Every time I went to ask him about the weather he came out with the same thing:

"My gut's telling me it'll be sunny tomorrow."

It was true though – we were in the middle of a heat wave, every day as hot as or hotter than the last, and I found myself feeling jealous of Vaughn who no doubt was shaded in the city and surrounded by air con. I dutifully watered my crops twice a day, thinking they really needed it in the current heat, and made several trips to and from Mirabelle's to gather up feed. I tried to fit in a fair amount of fishing as well to keep the money flowing and found it to be my only reprieve in a blur of constant motion, though sitting out under the sun with the glare hitting me off the ocean wasn't very restful.

Life was pretty routine, so much so that I wasn't even keeping track of what day it was, or what time it was or anything really past the fact that it was summer because you just couldn't escape the heat. The UK is in a temperate zone; the highest we normally hit in the summer was around 20C-26C on a good day. We were probably hitting 34C on average right now and everyone could tell I was struggling. Denny would bring along an extra bottle of water for me every day so I wouldn't pass out whilst fishing, and Julia would do a couple of the feed and fodder runs for me so I didn't overexert myself. Even Natalie would come along and take my basket of fish, empty it for me, then bring it back sometimes. They could all tell I was a woman on a mission and not to be messed with – I needed the island to be rejuvenated. I'd had Gannon rebuild the bridge to the forest which only left the jungle to be explored, and I'd upgraded a couple of the roads in East town. A diner and café had been built in East town and an influx of people had arrived to live on the island. Denny was actually becoming a bit of a star in the eyes of all the fishermen who had moved in – we'd already had a few of them, but they had only been steadily increasing over the past month. Due to all the new people, Taro and Gannon got together and decided we might be in need of an Inn. Poor Gannon had been working almost without rest for an entire week. Once the Original Inn had been constructed, a whole load of the older generation had stormed the island as well, followed by a couple of younger people as well. All in all, I had been a busy bee indeed, so I shouldn't have been surprised when it all eventually caught up to me.

As it was, I was wheeling my barrow full of fodder and feed from Mirabelle's one day when I found the world spinning around me. I tried to steady myself, dropping the wheelbarrow and leaning on it, but looking down only made things worse and before I knew it I had a tinny noise in my ears, nauseous feeling in my stomach and then I was falling. The world went black.

~.oOo.~

"Of all the stupid, irresponsible things to do." God, shut up. "It's literally part of your job description, Julia, why weren't you doing it for her?" My head is killing me.

"I was helping her! She ordered hundreds of feed bags, Vaughn!"

"A hundred bags will just about get a full coop through one season, it's not that unreasonable of an order, Julia. At least we know the animals won't be goin' hungry."

I groaned a little in the hopes that the voices would just hush up and let me sleep some more.

"Chelsea?" one of the voices – Julia, my mind provided – said. I groaned again and tried to open my eyes. The room I was in was blissfully dark and cool. My eyes slid shut again, tired.

"The fuck?" I tried to ask. I heard a snort then a soft thump as someone sat down in the chair at the desk.

- Vaughn -

"I found you passed out in ya own wheelbarrow." I answered her half formed question.

Christ it had all but given me a heart attack. Well, not quite. At first I'd thought she was just slumped over for dramatic effect, but then when she didn't look up when my shadow fell on her, nor respond when I said her name, I started panicking. She was face down in a pile of fodder and only God knew how long she'd been like that. It was hardly easy to breathe through hay and just because your mind was gone didn't mean your body stopped sweatin' and dehydratin' when left in the sun. So I'd shoved the rest of her body into the barrow and pushed her back to Mirabelle's to find Julia sitting on the couch, calm as anythin', painting her nails. I'd snapped at her to get some water, grabbed Chelsea and taken her to my room, Julia following meekly with a glass. I'd ordered her to get more and then pulled the blinds and grabbed a flannel, dipping it in the water and dabbing Chelsea's face with it. Then I'd turned on the fan and laid into Julia about being a moronic child who was too lazy to do her own bloody job which was to transport feed from Mirabelle's to the farm. I didn't care if she'd been doing a few runs for Chelsea – the farmer shouldn't have been doing any of them – she should have been concentrating on the farm solely.

Speaking of; the island looked like a different place when I'd arrived this morning. I didn't realise so much could change in just a week, but from the looks of it Gannon had been working his ass off to get it done. The barren wasteland that was East town now had a diner and a café and the foundations of another building already being built. The roads in West town were paved and new, and there was a huge-ass inn sitting up by the road to Chelsea's farm. The crappy old bridge that had been dangling off the cliff between the mainland and the forest had been fixed as well and there were people just wanderin' around, happy as Larry to be there.

Chelsea snorted. "Graceful." I snorted back and stood up, walking over to the bed and perching on the edge. Chelsea scooted over in response and tried to sit up. I reached out and helped to prop her up against the wall, Julia swooping in and pressing one of the glasses of water into her hand.

"We're pretty sure you had a bad bout of heatstroke." She said, moving to sit at the foot of the bed. "You're lucky you didn't throw up." I glared at Julia who looked only slightly guilty at being part of the reason Chelsea was currently bed-bound.

"Bloody tropical weather." Chelsea cussed and I huffed in laughter again. I don't know what it was about her that made me feel so amused all the time – maybe I was attracted to grumps, birds of a feather and all… - but I couldn't seem to hold it back when I was around her. "How many bags of feed do I have to go, Jules?" She asked, draining the second glass of water. I stood up to go refill it and stumbled across Aunt Bella in the kitchen.

"How's she doing?" She asked as she bustled around making lunch.

"She's awake." I said curtly. Turning the tap and watching the water swirl into the glass. I didn't understand why I cared so damn much. I literally barely knew this girl.

"She's good for you, you know." I refocused to see the water was overflowing and running down my hands, soaking my gloves. Cussing, I turned the tap off and took off my gloves. "Anyone that makes you lose focus like that is a blessing, Vaughn."

"I'm really so grateful for people who ruin my clothes, yes." I replied sarcastically, tipping out some water from the glass and then turning to face Aunt Bella who was looking at me with an uncomfortably fond look in her eye. "What?" I grouched.

"It's just so lovely to see you come out your shell with someone other than Julia and I." She replied. "I can tell that you're real fond of this girl." I scowled and shook my head in denial. "Vaughn." Her voice was serious. "When Julia was sick last year, you refused to do a damn thing for her unless I begged you to." I remembered that. It had been a pretty tense time. There hadn't even been a good reason why I didn't want to help – I just didn't give a fuck seeing as the girl wasn't dying.

"And?" I ground out, wanting to escape to my room, edging towards it as I thought of it.

"Well you've just come in and got that girl a glass of water without a single instruction, and Julia told me she saw you wiping her face earlier." Damn gossip. "You care for her." My scowl deepened and Mirabelle reached out and took my hand before I could get to the corridor that led to my room. "Vaughn. It's okay. It's a good thing." I felt like a child with the tone she used on me. I knew of course, theoretically, that caring for people wasn't awful, but in practice it rarely led to rainbows and happiness.

"Sure, Aunt Bella." I agreed just to get her to let go. The moment she did, I scarpered back to my room.

"You should have seen him, Chelsea. I've never seen him so panicked before, it was real frightening. Adorable now, looking back, but at the time…" I heard Julia talking to Chelsea and silently groaned to myself. Damned gossip!

"Really?" Chelsea asked, not sounding disbelieving, just curious. "I can't picture it."

"Well you haven't really known him long, have you?" There was a pause where I presume Chelsea shook her head. "So you wouldn't be able to imagine it. But then, that's what's so strange – he barely knows you but he already seems incredibly attached." I felt myself blush furiously. What was she doing? Chelsea laughed nervously.

"Not you as well." She said, sounding a bit tired. "Denny's already taken me down this road, Julia. Vaughn just doesn't seem the…type, y'know?" I heard movement and could envision Julia wriggling as excited as her tone in her next words,

"But no, he is, he so totally is. Give him a chance, he's grouchy I know but he's real sweet underneath it and a total gentleman." Was she – were they – was I being pimped off by Julia?

"Julia!" Chelsea cried softly, sounded exasperated and I nodded in agreement with her annoyance. "I'm not going to have time for all that – I'm getting animals now, and I've got things to forage and places to explore and an income to make to fix that last bridge. I'm going to be busy." That last point caught me off guard. Chelsea was the one paying for all the upkeep of the island? Wasn't that a bit unfair? I mean, I know that the farmer was probably making the most, but it's not like everyone else on the island weren't making any money, they could chip in at least.

"Shouldn't y'all be helping out with the funding?" I asked as I walked in, directing my question at Julia. Chelsea looked a bit embarrassed at being overheard, but I guess she thought I'd only heard the last bit so she didn't seem too abashed. Julia didn't even look one ounce contrite, instead she raised an eyebrow at me as if trying to make me feel guilty for listening in.

"It's alright, Vaughn." Chelsea said when Julia didn't answer. "I knew it was in my job description when I signed up to it. And I like the responsibility." I just grunted a bit, and put the glass I was holding down on the bedside table. Chelsea took a few sips gratefully then yawned. I looked at Julia.

"Out."

"Oh, no, it's fine, I can make it back to mine." Chelsea said before yawning again. I just shook my head and folded my arms. There was no way in hell I was letting her out this house again until the sun had set. I of all people know the dangers of the star.

"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'. "Out." I repeated to Julia. Maybe I sounded like a Neanderthal, speaking in one syllable words, but I didn't care. I had some paperwork to do anyway, so Julia needed to go.

"It's alright, Chelsea, you stay here and have a nap. I'm going to go next door, so I'll see you later." I rolled my eyes. Shirking her responsibilities to go and see the nerd again, I see. She shut the door behind her and the room descended into silence. I turned on my desk lamp and started shuffling through the papers stacked there.

"Thank you." Came a sleepy voice from behind me. "For saving me and looking after me so well." I glanced over my shoulder, feeling my cheeks go pink.

"Don't mention it. Please." I replied. "It weren't nothing personal." I half expected her to get upset at me again, but apparently she'd wised up a bit when it came to me 'cause she just smiled and plumped my pillow up.

"Whatever you say, Partner." I rolled my eyes again and turned back to my work, leaning close to it to be able to see it.

"Go to sleep, cowgirl."

Deep breathing reached my ears from my bed and a smile crept upon my face unbidden. I felt at peace.

A couple of hours passed and I figured I should wake the sleeping farmer lest she not be able to sleep tonight. The sun wasn't down yet, but she'd probably be well enough to make it up the path by now. Plus, I had a surprise for her. I walked over and crouched by her head. Her face was all slack with sleep and I'm pretty sure my pillow looked a bit damp next to where her mouth was gaping open.

"Chelsea." I said, not wanting to touch her if I didn't have to. Physical contact with people only ever led to complications. She grumbled a bit and shifted. "Chelsea." I repeated and her eyes began to flutter open. "Chels." One hand wormed out from under my duvet to wipe at her eyes and she stretched, moving to sit up. "How you feelin'?" I felt obliged to ask.

"That's the first time you've used my name." I'd actually called her by her name when I found her in her wheelbarrow, but I wasn't going to waste my breath explaining that, so I shrugged instead, waiting for her to answer. She sipped some more water and stood up experimentally. "Better actually. A lot better, thanks." I stood, too and walked out my room, assuming she'd follow. The house was deserted once we reached the living room, so I kept going towards a door that I knew led into the barn area. Walking in, I heard Chelsea gasp behind me.

"Oh! I thought I'd have to ask you this week and wait til next before I could get any!" She cried as she approached the three chicks that were huddled in one corner of the barn, eyeing the two cows on the other side warily.

"Well you mentioned that you were gonna be gettin' a barn and a coop, so I took the liberty of bringin' back some inhabitants for ya." I went to tug my hat down before remembering I'd left it behind. Strange. I usually only left it off when I was in my room as it helped with the glare from overhead lights as well. Chelsea looked up with warm eyes and beckoned me over to where she was sat cross legged.

"That was really sweet of you, Vaughn. Thank you." She tugged my wrist and I sat down next to her. One of the chicks sprinted over to me and I picked her up, stroking her tiny head with the tip of my finger. Chelsea watched carefully, then tried to mimic me with the chick nearest her. "Am I holding her right? I've never cared for anything other than house pets before." She asked, worriedly.

"You can't really go wrong with chicks." I assured her. "Feed 'em, pet 'em, don't let wild dogs get 'em." She put down the one she was holding and picked up the other one, stroking and cooing at it.

"I don't know which one I should choose." She said as I handed her the one I'd been holding.

"This one's my favourite." I told her, even though I knew I shouldn't have favourites. She smiled.

"You hear that little one? You're Vaughn's favourite. That means quite a lot." I blushed as she talked to the chick. "If I get her does that mean you'll be upset with me or does that mean you'll come visit me more?" She asked, looking at me out the corner of her eyes. I coughed.

"I won't be upset with you." She beamed.

"Then I choose this one!" She declared. "I'm going to call her Aras." I raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed. "I may have done some research into names the past few days." She mumbled. "Aras means 'the intelligence of an eagle'." I looked at her, then at the chick, then back at her. Was she for real? It's a chicken. I snorted, then I coughed, then somehow I started laughing because chickens may be nice and all but even I knew that most of them were as thick as a plank of wood and oh this is so rich.

- Chelsea -

I stared bewildered at the sight of Vaughn laughing in front of me. His eyes were scrunched up into slits and his mouth was wide and smiling and he looked, to be frank, gorgeous. This hadn't been a sight I'd been even slightly prepared for and I didn't know if I should be feeling like a cat that got the cream at making him laugh, or offended because he was laughing at my name for Aras. At that point, one of the other chicks pecked the other and it cheeped and ran into the bottom of the feed dispenser and suddenly I found myself laughing as well. It ended almost as abruptly as it started – with Vaughn seemingly suddenly becoming aware of where he was and coughing. His hand twitched up again and I was suddenly grateful he didn't have his hat to hide behind.

"You should smile more." I said before I could control the words. He looked at me curiously. "You're more approachable when you smile." I shrugged, feeling embarrassed.

"I don't much care if people don't wanna approach me." He drawled, standing up and I winced at my minced meaning.

"But I'd like to see you smile." I clarified, standing up as well. He spun around on his heel and I almost trod on the chickens as I jumped at our proximity.

"You mean it?" He asked, looking like my answer was very important indeed. I wondered what sort of life he'd had if he always had to check that I meant what I said when I said something nice about him. I nodded, wide-eyed. He blushed and looked down – which was when I realised that he'd actually been meeting my gaze a lot today, compared to last week when he couldn't get his eyes to look above my nose.

"Well darn." He said under his breath and I just about melted. "No one's ever said that to me before."

"Seriously?" I asked and our roles reversed as he nodded in reply. My Dad had always told me to keep smiling when I was a kid, because when you smile, Chelsea, the whole world smiles with you. "That's awful." I murmured. He stiffened and pulled back from the position we were in.

"I don't need pity." He said curtly and moved to turn away. Panicked, I grabbed his wrist. Christ, things with him always did 180s in a split second.

"I'm not pitying you." I said. "I just think it's a shame that so few people have been graced with that pretty little smile of yours." I made sure to smile myself to let him know I was teasing. "All the more for me, I guess." I sighed as if it were a great inconvenience. I was rewarded with a small smile from him and I laughed joyously. "That's right, you just keep practising, Partner. Now how much do I owe you for the chick?"

"On the house." He grunted, moving over to the cows and patting a pure white one on her rump. "This one, too." I gaped at him.

"No, no, no, I couldn't. They're expensive and this is your income!" He shrugged.

"I've talked to Mirabelle about it." He replied as if that was all the explanation he needed to give, and perhaps it was. If Mirabelle was encouraging it, then it couldn't leave them with too big a dent in their wallets.

"Well then," I gathered my scattered thoughts. "I guess I'll call her Guinevere." He raised his eyebrow again and I jutted out my chin stubbornly. I was proud of my name choosing skills and he could suck it if he had a problem with it. "She's white, so she's called Guinevere." He smirked and held his hands up in an 'I surrender' position and just started leading her out the barn doors onto the road.

"Go grab your eagle-chick." He called as Gwen ambled out the door and I dashed off to grab Aras before catching up to him. He paused and looked at the sky briefly.

"Do you want your hat…?" I asked tentatively. He looked at me wide eyed, but shook his head and I figured he'd be able to cope for the quick trip to and from the shop and my farm. The sun was pretty low in the sky now, and there was a cool breeze coming through to soothe my sensitised skin. We walked up the road to my farm and I chanced a glance up at him, only to find him already looking down at me. Blushing, I focussed on migrating Gwen around my field rather than through the centre of my crops, and deposited her and Aras in their respective homes, scattering some feed for them as Vaughn watched on.

Whew. What a day.

~.oOo.~

- Vaughn -

The next day I woke up to find a book on the kitchen table with a sticky note on top with my name written on it. Eyebrow raised, I peeled off the note and looked at the title.

"101 Pet Names" it read. I hung my head and shook with silent laughter as I reached the avian section and found 'Aras' circled. That girl was going to be the end of me.

Once I'd seen to the remaining livestock and done some paperwork, I spent the evening reading through the book, trying to guess which names she would pick for any other animals she bought from us. Julia probably thought I'd finally lost it but I'm only mildly ashamed to say I read it from cover to cover.

Chapter End.