Intro - POV: Gill

She moved into the little shack by the river. She made it her own. Cozy, with a few seasonal crops growing in the field and cows, sheep, and chickens in the pasture. Two of each. She liked everything even.

I came by sometimes, and I watched her farm grow from a little run-down field to a flourishing subsistence farm. It was her pride and joy.

And I watched the island grow. My pride and joy. People that had left the island started moving back. Maple Lake was even getting a little crowded. On my days off, I'd stroll through the town and admire its beauty, its flourish, its newfound vigor. Waffle Island meant everything to me... well, everything that Angela didn't, which was diminishing every day. Hard as I tried, I could not keep my spirits down.

Chapter 2a - POV: Angela

It seemed like no time at all until the temperature started to rise and before I knew it, we were in the dead middle of the summer. I grabbed a bandana and tied it around my head in an attempt to keep my hair off my neck and headed off to visit Gill at the Town Hall.

As I entered the town hall, I saw an unfamiliar face. He measured in a bit taller than I was without his salmon-colored hair that could use a serious combing instead of being pinned above his ear out of his face, and he wore a blue chef's apron over a white collared shirt. He wore a calm, yet somehow empty expression as he turned to me and said, "I don't think we've met before. I'm Chase."

I stood staring for a moment. When I was little, I visited the library all the time. I read hundreds upon hundreds of stories about princesses finding their soulmates and living happily ever after. I always said it was cheesy, but I secretly wished I could be so lucky. And at that moment, I felt I was.

"Angela~!" Gill sang, waking me from my trance. "Are you going to introduce yourself, or just stand there gawking?"

"Oh! I'm Angela!" I said, fearing I'd been a bit too enthusiastic.

"Angela... hm. Well, I work as a cook at the bar. Stop by, if you like." Without another word, he quietly closed the door behind him.

"Wow, Angela," Gill started. "'Subtle' is a word you might want to add to your vocabulary." He kept talking, but I wasn't listening. I just kept staring at the door.

When I was younger, I never really had any crushes. Other girls at the orphanage would; they would start going on and on about this one guy, and how great he was, how attractive, nice, funny, and all-around wonderful he was. Then, when I saw them, they were just average people. No more attractive, no nicer, no funnier, no more wonderful than any other guy I knew. I had to wonder if that was happening to me. "Who was that?" I asked Gill, not moving from my trancelike fixation on the door Chase had just walked through.

"That's Chase," he said, his voice dripping with contempt disguised as neutrality. "He's Yolanda's apprentice. He used to live here, but he left for a while to study cooking. And he never talks about anything but cooking, cooking, and more cooking."

"Wow..." I said, still in my trance. "Uh, I'm going to go... feed my sheep!" I spouted, bolting out the door. My sheep were outside in the pasture. I was going to find some way to talk to him. I was determined.

Chapter 2b - POV: Chase

The Waffle Town Hall was all too familiar. The same dark brown desk, the same repetitive music playing over the loudspeaker, the same Gill in his same goofy plaid bermuda shorts and argyle sweater vest. I took in the air, which had the same scent of vanilla and brown sugar scented air freshener. "Ahhh. This town hasn't changed a bit, has it, Gill?"

"Well... we've got a couple of new folks," he said.

"New people? Who?" I asked. Waffle Town had had the same residential families since I first moved here. I was the new guy forever, it seemed.

"Well... a new person. Just one." Gill kept glancing at the door behind me.

"Well, who is he? What's his name, what's he like?"

"It's a she, Chase. Her name is Angela. She's proud, strong, and self-sufficient... yet kind and warm. She's the kind of person you--"

"Okay, okay, sheesh. I didn't ask for her life story, 'kay? Quit gushing, you sound like a schoolgirl."

"Alright, alright." He continued to stare dejectedly at the door.

"You expecting someone there, Gill?" I asked.

The door opened, and through came a girl I'd never seen before. She was thin, almost scrawny, even, with a green dress covering her small arms to the elbow. A faded blue bandana was tied around her head to keep her short hair off of her neck. Her face was pretty, with an almost mischievous, yet friendly look in her eyes. She looked genuinely happy. Part of me was jealous. Another part was off in a fantasy; another part called that part a fool. But as always, Storefront Chase was the one to speak up. "I don't think we've met before," I said. "I'm Chase."

She stood silently for a moment, looking as if she'd just been smacked in the face with a waffle iron. "Angela~! Are you going to introduce yourself, or just stand there gawking?" Gill stood at his post, waving and attempting to shake the girl.

"Oh! I'm Angela!" she finally managed to spit out, cringing immediately afterward. So this was the Angela that Gill was crazy over. And I could see why. She seemed to be a kind person, though a little naive. I found my mind reflexively trying to find something wrong with her, some glaring flaw that I couldn't see, and I couldn't come up with one. Something was different with her.

"Angela, hm? Well, I'm a cook down at the bar. Stop by, if you like," I said on my way out, closing the door behind me.

I looked at the town from the square. This time, the whole town was different.