"Seriously? Not one fucking book?" Estelle muttered, scanning the shelves a final time. This library was a joke. No computers, half-empty shelves, and not a single book about farming. Gunther was no help at all, giving her a half-hearted shrug and suggesting she look through town for some of the missing library stock. Yeah, okay buddy. Like she was going to just dig up a farming book like buried treasure or something. So ridiculous.

Well, now what? This was the final piece to her Growing Crops: Take Two plan. She bought a good variety of seeds from Pierre; green beans, potatoes, cauliflower, kale, and of course the strawberries from the egg festival, which to Estelle's astonishment actually had been limited time only. She had spent quite a bit more than she wanted to, but her final paycheck from Joja should be arriving any day now, and she could fall back on that if she needed money between now and harvest time.

She'd finished clearing a new field on her land, to the west of the thick stretch of trees that ran down the center. Hopefully if there was a soil issue the forest barrier would prevent it from affecting the other side of her property. No science behind that assumption, just blind hypothesis. She had even laid a little stone pathway to guide her through the trees, rather than circling the lake each time. All she needed now was to learn what the hell to do to make these plants grow.

There was no way around it. She needed the internet.

Her first instinct was to ask Sam, but he was working late today and she didn't want to bother Jodi. Alex probably didn't have a computer, and Penny definitely didn't. Haley and Emily had taken a weekend shopping trip to the city. That only left…

Wait! Maru! She did tech stuff, right? She had to have one.

Estelle hadn't seen her around town today, which meant she was probably at home. Estelle turned up the path leading into the mountains.


When Estelle arrived at Maru's house, there was a sign on the door that said Robin's shop was closed for the afternoon. She deliberated for a minute if she should go in or knock first, and decided to go ahead and knock. If the shop was closed then this was just their house, and she wasn't close enough with the family to just stroll into their home unannounced.

It was Maru who answered the door, and she smiled brightly as she invited Estelle inside.

"If you're looking for Mom, she's at Jodi's fixing a nightstand or something," Maru said.

Estelle smiled inwardly, wondering if it was the same nightstand that Sam had put together. Probably. He didn't seem like the type to follow directions very well.

"Actually, I sort of came to ask you a favor," Estelle said, feeling a little guilty. She hadn't spent very much time with Maru since moving here, and now she was coming to her for help. It seemed a little shitty of her.

Maru didn't seem to mind, however. "Sure. What's up?"

"I'm trying to do some research on farming techniques, but I'm having trouble finding a place to get online. I thought maybe since you did a lot of technical work you might have a computer I could use for a little while?"

Maru's smile faded as she shook her head. "Sorry Estelle, my laptop bricked a few days ago," she said regretfully. "The part it needs is on backorder and won't be here for another week or two."

Well, shit.

"Oh but wait! Sebastian isn't home. You can just use his computer!"

Estelle hesitated. While it's true she needed to get online, Sebastian was near the bottom of the list of people she wanted to ask. And to just help herself to his stuff without even asking? That was a line that she was really not trying to cross.

"Um, I don't know if that's such a good idea Maru."

Maru waved it off. "It's fine, don't worry about it. He always stays out late when it rains so he'll never even know you were here. If he asks about the history or anything I'll say it was me."

Well, if he'd never know she was there…

"If you're sure, then…okay," Estelle agreed reluctantly, and followed Maru downstairs.

The first thing that struck her about Sebastian's room was how dark it was. There were no windows, which made sense for a basement, but it was still incredibly jarring to go from afternoon light to pitch blackness in just a few steps. Maru flicked on the overhead light, but the room still felt dark. Dark walls, dark couch, even his sheets were dark. I mean the guy did wear all black so it wasn't surprising, but it still made her feel a little claustrophobic despite the room being about the same size as her place.

It was tidy though, which Estelle noted with appreciation. She couldn't believe how many guys had brought her back to their apartment, only to have to wade through dirty laundry or garbage to get to the bed. Or worse, dorm rooms that had that dude-bro stench of stale beer, farts, and unwashed workout clothes. Sebastian's room had a scent that was hard to pinpoint; it definitely smelled like a guy lived here, but not in the typical sweat/cologne/ass combination. More like the way a guy's hoodie smells when it's still warm from his body, that subtle masculine undertone that you can't really describe but is undoubtedly there. It was nice.

Maru led her to the opposite corner of the room, where a table with two computers was set up.

"Here we are! Go ahead and get settled in. I've got some stuff to work on upstairs but if you need anything just let me know," she said.

Estelle thanked her and sat at the computer farthest from the door. While the machine booted, she took one last glance around the room. It was totally out of character for her, but for some reason she had this urge to look through all of Sebastian's stuff. Maybe it was because she didn't really know anything about him. He was hard to read, hard to talk to…she just couldn't seem to figure him out. Which, incidentally, kind of made her want to.

A soft beep signaled that the desktop had finished loading. Turning back to the screen, Estelle opened her notebook and began learning how to be a farmer.


Who would have guessed that there were so many variables to consider when growing vegetables? Sun vs. shade, drainage and run-off, competing root networks, pH balance of the soil, adding compost, pest deterrence…it was so much more than just plant, water, harvest. Estelle suddenly felt like she was in way over her head. She sighed, rubbing her eyes with her palms.

"What are you doing here?"

Estelle snapped her head up, feeling the blood drain out of her face. Sebastian was standing just inside the doorway, arms crossed, staring at her with eyes narrowed in either confusion or accusation – she couldn't really tell. Probably a bit of both. She hadn't even heard him come in.

"Oh! I, uh… I needed to do some research online, and Maru said you weren't going to be home so…"

"So you thought you could use my computer without permission just because I wasn't here?"

Estelle grimaced. It sounded so much worse when he put it like that. "Look, I'm really sorry. I wasn't trying to intrude or anything. I'll leave now," she said, hastily gathering her stuff as she stood.

She took a few steps toward the door, but when he didn't move out of the way she came to an uncertain stop in the middle of the room. He was still looking at her, but now in a thoughtful way, like he was trying to come to some sort of decision. She shifted her weight uncomfortably.

"What were you researching?" he said finally.

"Huh?"

"Online. What did you need to look up?"

"Oh, um...just some tips on farming. Like how to grow crops and stuff."

She felt dumb saying it, even more so when he raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Aren't you a farmer? Why are you looking up how to farm?"

Because I'm a fucking idiot.

"Actually, I'm not really a farmer. I'm an artist pretending to be a farmer. It's…kind of complicated."

The corner of his mouth twitched, and Estelle silently wished the ground would open up and swallow her.

"Right. Well, here," he said, walking over to the computer table. He pressed the power button on the second tower, and the screen blinked on as the machine whirred to life. "You can finish up on this one. I need to use that one for work."

Estelle blinked at him for a moment while her head wrapped around the sudden 180. So he was pissed that she was here, then he interrogated her, and now he's offering to let her stay? Hard to read was an understatement. She had zero idea what was going on in that guy's head.

"Are…you sure?"

"I wouldn't have offered otherwise."

Fair enough. "Okay. Thanks."


For the next hour, the only sound in Sebastian's room was the clicking of keyboards and scribbling of pen on paper. It was a comfortable silence though – they were both absorbed in their work, and there was no need for small talk to pass the time. Estelle was determined to gather as much information as she could, and her notebook quickly filled with lists, data tables, sketches, and page after page of notes. She'd also placed an order for soil and water testing kits, a transplant shovel, and a few other odds and ends that were recommended. And a collar for Maki, because she freaking loved that cat.

Evening was approaching by the time she was finished, and Estelle wanted to get home before the sun set. The mountain path back to her house wasn't lit, and she wasn't confident enough to navigate it in the dark. The last thing she needed was a sprained ankle.

Estelle gathered her things and stuffed them into her messenger bag. "Alright, I'm going to head out now. Thanks again for everything," she said, standing.

"Hang on a sec," Sebastian said without looking up. She waited as he continued to type, fingers flying across the keyboard at speeds that put hers to shame, until he finished with an exaggerated press of the Enter key.

"Okay sorry, just had to finish that before I lost my train of thought," he said, stretching his arms above his head as he stood. The movement caused his hoodie to ride up, exposing a sliver of pale skin low on his stomach, and Estelle couldn't resist taking an appreciative glance. Luckily he didn't seem to notice.

"Let me give you something before you go," he said, stepping over to his bookcase and pulling a box off of the bottom shelf.

Estelle was very curious what this mystery object was, but managed to summon the tiniest amount of patience and refrain from asking. Sebastian was digging through the box looking for something, but his back was to her so she couldn't see what was inside. She decided that talking was the only thing that would keep her sufficiently distracted.

"So, what kind of work do you do anyway?" she asked.

"Programming. I freelance."

She figured it was something like that, but the freelancing part surprised her. She had tried freelancing to help pay for her education, but she hadn't even come close to being successful. Hence the Joja gig.

"Nice. I took an Intro to Java course in college. Anyone who can make sense of that shit gets props from me," she said.

He chuckled softly, but it had a bitter edge to it. "You're the first."

"The first what?"

"The first to say anything nice about what I do. No one here takes my job seriously," he said, pulling an electrical cord out of the box and setting it on the table. "It's like they think I'm just surfing the web all day or something."

"Well that's stupid."

He turned at that, looking at her with genuine surprise. Estelle shrugged.

"Freelancing's hard. Programming's hard. For what it's worth, I think it's pretty impressive that you do both," she said earnestly.

Sebastian stared at her for a moment, searching her eyes for something. Whatever it was, he must have found it, because his lips slowly turned up into a smile. It was small, and didn't last long before he ducked his head out of view, but it was the first time Estelle had seen Sebastian really smile.

She liked it.

"Here," he said, pulling a laptop from one of the shelves and holding it out her. "Take this with you. Lewis has long range WiFi hooked up for the town. It'll probably reach your house."

Estelle hesitated. This was the first real conversation the two of them had ever had, but he was willing to let her borrow expensive electronics? Her instincts told her there had to be a catch, but she couldn't figure out what. Sebastian didn't really seem the type to use bribery anyway.

"Really? Are you sure?" she said disbelievingly as she took the computer.

"Yeah, it's fine," he said with complete nonchalance. "I don't really use it anymore, so keep it as long as you want."

"Thank you so much Sebastian. Seriously. This is awesome," she said, carefully sliding the laptop and power cord into her messenger bag. Looking back up at Sebastian, she gave him a wry smile. "Although, lending me your laptop is a pretty extreme way to keep me out of your room."

He smirked. "Oddly enough it hasn't been that bad."