Claire visits the church and the clinic for reasons other than delivering milk. The main reason is that she enjoys her conversations with the doctor and Carter. The other reason is that both men make her feel special, the first one makes her feel that somebody cares for her and the latter makes her feel like a child again.
Similarly, both men are impressed with Claire. Tim is impressed that Claire is concerned about her health. Carter is impressed with Claire's love for life and passion for work.
One rainy Wednesday morning in summer, Claire found the doctor in the church drinking wine with Carter. They seemed to be having a lot of fun talking about something, some girl names keep popping in the conversation and Claire suspected that they were talking about past girlfriends. But they were actually talking about Tim's monster mother.
When the doctor and the priest saw her, they invited her to come over and share the wine with them saying it's good Aja Wine. "One of Duke's finest," Tim said. They invited Cliff over too but he refused; he'd rather be morose. Carter thinks he's just shy but Tim thinks otherwise.
The three had fun talking about whatever, mostly about what happened to Tim's adolescence. "He was just not interested in girls." Carter said matter-of-factly. "No matter how many pretty girls his mom brought with her they didn't spark his interest."
"Yeah, pretty if you're interested in someone who only says uh-huh, stinks and looks like a pig or laughs and looks like a horse."
"Ooohhh, harsh!" Carter said.
"Hey! Don't you dare insult my farm animals!" Claire exclaimed.
"As a matter of fact, only one of them looks decent enough but she has no brain."
"She doesn't look decent Tim, she was beautiful."
"Yeah she was, but she turned me off when she said 'what use does a woman have for a brain? I know I don't have one!' I mean, come on! I imagined that if I were to spend my lifetime with her, our conversations would be based on her asking questions about the most mundane things like 'what is the letter a?' ugh!" he grimaced as he thought more about it.
"Maybe you're just interested in the same sex," Claire said.
"No, I assure you I'm straight. I can prove it to you too."
"Timothy Trent!" Carter reprimanded him, indignation on his face. Tim blushed and hid behind his wineglass. "Sorry Claire, it's the wine speaking." Tim said turning more crimson by the moment. Claire just giggled and forgave Tim with a pat on the head. "Tell me more about those girls, she said."
"Well, no matter how much I told my mom to stop bringing girls to our home, she seems to have an endless supply of acquaintances with 'supposedly' pretty single daughters to pair up with me. I'm guessing most of her acquaintances were her patients."
"Oh, oh! Don't forget what you always do whenever your mom brings home a girl. Carter cut in.
Tim blushed more, "I tell them that I have a lonely friend who is in dire need of female companionship and I send them over to Carter."
"And you know what, those girls always come. Whenever I see a girl on my doorstep and they say something like, 'hi! Your friend sent me - ' I always cut their speech and say 'let me guess, he told you he has a lonely friend who is in dire need of female companionship' and then she nods and I say ' I'm sorry dear. He played you for a fool. One day he's gonna get his due and will find a girl who will reject him and play with his heart. But that's not you, and revenge does not befit a nice girl like yourself. So in the meantime, forgive him, forget about him and don't stop your quest for true love. ' "
Tim coughed at this. "Carter, you're making me look bad. "
" You brought it upon yourself. "
Claire giggled more. "well doc, have you met this girl that Carter prophesied? The one that will play with your heart?"
"Thank the goddess no," he answered sighing.
"By the way Tim, why do you always reject the girls your mom shows you? Surely, rejecting them because of the way they look is superficial. "
A wistful smile appeared on the doctor's face and he sighed. "I believe that I can find true love on my own. I don't need my mom's help for that, she'll just mess things up. And I believe my true love is here, somewhere…" he stirred the remaining wine in his glass and stared at it for a long time. It was a good thing that he stared at the wine in his glass, because if he looked at his companion's faces, he probably wouldn't know how to react.
Carter broke the awkward silence by clearing his throat. "Claire, how is your farm? " He asked the exhausted question.
"M-my cows are doing well actually. In a few days, Gotz will be done with my barn upgrades and I'd buy seven more cows and a sheep from Barley. Then when I have enough money, i'm gonna buy a cheese maker and enjoy some cheese and wine during rainy days in my home. "
"What about the chores? " Tim asked.
"It could be better. I wish the cows didn't poo as much, it's so hard to clean dung! But it' s worth it!"
"I'm glad you have something to be passionate about. " Tim smiled at her.
"Well, you have something you're passionate about too. You like taking care of people and you'd go out of your way just to ensure their health. For example you accompanied Lilia during the cooking festival because you were worried that something bad might happen to her. And no matter how ridiculous Jeff's Tuesday-Tummy-ache is, you still entertain him because you believe that it's not just your duty as a doctor to respond for his medical needs but because someone needs your help and you actually want to help. I admire the compassion you give to your patients."
Tim blushed a deeper shade of red and Carter laughed out loud. "Thank you Claire," Tim said. "You do know how to make me happy, and thanks for the observation with Lilia. I do get out of my way to help her because she really needs it but your observation with Jeff is an exaggeration. There's more to Jeff's-Tuesday-tummy-ache than meets the eye, but still, thank you."
"Basically, it's like this," Carter started to explain. "Jeff does go to the clinic because of tummy-aches but he never pays; in exchange for that, Tim gets bread for free. But Elli pays Tim's bills anyway and then Jeff will return to the clinic the following week to return what Elli paid. On the surface, Jeff would look like he's paying for Tim's services and Tim would look like he's paying for the bread but it's just 100G, the same 100G, that's been passing on from doctor to grocer to doctor. Do you get what I mean?"
"Yes but, why bother?" she asked Tim.
"It's just fun that way, albeit kind of messed-up in a sense. But Jeff and I are used to it and it's no big deal to us." he answered.
Claire rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. "Listen, it stopped raining, so if you drunks don't mind, I still have a farm to return to. I had fun talking to you guys," She waved goodbye and went out of the church. When she left, Carter suddenly became serious. "You were flirting with her," he accused Tim.
"I was not!"
"I can tell..."
"You were making me look bad!"
"I did not!"
"You have a crush on her!"
"No, you have a crush on her!"
Cliff looked at the direction of the bantering friends, rolled his eyes and left the church to look for Ann. "Drunks," he muttered.
There you go! I had so much fun writing this chapter. I thought that if Carter and Tim have always been good friends they would probably talk about girls and they would accuse each other of something. I also thought that Tim probably has high standards so he gets incredibly picky with girls.