During Mary's first week at the farmhouse, Jack slept on the floor, as the Big Bed had yet to be delivered (He compensated for his stiff back by spending extra time in the hot spring). Mary was doing some of the most important work, food preservation, while Jack harvested the last out-of-ground crops. The yams would actually store better in the ground than they would in the warm house, even through fairly deep frosts.

Just as Mary was putting lunch in the oven, Popuri stopped by, her little grocery basket in hand. An unexpected flurry had kicked up, and so Jack was busy rushing the chickens inside. Mary answered the door. "Hey... Mary. I was just here to buy some apples and yams."

Mary had to refrain from giggling at her surprise. "That's really not necessary, Popuri. Jack set up a self-serve stand at the front of the farm. It's right where the doghouse used to be."

"Right." Popuri's whole face got as pink as her hair. "I can't believe I missed that! Ah, well. Tell Jack I said hi, then."

Mary nodded and smiled politely, then closed the door. She then ran to the window. Just as she suspected- Popuri didn't buy anything.

Jack came in shortly after with a handful of eggs and a pink nose. "How's the canning going, my love?"

"Pretty well," Mary practically purred, taking a hot chicken pot pie out the oven. The savory, creamy scent quickly filled the air, folding into the faint smell of wood smoke. "You wouldn't believe who stopped by to see you!"

"Lemme guess. Popuri."

Mary started laughing. She tended to tilt her head back and belly laugh, just like her dad, the sound of it low and mellow.

"What's so funny?" He couldn't help but grin. Once the hot pan of pot pie was safely set down, he came up behind her and wrapped her in his arms.

"She's got such a puppy-dog crush on you. It's really terrible of you to keep leading her on."

"Trust me, I don't! I'm actually kind of rude to her."

"I'm sorry," Mary lifted her glasses to wipe her eye, giving Jack a peck before turning away to get water glasses. "I don't mean to be mean. It's actually kind of funny how pathetic it is, though. It would be like me throwing a cucumber to the Kappa and then thinking, 'oh yeah, that little slimeball wants me!'" Her voice broke towards the end, and she started laughing anew.

Jack was reaching for plates to help her set the table when a though hit him. "Hey, what if it's the remnants of those stupid rumors from a week or two ago?"

"Come on, Jack," she chided gently, filling the glasses from a pitcher of cold water. "Those rumors were that you were cheating on me with her. They were never that you had any kind of feelings towards her."

He shrugged, setting down the plates and forks. "You never know, my love. Girls like Popuri, or really desperate people in general, you never know what they'll do, or what far-fetched reason they'll use to justify their actions." The two sat down in delightful anticipation.

"Is Popuri really that desperate?" Mary asked, cooling a forkful of pot pie. "That's so weird. Popuri was the girl everyone liked when were starting middle school."

Now it was Jack's turn to laugh. He'd already stuffed a couple heaping forkfuls into his face. He may or may not have burnt his tongue. Severely. "What?"

"Yes, believe it or not, Popuri was the it-girl then. Think about it! For young teenagers, super peppy, positive, confident girls are really desirable. Pick up almost any shoujo* and there will be at least one character like Popuri in it."

"So what happened when you all reached high school?"

"Then everybody liked Karen. You know," Mary's eyes became far-off, resembling her mother's coolness in a startling way, "She was adventurous. Karen was an alcoholic then, too, and she smoked pot and got in trouble all the time. Which means, in high school, Karen was about as cool as you could be."

"Whoa." Jack stopped a moment, trying to suck air around molten hot globs of chicken and potato. "Anyway, back to Popuri, yeah, I think she really is that desperate. She came to me right before the storm and starting having this little heart-to-heart I never consented to."

Mary giggled. She took a few bites of pot pie and nodded, thoroughly enjoying her own buttery, flaky crust. "She'll do that. Was it too private, or can I know what it was about?"

"Oh, something about Kai. She's finally caught onto the idea that he's probably not gonna stick around forever."

Mary nodded seriously. "That's probably hard for her to accept. She's liked him for years now."

"Yeah," Jack shrugged, "but at least she's young. Lost love hurts for a little while, and then you move on. I know it sounds callous, but it's true."

"Of course. But it's so different in the moment, you know?"

Jack nodded. They both sat quietly for a moment, enjoying lunch, until Jack started again, pointing a finger at his girlfriend. "You looked like your mom before. I've never seen you like that."

"Really? That's funny. Do I normally look like my dad to you?"

"Not particularly, but you have his mannerisms. Like you have a similar laugh, and your eyes are warm."

"So what'd I do before to remind you of my mom?"

"You got this half-lidded look, and you had this little flippant hand out, and you kinda tossed your hair like this." Jack imitated it to make her laugh, and smiled when she did.

"Sorry about that. I really didn't like school much."

"Why?"

"Well, for one, there was a long bus ride. There aren't enough kids in Mineral Town to teach, so we all got sent out on this little half-length school bus about an hour and a half away. Some people slept, some people did their homework, some people monkeyed around." She rolled her eyes nonchalantly. "But really, it was because I moved here right before we started middle school. My parents had always just let me be me."

Jack rested his chin in his hands, his elbows on the table. His eyes never left her face. "And how did that change?"

"Everything became a very black and white: girls do this, boys do that. It's cool to do this and it's not to do that. I thought it was really stupid. So I just did what I liked."

"Let me guess..."

Mary blushed, pausing behind her hand while she chewed another bite. "Yup, I was a reader then, too. It was much more interesting. Trust me, Jack, things haven't changed much around Mineral Town. Ann was still worried about being 'feminine' then. Gray was still shy and macho, Rick was still awkward and loud. The only thing to shake things up since has been you."

Jack looked away. "Aw, how so?"

"When news got out that a city guy was coming to live here, there were bets coming out about who he'd like. It was really petty, honestly. If it wasn't the girls themselves, it was their parents. Or at least, that was true in Doug's case. Karen and Popuri not-so-quietly assumed you would like them, because they had always been well-liked. Elli... believe it or not, I don't think I actually heard anything about Elli at all. But I think my mom started bragging about me once, and my dad asked her not to."

"Oh, I see. It broke up the couples of like the last ten years."

"No," Mary laughed. "You liked me, of all people."

*Shoujo is a manga (japanese-style comic book) which is typically directed at girls, and are usually cute, with focuses on romance, drama, and humor. Outside of Japan, the most well-known example of this style is carried by the magazine, Shoujo Beat.