Chapter 14: Opportunity
A day after the Music Festival, Claire happily woke up, excited to see the new member of the Harvest Moon Farm family.
She decided to go to the chicken coop first before taking her breakfast.
At the chicken coop, she smiled, when she opened the door.
"Wee! Hello little one! Wow! You are so cute! I know exactly what name to give you! 'Tchaikovsky!'"
oOo
At the inn, Cliff was sitting on his bed and staring at his ticket of S.S. Aquamarine.
"Cliff! Guess what? I just perfected a.. hey what's that?" Gray just barged in and noticed Cliff holding the ticket.
"Hey, that's a ship ticket! You're going to leave? Why do I not know this? Does Claire know about this?"
"Dude, will you lower your voice? I was about to tell this to you. Uh..Claire doesn't know it yet. I..I don't think I want her to know it…well..from me..maybe….maybe you should be the one to tell it to her," Cliff said.
"But why are you going to leave?"
"There doesn't seem to be any available job here in town. I asked some folks but they don't have any vacancy in their businesses."
"Are you really sure about this? Claire would be devastated if you leave without telling her."
"I think it's better you tell her instead. And I'm doing this for her. Once I get settled with a nice job, I could go back and open up to her."
"I understand you dude. So when is your trip?"
"I'll leave three days from now, sunset."
oOo
The next day, Claire was watching tv while she was having her breakfast. Beethoven was eating in his bowl beside her.
"Knock knock.."
"Who is it?" Claire asked.
"It's Duke."
"Oh Duke! Wait a second." Claire opened her door. "Good morning Duke!"
"Good morning Claire. Sorry to bother you this early."
"Oh no it's ok. I was just having my breakfast. Why don't you come in and join me?"
"Thank you Claire but I'm good. I already ate with Manna. I'm here to ask you a favor."
"What is it?"
"Tomorrow, we're harvesting wine grapes. I was wondering if you could help out?"
"Sure! That would be fun!"
"Well, in that case, come by at our place at 10 a.m. We'll pay you of course."
"Alright! I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Thanks Claire. And one more thing, maybe you could ask someone to come along with you. It's going to be a lot of work, we need someone to help out."
"Okay. I'll try to find someone who could help."
"Thank you so much Claire. See you tomorrow."
"No problem Duke. See you."
Claire went back inside her house to finish her meal and do the dishes.
Then, she proceeded to her farm duties. She planted carrots, eggplants and sweet potatoes.
After planting, she went to the coop, barn, and stable to feed the animals.
Once she finished, she went back home to rest before taking a bath.
Seated on her couch, she remembered her conversation with Duke and thought about who she could ask to help out in the vineyard the next day.
"Cliff? Oooh.. Why did I immediately think of him? Hmm.. Gray..uh-uh..he's working with his grandpa…Doctor Trent, definitely not…Uhm Kai..no.. he's attending the Snack Shack..Rick..I don't think so too…hmmm.. Cliff.. okay okay." Then she stood.
Beethoven looked at her.
"What? Do I look excited or anything?" She ran to her mirror. "No I'm not….uh..okay okay maybe a little.."
Claire took a quick shower and got dressed in green overalls.
When she was all set. She went to the church.
oOo
Claire peeked her head inside the church and nobody seemed to be around. She walked on the aisle turning her head, with her eyes scanning the place. Nobody was around. Then the door at the left of altar opened.
"Hello Claire. Is there anything I can help you with?" Carter greeted her.
"Hi Carter. I was wondering if you know where Cliff is?"
"Yes. He's there at the backyard."
"Thank you Carter."
"You're welcome."
oOo
Cliff was looking at his reflection on the pond at the church's backyard. Suddenly, Claire's reflection appeared beside his.
"What are you looking at, Cliff?"
Cliff felt all shocked and nervous inside when Claire just appeared beside him. Nonetheless, he acted composed and normal.
"Oh hey, Claire. Uh..I was just checking this place. Carter is taking care of carps in this pond."
"Wow. They're so many and so colorful and so big! And look, they seem rare don't you think? I haven't caught anything like them when I'm fishing…Uh… sorry.. am I talking too much again?"
"No, it's fine Claire."
"Oh yeah. Sorry, I was about to ask you something."
"Okay. What is it?"
"Uhm, Duke went to my place this morning and he asked me if I could help out in the vineyard tomorrow. They'll be harvesting grapes. I said I would help them. Then he asked me if I could find one more person to help because it would be a lot of work. That's why I'm here. Maybe you could go with me and we'll help Duke? But no pressure! If you cannot come, it's okay."
"Sure, I'll help out tomorrow."
Claire made a big smile. "Really?"
"Really." Cliff smiled back at her.
"That's great!" Claire jumped and clapped her hands. Then she jumped to embrace Cliff.
Cliff turned tomato.
"Thanks Cliff! I'm excited!"
"Uh..me too."
Claire then let go. "See you tomorrow at 10 in the morning!"
"Okay. I'll see you."
Claire let one more delighted smile before she walked back to the church, then went home.
oOo
The following day…
"Cliff!" Claire was running on the path to Aja Winery while cheerfully waving at Cliff.
"Hi Claire. Are you all done with work at the farm?"
"Uhuh! Let's go with vineyard work! I'm so excited! It's my first time to pick grapes from vines."
Cliff knocked on Duke and Manna's door.
"Good morning Duke! Good morning Manna!"
"Good morning you two! Hello Claire! Hello Cliff! So you'll be helping us in the vineyard today?"
"Yes."
"Perfect."
"Please follow me."
Duke led them to the vineyard just beside the wine cellar building.
He taught them how to determine which bunches of grapes are okay for picking, and showed them how to carefully remove them from the vines without ruining the vines in their post.
"It's that simple. Do you have any other thing to ask?"
"Everything's clear for me, Duke," said Cliff. "How about you Claire, do you have other things to ask?"
"No..no.. I've got everything Duke. Thank you."
"Well then. I could leave all the work here with you two. I'll be at the wine cellar if you need anything."
"Sure thing, Duke. Thanks," Cliff said.
oOo
Claire and Cliff picked grapes for around an hour. They both filled their baskets.
"How is it going here? Woah! You got a lot right here." Duke came back just as they were finished.
"This would be all for now Duke. There are still some in the vines that are not yet ready to be picked," Cliff said.
"You did very well you two. Why don't you come over our house for dinner? Manna cooked for us."
"I guess we couldn't say no to that," Claire said, chuckling.
Manna prepared dinner of mushroom rice and vegetable salad. They had wild grape juice for drink.
Duke, Manna, Cliff, and Claire happily chatted as they ate.
Duke and Manna have noticed that Cliff was occasionally glancing at Claire, whether when she speaks or even when she eats. But not just that, Claire also does the same to Cliff. But both Cliff and Claire didn't know they were glancing at each other every now and then. To this, Duke and Manna were just smiling at each other and were as if talking about the two in their minds.
After dinner, Claire helped Manna wash the dishes.
Duke and Cliff went to the living room.
When Claire and Manna were done with the dishes, they walked to the living room to join Duke and Cliff.
"I'll just get your pay. I'll be back in a little while," Manna told Claire and Cliff.
Manna returned after a few minutes and handed Claire and Cliff their pays.
"There is one more thing we'd like to ask. And it's to you Cliff," Duke said.
"Huh? Me? What about, Duke?" Cliff wondered.
"Manna and I have been talking. We were thinking maybe you'd like to work here at the winery?"
"This man right here is getting old," Manna said, patting Duke's back, and giggling. Duke made an annoyed side eye at her. Claire and Cliff both chuckled. "And it would be hard for him to work alone for both the vineyard and at the cellar," Manna continued.
"We also heard you were trying to look for a job. It's just last night that we thought that we really need someone to help us in the winery now. So it's perfect timing for you and for us, don't you think?" Duke said.
"Oh, wow. It would be a pleasure to work here for you Duke and Manna. Uh..of course I'd like to work here. Uhm..when do I start?"
"You won't work for us Cliff. You'll work with us. We're going to work on this winery together," Manna said.
"You can start in three days. How about that?" said Duke.
"Wow! Of course! Sure! Thank you so much Duke and Manna."
Claire was smiling Cliff's side, very happy for him.
oOo
"Congratulations on your new job Cliff!" Claire said as Cliff walks her home.
"Thank you Claire. I guess I won't be just bumming at the inn and at the church soon," Cliff said in a cheerful tone.
"Your schedule will change. I hope to still see you regularly," Claire said, in a hollow voice, and frowned.
Cliff reached for her hand and sandwiched it between his. "Don't worry Claire. Of course we'll see each other regularly. I'll tell you my schedule once I get to know my tasks from Duke." Cliff kindly looked at her.
Claire blushed. "Okay…and I'll be visiting you there, too. I-if that's alright?"
"I think Duke and Manna wouldn't mind that."
"That's great!" Claire's face lighted up again with a smile.
oOo
Cliff made sure Claire has locked her door before he went back to the inn.
Back at the inn, as he was looking for clothes for change when his hand landed on his ship ticket.
He almost forgot. He was booked for departure tomorrow. But he accepted the job offered at the winery.
He walked backwards to his bed and sat on it, and thought about what he should do.