Later that week, Abigail, Laslow, and I were all looking at the same thing; the Glacierfish, swimming around in the biggest tank I could find. Abigail was amazed, I was reprocessing that I'd even managed to catch this thing, and Laslow was probably trying to set up a plan for having the biggest meal of his life. Either that, or acknowledging that this thing could probably eat him if it wanted.
"This is way too cool," said Abigail. "How did you catch this again?"
"There's an island over by Marnie's place," I recounted. "Fished at the southernmost point of that island, and before I knew it, I nearly got pulled into the river by the bite of this thing. Took a bit of wrestling, but I eventually managed to reel it in."
"You must be an awesome fisher," she said.
"Aww, I'm not THAT great," I blushed.
"You say that after catching this," she countered.
I took a moment to think of a reply. She must have taken the silence as the end to that conversation, though.
"So, what are your plans for today?" she asked.
"Well, the last bit of refined quartz is almost done," I said, motioning to the furnace. "Then, I need to continue working on my farm. I'm about halfway done with the vision I have, I want to say. Helps there's not so much rogue vegetation growing right now. You're free to stick around, if you want. A good conversation always makes these things easier."
"Well, thank you!" Abigail smiled, bending to pick Laslow up.
"Don't mention it," I smiled, walking over to the furnace.
Maybe ten minutes later, I had the last of the pathing for the day in one arm and was placing it with the other, and a little bottle of water was in my coat pocket. There was currently a lull in our conversation, in which Abigail was having her own conversation with Laslow involving them meowing at each other.
At least, for the most part, they were meowing at each other. Suddenly, though, Abigail wasn't meowing anymore.
I just so happened to be taking a drink of water right when she spoke.
"Hey, Laslow," she said, intending for me to hear. "When do you think your mama's going to admit she has a crush on Sam?"
Most of the water I'd had in my mouth was rocket-propelled into the snow, and what was left had gotten into my windpipe. I was now coughing pretty hard. I wasn't certain about most things, but I could say with confidence that Abigail had meant to nearly kill me with that timing.
Once my coughs died down to a manageable level, I looked over at Abigail to see her with the most knowing smile I'd ever seen on a human.
"Well, am I right, or am I right?" she asked. Laslow just sorta sat there in her arms, not having a clue what was going on.
I decided I should be upfront. Then, I decided that I should check to make sure Sam didn't just so happen to be at the skateboard ramp before I said anything. Then, I figured that if Sam was there, my checking for him would give me away. Then, I realized a good ten seconds had passed. Welp, if this was how Sam found out, it wasn't how I would have liked it to happen, but so be it. I took a deep breath.
"Fine, ya got me," I conceded, walking toward her so I didn't have to reveal my secrets so loudly to the world. "Am I that obvious?"
I then felt a bit of anxiety at the fact that Abigail knew this now. Someone other than myself knew this big secret. Something in me said that could only mean bad things.
"I'm afraid so," she replied. "You fell apart when I had you give him his birthday present."
"Shit…" I said without really thinking. Shit indeed, though.
"Well, hey… I think you two are super cute together," she said.
"You think so, huh?" I said, with warmth in my face that I gave up on suppressing, and happiness in my heart.
"You see, you're blushing," she pointed out. "No use hiding it."
"Damn!" I reacted. "You're good."
"I dunno if I'm good as much as you're obvious," she said.
I had no retort for that. I did have every urge to ask her if she really thought we were good together, but I didn't think it would be good to add fuel to the fire.
"I guess I also have experience, though," she said. "You were showing a lot of the signs I know I show when I'm in love."
"Oh?" I asked. "Like what?"
"Little things," she said. "Flushing a bit when they talk to you, not having a 100% grasp on how to reply when they talk to you… Like I said, little stuff, but once you learn the signs, you can read a person like a book."
"So…" I said. "You have experience?"
"Yup," she sighed. "Been there."
"…Who was it?" I asked. "An old flame?"
At this moment, she became the open book. She looked around, very clearly trying to come up with an answer.
"…Y-You could… say that," she said.
I looked at her face. It was just a tad too red for the cold to have been the only factor.
"If you don't want to talk about it, I won't pry," I assured her.
"Thank you," Abigail nodded, giving me as much confirmation as I was going to get that something was currently going on.
I trusted Abigail… but I still kept my guard up, as one does when someone else knows one of their deepest secrets.