Author's Note: Thank you all for your feedback so far! Please know that your reviews are super helpful, and they brighten my day! I'm glad that Mary's characterizations went over well. I find that I relate to her quite a bit. Enjoy the last bit of Spring, Year One! Things are about to get HOT!

0o0o0o0

"So he meets you here almost every morning?" Claire took a seat on the wooden bench next to her friend and swung her feet.

"Yeah… But I mean… We've been meeting like this since we were teenagers," Karen played with a long lock of brown hair. "It's not as if this is a new development; for all I know he just does this out of habit…"

Claire cocked an eyebrow as she set her rucksack down at her feet. "Yeah, Rick just walks all the way to the other side of town to sit on a bench that happens to also be occupied by you out of habit."

Karen had no idea how lucky she was to have someone care about her like that, but the grocer's daughter was either too proud or too blind to see it for herself. The farmer bit back her jealousy; she would love for a young man to make excuses just to see her, but alas, she was not the type of woman who was desired by men. Rather, she saw herself as the type that clumsily attempted to do the pursuing herself and rarely succeeded; Claire was still bitter about the incident at the library the day before and she wanted to ask Karen's advice on it but wasn't sure how to start.

"Well, Rick buys a few things at the shop for his mom," She responded with a slight shrug. "He does most of the cooking at home, so he's always stopping in for ingredients." Karen looked down the cobblestone path and giggled when she saw the chicken farmer headed their way. "Speak of the devil, and he will appear!"

"It's too early for Kai to be in town, no?" Rick was laughing, but his eyes were blazing with a fierce intensity Claire had only seen once before when he thought Cliff was attempting to make a pass at Poupori.

"Don't get your apron in a twist," Karen rolled her eyes. "We were only gossiping about you." She stuck out her tongue and winked at the young man as he took a seat beside her.

Rick was used to his friend's teasing. He turned toward the farmer. "Hey, Claire, is Karen telling you about all of the stupid things we used to do as kids?"

"Oh?" Claire looked between the two friends with interest.

The brunette's face lit up. "We were pretty dumb, huh? We were always getting into trouble with Poupori and Ann. Remember that time we all went skinny dipping in the Goddess Spring and Gotz caught us? We all had to go to the church and write lines. I must not disrespect the Harvest Goddess and her spring…" She recited with a giggle.

"Carter made you guys write lines?!" The grin on the blonde's face grew. She had no idea her friend had such a rebellious streak.

Rick shook his head. "No, Carter actually thought the whole thing was hilarious; it was Doug. He was so mad when he found out the whole idea was Ann's. Her dad made her write extra lines, too! I must conduct myself as a lady…"

"Yeah, that one still hasn't sunk in yet," Karen roared with laughter, "But I wouldn't have my Ann any other way!"

"And you and me used to play out by Gotz's all the time," Rick had a nostalgic smile on his face as shuffled his feet beneath him.

Karen looked at him and laughed. "Yeah… We used to play games like tag, kick the can, hide and seek… everything…" As she counted off the games on her fingers, the brunette had a dreamy look in her eyes; she looked like she wanted to say something else, but she stopped herself.

Rick let out a soft chuckle as he smoothed out his apron and relaxed a bit. "We also wrestled… although… I could never beat you."

The grocer's daughter immediately stiffened on the other side of Claire. She shot the young man a dirty look. "What do you mean?! I don't remember any of that!"

Rick laughed as he gave his friend a playful punch on the arm. "Don't you remember how I used to cry when you threw me to the ground?" His face was flushed.

Karen's eyebrows furrowed and she stood up from the bench, her cheeks burning. "I told you I don't remember, s-so I don't remember!" She shouted defensively. "I-I'm… going home now!" She whirled on her heel and stormed into the grocery store, shutting the door behind her.

Claire and Rick both jumped as the door slammed loudly.

"What was she so mad about?" Rick sighed as he wiped his glasses off on his apron. "How on earth was that story more embarrassing than the skinny dipping one she told? Ugh… I guess I better go and apologize… I've got to buy some ingredients for dinner anyway… See you, Claire."

"Bye, Rick." The blonde bit back a smile; Karen and Rick had definitely been quite entertaining to listen to. She watched him smooth out his strawberry blond hair and straighten his posture before opening the door to the grocery store; she never realized how tall Rick was…

"Hey, Claire!" Cliff was rummaging through his satchel as he walked toward the bench. "Doing some more shopping?"

The young woman shook her head. "I wouldn't recommend going in there at the moment; Karen and Rick are having a little tiff," She whispered with a slight giggle.

Cliff looked at her curiously. "Oh, I don't have anything to buy. I-I… I was just headed back to the mountain to get some bamboo shoots and maybe hunt for a few hours," He nervously shuffled his bag and Claire's ears perked up at the curious jingling noise; it almost sounded like he had a set of bells in there. "I'm going to stop at Carter's later this evening… If you g-get the chance… W-Want to hang out with us?"

"Sure. When will you be over there?" Claire looked up at him from the bench. He was fidgeting, and she was reminded of the time he asked her to the inn for lunch.

"Five or so. N-No big deal," He added quickly, his face turning pink. "I understand if you're too busy… H-How's the farm coming along?" He let out a nervous chuckle as he shifted his bag on his shoulder.

Claire stood up and stretched, throwing on her rucksack. She wanted the young man to know that he didn't need feel like he was inconveniencing her by asking if she wanted to spend time with him. She had noticed that since their outing in the mountains together, she had been speaking to him just as much as the apprentice blacksmith when she made her evening visits to the inn. Cliff's conversation gave her a lot more to work with than Gray's; the brunette asked a lot of open-ended questions, and occasionally he'd share silly stories about assisting the priest in looking after Stu and May, the two young children who resided in Mineral Town. The children sounded like quite a handful, and occasionally Cliff would pretend to look frustrated when he spoke of them, but Claire could always hear the smile in his voice when he used their names.

"I like hanging out with you, Cliff. I'll come over tonight at five." She smiled as she watched her friend visibly relax a bit. "The farm's a little slow at the moment. The season is ending for spring vegetables, but Karen's father isn't selling the seeds for summer produce just yet." The two followed the cobblestone sidewalk to the south. "Want to see my fields and my master plan?"

The brunette grinned and nodded so emphatically that his bag jingled. Claire's heart swelled; something about the way he looked when he was genuinely excited and happy made her feel like every day was a precious gift. She picked up her pace and led the way to Mystic Acres.

0o0o0o0

"So, I've been following the guide in that book I got from the library. This is the most effective layout plan for my fields come summer." Claire eagerly set her bag in the grass and jogged out into the middle of her plowed field. In truth, she had been dying to show someone her plans for the upcoming season. "This whooooole area will be filled with tomatoes…"

She waved her arms around in a wild gesture and grinned when she was met with a chuckle in response. The young woman hurried to the other side of her farm and was surprised to find that Cliff had followed her into the fields, looking around him with interest.

"And there will be corn here! The sooner I plant it, the better, because I can yield a higher profit! I'm going to plant some pumpkins and onions as well, but I'm going to really focus on tomatoes and corn!" She paused, noticing that the young man hadn't said anything in response to her plans. "Ah, I-I'm boring you. I'm sorry," Her face felt warm, and it wasn't from her little jog; the layout of her fields for the upcoming season had become her new obsession, and she was afraid she was alienating Cliff. Surely, he was just being polite with his curious stares.

The young man shook his head. "I'm not bored at all… It just looks like you're going to have your hands quite full." He admired the tilled soil in amazement. "This must've taken you forever to plow…"

There were still large sections that may or may not need to be tilled, but Claire decided not to share this; she reveled in the fact that she had impressed her friend with this much. "Yep! And as soon as Jeff will sell them to me, I will buy as many seeds as I can carry! I'll plant as much as I can and then I'll really be in business! This farm is going to be the best; you'll see!" Her face lit up as she turned back toward the young man. His eyes were still glued on the dirt. Claire's smile faded a bit; she thought Cliff would be more excited for her.

"I know it will be the best," He replied gently, "But don't get too carried away." He took her hands in his and gave them a friendly squeeze. "Take care of yourself, Claire."

"I will!" She insisted. The young woman bit her lip and their eyes met. "Cliff?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"This farm… I… I want to prove that I was meant to come to Mineral Town," She had a determined gleam in her eye.

"I understand. I… want to, too…" His eyes traveled to the ground and Claire felt his posture slouch as he let out a silent sigh.

"I guess these things don't happen overnight," Claire admitted with a sheepish chuckle.

His face relaxed a bit. "You're right… I'm… glad that we're friends." He gave her a kind smile and squeezed her hands one last time. "See you around?"

"See you tonight," Claire corrected him with a grin as she returned her bag to her shoulders.

"R-Right! Five o'clock! I've got a lot to do before then!" He hurried off toward the mountain path before his friend could properly bid him goodbye.

0o0o0o0

It was starting to rain outside and Claire was growing impatient. She came to the church at four.

The priest and her friend were both there, sitting at a collapsible table strewn with books. Carter was murmuring something to Cliff, and the young man's eyes were focused on the table's surface, his face void of emotion. The pastor looked up and saw the young woman in the doorway.

"Hi, Claire! Is it raining hard out there?" He asked a little too loudly. The brunette snapped out of his trance and looked up at his friend with an uncomfortable look on his face.

"It's starting to come down quite a bit," She responded, frowning as she saw her friend's expression. Perhaps there was a reason why Cliff asked her to visit a little later; she felt like she was intruding on some sort of private lesson. Was he taking special courses from Carter? "Cliff invited me to come here and spend some time with the both of you," She gave the priest a weak smile and hoped that she sounded more confident than she felt.

"I'm so glad you could stop by," Carter replied kindly, closing his book. "We were just finishing up a bit of reading…" He lowered his voice and turned toward the young man. "Let's work on this more tomorrow, okay? Read until chapter eight and meditate on the focus points at the end of the chapters. It's time to have fun now."

Cliff responded with a weak nod and silently shoved the book in his bag.

Carter stood up from the table and smiled at the farmer. "You came at the perfect time."

"Oh?" She really felt like she hadn't…

"I ordered us all some dinner from the inn," the priest gave the young man an encouraging look.

"Pl-Please join us if you have the time," Cliff gave her a small smile and his cheeks were rosy as he stood up and shuffled his feet.

Part of her wondered if the young man really wanted her to be there. "I told you before; I enjoy spending time with you. I came here early because I wanted to hang out." Her face felt warm, and she hoped that he understood that she was sorry for interrupting.

The young man's demeanor seemed to mellow out quite bit. He closed a couple of books on the table and looked up at his friend with a warm smile. She wanted to spend time with him… He tried to focus on the priest's words – it was time for fun. "It will be our first dinner together. Cool!" Cliff's eyes sparkled; he found he was unable to hide his excitement.

The farmer quickly walked down the aisle and made her way to the table. The brunette didn't strike Claire as the type to use such an exclamation, but she found a grin spreading across her face. The young woman learned that her guilt had faded at the sight of her friend's smile. She was eager to spend time with her friend again. He had finally revealed his true self to her that day in the mountains; she was aware that there was so much more to him than his persona as a quiet stutterer who was too timid for his own good.

Carter smiled at the friends. He was relieved and grateful that both of them seemed to be making some great progress toward overcoming their shyness. The priest's eyes traveled to the lit candles lining the walls; perhaps his hunches were right after all… Now was as good a time as any to test his theory… A little tough love was in order. He looked down at the table, which was covered with books. "I'll leave you two to clean up the place before Ann comes to deliver the food, okay? I'll… just be in the confessional," Carter grinned. He walked away from the pair before either of them could respond, and Claire thought she saw a smirk on his face.

The young man snapped back to reality as he watched the pastor hurry away. "But no one else is-" Cliff stammered.

The confessional door closed with a thud.

"Carter!" The young man looked frustrated at the priest, but his voice was polite. He looked over at his friend apologetically. "D-Don't worry about it, Claire. I c-can clean this up myself." His face turned pink as he glared at the closed confessional door.

The farmer shook her head with a giggle. "I don't mind helping at all." She didn't see what the big deal was; it wasn't as if they hadn't worked together as a team before.

"R-really, I've got it. Don't w-worry about it," he repeated firmly, swiftly gathering up the books on the table, hugging them to his chest protectively; she was reminded of the bashful librarian holding her notebook to her body to prevent anyone from reading it before it was ready.

She didn't take his body language as a hint, however. "I'm not worried at all," Claire returned, joining him at the table. "I want to help."

He looked up at her with an apprehensive expression; he appeared to be having some sort of internal debate. Cliff's eyes traveled back to the confessional door; Carter had planned this all along… He fought back his instincts to rebel. "B-but… A-alright…" He blushed fiercely.

The young woman worked on stacking up the books. "You guys must have been reading for a while," She smiled as she tried to help him relax; she was unsure why he seemed so uncomfortable around her.

"Yeah..." He wasn't really sure what to say.

Claire's eyes were attracted to the covers of the books and she quickly saw why Cliff had been so adamant about clearing off the table himself. He wasn't just trying to be chivalrous; most of the books were written on overcoming grief and loss. Cliff had been seeing the priest regularly for grief counseling… Her face fell; she wasn't sure what to say. She looked up and his eyes met hers from across the table; he had caught her reading the covers of the books. Claire could see the pain in his eyes and she felt her heart drop. The two were silent for several moments.

"I-I'm really sorry… I didn't mean to pry," she managed to say.

"… It's alright," He stacked up some books and gave her a sad smile. "As I'm sure you've noticed, I've been going through a… rough patch… I'm… not really sure what I'm looking for," he quietly admitted as Claire helped him put the books away. "Guidance, perhaps...?"

She added her stack of books to the shelf and Cliff wiped down the table with a damp cloth. "Carter seems like a very kind man."

"Yes. I can tell him anything. He's been helping me a lot… I'm trying to find some sort of direction in my life," He explained, switching to a dry cloth, "It can be very difficult sometimes." He admitted with a nervous chuckle.

The farmer saw how he was struggling to keep a happy face. So it wasn't just social anxiety that was plaguing him… Deep down she had known this for a while; the way he spoke of his sister in the past tense, the way he clammed up whenever hometowns became the topic of conversation… Something had happened… She finished setting up the chairs and they sat across from each other. She hadn't known the young man for a very long time, but she found that her heart was aching for him in his grief. Karen was right; he did have very expressive eyes, and right now, the look in them made Claire want to cry. "Cliff…" She reached across the table and took his hand. "Remember we agreed to help each other…? I'll try my best to help… Things… will get better."

"Thank you," he looked up and smiled at her, but his eyes spoke more than his words. "For the first time, I really think that they will someday…"

"Hello, hello!" Ann collapsed her umbrella as she came in with the food and saw the pair sitting at the table holding hands. "Oh, Cliff, are you on a date with Claire?"

Cliff's jaw dropped as he reddened deeply. He was too embarrassed to say anything.

"Carter and Cliff invited me to have dinner with them," Claire smiled up at the waitress, but could feel her own face getting warm. She didn't want Ann spreading rumors that Gray might hear. Cliff had immediately let go of her hand at the sight of Ann, and Claire returned her hands to her lap.

"How sweet of them," Ann looked a little too pleased with herself as she swung the paper bag in her arms.

The priest emerged from the confessional at the sound of the waitress's bubbly voice. "Good evening, Ann," He greeted her.

"Hi, Carter. I've got your order right here!" She handed him a bag and looked at the trio with great interest, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"You can go ahead and put the bill on my tab," The pastor gave her a kind smile. "Stay dry out there; you don't want to catch cold!"

Cliff opened his mouth but promptly closed it. Claire bit back a grin; she was sure the young man was going to question the validity of Carter's statement, but he decided to keep quiet. Claire winked at him and was met with a grin.

"I won't! Have a good evening!" She waved goodbye and left.

Carter took a seat at the table between them and opened the bag. Claire noticed that there were three boxed meals and three jugs of milk inside. Claire realized when Cliff casually asked her earlier that day if she could stop by the church, Carter must have planned on having her over for dinner.

Claire opened the box Carter handed her after he said the blessing. Inside was a piece of grilled fish, some grilled vegetables, and some rice. "This looks fabulous; thank you, Carter," she never ceased to be impressed by the generosity of Mineral Town's residents.

"You're very welcome. Doug is a great cook; I've never ordered anything from him and been disappointed." The priest replied, eagerly digging into his food.

"Yes, thank you, Carter. Doug's omelet rice is good, too," Cliff's eyes met Claire's and he smiled at his mentor.

The pastor took a long swig of milk. "That's right. You were starting to tell me about your outing with Claire earlier," Carter encouraged the young man as he dug back into his fish.

Color rushed into Cliff's cheeks as he nervously unfolded his napkin. "Well, we had lunch at the inn and spent the day in the mountains… Claire is very generous. She's going to let me use her shipping bin, so I will have a bit of an income now," He replied and took a drink of his milk, signaling the end of his explanation.

Claire wasn't sure why her friend had suddenly become so shy; he left out quite a few details. "I'm happy to help, but Cliff was the generous one," The young woman chimed in excitedly. She absentmindedly stirred her rice with her chopsticks, enjoying the savory smells of the food. "He taught me how to forage and showed me all kinds of ways of preparing wild plants. He's pretty amazing," The words rolled off of her tongue easily. She felt very comfortable in the casual setting with the priest and her friend. She took a bite of fish and looked up across the table. Cliff was blushing fiercely as if he had never received a compliment in his entire life.

Carter looked at the two friends and laughed softly. "I've noticed you've been spending less time here around the church, Cliff," the priest commented, combining a bite of rice and fish on his chopsticks.

The young man was so flustered he nearly spilled his milk. "I-I'm sorry," He stammered.

"Quite the contrary; I'm very happy about it. I'm glad you're getting out and making new friends and talking to people besides me." Carter's face lit up. It seemed the young man was foraging a bit for profit now; perhaps all of Carter's not-so-subtle declarations that Cliff was meant to come to Mineral Town hadn't fallen on deaf ears.

"I had a great time with you the other day," Claire smiled and took a bite of her rice. "I learned so much," She swung her feet; her heart felt light.

"I enjoyed it, too," Cliff grinned and his cheeks were still pink. Claire noticed that they seemed a lot closer after spending some time alone together. They had gone from acquaintances to good friends in a very short time.

"What all did you gather?" Carter asked her, taking a sip of milk and playing with the bottle cap in his hands.

"Burdock, berries, dandelions, rosemary, bamboo shoots…" Claire counted them off with her fingers. "I'm sure I'm probably forgetting something. I was pretty clueless before about what I could and couldn't eat out in the mountains. I feel pretty empowered right now." Her face was glowing as she gave her friend a grateful smile; Cliff had hardly touched his food, but he looked happy.

"He's educated me a bit on foraging as well," Carter smiled, swallowing a bite of grilled zucchini. "The courtyard behind the church has pretty good conditions for growing mushrooms, and he said that we might get some matsutake this year. We'll see if the Harvest Goddess blesses us with some in the fall." A rumble of thunder shook the church. The priest laughed. "And moisture is essential for mushroom growth, right, Cliff?"

The rain pelted the roof of the church loudly.

"Y-You can stay with us for a while, Claire… There's no sense walking outside in that," The young man gave her a shy smile.

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere for a while," The farmer replied with a grin. She swung her feet and took another bite of rice. She looked across the table and saw Cliff dig into his fish with a pleased smile across his lips.

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: I stuck a couple of heart events in here. One is pretty verbatim but with a different setting, the other I took a few creative liberties with, but stuck rigidly to the setting. But yes, I was a total nerd about the timing of Cliff's purple heart event. It has to be four o'clock exactly and raining to trigger the event… Yeesh, the weird things I look up for this story… Did anyone else cock an eyebrow when Cliff says "cool" in-game in the purple heart event? I almost laughed aloud; he really doesn't strike me as the type to use slang.

Side Note: Anyone here play Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker? I like to think young Karen, Rick, Poupori, and Ann were like the Killer Bees, the group of little kids that fancied themselves as thugs. :)