The music ended and Claire and Cliff started heading back to the farm. It was a warm night, but there was a nice breeze, and the sky was nearly clear. The sun had fallen and there was a soft pink glow on the wispy clouds on the horizon. The colors looked a bit surreal; the fading rose-colored sunlight in the dreamy indigo evening sky was nothing short of breathtaking. The young woman thought how romantic it must look to Karen tonight. It would've been nice to end the evening with a kiss from a loved one. The farmer caught herself sighing wistfully at the notion, but her displeasure was short-lived.

Claire realized with a grin that her evening had been nothing short of amazing. She had never felt like such a welcomed and accepted part of the community. She loved Mineral Town, and she admired the people who lived there. Her friends in this small village were so different than the ones she had back in the city. Her thoughts naturally drifted toward her girl friend and she recalled seeing the brunette plaster her mouth over the poultry farmer's.

"Karen's always so… weird and defensive when it comes to Rick," she commented as they walked along the cobblestones. She let out a small chuckle at the image of her friend hanging onto the young man; the grocer's daughter had obviously been looking forward to an opportunity like that for a long time.

Cliff nodded as a small smile spread across his lips. There had been a period for a few years in his life where he didn't interact with other people at all, but the language of love was instinctual and universal. He knew Karen was a woman in love the first day he met her and saw the two friends share a wine at the bar. "True, but I could tell from the moment I saw them together that they were made for each other."

"Well, you sure can string together a pretty line of words!" Claire giggled, but she knew he was right. She felt silly for ever considering her friend could possibly be romantically interested in anyone else. "And that hypocrite was busy telling me that I shouldn't be worried about finding my soul mate tonight," she rolled her eyes with an impish grin.

He stopped in his tracks for a brief moment. "What did she tell you that you should be doing? Knowing Karen, she had some orders for you tonight." His tone of voice was playful, but Claire could see from the light of the lamp posts that his face had turned pink.

She paused as she remembered their conversation earlier that evening. It had felt like the exchange of words had happened days ago. "She told me to have a good time tonight and enjoy my friends' company." They continued walking, and the farmer added a bounce to her step. The blonde realized with pleasure she had done just that. Tonight had been more fun than she could have ever hoped for. "I was really nervous at first, but I ended up having really good time once I stopped putting so much pressure on myself," the young woman admitted with an embarrassed smile.

"Me, too." Cliff gave his friend a slight nod and stared out at the fading sunlight on the horizon as they walked along, their steps in perfect unison.

She found it hard to believe that someone so skilled at dancing would be nervous about this evening, but perhaps he was focusing more on the socialization aspect of the party. Claire realized she had been anxious about both the dancing and conversation. She played with the folds of her lavender gingham dress as they walked along, swinging her hips dramatically so the skirt flared out. Both friends laughed at the sight. "Wanna know something dumb? I forced myself to attend school dances as a teenager, but I always kind of dreaded them because I was so self-conscious of how I looked when I danced. I'd always wait in the corner for someone to ask me to dance, but they never did," Claire gave him a wry smile as she stopped swinging. Her playful mood had dissipated. "You must think I'm pretty pathetic, huh?" She slowed down her walking pace until she found that she was dragging her feet.

He shook his head as he focused his gaze on her. "Not at all," he replied. "I would have asked you." He gave the young woman an honest, friendly smile with kind eyes.

Claire grinned and a warm feeling spread throughout her body. It felt so nice to be genuinely cared about. She spun on the ball of her foot and her hair and dress fanned out beautifully as she relished this joyful feeling. The young man shyly grinned at her in return.

They arrived at the farm. Suddenly, her whole hesitation about letting a good friend who happened to be male into her house didn't seem like such a big deal. It had been such a big debate back in spring.

"Please come in. I have some herbal tea that we can share," she insisted as she unlocked the door and held it open for her companion.

He tried to contain his heart pounding in his chest. "Ah, thank you…" Cliff was surprised.

The young woman reached inside the doorway and flicked on the light for her friend, gesturing for him to go inside. Claire followed a shy Cliff into her abode and reached into her new refrigerator. As always, she was eager to be a good hostess. She poured a couple of glasses of chilled tea and offered her friend a seat at the table. The young man looked around the room with wide eyes, as if trying to remember every knot of wood on her walls.

The house smelled of fresh earth, herbs, and ripe tomatoes. "You have a lovely place," he remarked, sitting down on a floor cushion.

She looked around the room a little curiously, wondering what it was that he found lovely. "Thanks." Claire noticed his initial reaction to the interior of her home was quite different than Karen's. The blonde wouldn't have used Cliff's word for it, as she saw it as a work in progress, but she decided not to say this aloud. Judging from the fact that her friend had lived outdoors for a while, any home would probably seem like a bit of a luxury to him. She took a drink of the tea and her friend followed suit.

His face lit up as the liquid touched his tongue. He immediately recognized the flavor. "Ah, this is the blend I showed you back in spring," he remarked, his entire face beaming. "I'm glad that you enjoy it."

She hadn't even thought of that, but she was glad that the beverage pleased him so much. "Thanks again for teaching me how to forage." Her life had truly changed that day.

"It's something I have been doing my entire life," he returned modestly, taking another sip from his glass.

Well, she certainly couldn't say the same. "The more I live out here, the more I realize I had no idea what I was getting into," Claire rested her chin on her palm. "I knew nothing about farming, nothing about plants, and nothing about wildlife. All I knew was my little world with my apartment and my dead-end job. I just always thought things were going to be that way. When I saw the ad for the farm in the paper, I saw it as a way out. I didn't really care that I had no idea how to run a farm." She absentmindedly swirled the amber liquid in her glass.

Cliff stared at the table's surface quietly for several moments, and Claire began to wonder what was on his mind. She knew he wouldn't judge her for saying such a thing, but she was curious as to what he had to say. "You were just looking for your freedom," her friend offered as he pensively stared at the condensation running down his glass.

He was absolutely right, and she had found it. Claire nodded and took another sip of her tea, deep in thought. Freedom was something she thought that she had always possessed. She began to think of her life in the city. She had moved because she felt trapped. Would she have considered herself free at the time? Probably – after all, she didn't know any better. Now that she was more in control of her own life, she was starting to realize just how precious that was. "Have you found your freedom here, too, Cliff?" she ventured. She set her glass down on the table and watched the beads of water on her drink.

The question caught him off guard. He was silent for several moments once again. His eyebrows furrowed as he sat, contemplating. She noticed that he looked somewhat concerned, and it made her feel uneasy. "I hope that I can." His expression was grim, his eyes not meeting hers.

Those words broke her heart; she had a feeling finding his freedom wasn't as simple as acquiring steady income. "I know that you can if you truly want to. I'm… not sure what happened to you in the past, Cliff, but things will get better. We don't have to get into that tonight, but just know that when you're ready, you can tell me anything," she found that she was reaching for his hand.

He accepted the offered hands and squeezed them hard; he didn't look up at her. She could feel a slight tremor in his body as his face reddened. "It feels very nice to hear you say that."

Claire decided to lighten up the mood. The young woman hadn't meant to upset her friend, and she felt a wave of guilt. She patted his hands playfully and ran her fingers through a strand of her blonde locks. "Look at us, coming home from a party and talking about such serious things. Don't you think that Ann looked pretty tonight?" She thought of the waitress in her cute yellow dress and figured the topic of their mutual friend might cheer him up – she knew that the young man was close friends with her. Claire still was feeling high from her realization that she had been accepted into the community and she was eager to talk about all of their friends.

The young man didn't seem to have the same feelings. He shrugged his shoulders. Cliff didn't look unhappy, but he seemed like he wanted to focus the conversation elsewhere. "I suppose. Everyone looked nice tonight." He took a long gulp from his glass and sighed as he set down the tea in satisfaction.

The young woman found that she was mirroring him as she set down her own drink. Moving around so much this evening had made her very thirsty. "We're a good-looking bunch, huh?" Claire laughed, wriggling her eyebrows playfully. She grinned when she got a soft chuckle in return.

"All joking aside, I think that you look especially lovely tonight," Cliff said very sincerely as he looked up at her. Claire's eyes moved to their hands when she felt his touch and she noticed that he had reached for her and was gently holding her hands in his. She didn't feel awkward or flustered about it. He had given her a very genuine compliment that had no implication behind it and it made her feel a very deep sense of joy. The young woman wanted to say something very honest to him as well. She found him rather attractive as well, especially with the addition of the innocent blush in his cheeks, but it didn't seem appropriate to echo the sentiment. The young woman was afraid it would only sound like she was parroting his compliment to be polite.

"You have a very kind, beautiful heart, Cliff," Claire replied, "and I think you will find your happiness here in Mineral Town." She grinned; she had spoken from the heart and it came out more eloquently than anything she would have planned out to say to him.

Her friend turned bright red at the compliment. "But I already have. I have more friends here than I've had in the last six years… Maybe even my whole life… I just need to work on finding my freedom and my sense of purpose." His eyes lit up vivaciously. He looked determined to seek just what he was looking for.

"That's the spirit! I'm very happy for you," Claire gave his hands one last squeeze and stood up to stretch.

Cliff took this as his cue. "Well, then, I should probably be heading back to the inn. I know you probably have a lot of things to work on tomorrow morning. Thank you for the tea and company."

"You know I always have time for my friends." She clasped her hands together and gave him a gleeful nod in response.

"Thank you." He turned to leave but Claire caught him by the waist and gave him a big hug. She felt like he needed it tonight. Cliff turned his head over his shoulder, blushing violently as he was caught off guard by her sudden squeeze.

Claire was taken aback. Maybe she was taking everything a bit too casually tonight. "I'm sorry! I j-just!"

His feelings weren't hurt; he had just been surprised. "Just let me hug you properly," he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "You're my best friend, did you know that?" he softly murmured into her ear.

His words made her melt a bit, and she relaxed into him. The embrace was warm and natural, and she liked the way his arms felt around her. "And you're mine. You always will be." Claire's smile returned to her face.

"Have a good night, and sleep well."

Her heart was full again; it was the same way when Karen and Ann had smiled at her. There was that feeling of genuine love and friendship once more. "You, too."

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for their MASSIVE support on this story, especially last chapter. I was a little nervous about putting in a dance as a social event in my story because they tend to be overdone, but I'm very glad that no one seemed to mind that, haha. I really wanted to focus on Claire becoming part of Mineral Town, and I hope that I was able to convey that in these past few chapters.

Anyway, I always try to accompany my "fluff" with deep, meaningful character development. Hopefully I was able to do that. Again, I really appreciate all of the feedback, and I'd love to hear what you think of this story so far. You know the drill – feel free to leave a review in the box below. Much appreciated, and thanks for reading!

P.S. I really wanted to make this chapter (42) called "The Meaning of Life" but it didn't really fit. Oh, well, haha. Next best thing, right?