Jack became a recluse. He stayed on his farm day in and day out, only venturing out to buy more eggplants in fall, and to chop wood during the winter afternoons that followed. Once, he had run into Karen and Kai in the mountains. He tried to avoid them. He knew he didn't want to talk to them. So he continued to chop wood, flinging the axe in the air, trying to show his muscles and act as though he hadn't noticed their presence. They walked closer and Kai said hello. Jack said a greeting without looking at them, and then went back to chopping.

The only other contact he had with people during that lonely time was with Zack when he came to take the crops, and with the carpenters in the mountain who he had gotten house extensions from. He'd installed a kitchen, a bathroom, and a log terrace. He didn't even go to festivals. He didn't get any cake during the Thanksgiving Festival, he'd declined to race his animals, and he'd spent the Star Night festival on the terrace with his dog, thinking that Karen and Kai were probably at the beach holding each other to keep warm. That night was the first time he'd let himself freely wonder about her. The lonely Sundays without her killed him, but he forced himself to keep her out of his mind. But that night on the Star Night festival he got to thinking. Karen's birthday was coming up in a few days, and despite how much it would hurt him to see her, he wanted to thank her for their short friendship. As much as she was hurting him now, he was glad that she had opened him up to love. He knew the perfect gift.

Luckily, her birthday just happened to fall on a Sunday. It was the next to the last day of the year. It was interesting that he would be bringing a close to their relationship at the same time the year would be ending. He arrived at the beach early in the morning to make sure everything was prepared for her arrival. He had emptied his pocket to do this for her. All the money he made over the year that was left after his house extensions had gone into this, and he felt it was worthy. He'd never had such an ingenious plan in his life. A few hours passed before she arrived.

Karen stepped onto the snow covered sand to see Jack standing there, seemingly waiting for her. "Jack?" she asked, confused to see him. He smiled.

"Hi," he said.

"Where's your hat?" she asked, as if no time had passed since the last time they had playfully talked.

He smiled wider. "Someone told me I looked better without it." There was a moment of silence. "Happy Birthday," he said.

"Thanks," she said. She looked over at the dock to see a boat anchored on the end of it. "What's this?"

"That," he said, "is my present to you."

She looked a little confused, and sardonically asked, "You got me a boat?"

He laughed. "No, I couldn't afford the boat. I just rented it-to take us to the city for the day."

She was stunned. "Are you serious?"

Jack nodded. She smiled wider and jumped in excitement. Before Jack could say anything, she had thrown herself onto him in a hug, repeatedly thanking him. Jack remembered how she felt to hold that night in fall. This day would be another memory to add to his collection. When she pulled away from the hug, Jack grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the dock.

The boat broke through the waves, and the look on Karen's face was priceless. She watched Flower Bud Village grow smaller and smaller in the distance, and looked around her at nothing but sea. She was quite clearly amazed.

"I've never been to the city, Jack," she said with a tone of wonder.

"What?" he said surprised, and laughed. "I thought you loved the city."

She laughed back. "I just assumed I would. Thank you so much for this, Jack. You have no idea what this means to me."

Sure, he thought sarcastically.

A mere forty-five minutes or so passed, and they arrived at the very city Jack had escaped from a year ago. Memories flooded back to him. Days of emptiness as he would pass his time like a robot-wake up, go to work, eat dinner, sleep. He didn't have to think about anything during that time in his life, nor did he want to. It was the seemingly perfect way to deal with the death of his mother. As he arrived in the harbor and helped Karen out of the boat, he knew that he had never really dealt with that loss. Seeing the sky scrapers, the busy streets, the many different people, reminded him of his vacant existence here. He had dealt with all his sadness, unknowingly, by allowing himself to love Karen.

Their first stop in the city was the park. Karen was enamored by it. She called it a little patch of heaven. Standing by the center fountains allowed you to see every sky scraper in the city. It was nearing lunch time, so Jack took Karen to a hot dog vendor on the edge of the park.

"I know it's nothing amazing," he said, excitedly, "but you have no idea just how good these hot dogs are."

Karen just smiled. She sat on a bench under a tree, admiring her surroundings even more, while Jack went to purchase the hot dogs. When they finally sunk their teeth into them, Jack remembered how he would stop by this same stand on his break at work when he lived here. Karen was very pleased with them. She was, in fact, impressed that something so cheap could taste so delicious.

As they walked down the city streets, Jack was sure he never saw Karen look anywhere but up. She was clearly stunned by the height of the buildings. He took her to an art museum which conveniently had a display on the history of dance. Karen was floored by it, and looked at it for half an hour. She would've probably stayed longer if Jack hadn't pulled her away from it. They window shopped, and Karen insisted that they go to a wine tasting. They tasted sweet wines and dry wines; tropical and traditional. Afterward they skimmed the rack of select wines, ones that were not easy to find and not cheap. They were just running through the names when Karen stopped and stared open mouthed at one. Jack bent over to read the label. It said "Door to Heaven."

"Beautiful name," Jack said. He pulled it out of the rack and read the date. It had a date that was about twenty-three years in the past.

"That's my Grandmother's wine," Karen said, stunned. She grabbed it from his hands and continued to rub her fingers over the label. "I'm going to buy it."

"No, you're not," Jack said. "It's your birthday. I will buy it for you."

And he did so happily. After they ate dinner at a very nice restaurant, and danced a little in its ballroom, Jack had one surprise left for her. They arrived at the highest building in the city, and took the elevator to the very top. On the roof, sight was for miles. In every direction they looked, there were lights flickering on and off in the other buildings of the city. The sky was clear and the stars were visible.

"I used to come here to think," he said as the city winds caught his hair. He still wasn't used to going around without his hat.

"I can see why," she said, leaning over the edge to peer down the side of the building. There was a silence that was filled with only the whistle of the wind. Jack didn't know what to say to Karen. This would be the last meaningful moment they would share together. After this night, he was going to go back to his secluded state. He would make millions on the farm, that's for sure. Slowly, but surely, he would ease back into town life; he would do so when he knew his feelings for Karen had faded away as much as they could. Then maybe he would call up one of those city girls, tell them of his new found wealth, and get married. It wouldn't be happy, but it would be something stable.

"You know what Kai got me for my birthday?" Karen asked, turning to him. He had been standing behind her, peering up at the sky, as she leaned over the side to watch the people walking below.

He shook his head. He didn't want to know. He didn't want to hear anything about Kai.

"He got me a bottle of sparkling grape juice and told me to quit drinking," she said, laughing.

Jack laughed a little. He saw no reason in her telling him this, besides to further his disdain for Kai. "And the moral of this story?" he asked.

Karen shied away. "This past month has been terrible, Jack," she said, seriously.

He looked away and remained silent for a moment. "I don't want to talk about that," he said, walking away from her.

"I missed you, Jack," she said delicately. "I missed you more than I would've missed anyone else."

He stopped walking, but still did not turn around. "I'm sure you missed me when you weren't with him," he said severely. What a time for his inner anger to come out. The last time he would talk to her, and she was pressing his buttons.

"No. I missed you when I was with him," she continued. "I realized that Kai and I had dated for almost a year, and nothing had ever been exciting with him."

"Shut up!" Jack said, with a catch in his voice. He was holding his face in his hands. He didn't want to yell at her, and he didn't want to shed tears in front of her. Both were about to happen. "I don't want to hear anything about him and you. Don't you know I've liked you?" He didn't want to say love. He thought it would make him seem vulnerable. The feelings and memories that had been surging through his mind the entire day were about to boil over.

"That's just it, Jack!" She wasn't going to stop. "I realized when you left, so did anything I ever felt for Kai. I never loved him."

He'd gone his whole life without a tear until she'd come into it with her sneaky grin and her soft green eyes. She'd come in and messed up everything. He was perfectly fine before she showed up on his farm. If only she hadn't been with Ann the day they came to offer him a horse. He could've been happy with Ann.

How could he blame this on her? He'd been the one who pursued her. He was the one who wouldn't "go away" or "leave her alone." He was the one who pushed their friendly relationship as far as he could.

"Well, I'm sorry if it's my fault that you don't love him," he said accusingly. For a moment he wanted to run; run to the exit door and out into the streets of the city. He wanted to escape into that robot existence where he wasn't programmed to think or care.

"It is your fault in a way," Karen said defensively. He let a sigh run through his tall frame as he turned around to face her. There was a tear on his cheek. He'd tried so hard to keep it in, but he couldn't. He felt betrayed and lost. How could it possibly be his fault? Again he thought about leaving her there, on the roof. If she would blame her apparently failed relationship with Kai on him, then he might as well just leave. "It's your fault because I was too busy falling in love with you to make any room for Kai."

He was silent. The moment was unforgettable to him, but he ignored the happiness that was welling up inside him. Looking into those eyes of hers, he knew what she said was true, but he chose not to believe. "You're just saying that because you're face to face with me now," he said. He'd spent so much time trying to convince himself that she would never love him and that he needed to move on. He wouldn't believe in anything different. He had taken comfort in the fact that his next few months would again be reclusive.

"No! I've never had anyone do something like this for me," she said, motioning to the city around them. "I've never known anyone that made me feel as good as you do." She looked helpless. Jack just stared at her forcing the smile off of his face. He wanted so much to just let it happen. He wanted to smile and then live happily ever after, but it was all happening so fast that he didn't believe that it was real. He'd dreamed about her loving him so many times; how did he know this wasn't a dream too? The next thing she did, however, was something that was never in his dreams.

"Well, if you won't believe what I tell you," she said, taking a step closer, "then I'll show you." She made a quick motion, grabbed his face in her hands, and kissed him. He couldn't fight it anymore. He let himself go and kissed her back. He had only imagined this during lonely winter nights; never did he think it would ever happen. He wrapped his arms around her as he pulled away from her face.

"You do love me," he said, quietly, a smile forming on his lips. He'd felt a tiny spark go through them as their lips met, and that made it true for him. That made it true for both of them.

The smile on her face was as big and excited as he'd ever seen it. It wasn't that small, secretive grin, but a big, honest beam. "I told you," she said.

They held each other close. Before this night, it was a rarity that he would hold her. It was ironic that he could now hold her whenever he wanted. Or he thought.

"I know you get tired of hearing this question, but what about Kai?" he asked.

"That ended a while ago," she whispered, recalling the moment it had happened. She'd been with Kai and seen Jack in the woods. Her heart ached for him, then, and not for Kai. She squeezed Jack tighter. "It feels so good to hold you."

He smiled. They kissed again, laughed, and began to dance into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this up! I've been sick/bummed the past few days. Anyway, what'd you guys think? There will be one last chapter, a sort of epilogue, to sum things up, and to give insite into the future of Jack and Karen. Thanks for the multitude of reviews!! Every single one of them! To whoever said they loved Kai, I love Kai too! I love all the characters in Harvest Moon, but to have a story about them, there had to be some kind of conflict, so Kai, being the "other man" got the brunt of it. Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews!! Keep 'em comin!