Claire pushed the door as quietly as she could muster and her heart jumped into her throat as her wide eyes locked into an equally shocked pair sitting behind the library's reception desk.

"H-Hello. This is a surprise." The worry lines on Mary's forehead were prominent.

Embarrassment draped heavily over Claire at the realization that she hadn't considered that they would inevitably need to speak to one another. "R-research." She hated that her voice came out as a squeak. Mouth dry, she attempted to clear her throat. "I, uh, just need to do a little research... f-for my farm."

"I trust you know where the section is upstairs?" The librarian's voice was not unkind as she forced a small smile on her lips.

"Yeah."

Holding her anxious breath, Claire ascended the stairs, silently exhaling as she reached the top.

Where do I even begin?

She was reminded of her visit early in spring with Karen and Cliff, and she felt herself relax a bit at the familiar spine of the book she had been using as a guide for planning her fields. Unfortunately, it didn't have much information in the way of large harvests and how to go about streamlining the process for retrieving crops, at least not for her particular problem. Her eyes traced the bookshelves and she muttered a small prayer under her breath for one to stand out for her.

A rust-colored tome with bright letters caught her eye.

"The Bountiful Harvest: A Guide To Making the Most of Your Garden"

Grateful for somewhere to begin, Claire pulled it off of the shelf and helped herself to a chair at the desk, basking in the air conditioning and a chance to rest her sore feet and back. She opened the book and began to scan the table of contents...

Please, please… anything—I just need an answer so I can stop running in place.

She had passed out simply from planting and watering the tomato seeds earlier in the season. The stems were now heavily loaded with fruit, and they needed to be tended with care for maximum yield. Home and property payments and taxes were a lot different than the cheap, sketchy apartment rental she had back in the city. The bill Harris had left her made her numb from the staggering total. She had been living modestly up until now, and making ends meet was still difficult.

I think a miracle is about all that can save me at this point...

The beginnings of sunset illuminated Mary's desk, and her eyes guiltily traveled toward the clock on the wall.

"You should tell her."

Gray's sudden voice startled her a bit. She straightened her glasses, steadying her voice. "I told her I'd give her some extra time today."

"And you did. It's time to go home. You're not doing anything wrong – heck, you're already doing her a favor. Besides, you deserve to take a break at the end of the day just like everyone else." Gray murmured, leaning against Mary's desk. "I, uh... I can go up there if you want."

Mary shook her head, her heart pounding in her throat. "N-no, this is my job... She did look a little tired when she came in... Maybe she dozed off?"

Gray tugged on the bill of his cap, jamming his hands in his pockets. "Nah, I can't imagine her falling asleep on the job. She's too hard of a worker."

Furrowing her brows, Mary bit her lip and stood up, her chair screeching loudly as she did so. "I-I'm going to let her know that hours are over for the evening!" Her words came out more loudly than she meant for them to.

Gray took a small step backward as she hurried up the stairs with purpose, straightening out her shoulders and back.

The words she planned to say dissolved on her tongue as her eyes landed on the desk. Claire sat, her blonde hair shrouding her face as she hunched over an open book. Countless others littered the desk's surface, and a notepad covered with scratched out handwriting sat at her side.

"Claire."

The young woman snapped to attention, her trance breaking. Whether her eyes were red and puffy were from strain or something else, Mary wasn't sure, but she felt her shoulders slouching once more.

"I'm sorry, but hours are over for the night. You're free to check out whatever you like." She was about to offer Claire to leave her things there so she could resume in the morning, but her vocal chords refused to act.

"Ah, I lost track of time." No emotion could be detected in the farmer's voice. She blinked in realization as her words echoed off the walls and she stumbled out of her seat, whipping her head around to see the placement of the sun in the sky through the window. "I, uh..." Her eyes darted around the opened books and she felt her chest and throat tighten. "I'm so sorry!" Claire's voice cracked.

Dinner with Cliff! I hope he's not waiting in front of my house...

"It's al-" Mary's words died in her throat as she watched Claire scramble, removing loose papers and swiftly closing the books shut one by one. She cringed at the loss of progress with each paper slipped from the books.

"Is it too late for me to check these books out? Is there a book limit? Oh, but you're closed. I didn't mean to keep you late. I'm so sorry..." Claire's apologies increased in speed as she gathered the books.

"You can check them out. It's fine." Mary stated, flinching at the way she had raised her voice over Claire's.

She was about to ask if Mary was sure, but the warm hug that they shared in the church courtyard kept her from saying anything more. She mumbled thanks as Mary took a few of the books on her own and led the way down the stairs.

As Claire signed out the library cards in a hurried scrawl, she paid no attention to the man sitting at a desk in the corner of the room.

"Thanks, Mary – I can't thank you enough," her voice quavered as she fumbled with the slips of paper.

Before Mary could ask if she needed a tote, Claire hurried out the door with a quick goodbye, the tall stack of books causing her to waddle a bit.

Dinner with Cliff, then reading.

Lots of reading – I'm going to have to make my own luck.

"Breakfast was great," Cliff gushed as they stepped outside into the cool summer morning. The sun was beginning to peek over the horizon and the sky was a dreamy shade of powder blue.

Claire stretched her arms over her head with a groan, the pops and crackles catching her by surprise. Still, it felt nice. She continued stretching her body, looking up at the clear sky above them. "Just promise me you won't get sick of tomatoes and onsen eggs once those leftovers from Kai's run out. That smoked eel was a treat! Thank you so much!"

Cliff couldn't help but feel his heart accelerate at her praise. "I told you that I'd bring things to share, and I meant it." He paused, looking over at her. She stopped stretching and their eyes met. "Claire... thank you for this. I... like it a lot."

She let her arms fall by her sides as she took a step closer. "I like it, too. Feels a lot less lonely. Again, I'm really sorry about last night. I really should have left a note, but I didn't mean to get home so late..."

She had come back from the library to Cliff roasting some corn and fish over a campfire outside of her house. While she was grateful for the meal, she was crushed with guilt for leaving him to figure out what to prepare.

"It's alright. I figured you got caught up running errands and I wanted to surprise you."

"Well, it was a very welcome surprise. Really, it means a lot."

She had done a poor job hiding the frazzled state she was in when she arrived the evening before with a precarious stack of farming books, and she had been preoccupied throughout breakfast as well. Claire was sporting dark circles under her eyes and her face was pale – it hadn't been hard for Cliff to deduce what she had been up to. "I'm going to try the shallows of the beach this morning. I've been seeing some fish lingering by the pier."

"I'd wish you good luck, but I don't think you need it." Claire jammed her hands in her pocket, her stomach giddy despite her fatigue.

"I still wouldn't mind it," he murmured in spite of himself.

Especially if it's from you.

"Alright, then. Good luck today, Cliff! Catch lots of fish!" Claire threw her arms around him with a laugh.

An airy chuckle escaped his lips as he eagerly joined the embrace. "I didn't think you'd hear that." He held her tighter. "I hope your day goes well, too. You're smart and you're resourceful. If anyone can do this, it's you. That being said, please don't overexert yourself."

She sighed into his shoulder. "You could tell? That I was worried, I mean?"

"You don't have to put on a fake smile for my sake – it just makes me worry more." Cliff held her out at arms' length. "I saw your stack of library books, and... well... you seem like you've been more tired lately."

The sheer exhaustion on her face had made her embarrassed to meet with him that morning. She opened her mouth to protest, but he continued.

"Please take care of yourself. Or let me help take care of you. That's what our little p-partnership is about, right? And our friendship, too, of course!" he added hastily.

Claire wasn't sure why it suddenly felt as if the sun was blazing down on her; it was still in the process of rising. "Y-Yeah! We gotta look after each other!" She paused, her voice lowering in volume. "Thank you... you're really sweet."

She had a hard time reading Cliff's face at her comment. He remained in the embrace, his eyes moving to the ground.

I wonder how sweet she'd really think I was if she knew everything I screwed up before moving here...

Determined to keep a sullen look from overcoming his face, he pulled himself from his worries.

Maybe someday I can actually earn that compliment.

He gazed upward to see calm, gentle eyes locked onto him.

Gulping, his hands left her shoulders and he shuffled his pack on his back. "Ah, well... I'll get to it. Work, I mean. Fishing."

Claire looked out at her fields. "Ah, yeah. I guess we better dig in. See you later tonight?"

"I'll bring some fish we can cook over the campfire again, okay?"

"And we can throw on a couple ears of corn, too. I think we still have some mochi left in the fridge for dessert"

Cliff blinked as he watched Claire twirl a bit of hair around her finger. She began to pull back her blonde locks, combing her fingers through it, her eyes shyly meeting his for a moment. The simple motions were beautiful; he found he wanted to stay and watch.

"Alright..."

Claire's focus had already turned toward the fields of tomatoes, her fingers deftly portioning bits of hair for her fishtail braid. A couple loose strands hung in her face.

Cute...

He could feel himself blushing. "Okay, see you later, then!"

Claire gave him a nod in farewell. "I look forward to it!"

He hurried off towards town, flustered, yet revitalized.

Did I say something to hurt his feelings? Maybe he's just tired? I know I am...

Finishing her braid, the young woman groaned, turning to the task before her. Fully grown plants in tidy rows loomed over her, and the warmth she had felt earlier had faded. Claire's stomach tied itself in knots as she folded her arms across her chest, observing the sheer amount of produce she was somehow supposed to pick before it rotted on the vine.

I know I'm wasting time staring at it like this, but...

"There's gotta be a better way," she murmured aloud.

Her mind drifted to the methods referenced in the books she had been poring over every night, despite promising Cliff she'd go to bed at a reasonable hour.

If I were to rent machinery... where would I even get it from? And it would chew up the whole plant...

I have to get more than one more harvest out of these.

Taxes... I've got to pay them by the end of summer...

And that kitchen... I've gotta get it installed... I can't keep living like this...

But how...?

A smaller scale harvester? Still, where and how would I get one? And wouldn't that pull up the plants, too?

"laire... Claire..."

But I can't keep hauling baskets back and forth all day. It's wasted time, wasted crop, wasted profits. There's no way I'd be able to keep up with that pace to make it worth it.

"It's all a big waste," she muttered, shaking her head. "Is it a point of what can be salvaged? There are already overripe ones on the vines... I mean, me and Cliff can cut out the bad pieces and eat them, but..."

"Claire!"

The young woman jumped in shock, and she whirled around, nearly colliding with Popuri. She choked on a gasp.

"I wasn't sure if you had in earplugs or headphones," Popuri giggled good-naturedly.

Claire shook her head, her braid swaying. "No, I was deep in thought." She couldn't hide the edge in her voice.

Popuri's smile faded a bit. "I can come back later if you like."

"Did you need help with something?" Claire hated how rushed her words sounded as they left her mouth.

"That's what I came over here to ask you! You've been pacing and talking to yourself."

"I have a lot of tomatoes."

Popuri swung her skirts with a hesitant chuckle. "That's an understatement."

Claire deflated. "Y-yeah..."

The smile left Popuri's lips. "So, uh... you're trying to figure out how you want to harvest them?"

Claire nodded, embarrassed that she had been short with her. She felt the mistiness return to her eyes, gulping. "I'm trying to think of an alternative to doing this all by hand... or, at the very least, make it easier on me."

"It can be done." Rick's voice caused her to whirl around.

"R-Really?"

"I've been doing a bit of thinking on it myself."

Claire felt her shoulders slouch with shame.

He probably saw me plant all those seeds and knew it wasn't manageable...

"I actually have some rough ideas if you want to talk."

Claire looked up from the ground. "Surely you're not volunteering just because I'm friends with your girlfriend?"

Popuri giggled and Rick looked taken aback. "Well, I'd like to think of us as friends, too... That being said, I'm afraid I don't have the time and resources to simply do it out of the kindness of my heart."

"Why do you gotta say it like that?" Popuri snapped, elbowing her brother.

There was no point sugarcoating the obvious. "I'm broke, Rick." Claire's laugh was hollow. She gazed out at her fields, allowing herself a bit of privacy as she fought the lump growing in her throat.

When he didn't reply right away, she hesitantly turned back toward him. Rick was adjusting his glasses, looking out toward a different section of her crops.

The corners of her lips upturned in spite of herself. "Alright... I know you haven't been subtle about that corn."

The smirk on Rick's face was more than obvious. "Speaking of corn... Poppy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you finish up the morning feeding?"

She hopped to attention, more than excited to be able to help.

"Rick and I have some things to discuss." Claire gave him a meaningful look.

Popuri let out a giggle as she grabbed the edges of her skirts, jogging back to the fence that joined their farms. "Don't let Rick rip you off, Claire!"

"H-Hey!" Rick called after her, but he was interrupted by Claire's genuine laugh.

When she calmed down, she gave him a knowing look, her confidence growing. "You have to import your feed, don't you? It would be more cost-efficient to get it locally, don't you agree?"

Rick adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "I'm glad we're speaking the same language. How about we strike up some kind of deal?"

"Well, you're right to the point."

Rick smirked at the smile growing on Claire's face. From what he could see over the fence, Claire had been down lately and having her in a good mood mood was instrumental to his plan. He silently scolded himself for his one-track mind. Karen had expressed concern for Claire and he had become a little worried about her himself, greeting her over the fence and checking in on her more often than he typically did. She had shared that she and Cliff were sharing meals together, and having a friend's daily company had definitely put a smile back on her face rather quickly. It was a relief to see her acting more like herself and seeing that smile more often.

Straightening his posture he quietly cleared his throat. "I think it's best we lay all our cards out on the table. We both have things that can benefit each other."

Claire quickly stepped in. "Well, if we are to make this official business talk, let's go inside. I've got some tea in the fridge and we can discuss our propositions." She couldn't help a smug smile from forming on her lips.

He's seeing me as an established farmer – someone he wants to gain favor from...

The look on her face was reflected in Rick's. Clearly tickled by her choice of words, he gave a polite nod. His fumbling hands betrayed him – he was just as giddy about this as she was.

Claire opened the door for him, ushering him inside. He followed her and paused in the doorway to remove his shoes as she did. Taking the opportunity to gaze around the farmhouse, he found that it looked much differently than his vivid childhood imagination had pictured it. It was simple and unadorned, having the look of a place where one was simply setting up to stay for a brief amount of time. A boxy CRT television sat on the floor, and her bed was tucked into the corner, some humble bed sheets laying atop of it to accommodate the hot weather. A couple of boxes were tucked at the foot of the bed in lieu of a proper dresser or wardrobe. A small tea table sat in the middle of the room and as he lowered himself onto one of the cushions, he found that they were surprisingly comfortable despite their visible wear.

The house was small and far from luxurious, but it was hers, and he supposed that was worthy of its own pride. His eyes traveled to a couple of sacks of blemished tomatoes and ears of corn sitting in the corner of the room. It seemed she really did have more produce than she knew what to do with...

Claire returned to the table with a pitcher of tea and a couple of glasses. "Is barley tea alright?"

He nodded, childhood summer memories flooding back to him. Him and Popuri begging their father to spray them with the hose on hot summer afternoons. Rod would shoot the water high into the air and Rick would gawk at the lovely rainbow it created, letting out a surprised shriek as the cold water rained down on him and speckled his glasses. Popuri would be so busy trying to find the end of the rainbow that she didn't notice she was getting drenched and seemed oblivious to the cooling effect the water had.

"I'd love some. Thanks."

Claire filled the glasses with tea and Rick watched the bubbles float to the surface of the liquid, relishing in the sound of the beverage being poured. He couldn't help but imagine himself as one of those clever businessmen about to strike a bargain in the soap operas Lillia watched during the day. He felt heat rise to his cheeks out of embarrassment.

Maybe I'm more like Won, hoping to get the most I can out of this. It's likely Claire doesn't know the rising and falling trends in the cost of corn in this area. And why would she? Her background is something she did back in the city... Some sort of desk job? Ah, what did Karen say it was she did again?

Well, the important thing is saving our farm some money. It's time I started stepping in and making these kinds of deals so that Mom and Popuri are taken care of...

He could still see the irritated look on Karen's face when he apologized for canceling their latest date.

She doesn't know what it's like to have to balance everything. I had to separate the sick chickens from the rest, or it was just going to spread through the whole flock! It's not like I didn't want to spend time with her...

"Everything alright?" Claire's hesitant voice pulled him from his inner thoughts.

Rick snapped to attention, his posture erect. "The tea is great, thanks!" Adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose, he gave her a keen look. "But we both know that there are more pressing matters to discuss."

A smile curled at Claire's lips. "Let's hear about those matters."

He liked the sparkle in her eye.

This is going to be fun.

Rick cleared his throat, subconsciously broadening his shoulders and puffing out his chest. "Here's my proposition – if you are willing to sell us your corn at a discounted rate for feed, I'll give you one of our more prolific egg layers. Think about it – we'll both save money by cutting out the middleman."

She almost asked how Zack was going to get by, but he was already making plenty of money off of her tomatoes and other crops. He was bound to be rich this season if he wasn't already; the new larger pickup cart he drove was proof of that.

Claire considered Rick's offer.

Another hen would be very helpful and she needed more than just a couple of chickens to make the trouble worth it. With only five to seven eggs a week per hen, she wasn't able to turn a profit on them. A third chicken would provide her more to share at breakfast time with Cliff.

And he's offering one of his better hens? There has to be a catch...

She was familiar with the smooth-talking salesmen back in the city, and even those who came to do business at her firm. Not using hard numbers or prices was a favorite way to lure in gullible buyers.

"How much corn do you want, and how much of a discount are you asking for?" She forced herself to hold her hands in her lap rather than fidget with her fingers – confidence, or at least an air of it was vital.

She saw him shift in his seat at her bluntness. Rick blinked, his mind working quickly. When Karen spoke of her friend, it was more than apparent that Claire was eager to please, almost to a fault. Part of him was curious to see just how eager she was.

He removed all emotion from his face. "I'd like to buy half of your incoming crop for forty-percent off of the market value." He knew it was a ridiculous offer; he just wanted to see how she would react.

Claire nearly choked on her tea, and a hint of a pleased smirk played at Rick's mouth as she slammed her glass back down on the table a little too loudly. She bit her lip for a moment, afraid that something very rude was going to come out before she could stop it. After attempting to suppress her frustration for a moment, she decided holding back completely was out of the question. "Are you crazy? Do you have any idea how much work goes into that corn?!"

"There's a free hen in it for you," Rick reminded her. He bit back a laugh when he got a scoff in reply. "Besides, corn seed is cheap. It's not like it costs you much to grow. I mean, all you're doing is using water, which you get for free, and you're mulching with recycled plant material."

Claire gritted her teeth. "If corn is so easy to grow, why don't you do it on your farm? Try doing that in the summer heat without getting heat exhaustion – I dare you." Her voice lowered to a whisper.

Everyone in Mineral Town had heard stories of the rude welcome Mayor Thomas had received from the new farmer. He had even seen the copy of the local paper – the strained smile on both her face and Thomas's in the photo was unmistakable.

"Ah..." Rick bowed his head in embarrassment, wondering if he had pushed her too far. Perhaps he had ruined the deal already.

Apologizing here would just make me look weak, right?

He gulped.

Maybe I really am like Karen says – my head's too far up my ass to see in front of me half the time. Popuri practically says the same thing...

He opened his mouth to apologize when Claire jumped in, startling him.

"You said you had an idea. A rough design or ideas for harvesting my tomatoes so I'm not breaking my back out there in the fields. I want to hear more about it."

Rick's eyes gleamed with a childlike glow. "Oh, yeah! That! So I've been thinking that for creating some sort of harvester-"

"Not to cut you off, Rick," Claire began with an apologetic look, "but I've been doing some research on harvesters and I don't have the means for something that large. I also need to keep my plants intact. Traditional tomato harvesters tear up the whole plant, and I..." Her false bravado fell as she looked up at him with sad eyes. "I have to make the most of these plants. My mortgage and tax payments are depending on it."

He found himself reaching across the small table to give Claire's arm a pat. He felt his shoulder slouch.

This isn't a game. We both rely on each other.

"My idea is something that would still require some manual labor, but it will cut back your trips to your shipping bin. Less lifting." He reached into his apron pocket, producing a small notepad and pencil. A couple of stray feathers flew into the air as he did so and he gave her a sheepish look.

Claire's eyes were drawn to the paper. She leaned across the table, her drink forgotten.

He stole a look up at her and grinned. "Alright, so I guess the first thing I can do is get a new wheel and fix the handle on the wheelbarrow I... er... scavenged from your farm a few years back. It was half-buried in mud and I cleaned it up, but it's in the shed with all my other unfinished projects." He let out a soft sigh.

"Oh, you could really do that? That alone would help a ton!"

Rick smirked, his pencil flying across the paper with flourished strokes. "That's just the tip of the iceberg!"

"Oh?" Claire tried to make sense of the long, curved lines, unaware she was practically lying across the table to see.

"So, I have this old tubing left over from a coop renovation. Flexible, but not flimsy. I could cut it hotdog-style to create a chute of sorts." He pointed his pencil at what looked like a smiling mouth.

"Hotdog?"

"As opposed to hamburger."

Claire let out a delighted laugh. "My teacher used to say that for folding paper. 'Fold it like a hotdog'."

Rick's smile faltered a bit. "I guess that's something I picked up from my dad... Anyway..." He shook his head, focusing back on the paper. "Okay, so the idea is to cut it so we have two pieces. I'll need to dig and install a few strategically-placed support beams, but the chutes will need to be removable. A pulley system will operate them." He scribbled out some more lines. "I mean, it's not going to be the most aesthetically pleasing thing, but you can drag one of the flexible chutes around and take it to one of these pulley stations..."

"Then the tomatoes can roll right into the shipping bin?!" Claire practically squealed into Rick's ear.

He looked up at her with surprise – she had been so absorbed in his sketches that their faces were practically touching. "You seem more excited about this than I am," he laughed.

"Shouldn't I be?" Claire's eyes were wide. "We can put different pulley parts in high-yielding areas. I could literally just load up the wheelbarrow and wheel it to a station, pull on the rope and it's as good as packed and ready to go for Zack!"

"I'll even install a crank system so you don't kill your arms doing that over and over."

"Yesss!" Claire nodded emphatically. "This is going to save so much time! I don't know if I'll be able to save all of the tomatoes from rotting on the vine, but it's a definite improvement... Oh, wow... I can probably even afford some repairs to the house, too..."

"Obviously, this is just a sketch of a prototype, so I'm sure adjustments will need to be made. I'll have to find a means to make the chutes detachable yet durable, too. But... you like it?" Rick's smirk was hard to miss.

"I love it! The Tomato Tube!" She pulled herself off of the table and bounced on the balls of her feet. "It's perfect!"

Rick grinned. "Well, I dunno about perfect, but it would definitely make a difference in your tomato output."

"Thank you so much!" Claire jogged over to him and threw her arms around his shoulders. "This is going to be a lifesaver."

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch," Rick replied.

Claire laughed into his shoulder. "Did you seriously just say that because you work with chickens?"

She could feel Rick's warm chuckle vibrate his tall frame. "Why wouldn't I use it when I have the perfect chance to? Besides, we haven't discussed the corn yet."

She dropped her arms down by her sides, sitting back across the table from him with a more serious expression. "Right. Payment."

"So what do you think of the previous offer? Half of the corn for fifty-percent off? Sounds generous now, right?"

Claire cocked an eyebrow. "It was forty-percent. And you forgot about the hen."

Rick let out a guilty chuckle. "Right... Forty-percent off, the Tomato Tube, and the hen."

"And the wheelbarrow."

"All of the above."

"Half of my corn is going to be a lot of it," Claire pointed out. She felt a wave of shame for having planted so much after learning that Gray enjoyed it. The corn had been mocking her lately, reminding her of yet another failure in her life.

How much corn was I planning on giving him, anyway?

She imagined the top of his hat bobbing through the corn accompanied by the sounds of grazing, much like Tucker. She bit her lips to keep from laughing at the very thought.

Well, the corn's a bargaining chip now, so it's a blessing in disguise that I planted so much.

"Well, I have a lot of chickens. We provide poultry out to the Valley, too, so we go through a lot."

"Twenty-percent off. It's a big purchase, and you'll be saving a lot of money." Taking a calm sip of her tea, she lifted her eyes above the brim of the glass, curious of his reaction.

Ah, so she wants to play...

"Thirty-five. The Tomato Tube is going to revolutionize your farm and you know it."

"As grateful as I am for it, it's going to have limited use. It's going to be useless for the spinach I'm planning on planting come fall."

"But it will be invaluable for sweet potatoes and eggplants! Potatoes, small pumpkins, onions, apples! That's just the beginning! And with enough of an angle, we can get pretty much anything to roll into the shipping bin! Thirty-five."

Claire shook her head. "I want it in the bin, but I don't want it all bruised."

Rick scribbled furiously at the paper, sloppy arrows on the mechanism shoved into her face. "Adjustable supports. It's going to kind of be like a flexible, adjustable aqueduct operated by pulleys and cranks. And because the material is flexible, we can make sure the slope is gentle enough to keep your crops from getting jostled."

"How long do you think it will take to install?"

"The more I can afford to pay Gotz for extra materials, the sooner I'll be able to finish it. It's not going to happen overnight, but I imagine around a week, ten days tops? I could probably have it done right after the fireworks festival. I've got a ton of deliveries for chicken and eggs for the vendors, so I'm going to be swamped."

Claire rested her chin in her hands, giddy excitement rising in her belly at the thought of the festival. "I know I'm going to be up late that night, so let's give ourselves the day off afterwards. I struck a deal with Won and he's having someone come over to pick my blemished produce before the festival, so that should take care of some of the surplus at least."

Rick bit his lip with a snort. "So that's the job Zack was grumbling about having to do. Said the pay wasn't decent, but he was doing it to help out a friend."

"Well, Won referred to him as an assistant, so take that as you will," Claire replied with raised eyebrows.

Rick shook his head, chuckling. "That sounds like our Won – a compliment and an insult in the same breath."

Claire let out a sigh. "Tell me about it..."

She realized with embarrassment how rude she was being.

"I imagine he was fun to deal with." His voice dripped with sarcasm.

Claire chose her words carefully. "I think... I'd prefer to order things through him rather than sell directly to him."

Rick straightened his posture. "That's fair." His mind turned back toward their bargaining. "So having The Tomato Tube installed after the Fireworks Festival will work out well for you, and it'll give me more time to polish off the design, giving you the adjustable supports."

He picked up the pencil and wrote down the tentative date on his rough sketch. His eyes flicked up to her, and Claire was watching him intently. A smirk played at his lips as he flipped the page in the notepad and scribbled down a number, shielding it from her prying eyes. "That being said..." He loudly set down the pencil and folded the paper tidily, sliding it across the table, attempting to keep a straight face.

"Oh, things are getting serious now, huh?" The corners of Claire's upturned lips didn't make her stoic impression very convincing.

She opened the paper.

35%

She bit her lip as she leaned across the table, snatching up the pencil. A snort poorly disguised as a cough emitted from Rick.

She ran a line through his number and scribbled down her own offer, folding the paper and sliding it across in the same fashion.

Rick lost all composure as he read the number on the paper. "Twenty-five?!" He clutched his chest melodramatically – he was clearly having too much fun. "You wound me, Claire!"

"Well, that corn's going to sell more per unit than the tomatoes. You're already getting a much better deal than Zack is getting on my produce – he gets a ten-percent discount."

"Yeah, but he buys so much that it's worth it!"

Claire remained firm. "And you're asking for half of my corn crop – like I said before, that's a lot of corn. You've said so yourself earlier this season."

He sighed deeply. "Me and my big mouth."

Claire couldn't resist a chuckle. "Like I said before, you weren't very subtle about it."

Rick had the pencil back in his hand and crossed out her offer as if he were a samurai cutting down a foe. The lights above them reflected off of his glasses as he scribbled down a response, once again folding the paper with care and moving it back toward her.

"Now before you open that, realize that you haven't been exactly subtle about how much you need my help."

"I'm serious, Rick, if it says-"

She flipped open the paper.

30%

Weighing her options, she decided with a nod. "I can work with this."

"Good. So can I. Alright then, thirty-percent." It was easy to detect the relief in his voice.

"Just to clarify – I am selling you half of my corn at 30% off market value, and in exchange, I receive a hen, the repaired wheelbarrow, and the Tomato Tube installation. Shall we shake on it to make it official?" A pleased smile was painted across her lips.

Rick held out his hand. "Of course." He was proud of his first bargain by himself.

Claire shook his hand and had to admit she felt pretty grown up. She was reminded once again how far she had come from an exhausted accountant in the city. Perhaps she needed to explain this to her parents somehow in her next letter…

Rick's confidence soared as their hands released. He could see why Karen admired Claire so much; she was very smart and practical. "And just like any business deal, we should celebrate with drinks. Let's go to the bar."

She took their empty glasses and the pitcher of tea. "Sounds good. Your treat though, right?" She turned around and a hint of a smug smile was playing at her lips.

Karen taught her well… A little too well…

"You've already gotten enough out of me today!" Rick rolled his eyes when her expression didn't change. "Ah, what the heck? Grab your shoes and let's go."

Author's Note: With the implementation of The Tomato Tube, this haggling scene needed to be overhauled, and I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. I look forward to adding more of Rick's inventor side in this story as they find a solution for her crop problem.

A great big thank you to my readers, as always. Y'all are the best. I appreciate everyone that takes time reading, reviewing, or even thinking about this story. It seriously means a lot.