Since the humiliation at the Egg Festival, Nora made a point to stay up at the farm and had managed to clear the majority of the field bar the boulders and trees. Her parsnips had finally grown, and her strawberries were also ready to pick soon. The delight in her brother's texts when she said she had finally had her first harvest was immense; clearly a lot was riding on her. She couldn't help but feel homesick as she sat up one night on the phone to her family back home; her nephew was due any day and it made her think of the pregnant woman she saw in town the week before at the Egg Festival.

Sam, Sebastian, and Abigail had all made separate attempts to come up to the farm, but Nora had found herself too busy to really pay them much attention; her focus at that point was to expand the farm even further to cut her time in this town as short as possible. She had just bought as many potato seeds as possible and had finally finished for the day when she noticed that the sun was starting to hang low in the sky.

I want to play pool.

Scratch that – I want to beat some people at pool.

Stepping into the house and hauling her weary body into the shower before pulling on a yellow sundress to accompany the changing weather, she quickly braided her wet dark hair and applied the smallest amount of lip balm. Bramble was napping on her porch as she left, and she trudged slowly towards town.

It was a Friday night, which meant everyone was in the Saloon. Making her way to the back, she was glad to see the three familiar faces around the pool table.
"Long time no see" huffed Abigail, looking up at the girl.
"Sorry," Nora replied, looking at the table. "It's a lot of work getting a farm up and going"

"Nah it's okay!" Sam replied, "I was going to offer to help the other day but you seemed in the zone."

Sebastian just shrugged.
"I was thinking let's set up a tournament." Nora suggested, and saw Sebastian's eyes light up.

"Hey, that's a great idea!" Sam gushed, and darted into the main room of the Saloon without a second thought. Before long, he appeared again with a few ready competitors, and Abigail grabbed a piece of paper from Gus to organise who would play who.

Nora was to face Elliot first.

The match lasted all of 5 minutes.

Before long, the last people standing were Nora, Sebastian, Shane and Pam. Gus had announced halfway through that the winner would receive a 2000g bar tab, so now Nora was playing for something more than just pride – food. Though she could tell from the looks of two of her competitors that they were thinking the same thing, but instead of life sustaining nourishment, they were thinking of beer. Nora had taken out Sebastian, and Shane had easily wiped the floor with Pam, leaving the two facing each other in the final.

Sebastian was finishing up his match against Pam for third place, when Nora caught Shane's eye. He stared at her, clearly eyeing up her city spirit and her shaking palms. She hadn't eaten in days.

"And with that Sebastian is in third place, any words champ?" Sam suddenly gushed from beside her, using an empty joja cola can as a fake microphone, playing the commentator since before he was knocked out by Abigail in the second round. Sebastian uncaringly brushed him off to step outside for a cigarette. Sam, not deterred, then turned his attention to the game at hand, as Abigail slipped out behind his friend.

Shane stepped up to the table, collected the balls and placed them within the triangle. Nora followed suit, taking the que from a grumpy Pam, who was already traipsing back to Gus.
"You break." Shane grunted, and Nora did just that.

Alex and Haley, the couple expecting a baby, were standing to the left of the table, watching intently. Leah, the town artist, looked like she was taken by some magical force and was suddenly compelled to sketch something on a napkin which looked oddly like Shane's furrowed brow.

Nora stepped up to the table, lined up her shot, and broke the triangle with a loud crack. She smiled as two stripes bounced off each other and each into a respective hole. She then moved to the other side of the table and potted her next victim. Shane's face was unmoving, staring at the balls as they danced gracefully across the green felt. By the time it was his turn, Nora only had 3 balls left to pot.

With one ball left each, the tension was palpable. Sam had long given up his commentator gig in favour of offering Nora sips of his joja cola whilst chatting away with Leah and Elliot, with Alex attempting to give the contenders each a pep talk every few minutes. Eventually, Shane potted his spot.

Nora sighed, watching as he lined up for the 8 ball, thinking of the dinners that were quite quickly slipping through her fingers, when he missed. The room was silent as she approached, lining up and sinking her last ball. Turning her attention to the 8 ball, her hands shook as the white ball hit it. Spinning tauntingly, it caressed the edge of the hole teasingly, and Nora sighed. It was now in prime position for Shane. She closed her eyes and exhaled deeply, letting the tension out over her loss.

Clunk

She opened her eyes to see the ball roll back into the hole, with Shane nowhere near the table. He caught her eyes in surprise, and a cheer erupted from her throat. Everyone was cheering for her. She laughed and made her way to Gus, who nodded and began to pull her a beer. Turning to offer it to Shane, she was her opponent stalk sulkily out of the door and into the night.

"I'll walk you home." Sam grunted, as everyone started to pile out of the Saloon.
"I think I'll be ok." Nora sighed, as the pair rose from the stools. She had just polished off a serving of Gus' spaghetti, and she genuinely thought it was the best thing she had eaten in a long time.

"No…no I insist." Sam continued, standing up to his feet uncertainly.
"I think I should be the one walking you home." Nora giggled, slipping her arm under Sam's shoulders and leading him back to his house. Willow Lane was an easy enough detour, and Nora could cut through the forest and be back on her farm in no time. "We're here." Nora exhaled, Sam slumped across her shoulders.
"shhdid I ever tell you" Sam began slurring, grinning down at her. Before he could finish, the door swung open and a woman with a pale brown braid stood there staring at the two of them. "M-mom!"

Jodi ushered the pair in and pushed open the door to Sam's room open as she helped Nora carry him in a plop him onto his bed.
"You must be Nora, I've heard a lot about you." Jodi smiled, placing an empty wastepaper bin next to Sam's bed and filling up a glass of water.

"Nice to meet you too, sorry about him…"
"It's fine, don't worry about it."
"I'm more worried he's spent up my tab to be honest!" Nora laughed awkwardly. Jodi looked the woman up and down.
"If you're ever stuck for a meal, come here."
"I couldn't possibl-"
"I insist." The mother firmly stated. "Both Sam and Vincent seem quite taken by you. You'll make a good addition to this town, I'm sure of it."

Those words were meant to be kind, but to Nora they cut like a knife. Nobody in this town knew she was only here for the money. Everyone was being kind and friendly and welcoming, not knowing they had effectively let a wolf in with the sheep. She nodded, before darting out of the door into the night, unable to breathe. She knew who she needed to find.

Running through the forest, she saw him sat on the dock, lightning bugs floating lazily around him as his lantern flickered in the late evening light. Beer can pressed to his lips, he sat dangling his feet into the still water. Moving towards him, she stepped quietly along the pier.
"Up late, huh?" he grunted, taking another swig. Nora nodded, and he handed her a can. "Here, have a cold one." She held it in both hands, staring across the lake. Summer was near, and the chirping cicadas signalled this. She took a long swig and turned to see him staring at her again.

"I'm sorry about the pool match, I was going to get you a beer bu-"
"You ever feel like…" he interrupted her train of thought "no matter what you do you're going to fail?" She stared at him, eyes wide, as he said the words that were already forming in her mouth. She wasn't sure she could do this. She was capitalising on the farm to get her inheritance. This wasn't fair to anyone in town.
"Shane I-"

"Like you're stuck in some miserable abyss and you're so deep you can't even see the light of day?" Each word the drunk said struck her deep. He kept dangling his feet in the still water. Nora took another drink of her beer and stared at him. "I just feel like no matter how hard I try, I'm not strong enough to climb out of that hole" he continued, eyes glued to a spot towards the back of the lake.

"You know you're not alone, you have Marnie and Jas." Nora began, and Shane chuckled.
"You don't get it do you."
"I'm sorry" Nora finished her beer, and placed the empty can beside her on the dock.
"Heh… fast drinker huh? Woman after my own heart." Shane complimented her, and she blushed. A combination of the alcohol chugged throughout the evening coupled with the atmosphere on the dock, no doubt. "Just don't make it a habit" he asked, eyes pleading, "you still got a future ahead of you still."

The cicadas seemed to calm down, and all was still. Shane handed Nora another can, before cracking himself one too. The two drank in silence, the sounds of the water lapping against the shoreline and the sounds of Shane's breathing keeping Nora awake. She'd come to find Shane because she thought he would remind her how life isn't always fair, yet even the drunkard made her feel welcome in the town apparently. Suddenly rising to his feet, he held out a hand to help his new drinking companion up.
"Welp… my liver's begging me to stop… better call it a night." He hauled Nora up with calloused hands and smirked, before they both made it to Marnie's ranch.

"See ya round, kid."