Summer was my first battle with the inevitable. I watered my withering spring crops a few times, but it was no use. I came out one morning to behold a neat little field of baby-barf green plant carcasses and sighed. I went back inside and filled a sizeable sack with coins. "Just my luck, huh Brutus?"

"Mow."

I pet the cat's head and shouldered the sack. "I won't be long."

I trekked to Pierre's and plopped down onto a bench in the middle of town square to wait for it to open. I took long breaths of fresh morning air, for the first time the morning wasn't the slightest bit chilly. I closed my eyes and tucked my hands behind my head, soaking in the sunlight.

"What's up Farmer Brown?" The bench evened out as Leah sat down beside me.

"Hey! What brings you out here this early?"

She shrugged. "Sun came in through the window, couldn't sleep anymore."

"Heh, I know that feeling."

"How about you? What's with the sack?"

I flopped my limbs out and groaned "Uuuuuugh my whole field's pretty much dead, the heat's getting to 'em. Gotta buy some in-season seeds."

"Oooo, sorry about that."

"Eh, it happens." I turned to her and smiled, braided red hair and blue eyes would be a Pavlovian mood raiser for me if I spent much more time around her. "I'd still take three dead fields that size over another day working for Joja."

She laughed. "Ouch! You used to work for those bloodsuckers?"

"Yep."

"What did you do?"

"Tech support." I shuddered comically. "Never again."

"You really did need to come out here, huh?"

"More than you know." I turned to look at her and caught her eye. "Hey…your eyes are purple."

"Oh, are they? I didn't notice," she teased.

"S-sorry! I just thought they were blue all this time." I shifted a little in my seat. "Does it…I mean, do they…?"

"My vision's fine, just a weird pigment thing."

"Mmm." I blushed and mumbled "They're pretty though," before I could stop myself.

She smiled and played absent mindedly with her braid. "I think Pierre's is open now."

"Oh!" I turned around in time to see Marnie and Harvey wander into the store. "Yeah, I guess so." We stood and she made to leave. "Hold on a second! Here, I found a sweet pea on my way." I pulled the flower from my pack and passed it to her.

"Ooo, thanks!" She sniffed it and said "Not gonna say something about it being just like my eyes?"

"I'd like to think I'm a little smoother than that." I shouldered my pack and walked towards the general store. "See you later!"

"Bye! Wait, hey!" I turned back. "I've gotta move a sculpture later and it's kinda awkward for one person. Could you come by around 4?"

My heart leapt. "Yeah! Absolutely!"

"Great! See you then!"

I bought a fresh load of various seeds and spent the morning and much of the afternoon sewing them. My field was growing, now encircled by a fence and watched over by a scarecrow. I was starting to consider automating some of the process, maybe constructing a sprinkler system. Eventually 4 o'clock came around and I wandered south of the farm again.

Leah's cabin door was ajar when I got there. I went to knock, but paused when I heard something inside. Leah was talking to someone. "…many times do I have to tell you, I'm not coming back to the city!" I let my hand fall and considered walking away, until I heard "Stop calling me…I don't want to hear from you anymore!" Leah slammed a phone down hard, the person hadn't been in the same room.

I gently pushed the door open and knocked softly. "Bad time?"

She jumped and spun around. "Ah! Oh, it's you. It is 4, isn't it?" I nodded and she motioned for me to come inside. "Guess you heard me yelling on the phone?" I nodded and closed the door behind me. "That was my ex…"

"I uh, I guessed but I didn't want to assume."

She played with her braid and looked away. "Guess you kinda need more than that, huh?"

"Not if you don't want to."

"I don't mind. We had an apartment together, back in the city. I did odd jobs during the day and spent all night working on art projects…we barely made enough to scrape by." Her face grew sour. "He was always nagging me to go back to school or study business or medicine…something with a lot of money in it. I guess the idea was to save up for a normal life. You know… a house in the suburbs, kids, PTA meetings, that sort of thing." She turned back to me. "I wasn't ready for that kind of life…I had to leave. So I came here." She took a deep breath and looked away again. "Was that selfish of me?"

I smiled weakly and shook my head. "Not even a little bit. You did what you had to." She turned to look at me, violet eyes searching mine. Her expression warmed and she nodded.

"Thanks. You're right, I just needed to hear it from someone else."

"I know the feeling. Besides, your ex sounds like a boring idiot."

She stifled a laugh with her hand. "Harsh! But…yeah, kinda."

"Hey, I recall there was a sculpture that needed moving, right?"

She brightened and spun on her heel. "Yes! It's the one you saw before."

"Got it. Still over here?"

"Mhm!"

I walked back to the other side of the cabin where the carved log was still resting and kneeled down to get a better grip. "Where's it going?"

She bent over the other side of the sculpture and said "Well that's the funny thing. I was thinking, your place."

"Huh?"

"I want you to have it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you've been amazing lately, I want to say thank you somehow."

I grinned like a big idiot. "Lift on three." She tucked her fingers under the sculpture. "One, two, three!" We hefted it very easily. "Oh this is easy."

"Yeah, just awkward. Can you see where you're going?"

"Uh…kinda?"

She giggled and started cautiously for the door. "Hope that field's a little clearer then."

It was, but only just. A few minutes of stumbling later we managed to get in the front door of the cabin. "Where do you want to set it down?" she asked.

"Let's set it down next to the TV." We placed the sculpture down and Brutus immediately trotted up to sniff and rub against the mysterious new object in the house.

"Awww you have a cat!"

"Heh, Marnie found the little guy and…well, I just couldn't say no."

"What's his name?"

"Brutus."

Leah bent over and held her hand out. "Hey Brutus!" The cat turned and sniffed the unfamiliar hand. He mewed quietly and gave her a small nuzzle before marching off to explore the great outdoors.

"Oof, he must be grumpy."

Leah chuckled. "Nah, I know cats. That's pretty high praise." She straightened up and looked around. "Robin's been hard at work, huh? This place looks bigger."

"Yeah, this little cabin's way nicer than before." The once-barren walls now bore paintings of all kinds and a few new windows, the table had comfier chairs, I had a bookshelf full of volumes I'd had shipped in from the city and a few house plants I'd cut from the field outside. "What's the sculpture's name?"

"Hm?"

"I don't see a plaque or anything. What did you decide to call the sculpture?"

Leah thought for a moment and smiled. "I guess it's called 'How I Feel About You.'" I blinked and smiled back. Leah blushed and curled a strand of hair behind her ear. "So, um, I've…got a thing I need to uh…"

I stepped forward and hugged her. "I understand. Thank you for the sculpture."

A small surprised gasp entered my ear, then a small sigh as she hugged me back. "I'm glad you like it."