"And, as promised, a complimentary barn for Oak Tree Town's newest farmer!" Gunther enthusiastically directed Annie to a brick building with a cerulean blue roof.
"Thank you so much, Gunther!" Annie looked over the structure. It was attractive and complemented her house well, not your typical bright red wooden barn. "I really appreciate it."
"My pleasure," Gunther grinned underneath his copper mustache, "I'll see you later, now. Have a good day!"
Annie raised her hand to the air in a good-bye wave as Gunther strode away.
Not long after Gunther had left, Annie spotted the shorter figure of Eda approaching her farm with what appeared to be Hanako in tow. Annie tilted her head quizzically. Does Eda take her cows out on walks? She knew Eda gave her livestock the best of care, but cows needing walks wasn't something Annie had heard of before.
"Eda, hello!" Annie welcomed the elderly woman, "What'cha up to?"
"Gunther told me he was planning to build you a nice new barn, so I brought you a little gift," Eda reached up to pet Hanako's face, "I want you to have Hanako. These days I just can't keep up with both crops and livestock."
"Well, that's no little gift," Annie joked before her expression turned over to concern, "But are you sure? I could just come over and help you out with her when you need it."
"No, no. I've made up my mind. Hanako needs full care every day, and you need a cow to get you started!" Eda wasn't having an easy time giving up the cow, but Hanako deserved to be in hands that could give her the attention she needed.
"Then I'll do my best," Annie made the promise sincerely as Eda handed her Hanako's lead rope.
Later in the afternoon, after Annie finished up giving Hanako a good brushing, she heard the subdued vvvt-vvvt of her cellphone vibrating in her backpack. She retrieved her phone from the forest green, cotton rucksack and read the message awaiting her.
It was a text from Iris, reading: "Hello Annie! I'm having a few of the girls from town over tonight to catch up. You should come as well, to get to know them better!"
Annie smiled at Iris' kindness in extending an invite to her. She gathered her things and headed inside to change into an outfit more presentable than the work clothes she'd worn all day.
As the sun neared the end of its trip toward the horizon, a mahogany-haired farmer stood outside Iris' door, uncertain if her perpetually soft knocking had been heard, until the door swung open to reveal an elegantly tall blonde.
"You came!" Iris' smile shone in the last remaining sunlight of the evening, "Glad to have you with us." Annie stepped into the home at Iris' invitation, entering a room that contained a handful of the young women who resided in Oak Tree Town.
"Annie, you may have met them before, but I'd like to introduce you to Angela, Agate and Lillie." Iris indicated who was who with a gesture of her hand as she listed their names.
Annie lifted her hand in a reserved little wave and uttered a quiet "Hello." She wasn't always too introverted, but greeting multiple new faces at once is a formidable task in just about anyone's eyes.
"I'll go put on some tea, be back in a sec," Iris sauntered into the kitchen, leaving her guests to talk amongst themselves.
"So you're Annie, the new farmer," Agate said, less a question than a statement. The slender park ranger spoke with a light Australian accent, one that had faded almost entirely in years away from her birthplace, but still clung to the edges of her words as a subtle reminder of her roots.
"Yeah, I moved here about ten days ago," Annie replied politely.
"Ohhkay, as much I'm sure Annie's dying to tell the tale of how she just moved here and how much she's liking the town for probably the hundredth time this week," Lillie groaned from the couch across from Agate, having already heard the "tale" herself, prompting a giggle from Annie and mock offense from Agate, "let's get to some real conversation."
"Well then, what do you want to talk about, Lillie?" Agate questioned the energetic younger girl, a single eyebrow raised.
"Y'know, the kinds of things you only talk about in groups of girls like this. Hair, clothes..." Lillie took a moment to wiggle her brows up and down, "Boys."
"Oh, but I'd be quiet if I were you, for fear your sweet Mistel might hear you," Agate teased the weather girl.
Iris returned to the room, kettle and teacups neatly arranged on a tray, and chuckled at what she heard, "He's not here. I told him he had to go to a friend's house for the night." Iris was well aware of Lillie's crush on her younger brother, but she didn't mind it at all. Lillie was a kind girl, well-liked throughout town, and Mistel's older sister would have no qualms should the pair end up a couple. If Lillie ever told him how she felt, that is.
"Hey, I'm not the only one with a crush around here," Lillie turned the focus to her peers, "I'm sure you all have one of your own. How about you, Agate? Don't think I don't see you making eyes at Raeger," she pressed.
Agate smirked, "Aw, come on now, I'm only human. And certainly not the only one."
Lillie gave a conceding nod, unable to disagree. It was rare for anyone to claim Raeger wasn't a pretty face. Lillie moved her attention to the only one in the room who was actually in a real relationship, Angela.
"How're things with Nadi, Ange?"
"Ah, going quite well," Angela's creamy white cheeks flushed with a rosy pink hue while she spoke of her recently steady boyfriend, "He's really very sweet when you get to know him." The nurse sat pressed against the arm of the sofa, hair still tied up neatly in a bun, despite being off of work.
Iris showed Angela a warm smile, "I'm happy for you both. I'm sure we all are." The nurse wasn't too much younger than Iris herself, so she was glad that Angela may have found her 'special someone' before she got to that age where you started worrying when it would happen. Unless, of course, love wasn't a major goal in your life. In spite of her partiality to writing romance novels, Iris wasn't in much of a rush to get hitched. She didn't consider herself too old, like some might, either.
"That leaves Iris and Annie," Lillie's mouth formed a mischievous grin, "Go ahead. We all fessed up!"
Annie spoke first. "Otmar," her voice and expression combined were dead serious, "I think a man who runs his own business is sexy. Plus, I've always wanted a grand-daddy type. Like Hugh Hefner but with fewer blondes hanging onto his arms." Annie didn't break her deadpan facade once, a result of lifelong sarcasm that, at this point, no one who didn't know her well could be sure how to take.
The women in the room stared, forcing their jaws not to fall, until Annie finally let herself erupt into giggles.
"Wow, okay," Agate laughed, "You had me fooled for a second there."
Lillie took a sip of her tea. "Stay away from my grand-dad."
"Too late," the farmer quipped back.
Iris diverted her violet eyes to the delicate cup of milky tea she held in her hand, suddenly appearing very interested in it. She'd be the one they pestered next. There was no way the novelist was going to tell who she had grown to have feelings for. She certainly couldn't say anything in front of Annie. Iris' romantic personality didn't have the heart to get in the way of a smitten young girl's infatuation, no matter how much Iris cared for the man herself.
"Well, don't look at me. My love is my writing," Iris half-lied. The novels she wrote were her passion as of late. Only Mistel was more important.
"Aww, you two are no fun. You with your jokes, and you with your oh-so-noble 'my work is my love.'" Lillie rolled her eyes in a playful manner, "We'll get your crushes out of you yet. And if you really don't have any, well, we'll find you some!"
Annie chuckled softly and finished the last few drops of her tea. "Then I guess you'll be on the hunt."
Author's Note:
The ending of this chapter was edited about an hour after I published it, so it didn't seem like a "love triangle" was about to become the main plot line. It will be there, but I personally don't care for making a love triangle the focal point of a story.