Chapter 20: Boys Night Out

Secretly Jack had hoped that Karen had turned and run.

He still did not believe that she didn't feel anything that day. Why else would she go to him? She had truly needed him that day. He felt it. That wasn't a mistake.

He could still feel her gentle touch on his skin. The sweet taste of her lips upon his. Her body close to his. It was all a mistake? She had to be lying. He had never felt anything like that before.

So of course he had hoped that she wouldn't go through with the wedding. But there was one thing he learned the hard way about the townsfolk; they always did what they were supposed to. Karen married Rick because she was supposed to. And that was that.

Jack had decided to put all his energy into the farm. He was more determined than ever to be successful there. It had become a habit for him to put in close to ten hours a day working on the farm. Even so, all the work in the world could not keep Jack's mind off of her.

The town had generally left Jack alone. Nobody knew what had made him so upset and nobody wanted to ruin the high morale after the wedding in order to find out. So it was surprising to Jack one evening when he heard a knock at his door.

His heart sank when he opened it. He had hoped it was her, there to tell him that she had run away from the wedding and would never consider marrying Rick again. Instead, it was a messy haired young man with a large grin on his face.

Cliff scratched his head nervously once he noticed how Jack looked. "Hey Jack, I hope this isn't a bad time." Jack shook his head. "I came by because you know I never thanked you for getting me that job over at the winery."

"It was no big deal." Jack began to close the door but Cliff held it open.

"No, it was a big deal to me. You're a real lifesaver Jack. I wanted to repay you some how. I thought we could go camping!"

"Camping?"

"Yes camping. Gray is setting up the tent up on Mother's hill and we're bringing a few fishing rods."

"Tonight???" Jack was clearly not in the mood.

"Yes tonight. Come on! It'll just be us guys. You can return to your voluntary seclusion in the morning."

"Fine." He wasn't sure why he agreed to do this. Maybe it would get him to stop thinking about her for a night.

Jack dug through his toolbox for his fishing rod. It had been a gift from a kind old fisherman who he hadn't seen in many weeks. He made a note to visit Greg whenever he got a free moment and then left his house with Cliff.

Halfway up Mother's Hill the boys met up with Gray. He had the tent already set up and was having difficulty with his fishing line. Cliff took it out of his hands and fixed it for him.

"Hey! I had that." Gray grunted and Cliff laughed.

"Yeah maybe you'd have it by tomorrow!" He handed the pole back to Gray.

"I didn't realize you guys were such good friends," Jack commented as he sat down at the edge of the pond and began to set up his line.

"Well hello to you too." Gray tossed his line into the water.

"If we weren't friends then I would never get any sleep, you know? I'd be too afraid of him attacking me!! You know he has biiigg hammers…" Cliff showed with his hands just how big.

Jack finally cracked a smile. It had been some time since he had smiled. It was a refreshing feeling.

"Haha. Very funny." Gray smirked.

Cliff bowed. "I'll be here all week!" He laughed. "I was going to be a stand up comedian you know. But I decided it was much easier to be a hobo pouting inside the town church. That is, until this guy came along and told me to get a life!"

"That isn't what happened."

"It was something like that." Jack rolled his eyes. "How did you know I needed a job? I only spoke to you once before at Ann's birthday party."

"Ann told me." Jack set his fishing pole down at his side. He didn't even feel like fishing. He looked up at the evening sky. The sun was setting now and it was nice to watch.

"Oh, Ann." Cliff sat down next to Jack and snatched up his fishing pole. He quickly set it up and cast it into the water. "Speaking of Ann, she keeps asking about you Jack. I guess you haven't seen her in a while?"

"I've been busy." Jack continued to stare ahead and watch as the sun slowly disappeared.

"Yeah, Mary has been wondering where you have been too." Gray turned to look at Jack.

Jack didn't say anything right away. He wasn't sure what they were getting at. After a few moments he felt the guys starring at him from either side and he looked back and forth at them. "What are you trying to say?"

Cliff suddenly went from goofy and friendly to shy and serious. "It's just that they ask about you a lot…"

Jack jumped up and looked accusingly at the other men. "Is that what this is all about??"

"No!" Gray was the first to answer.

"No way Jack. I really did want to repay you for getting me that job. It's just that… uh… I don't know how to say it…" Cliff trailed off and looked away.

"They are my friends. That's it." Jack sat back down. The boys sat in silence for a while.

Cliff was the first to break the quiet. "Hey Jack, do you have any cucumbers?"

"What? Why do you want cucumbers?" Jack looked at the man, confused. Cliff was back to his goofy grinning self.

"I heard that if you throw a cucumber into the pond that a creepy green beast will come out and talk to you." Cliff laughed.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Gray grumbled.

"Where did you hear a crazy story like that?" Jack questioned.

"From Carter, so it must be true!" Both Jack and Gray groaned at the same time. Cliff just laughed in response. "You guys need to lighten up."

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The next day, Karen was outside the Poultry farm taking the laundry off of the clothesline. There was no honeymoon for her and Rick. They had just one night at the Inn to spend together. Lillia was sick and there was too much work to be done on the farm to take any time away from it.

She glanced across the stream that separated Lillia's property from Jack's. From where she was she could see Jack's farmland, with a clear view of the spot she and him had planted the Magic flowers. She felt a strange feeling from deep inside when she realized that Jack had let the flowers dry up and die. Karen could not figure out why she felt this way.

It was because she would never know what color those flowers turned out to be.