Chapter Four

Summer had been passing by slowly. Claire still went over to Trent's to drop off herbs, and sometimes he'd ask her a little about her farm, and even more rarely she'd drop off some eggs or vegetables for him too. Working was growing incredibly tiring, too, so when she finished everything late in the evening, she always went to Doug's Inn for a good meal. There, she started talking a lot more to Ann and her boyfriend, Cliff (who was actually super quiet). In fact, she was starting to get on really well with all of the townspeople now that she hung around them a lot more.

Finally, it was drawing nearer to fall, making the farm work a lot more bearable with the cooler weather. On a calm-winded afternoon, Claire was surprised at how early she'd finished with her crops, so hopped in the shower and went off to look for any extra herbs to bring to Trent. Arriving at the Clinic, Elli cast her the same awkward look she always did: her lips sucked in and round brown eyes staring wide and curiously. The nurse could obviously tell that Claire had feelings for Trent, which didn't seem to strike well with her. Claire had always wondered if anything had ever went on between the two that caused Trent to not like her… would she make the same mistake?

The Doctor wasn't in his office (probably with a patient), so Claire took a seat in front of his desk and perched the herb filled basket on top of her knobby knees. Looking around his tidy office, there wasn't any pictures of his family like most personal spaces she'd been in before. Just books and papers and medicine. She started wondering about his personal life-in fact, he'd never really mentioned anything about his family or friends or anything, ever. It wasn't like they'd met outside of the Clinic that much, but still, Trent at least knew a bit of her background due to the other townspeople. All she really knew about him was his educational history.

Swoosh! "Oh, hello," Trent said from behind her, talking absent-mindedly as he scribbled down something in his notes. "Come with the usual today, huh?"

Claire smiled, extending out her arms to give him his herbs. He looked up, seeming a little distracted in his mind. She could feel her expression changing. "What's up?"

A frown had deepened on his face. He took the basket and emptied it on his desk, using a pair of rubber plastic gloves to sort through them. "It's…" the Doctor released a heavy sigh. "It's nothing. I guess sometimes I get a bit frustrated, that's all."

She stared at him, not really knowing what to say. Frustrated about what?

He seemed to have read her mind. "We learn as doctors that we can't cure everyone. We do all we can do, but nature has a mind of its own. Maybe it's because I'm not experienced enough or something…but whenever I work with a patient and I can't do absolutely everything to end their pain… I always feel like it's my fault. You can only be so smart."

"I think you're brilliant!" Claire leaned in, feeling so bad about his discouragement. "I mean, you work so hard! You're always researching things and looking for new medicines! And you even graduated from medical school so many years in advance! You're right, nature does have a mind of it's own, and you can't fix everyone. But from what I've seen, you're one of the most amazing doctors all around. You should really be proud of yourself. If you can't cure everyone, know that's not because of you…because you're spectacular." She held her breath, realizing that all of her mushy thoughts had been poured out in front of him.

Trent gawked at her for a moment, dumbfounded. "Really? Do you really think so?"

Claire sank back into her chair, giving a quick nod.

"That's so nice of you…" He rolled up his sleeves, leaning into his palm and staring out into space. "Maybe you're right. I'll take what I've learned and will just have to work even harder!"

She cocked her head a little. Did she say that?

He bared a toothy grin, staring deep into her eyes kindly. "Thank you, Claire. Nobody's ever listened to me about my worries. It means a lot, you know."

"Doctor! Jeff is here to see you!" Elli called from the front desk.

Claire nodded, still feeling shy about her outburst, and excused herself. She walked outside and started heading to Doug's Inn, the cool air feeling nice on her warm cheeks. Sometimes she felt bad for the poor guy; he seemed so misunderstood in this little town. Yeah, everyone looked up to him, but he wasn't Superman either. He had moments of sorrow just like everyone else…

"Hiya, Claire!" Ann cried as soon as she saw her blonde friend enter the inn. "You're looking good! Working hard around the farm?"

Claire snickered, grabbing a wooden chair at the table where she, Cliff, and Kai sat. "Ann, you saw me this morning at the springs."

"Doesn't mean I'm not curious!" Ann said in her rather loud manner. She got up to go pour Claire a mug of beer. "What've you been doing since I last saw you?"

Claire explained to them most of her day: from work, to grabbing herbs, to her visit with Trent. The dark-skinned and charming Kai pursed his lips a little, knitting his brow.

"You sure do see the Doctor a lot, don't you?"

Claire shrugged. People were growing accustomed to asking her that, so she usually just ignored it. Always the same petty gossip anyway.

"I'm serious! I'm surprised that he actually enjoys seeing you so much. He kinda strikes me as a bit of a stiff." Kai explained, waiving his mug around before taking a sip.

For whatever reason, this made her feel a bit defensive. "He is not a stiff. He's just really serious about his work. Nobody really gets him, so he doesn't open up to people."

They all looked shocked, so she turned in her seat and chugged down her glass. Why did she keep embarrassing herself like this?

"He is kind of standoffish, from what we've seen. Gosh, Elli's been going after him for who knows how long, and he's barely even glanced in her direction. Plus, he only comes to festivals when he hears someone sick is going, so he can watch over them. The Doctor never really talks to anyone about normal things." Ann had lowered her voice a bit.

"That's right," whispered Cliff.

"Well, maybe if you tried to get to know him, you'd feel different." Claire was almost all the way turned around, trying to hide her red complexion.

Kai laughed a little. "That's what we've been trying to say! We've all tried hard to know him, even the girl who works with him 24/7, and none of us have made the impact that you have!"

With that, Claire stood up, glaring at them with her furious blush. She couldn't really think of anything to say, but was still astonished. Did Trent really think of her as more than the other townspeople? She shook her head, trying not to get her hopes up, and quickly hurried towards the door.

"Aw, Claire, come on! We weren't being mean or anything!" Ann called, but Claire was already stomping back to her farm.

The next morning, Claire woke up early. The last time she'd woken up before normal was the time she had accidentally run into Trent, but she didn't really want to go out and look for herbs (no matter what the chances were of running into him outside of the Clinic). Instead, she got up to make herself something scrumptious for dinner. She slipped arose the hardwood floor in her socks, only wearing a big shirt that belonged to her dad. Ringo barked for her affectionately, so she bent down to pick him up and give him a few kisses.

"What should we have for brekky today, Ringo?" She asked, rubbing her nose on his.

Suddenly, there was a few sharp knocks on the door. Knocking? This early in the morning? Did something happen? Maybe her parents telephoned, or maybe one of her animals had run out from the farm…

Not thinking about her appearance, she swung the door open. Trent stared back at her, wearing his white button down and black pants. It was Wednesday, his day off, so he didn't have his medical coat or mirror or anything. In his hand, he had a picnic basket that was bustling with food, and in the other, a soft wool blanket. What was he doing there?

"Good morning!" He greeted, rather chipper. Running his eyes over her body, his bright smile fell to something of shock, so she looked down. Shit! She was only wearing her dad's dress-like t-shirt, and no bra or anything! Quickly, Claire folded her arms over her chest and moved a few paces to the left, being a bit more concealed.

"S-sorry, I guess I didn't realize you'd still be-" He began apologizing, but she interrupted him.

"Just never mind… is there something I can help you with?"

Trent wiped the look off his face and went back to the joyful one he had before. "I kept thinking about that time when you gave me breakfast here, on that morning we had run into each other and I made you miss the sunrise. Well, to make up for that, I made a little breakfast for us. I thought maybe we could go to watch the sunrise together, too."

Claire's heart did a little dance behind her ribs. Was this really happening? It was all way too good to be true! She couldn't manage any words, so just stared at him shyly.

"I told you I was going to pay you back, didn't I?"

She nodded, not able to stop looking at him. "Uh, let me just get changed and we can go, okay? Have a seat, if you'd like."

The young Doctor shook his head, leaning against the doorway and turning to look at her farm. The sky was a lovely misty-blue shade, and a little fog was spreading across her field. "That's okay. I'd like to enjoy the scenery while I can."

Claire had to pinch herself just to pull away from the situation. Running to her room, she threw on her flannel shirt and overalls. Then she walked back to the doctor, closing the door behind her.

"Okay, let's go!" Trent threw the blanket over his broad shoulder and began cutting across her farm, towards the trail.

"Um, where are we going? Don't you want to go to the beach?" Claire asked quietly, tottering behind him.

He shook his head, Claire noticing for the first time how tall he was (she was 5'6, and he was towering over her! He had to have been 6'2 or more!). "Nope. I'm taking us to the best viewing spot in all of the town. The best viewing spot in all of the world, in my opinion!" He chuckled, picking up the pace a bit. Claire huffed a bit, trying to keep up with his long-legged strides.

They hiked up the trail all of the way, which eventually led up Mother's hill. When they reached the peak, Claire was keeling over with her hands on her knees, breathing deeply. She didn't really even get the notion to look around until Trent said something.

"Isn't it just beautiful?" He gawped, setting down the basket and blanket and holding his head high. "Just look at it!"

She came to stand next to him, and surely enough, it was gorgeous. The hill overlooked miles and miles of green forest, and at the horizon there was a perfect view of the cloudless sky. The sun had just started to peek up, creating the most stunning visions of pink, red, orang, blue, and violet. Claire was breathless, and not from trying to keep up with him, either. "Why haven't I ever been up here?"

"Not a lot of people take the time to make it all the way up to the peak. Which is understandable. A lot of the folks in Mineral Town are always really busy. But sometimes, they'll make it up for the Moon Viewing Festival."

Claire turned around to see he had already set up everything and was sitting down. There was tons of food-eggs, baked potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, eggs, muffins, bread, mixed fruit, sausages, and little pitchers of milk, water and juice. Claire couldn't suppress her geeky grinning. This was all just like a dream!

They started eating, and Trent asked her a few questions about what she did before she came to Mineral Town, which she was sure he already knew the answer, but told him anyway. Still, he seemed interested, asking her about her old job and school and whatnot. Wondering about his past life, she went ahead and asked him the same question he asked her.

"So, what was it like before you moved here?"

Trent thought about this, chewing on a cut of watermelon. "Hmm. I guess I studied a lot. There really wasn't much time for anything else." He cleared his throat. "Both my parents were doctors, too, actually."

"Really?" Claire raised her flaxen eyebrows. No wonder he was so smart!

"Yes. They were extraordinarily brilliant. Always at their offices, working hard and studying. In fact," he let out a deep breath, watching calmly as the sun started rising. "They never really spent much time with me. I had a nanny, who looked after me most of the time. She was a wonderful caretaker, but I still longed for the affection from my parents. I pushed myself so hard in school to become a great doctor, entering university early. I thought that pursuing the occupation that both of them had would make it easier for us to talk about things. I guess not," Trent reached forward, taking a sip of water. "Even after I graduated at the top of my class in medical school, they were still too busy to even attend the ceremony… Sometimes I wonder if the way they treated me caused me to be like this. I can't really connect to people in a normal way. I'm a bit awkward in social conversation with those I don't know well… the only thing I'm good at is talking about medical agenda." He stopped for a moment, clenching his jaw, then turning to her as to rebut his earlier statements. "Not that I didn't respect my parents! They were truly magnificent doctors, everyone praised them for what they did!"

Claire sat, shocked. She had no idea that he had so many insecurities like that! Slowly, she turned to look at him. His face was tilted towards the sky, which was still slowly being lit up by the sun. He looked so peaceful with his hair loose and jaw relaxed; it was as if there was no worry in the world with that expression, when in reality there was a ton of things coursing his mind. The way he could just push it all away and go on with his life… it inspired Claire. She could never be so selfless.

That was the exact moment she knew it; she was falling for him.

"I don't think that you're like that all, Trent," she said after a while. He turned back to face her, eyes still somber. "You care so much for the people of this town, everyone knows that. They're always saying how much they love you because of all that you do. And you're so tirelessly focused on how to help them, that and nothing else. You don't connect to them normally because you connect to them in a totally higher level… I love that about you." Claire knew she said it, and she wanted to. She didn't even care to take it back, waiting with her breath held for his response.

Trent shook his head, biting his lip a little. "I don't know. Maybe you're right." He looked back up at her, straight into her eyes. It didn't seem like he had regarded the "love" comment that much. "You know what, Claire? I've always been a bit jealous of you. You can talk to the people of this town so freely… you open up to any one of them with ease, even when you don't know them at all. I'd really like to be more like you, I think." He let out a heavy exhale, smiling. "Thank you for listening to me. I've never talked to anyone about these things before."

She was staring at him in that stupid lovestruck way again. "You can always talk to me, Trent."

He kept grinning silently to himself, looking back into the sky. When the sun was all of the way up, they decided to pack up so Claire could return to her farm. As he was walking her home, he expressed his wishes to continue meeting up with her every Wednesday to watch the sunrise. She agreed immediately.