Chase planted Akari's shovel in the damp soil and leaned against it, panting like a dog. He had been working since six that morning, and the late summer heat was merciless. His pale skin felt like it was sizzling under the cloudless sky, and he found himself silently begging for rain. Only now did he realize how soft he truly was—he'd never done manual labor before. And here was Akari, as bonyas the shovel he gripped, handling farm work every day like it was nothing. Embarrassed didn't even begin to cover it.
"You can take a break anytime, you know!" Akari called from the barn door, smirking. Chase could tell she was enjoying this—watching the arrogant, know-it-all chef sweat like a 500-pound guy on a treadmill. He was used to the heat from standing over grease and gas stoves with no air conditioning, but this was something else entirely. He wiped his forehead, feeling the sweat drip down his back. Working the farm was a whole different beast, and Akari clearly knew it.
"I'm fine!" He called back. He unearthed the shovel and began digging. Akari wanted him to dig holes in the river plot and the plot in front of her house. Altogether he dug 245 squares in the past four hours, and now he needed to dig five more. His workmanship was shoddy to say the least, but the brunt of the work was God she hadn't purchased the farm plot; he didn't think he would be able survive shoveling 200 more squares of soil.
"You'll cut your time in half once you get the hang of it," she said as she led her cow and her horse out of the barn.
Hopefully, I won't have to be here long enough to get the hang of it, he thought.
A day later, Chase still couldn't figure out why he had accepted Akari's offer. The crumpled boat ticket from Ozzy sat in his pocket—a wasted 400g. He knew he was leaving the island eventually. That familiar itch to move on, to travel again, was already creeping up on him. The bar burning down just pushed him out the door sooner. He'd always left places on a whim, with no clear destination in mind. Where could he go this time? For years, the inn had been his home. Colleen, Jake, Yolanda... even Maya. They were like family. Yet here he was, restless, feeling like he needed to get away from them to find something—anything—that would make him feel alive again. But no matter where he went, the boredom always seemed to follow.
Akari of all people convinced him to stay. In fact, she was the only person to ask him to. Everyone else expected him to leave. Kathy even told him to send a postcard from whatever cool place he ended up in. He was free to do as he wanted. But what did he want?
"So, how do you make money around here, anyway?" He asked. Akari returned from her house with a tall pitcher of orange juice. His favorite. The ice cubes rattled against the glass as she walked.
She poured some orange juice in a Styrofoam cup and handed it to him. He gulped it down in fiveseconds. He could have drunk the entire pitcher, as parched as he was. "I make money lots of ways. But with farming, I ship my crops. The better the quality, the more money I get."
He extended his cup out to her, requesting more orange juice. This time she filled it to the brim.
"What else do you do?" He asked.
She shrugged. "Most of my income comes from mining. But I don't do it too often because it's expensive and time consuming. I spend all day in there, and sometimes I have nothing to show for it."
He frowned. He didn't know whether to be amazed or jealous. "You mine, too? Geez, who are you anyway?"
She laughed. Chase could see she was still in pain, although she had been cheerfulall morning. Her subtle winces and pained movements didn't slip past him. "Wonder Woman, obviously," she said.
He rolled his eyes. This side of Akari was new to him. In their past encounters, she was either agitated or downright depressed. But now, she was... cool, , he reminded himself that this was just business. Once the bar was rebuilt, he'd never have to deal with her again. The thought washed over him like a wave of relief.
"Arrogant, aren't we?" He teased.
She rocked on her heels. "Nah, just confident."
She was cute, even with that patch of gauze on her forehead. He winced and forbade himself for thinking like that. "So, uh, what else do I have to do?"
Akari reached into her pocket and placed 200g in his hand. "Nothing. I still need to buy seeds for you to plant, but you can do that tomorrow."
He gawked at the money in his palm, still outstretched. "200g? The hell? That's chump change!"
Now she rolled her eyes. "You forget I have to make money before I can pay you. That money came out of my own savings, dummy."
He stared at her. "But it's going to take forever for your crops to grow."
She gave him a pitying look. "It takes five days for my crops to grow, nine maximum. That's hardly forever."
Chase sighed. He hoped he could survive off of 200g every day for the next few days. Doable but not ideal. Or he could board Pascal's ship and never have to participate in farm work for the rest of his life. He chose the former for reasons unknown to him.
"You're going home, right?"
He nodded.
"You want to go with me to Marimba Farm to pick up some fertilizer and seeds?"
He shrugged. "Depends. Are you going to pay me another 200g?"
She nudged his side with her elbow, and despite himself, he laughed. After a bit of playful nagging, he finally agreed to walk with Akari to the farm. As they walkedin silence, he couldn't help but steal curious glances at her. Why was she being so friendly? He got that you had to be civil while working together, but this felt different.
He opened his mouth to speak before the two of them ran into an unlikely but familiar face.
Akari stopped as if she had collided into a brick wall. "Owen?"
He was carrying a brown bag of milk, cheese and eggs before setting it down to hug Akari. Chase shifted uncomfortably and sidled over to the other side of the dirt path.
"Akari!" He cried.
She hesitated before wrapping her arms around his waist. "Where were you? Did you know I was in the clinic?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I found out yesterday evening."
"Yesterday evening? Where were you?"
He shrugged. "Working as always. From dawn to dusk."
Chase opted to say something but decided to keep his mouth knew Owen was lying. But every time he opened his mouth, trouble seemed to follow behind.
"Kathy stopped by yesterday morning and Chloe told her you were still sleeping."
He laughed. "I left before she and UncleRamsey woke up. She never saw me leave and probably assumed I was still asleep."
He reached out to cup Akari's face, which was masked with skepticism and confusion. "UncleRamsey told me Kathy stopped by when I got back around 9:00. I figured you were resting by then, and I was just on my way to see you. I'm glad you're okay. Are you still in a lot of pain?"
She sighed. "Yes, but these painkillers are helping some. But I still can't remember what happened."
"Nothing at all?"
"Nope."
Chase cleared his throat. This guy was lying through his teeth, and he couldn't tell if Akari was oblivious or not. Owen tossed a glance his way.
"What's he doing here?" Owen asked her.
Akari sent Chase an apologetic look. "Oh, he was helping me get some things from Marimba Farm."
The dark look on Owen's face was exactly how Chase remembered it from a few weeks back. He was just as unfazed by it now as he was then.
"I'll help you," Owen offered.
She shook her head. "You already look busy…"
"Never too busy for you," he said, smiling. He planted a kiss on her cheek, giving Chase a sideways look of triumph as he did so.
Akari shrugged. "Okay, cool."
She looked over at Chase. "I'll see you later then."
"Yeah. Right," he answered.
No way was he going in that direction now. He headed in the opposite direction into town, feeling strangely agitated. Angry. Suddenly hungry. He headed to the inn, head downcast as he navigated through some of the villagers who were still cleaning up the debris from the storm. He glanced in the direction of the bar and felt a pang of sadness. Luke, Dale, Bo and his white Pyrenees were there, sizing up the destruction with looks of defeat, although the dog's tongue lapped with content.
The gold bell to the inn jingled when he opened the door. The scent of spiced pumpkin filled the room. Yolanda was cooking, and he found himself longing to be in the kitchen with her.
He greeted Colleen with a quivering smile, which she seemed not to notice. "Hi, Chase! I thought you'd be gone by now, even though I'm glad you're not."
"I'm staying," he responded coolly. "Or, well...I don't know. But for now, I'm here."
She nodded. "One day I hope it's for good. So, what changed your mind?"
His eyes scanned over the menu above him. Orange cake, orange pie…
"I got a job at Akari's farm."
She beamed. "Oh, that's wonderful! How is she? I heard about her injury."
He settled on the orange cake, which cost almost as much as Akari paid him. Oh well. "She's fine. I mean, she looks okay. I'll take a slice of orange cake."
He paid for his dessert and managed to escape from a teary-eyed Maya who hugged him with superhuman strength. Apparently she heard the news of him leaving. Colleen told him Maya was distraught and balling her eyes out all night over it. Geez.
Chase's aggravation subsided, and he wandered around the town as he ate. He didn't know what to do with himself now. Work kept him occupied for twelve hours at a time and now he had nothing to do. He stopped by a flyer posted on the bulletin board advertising for the Summer Festival in a couple of days. He hadn't been to the festival in years. He thought about Akari. He wondered if she liked that sort of thing. But what difference did it make? If he really wanted to go, he'd ask Kathy.
Still...