Chapter Text
Summer, Week 1
Shane wakes up to the blare of noise coming from the radio besides his head and the sound of the cows. He had gotten sort of used to it in the few months that he had been living here, but sometimes in the mornings he still found himself a bit disoriented, having previously lived in the city for the whole rest of his life.
As he got ready for work, Shane found himself wishing that he could just stay in bed all day. But he did have rent to pay (although Aunt Marnie made it generously low) and he spent too much of his money on beer to skip work. So he had to go.
“Morning Shane,” Marnie says as he enters the kitchen. “How’d you sleep?”
Shane shrugs. “Fine, I guess.” Jas is also at the table, and as Shane passes her to grab a piece of toast he gives her a pat on the head.
He practically swallows the toast whole and chugs down a glass of orange juice before rushing off to work. It’s one of his early morning shifts, starting at around nine, and he doesn’t want to hear the complaints from Morris if he’s even one minute late.
He gets to work exactly on time, clocks in, and goes about his business. Everytime Sam catches his eye, Sam gives him a big grin, but Shane just ignores him.
The day passes by slowly, but eventually he gets to the end of his shift. From there he changes in the Joja Mart restroom, which is absolutely filthy, and heads straight to the saloon. There he drinks until about eleven at night, and heads home with Marnie. There he showers quickly and passes out almost instantly upon hitting his mattress.
Then he wakes up the next morning and the cycle repeats. The only real difference is how drunk he gets. Other than that, nothing really changes.
Until Thursday, when at work, Sam bumps into a shelf at work and knocks a whole twelve pack of Joja Cola cans onto his ankle. He yelps and falls to the floor.
“Holy shit,” Shane says, rushing over and pulling the can off of him. “Are you ok?”
Sam nods. “Just hurt my ankle I think. Stupid old shelves.”
“What’s going on over here?” Morris demands. He marches towards them angrily.
“Sam got hurt.”
“That's a perfectly good product that’s probably gone to waste, Sam!” Morris scolds Sam and picks up the cans. “They seem to be in okay condition so we can sell them anyways. Still, next time that happens you’re in for it.”
“You’re missing the point- he’s injured. He needs to see Harvey.” Shane snaps. Morris scoffs.
“He’s fine.”
“Look at his ankle!” There’s a red mark quickly turning purple on Sam’s leg, and Morris seems a little uneasy upon seeing it.
“Fine, go.” He relents. “But I want you back here as soon as possible!” Sam nods, and tries to get up, but only succeeds in stumbling around on the floor a bit. Shane goes to help him up, and when he gets Sam’s arm around his shoulder the two of them go slowly towards the door.
“Wait a minute, I didn’t say you could go too!” Morris points at Shane.
“What, do you want him to crawl there? He can’t walk!”
Morris squints at them both before letting out an aggressive sigh. “Fine, fine, whatever, go with him. But I want you back here as soon as possible, understand?”
“Got it,” Shane lifts up Sam and slings his coworkers arm over his shoulder, supporting him with his left arm. As soon as they hobble out of earshot, Shane mutters. “Prick.”
Sam snickers. “Tell me about it.”
They make it to the clinic fairly quickly; Sam may be injured but he’s still quite spry, so it takes just about five minutes for them to get inside.
The second they get inside, Shane’s mood sinks lower than it was already. Maru’s standing there, at the counter, in a nurse's outfit. On the contrary, she looks overjoyed to see the two of them.
“Sam, Shane!” She says, almost giddy with joy. “How are my boys?”
Shane says “We’re not your boys.” at the same time as Sam says “Good, thanks!”
Maru’s vision drifts to Sam’s ankle, and she frowns. “What happened? Work accident?”
Sam nods. “Knocked some cans over onto myself.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to wait a few minutes to see the doctor. Caroline’s having her annual right now. She should be just about finished, but there’s no guarantees.”
Shane leads Sam to the waiting area and sits him down on one of the plastic chairs. The sound of footsteps starts up and grows louder and suddenly Maru is right there behind them.
“Alright, let’s take a quick look.” She kneels down and carefully brushes her fingers against Sam’s ankle.
“Ouch.” Sam hisses as she squeezes gently.
“Sorry,” she says, continuing her examination. It’s quiet for a minute before she speaks again. “You look surprised to see me, Shane. Did you forget I work here?”
“I would say no, but that would be lying.” He shrugs, not particularly embarrassed about it.
“Dude, don’t you see her when you come in here sometimes?” Sam says.
“He never comes in.” Maru uses both of her hands to examine the injury now.
“Not even for physicals?”
“That’s none of your business.” Shane says at the same time as Maru shakes her head.
The door leading to the back swings open, and Caroline comes out.
“Thank you Doctor Harvey!” She heads over to stand in front of the counter and Maru gets up and heads into the back. She emerges behind the counter a few seconds later, and sits down.
“Doctor, Sam’s here with a minor leg injury, possible sprain.” She calls over her shoulder.
Harvey emerges from the back room, clipboard in hand.
“Thank you Maru. Let’s get you back here, Sam. It’s probably nothing-“ The doctor visibly startles as he spots Shane. “Good Yoba, Shane?”
Shane awkwardly rubs the back of his head. “Hey Doctor.” Sam moves to stand but wobbles, and Shane catches him before realizing that he’ll need to help Sam get back there. “Come on, let’s go.”
Together they head to the back examination room and seat Sam down on the exam table.
“Well, now that you’re here, I’m gonna head back. Can’t have the boss yelling at both of us.” Shane heads for the doorway, but is stopped by Harvey.
“I know you’re just here to help Sam Shane, but as long as you’re in my office-“ he starts.
“No! No way, not getting an exam. No thank you.” Shane raises his voice a bit.
“Come on dude, you’re already here.” Sam says. Shane isn’t looking at him but he can sense the smirk on his face.
“No, no, and no! Not happening.”
“Shane, in the end it’s your choice, but…” Harvey makes a face like a wounded puppy. “I would really appreciate it if you would stay so I can examine you. Make sure you’re healthy. Just so you can have a good, long life with your family.”
Shane isn’t against missing work, but he can’t really afford it. “No way, Morris would be fucking pissed.”
“I‘ll call and tell him you got injured on the way here!” Maru chimes in.
“Are you gonna let her lie?” Shane exclaims, turning to Harvey. The doctor doesn’t seem like the type to tolerate that sort of thing.
Harvey looks sheepish. “Normally I wouldn’t but… considering this might be my only chance to examine you ever I should take the chance.”
Shane blinks. Unbelievable.
That’s how he ends up in the recovery ward, about two hours later, lying down after Harvey took blood and made him super dizzy. Sitting in the bed next to him is Sam, looking quite pleased despite being in a doctors office.
“What are you grinning about?” Shane snaps, though his tone lacks any real bite.
“Just think it’s kinda funny.”
“What’s funny?”
Sam grins wider. “If I hadn’t injured myself, you wouldn’t have gotten your physical. So it’s thanks to me that you’re here in the first place.” He reaches over to the nightstand in between them, takes the box of apple juice and holds the straw up to Shane’s mouth. “Drink?” He shoves the plastic insistently against Shane’s lips.
Scoffing, Shane rolls over to the side away from Sam and shuts his eyes.
Harvey eventually comes in and releases them both. It’s about six-thirty, so since they would have been off of work anyways, they decide to head home. Sam, whose ankle is much better, makes it home quickly and without Shane’s help. Shane also makes it back in record time, feeling particularly motivated to change back into his normal clothes and head over to the saloon.
However, when he gets into his room and sits down on his bed to catch his breath, he suddenly feels so overcome with exhaustion that he flops over onto his pillow. There he lies, in his work clothes, promising himself that he’s gonna get up.
He closes his eyes real quickly.
Before he knows it, he jolts awake, darkness overtaking his room, his forehead covered with sweat. Shakily, he grabs his phone from his pocket and checks the time, only to find that it’s currently one-thirty in the morning.
He rubs his eyes with a groan. The saloon is closed by now, and even if it wasn’t he’s too tired to even leave his room, much less head into town.
So he resigns himself to rolling over and falling back asleep.
He wakes up late and has to skip breakfast in order to make it to work on time. Shane’s exactly one minute late, and as he clocks in Morris approaches him.
“What happened with you yesterday?! You were supposed to come back right away, but the doctor called and said you were both too injured to come back to work? Sounds like a stupid excuse to me!” Morris narrows his eyes at Shane.
Shane, having not gotten crazy drunk last night, feels so shaky and nauseous that he can’t even formulate a proper response.
“Hurrgh.” is what he says.
Morris adjusts his glasses and squints a little, then he jolts back in surprise. “Yoba, you look awful. Maybe the doctor wasn’t lying. Well, just get to work, alright?” Then his boss stalks back to his counter.
The rest of the day goes bye with no major issue; however, Shane does feel like he’s two seconds away from exploding. The withdrawal is making him nervous and jittery, and his whole body aches like crazy. The worst part is the nausea- he’d drink a ginger ale or something but he’s pretty sure that he wouldn’t be able to keep it down.
Even Sam looks horrified by Shane’s current state, and actively avoids eye contact for the rest of their shift.
Then they both leave, and Shane’s itching for a beer so badly that he heads straight to the Saloon without changing clothes.
Gus doesn’t appear surprised at his earlier arrival, but one look at him and he jolts.
“Uh, Shane! Didn’t see you yesterday.” He says, attempting to be casual.
“Gus. Beer. Now.” Shane gurgles. “Please.” he adds.
Gus nods. “On it.” With a quick clatter of glass his beer is served, and Shane chugs it down.
The familiar warmth of the alcohol sinks in, and before he notices it he closes his eyes and reopens them to find that it’s more lively in the saloon.
He was woken up by the pressing of something warm against his face. Groggily, Shane looks up to see Gus pushing a plate of pizza against him.
“Gift from Sam.” He says simply. Shane swivels towards the pool table to see Sam, Sebastian, and Abigail playing pool. Sam is watching him and when their eyes meet, Sam flashes him a thumbs up and does a dramatic wink.
Shane nods towards him. “Remind me to pay him back someday,” he says, turning back to Gus.
Later, Marnie has to help him back with an arm around his waist. Shane had drunken three beers one after the other, and was barely able to walk.
“You have to stop this, Shane.” She fretted over him. “It’s bad for you. I don’t know how much more you can take.”
Usually Shane would brush her off, say something about how he didn’t have a problem. For some reason, tonight he didn’t have the energy to pretend.
“M’ sorry,” he slurs. “Don’t wanna be this way.”
They’re both silent the rest of the way back.
Saturday, Summer 6th
Jas’s birthday had been on the Thursday when Shane had had his physical. They didn’t celebrate on the date, because both Shane and Marnie had prior commitments- Shane with his job and Marnie delivering some
baby chickens over to the farmer’s new coop. Therefore, the three of them had agreed to do something on the weekend. Jas didn’t really mind- unlike other kids, she didn’t really want a big celebration with a huge cake and tons of people there, so something with just Marnie, Shane, and herself sounded just perfect. (That didn’t, however, stop Penny and Vincent from celebrating with poppyseed muffins and a sparkly new journal just for her.)
Now that Saturday had arrived, they were preparing to head into the city. Marnie had convinced Lewis to lend them his truck for the trip, so they were driving for about two hours to get there early in the morning.
The truck only had the front seats, so Jas sat on Shane’s lap with him in the passenger's seat and Marnie driving. She had insisted, saying that she needed the practice as she had her license but hadn’t really driven in a while.
They started their drive, and within the first thirty minutes Shane had gotten tired of watching the scenery and began to drift off. So he leaned against the door, Jas tucked securely in his arms, and closed his eyes.
He was awoken by the honk of a horn, and looked around to find that they were entering the city.
“Sorry!” Marnie says, making a motion to a car that’s swerving in front of them. It’s pretty crowded on the roads at this time, as many people are trying to get to work.
Marnie looks over at Shane and smiles. “Morning, sleepyhead. Good thing you’re awake- I have no idea how to get to this place.”
“Yeah, I got it. So when you get to 75th avenue, the road with that ice cream place, you turn right. Then, when you get to the mall-“
-
They make it there in thirty minutes and (surprisingly, because of Marnie’s driving) in one piece. They park and head inside, both of the adults holding one of Jas’s hands. She makes an audible gasp of delight upon looking around.
It’s a big room with one of those dark, carpet floors with neon orange and green accents in the shape of stars and moons. All over kids are running, wearing various bright colored socks. There’s a food stand featuring pizza and hot dogs, but past that is what really captures the attention of every visitor.
A giant area sectioned off with various trampolines waits; there’s solo trampolines, ones with room for families, foam cube pits for jumping into, an area with various obstacles to be traversed, a trampoline basketball court, a slowly spinning cross beams which people are jumping over, and finally an area where people in giant plastic balls are running around.
Jas squeals. “I get to play here?” She looks up at Shane for confirmation, and when he nods she jumps up and down.
They go and get her a bracelet so she can play, but as soon as she’s free to go after taking off her shoes and putting on the new grippy socks, she turns to look at Shane.
“What’s the matter? Don’t you want to play?” Shane sweats nervously, worried that he had picked an activity that Jas wouldn’t enjoy.
“I do but… there are so many other kids here and I’m kind of nervous,” she makes a puppy-dog face at him. “Will you please jump with me, Shane?”
“Oh, uh, well- I don’t know, I think I might be getting too old for jumping.” He replies.
Jas doesn’t seem to believe that. “Please?”
Marnie stifles a laugh. “Go jump with her,” she places a hand on Shane’s shoulder. “It would be rude to deny a request to the birthday girl.”
He relents, going to get a bracelet as well, and being lead by Jas into the park.
While he is too big for some of the activities (such as a rope ladder over a foam pit, which sends him tumbling into the cubes), he is actually able to partake in almost all of them, much to Shane’s chagrin and Jas’s delight. He attempts the monkey bars, plays against Jas and a bunch of other kids on the basketball court, and helps Jas through an obstacle course.
They go against each other in some cases- such as in a sparring match on a beam over a foam pit, where Shane lets Jas use a foam rod to knock him down- but work together in others, such as Shane giving Jas a boost when jumping together so she can go higher than ever. They jump over the rotating cross beams, and Shane only gets knocked over once.
They even go in the giant foam balls, and take turns running into the other as fast as they can.
By the end of it, it’s been three hours and they’re both exhausted and sweaty. Marnie, who was reading the whole time, seems really happy.
They head over to a giant toy store next. Marnie had already gotten Jas something, a new pink dress, but Shane wanted to let her pick out a new doll since there weren’t any for purchase in the valley and he wasn’t exactly sure what she would want.
He has to lift her onto his shoulders so she can reach a pretty doll on the top shelf, with dark brown skin, light purple curls, and a beautiful yellow dress covered in pink accents. They also get another outfit for the doll, a pajama dress with slippers.
After that, they head over to an Italian restaurant so Jas can have lasagna, which she had been asking for for a while. Shane slips out halfway through the meal to pick up her cake from a nearby bakery along with some candles. When Jas finishes eating he brings it out- it’s a pink cake with cherries on top and buttercream roses and daisies decorating the sides.
He doesn’t have a lighter for the candles, but the waitstaff come to the rescue by not only lighting them but also bringing an extra cannoli as a gift for Jas.
The cake is big enough that they can’t finish it all- a few slices are left over for later, which no one has a problem with since it was such a good cake.
They get in the truck right around rush hour, and the extra traffic makes it take an hour longer than it usually would to get back to the valley. Not that Jas would know, since she instantly falls asleep in Shane’s arms as soon as they get into the passenger's seat.
When they do get back, Jas is briefly woken up to change into her bed clothes before she climbs into bed and passes out again. Shane wishes Marnie a good night, and subsequently also falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.
-
“Shane! Someone’s here for you!”
Shane jolts awake, drool wetting the side of his mouth. He wipes it away quickly. Dragging himself out of bed, the clock reads 11:14, so it’s a good thing he doesn’t have work.
Without even changing into his day clothes, Shane staggers into the main room.
There, Maru is standing with a notebook in hand and a backpack on her back.
“What,” says Shane. “Why are you here?” Jas, who is sitting by the door playing with her new doll, looks up at Maru.
“You had an unusually high energy output yesterday. What did you do?” She scans him up and down as if he had gotten into some horrible accident.
Shane huffs. “None of your business.”
“It’s for the experiment, dummy. If it’s something that you don’t normally do, I have to erase the data so it doesn’t skew my overall results.”
“Shane took me trampoline jumping.” Jas supplies helpfully.
Maru nods and scribbles something down in her notebook. “Was that so hard?”
“Bye.” Shane tries to shut the door on her, but Marnie comes up from behind him and keeps it open.
“Ah, Maru! It’s good to see you. Say, your mother ordered some eggs a while ago and the hens finally laid a new batch. Mind taking it over while you’re here?”
“I can do that. Might as well, right?”
“Excellent.” Marnie slaps Shane’s shoulder. “Shane, be a dear and take her to the coop.”
Shane opens his mouth to protest, but a sharp glare from his aunt makes him shut up and nod. “Let me get dressed.” He heads back into his room and quickly gets into his regular outfit. It’s Sunday, so he doesn’t work today.
When he’s dressed Shane walks back into the main room and makes for the door. “Follow me.” He says to Maru, who is sitting politely in one of the chairs they have there.
He leads her to the chicken coop, carefully opening the door to make sure that no hens are resting near it. He then leans down to grab the basket that they keep there on the floor. It’s a woven basket with a plush cloth interior for keeping the eggs safe.
“Alright, which one of you has eggs for me?” Shane looks around at all the hens. “I know you don’t Gretchen, you ingrate.”
A beige hen comes up to Shane, clucking gently. She pecks at his pant leg and then looks up at him.
Shane smiles instantly. “Hi Charlie. How’s my favorite girl doing?” He sets the basket down on the floor and picks the hen up. She clucks happily, nuzzling into his neck. “You got eggs for me?”
Charlie the chicken pecks at the stubble on Shane’s chin. Shane laughs and leans down to look inside one of the little nests.
“Oh, you laid three this week. Very impressive.” Charlie appears to puff up her chest. Shane grabs the eggs and puts them in the basket, Charlie having moved to rest on his shoulder. The hen looks back for a second, and upon seeing Maru, Charlie tilts her head to the side. Maru gives her a small wave.
“We’ve got four from Hansel, two from Lin, and another three from Dolly… okay, that should be a dozen.” Shane finishes putting the eggs in the basket and turns back towards the door. “Down you go girl.” He nudges Charlie, but she doesn’t move. Instead the hen sort of smushes herself into Shane’s hood.
Shane sighs. “I’m sorry Charlie, but you can’t come with me. You never know when Alex will let his dog out, and it’s better safe than sorry.” He takes the hen and holds her up at his eye level, putting the basket down on the floor. “I’ll come right back and spend some time with you. You can come into my room and we can watch some television, how about that?”
Charlie clucks quietly, seemingly ok with that arrangement. Shane nods and sets her down.
“I’ll be back.” He grabs the basket and turns, almost running into Maru. Shane’s face morphs to one of surprise, then of embarrassment. “Oh, I forgot you were here.”
“Rude.” Maru huffs, but there’s no real bite in her tone. She had a feeling that she just saw a side of Shane that was quite private, and was just happy to have been a part of it. Shane rolls his eyes and moves past her to the door, exiting quickly. Maru follows right after him.
They walk for about three minutes in silence before either of them speak.
“I won’t tell anyone, you know.” Maru says as they pass Pierre’s.
Shane looks back from where he was walking ahead to raise an eyebrow at her. “Tell anyone what?”
Maru grins mischievously. “That you’re in love with a chicken.”
“Screw you.” Shane grunts, but his tone doesn’t have as much bite as usual.
They make it up to Maru’s house rather quickly. Maru and Shane both enter.
“You don’t have to come in if you don’t want to, you know.” Maru says.
Shane shakes his head. “If Marnie finds out I didn’t deliver these to Robin personally, she’ll kill me.”
Robin isn’t in her usual spot behind the counter, which is odd considering that it’s a few minutes before nine in the morning.
“Mom?” Maru calls out.
“In here!” The distant voice of Robin rings through the house.
Both Maru and Shane walk in the direction of the voice, finding Robin in the kitchen with both Demetrius and the new farmer, Adler.
They turn upon sensing Maru and Shane’s arrival, gold eyes brimming with curiosity. They wear a worn denim baseball cap, a pair of leather gloves, and a white top with blue stripes . Their surprisingly white teeth contrast their dark brown skin, and the light pink hair is even more surprising.
Adler tips their hat in a friendly manner. “Hi there! Maru and Shane, huh? What an odd pairing.”
“We aren’t a pair.” Shane says coldly.
“What are you all doing in the kitchen at this hour?” Asks Maru.
Robin turns back from where she was at the kitchen counter, holding a jar that appears to be filled with a jam of some sort. “Adler made some strawberry jam and brought it over, so I’d thought that we would try some on waffles.”
“Maru, you snuck out so early I don’t think you had breakfast,” Demetrius says over his shoulder. “Have some, won’t you?”
“Sounds good.” Maru nods and sits down.
“Here’s your egg order, Robin.” Shane walks up to Robin and hands over the basket. “I hope they’re to your liking.” He’s being awfully polite, Maru notes.
“Oh, thank you dear. Say, would you like some waffles? We might have cooked up a bit too much.”
“I would but I… I mean I-“ Shane’s stomach growls in the moment, and he turns a shade of light pink.
Robin giggles. “Seems like your stomach did the talking for you. Go on and sit down.”
Reluctantly, Shane does just that, sliding into the seat across from Maru, with Adler sitting in between them at the side of the table.
“Got roped in, didn’t you buddy?” Adler grins, leaning over to slap Shane’s shoulder.
“Not your buddy.” He grunts, leaning away from them. Maru chuckles and Shane glares at her.
“Children, behave.” Robin says as she comes over with plates. They have waffles covered in strawberry syrup and a side of several types of sliced fruits, like apples, oranges, and even a few blueberries (unsliced). After setting everything down, she claps. “Now, what do you guys want to drink?”
The meal passes by quickly; the jam is delicious, beautifully made with farm grown strawberries from Pepper Farm, and Adler looks quite full of themselves. Sebastian comes up at one point, but upon seeing all the people and Demetrius, he grabs a waffle quickly and scuttles back to his room, ignoring Adler’s attempts to befriend him.
“He’ll come around.” Robin reassures them, while Demetrius rolls his eyes.
Everyone helps clean up once the meal is done, bringing plates and cups to the sink where Demetrius washes and rinses them.
“Thank you mom! The waffles were super good.” Maru says.
“Don’t thank me. Adler brought the strawberry jam.” Robin places her hand on Adler’s shoulder.
“Just doing my job.” They say.
Shane and Adler leave after that. Before Shane can escape, however, Adler shoves another jam jar into his hands.
“For you and Marnie,” they say, grinning. “Mostly for Marnie though.” They then head back in the direction of Rosewood Farm, skipping merrily the whole way.
Shane scoffs and also makes the walk back. On the way, Leah passes by him, and while he would usually ignore the small nod she always gives him, he’s too well fed to be grumpy. So he mutters a “Morning,” to her, and walks by at a more normal pace.
He makes it back to Marnie’s and opens the door. As heads inside he passes by Jas, who is heading out with her jump rope. She blinks up at him.
“Hey kid,” he says. “Want a sandwich with strawberry jam? It’s from the farm.”
Jas nods. “Okay.”
They both head to the kitchen where Shane gets out the bread and starts preparing a sandwich for Jas. She watches patiently from the kitchen table while he works.
When it’s done Shane puts it on a plate, pours her some milk to go along with it, and sets it down.
“Thank you.” She says, almost shyly. Jas was odd in that way- on certain days, like her birthdays or holidays, she was quite extroverted and stubborn, adamant about what she wanted and how she would do it. For the rest of the year, however, she was a bit more reserved, as if she felt like she only had the right to be demanding at specific times.
Selfishly, Shane appreciated it. He knew that most kids her age could be pretty demanding, always needing affirmation and attention. And he wasn’t a great parent, so not having to deal with as much stress was appreciated. Hell, he was barely a parent to begin with. When Jas’s parents had died, he was the only person that could really take care of her; everyone else was either a relative that was way too old or another friend that already had children of their own. So it was Shane or the foster care system, which was already quite full in Zuzu city.
Strangely, it was like Jas knew that. She hadn’t seemed thrilled to be in Stardew Valley at first, but she never complained. Even now, when Shane or Marnie was frustrating her, she shut her mouth and stormed off to play outside or in her room. Jas seemed to be okay with her life, not quite content yet aware of the possible alternative.
Shane felt guilty for this, as if he had messed her up somehow; maybe he had spread all his self-loathing to her and she just kept it all bottled up, unable to express it.
But as she took a bite of her sandwich and smiled as the sweet flavor set in, he felt his heart warm. He was still a screw up, a total loser in life. But Jas had things to look forward to, things to live for, and she was well protected and loved.
As her godfather, you’ll take a role in protecting her. That was what Jas’s mother had said when Shane held her in his arms as a baby for the first time. So far, he was actually doing alright in that department.
Of course, Marnie had a big role in Jas’s success, so he couldn’t take all the credit.
“Do you like it?” Shane asks. Jas nods, “Alright. I’ll speak to the farmer and see if we can get more, or what other types of jam they have, okay?” Jas nods again.
When she finishes she brings her plate to the sink, and manages to place it in despite her height. “Thank you Shane.” Jas says, smiling before picking her jump rope back up and leaving the house. Shane smiles.
“No problem, kid.” He says mostly to himself. Then he frowns. “Crap. Charlie.”
He heads back to the coop, where Charlie is a bit angry with him for his lateness. However, she gets over it quickly when he brings her some apple slices.