Chapter Text
The arrival of the new farmer was quiet, a low thrum of excitement had bubbled through the town, but her arrival was met without much fanfare. Just a quiet step off the bus and there she was. Seemingly demure and not too exciting. She was obviously noticed by all of the locals though but only a few people met her at first- Robin, Lewis, and Pierre.
“She seems sweet, very quiet, but good form when swinging an axe!” Shane had heard Robin chirp while speaking to Jodi outside. He hadn’t cared then, and even now, he barely did. She was generous, and admittedly, she was very sweet, strong, had loads of patience, but it aggravated him to no end.
“Good morning, I’m Laura.” she had said in her soft and steady voice, a small smile picking up at the ends of her lips.
“And? I don’t know you, And I don’t care to either.” Shane had aggressively responded. He had been hungover and annoyed. Sun too bright, air too hot, and her voice too sickening. Trudging to Joja Mart was one of the worst parts of the day especially in the summer. Judging from the fact that it took her a month to say hello to him, she must have taken heed from the other townspeople to not approach him for a while. Hearing the gossip about him was regular for him then.
But now, things were just… different. He didn’t hate Laura, he didn’t much… care for her. But she was good to him, and treated him with respect although they’d never fleshed out much of a deep relationship, she never pushed herself into his life. Which he, when honest, had mixed feelings about.
When the Community Center opened up again, Joja Mart was quickly run out of town, along with his job. Morris, an out of town girl, and himself were left without work. Although he was sure the other two were fine, he wasn’t too sure about himself. The drinking hadn’t yet slowed down for him, he was still burning through cash almost as fast as he made it and once he was out of work he was forced to bum off anyone who would take a scolding type of pity on him, and drown himself in big gulps of water, closing his eyes and pretending it was beer when the pity ran dry. Over time, his dependence waned slightly, and a month or so later Laura came to him with a proposition. Her farm had gotten bigger. The grass a little unruly as she attempted to keep it all tame and functioning. She asked him to help her with her massive amount of chickens, and to tend to the rabbits and ducks as well. Something he enjoyed a little less.
There was always drive in her, a grit that couldn’t keep her down. It was strange for such a small and sweet seeming woman, swinging away with her axe, disappearing until late into the night. Rumors had been flying almost as soon as she had come that she was exploring into the mines. Mines he had only stepped into once, taken a look down into the dark and seemingly endless hole, and quickly stepped back from. One look was enough to satisfy him for a lifetime. But not her apparently. Or so the rumors told him. For the most part though, he was seeing her from afar from around the farm. He had hated what he assumed was pity at first, the job offer, and had almost denied it had the need for cash flow not been so hard on his mind when she first questioned him about it. They’d barely spoken in the two years she’d been in the town. He hadn’t wanted to, and she never tried hard to get words out of him. After time though, he appreciated the work. It was hard work, but it left him feeling fulfilled. More than once she had asked him to do other tasks, doing simple repairs on fences, moving the heaters in and out of the barns, stacking firewood or mucking out stalls. Once even asking him help with pulling hot peppers from the vines. A task he was sure she gave him on purpose as he’d heard a couple giggles after he popped a few in his mouth, it had soured the taste in his mouth, but now after working for her for almost 6 months he looked back on the memory with an almost fondness.
Their interactions were almost always the same.
“Good morning, Shane.” she’d kindly say.
“Morning, Laura.” he’d respond with not much enthusiasm.
“I’ll leave your lunch on the porch when you’re ready.” and he knew she wouldn’t be there to eat it with him. The way he liked it. Instead, she’d work straight through lunch, munching on field snacks while she pulled weeds or tilled soil. He knew she loved the animals but her real passions seemed to lay with gardening. Or maybe monster slaying, if he thought deeper and let his mind run a little more wild.
At first she’d made him his favorite pepper poppers only. But as he continued working, the meals had slowly changed, he wasn’t going to complain much, though as it was free. Parsnips and lentils were added to his catalogue of edible foods. Bok choy, and fennel- even a day when she’d made him a salad stacked with beets and he’d had a shock the next day and a trip to Harvey’s clinic.
“It’s the beets.” Harvey had said with a chortle.
Everyone knew she was having a small effect on him. He’d become more lean, toned, his facial hair less tame as no one was around to get onto him about it except every now and then Jaz telling him he looked like “A wild man”. No doubt referring to Linus. Mainly though, he was more docile. Still could get as mean as always, but no when people said “Hello.” he’d at least nod his head in their direction instead of responding with a scathing comment.
He just wasn’t as angry as he had been. Still a little bitter with the world. But many of his problems seemed distant now-a-days. He was calmer.
________________________________________
“Good morning, Shane.” Laura wlecomed.
“Good morning, Laura.” Shane responded, imparting a small smile to the woman’s mouth.
He had known it would, and crinkled his nose a bit at it. Honestly, he wasn’t quite sure why he did that now and then. Maybe to have a small break in the monotony. Work on the farm was not bad, and was at the very least much less monotonous than JojaMart. Maybe it was that weeks got long, hours were longer- that was for sure, and within those weeks certain tasks could drag on. Main thing keeping him going, and keeping him around, was being able to get up from a grueling task and take in his work, survey with some burgeoning satisfaction that he had accomplished something.
Something always soured it though. Something always had to. There would be a flaw- gone unnoticed for all the quality checks he did on himself until the end. Or maybe a break during a last hammer swing. Or maybe that creeping, jealous, inane thought.
You’re living off her achievements. You were just a drunk six months ago. Hell. You’re still an alcoholic always craving a beer.
Shane was always aiming to squash those thoughts. Chirping beetles, cruel and unending, scuttling around in his brain.
You’ll never amount to anything! Chirp chirp
No one could ever love you! Chirp Chirp
You’re a piece of shit! Chirup Chirup
It had him grabbing at his hair at some points, fistfulls of the dark locks, fingers turning red, knuckles going white.
“Shane, if you’re not too busy, will you please harvest some of the mushrooms from the cave up North? But- please don’t worry if you’re unable. I appreciate how much you do right now! Just if time permits. I’ll leave lunch for you on the porch. Please be sure to take it easy, it’s supposed to be hot today.” Laura gently said, her voice as warm as the morning, but sure not to heat up like they both knew it would.
“Sure.” Shane responded curtly eliciting a small tilt forward of the head from Laura, her brown hair thick and twisting past her ears to cover her tanned face for a moment before she turned to grab her bandana and sunhat from the porch post cap before swinging from it down the first couple steps, landing lightly on her feet, a small cloud of dust breathing in deep for a moment.
“Hey.” Shane said suddenly. Laura turned to him, fixing her bandana just so, keeping her hair from her face. Peering up at him as the put on her hat he could see her expectant eyes. The shadowing cast a dappled look over her freckled face and he said, “I thought you were some kind of fucking desk jockey before this. What gives? You’ve only been at it a year.”
A controlled grin blossomed across her face, the smallest gap between her front teeth, and tongue pressed against it. Annoying.
“I can’t take all of the credit, honestly. I’ve had some help from I guess you could say mother nature. But also great help from you. I couldn’t do it all without you.”
Fucking lie. He knew it, but he only slightly rolled his eyes and nodded. He wasn’t about to shit on the hand that essentially fed him. And what was with her always referring to it as “something like mother nature”.
“I do it for the money.” he grumbled and Laura nodded with a small smile. She never pushed him or demanded more out of him when a wall was close to coming up. And he guessed he could appreciate that. It was pay day today too. Along with his normal wages, she always sent him off with some fruits and vegetables, sometimes honey- and even plum pudding at times for Jas who adored Laura. He scoffed when she’d first given it to him.
“Isn’t this a little out of season?” he had groused.
“It might be, but I thought Jas might like it.” she had said, prompting him to simply grab the stupid treat and shove it in his bag before turning and leaving through the thick grass that reached past his knees.
And now he did the same. Grabbed his sunhat from the wood post cap, turned, and walked to his first task of the day giving the chickens, and ducks and rabbits, their breakfast.
-------------------
Shane could see her, now and then. Her head popping up amongst the fields of rhubarb, sometimes the hat lifting and a gloved hand wiping at sweat and depositing dirt. He didn’t have to see that to know it, her face was always reddish and dirty after a day of making things grow. And grow they did. There was no way to deny her capability, slow and methodical with care and what seemed like a lifetime of practice. It frustrated him, a jealousy creeping into his stomach and curling up to make a bed in his thoughts, giving him what he thought were butterflies of anger, when he saw her turn to him and give a small wave. Rolling his eyes, he’d return to his work and thwack away at an overrun patch of saplings.
A year of him working there was rolling up. He’d come to work for her in the early summer, and spring was coming to a close. It was a little after his 6 months of working there that they had become ever so slightly closer. A question about his day, or how his family was doing. A joint visit with Marnie and Jas where Laura had set out a bountiful dinner. The face on Jas as Laura had wheeled out a blueberry lemon cake was admittedly priceless. And even a brisk embrace one day when one of her cattle had grown gravely sick during the winter and passed on. Tears had streaked her face when he came upon her one day outside the big barn.
“What’s wrong with you?” he’d asked, kicking at the dirt a little, and arms crossed over his chest fairly aggressively.
“Nilo died.” Laura hiccuped, her face quickly turning away in shame. Shane felt a twinge at his heart, surprisingly and for a moment he had said nothing and did nothing except stand there and stare at her with a furrowed brow. When she began to stand with hands on her knees as if it pained her he stepped forward. She looked up in a small shock and he swept his arms under hers and pulled her to him. Pulling her into him for a moment, and his face flushing not only from the cold now but embarrassment as well. He felt her breath hitch slightly in her throat, and a small strangled choking noise as she moved to put her arms around his neck and return the embrace, but he pulled away, turning his head down and away from her to stare at the dead grass peeking from the snow.
“Sorry.” he muttered, and as usual, turned away from her his hand stroking his bearded chin in agitation and confusion.
It had been a weird moment. One that neither brought back up again, but one that he lay awake some nights and thought about. He knew even though it was two seasons ago, he’d be thinking of it that night as well. That odd interaction where he suddenly had a heart.
His heart was only so big, he thought as he continued his work to fight back the invasive new growth. Marnie and specifically Jas were all he cared about and even that he barely showed outwardly. Although his Goddaughter, the child of his passed sister, knew how important she was to him, she made no fuss. They understood each other in that way.
The sun was reaching a high point in the sky soon after those thoughts melted from him and his focus was on work. Sweat drenched his body sticking his baggy, grey, long sleeved work shirt to his chest that had become more firm as the year had passed of him working with Laura. Looking up and towards the farm house he shielded his eyes from the blinding sun and could make out his covered meal sitting on the worn wood porch as well as a large canteen of water he had filled and set this morning.
Gripping his axe and scooping up his shovel he headed towards the house, setting his tools in a covered rack as he went. Laura was nowhere to be seen as he passed the rhubarb, the kale, the cauliflower and even the tulips but he pressed forward, pushing the thought away as his stomach rumbled in anticipation for his meal.
But Shane was taken by some surprise, the emotion only flitting across his face for a brief moment, as he saw Laura sitting in one of the porch chairs next to the faded yellow wire table. She bobbed her head in his direction with that small smile of hers gracing full lips, dirt smeared across her cheek and forehead, the sweat threatening anyways to pierce into her almond shaped deep brown eyes.
“Shane, I thought maybe we could sit and eat together.” she said warmly, smiling a little more.
“Hm.” he grunted simply, grabbing his food and reluctantly sitting with her at the table. Usually he sat on the stairs, he’d only come into her home a couple times and felt weird about stepping up even onto the porch. He knew he was welcome, but wasn’t one to invite himself into a new situation if he could help it.
There was a slight tension as he unwrapped his sandwich from a brightly floral tea towel, noticing his favorite pepper poppers next to it. His eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. She wanted something, he felt. And her small giggle to his expression only furthered his thoughts.
“I am looking to ask your something.” Laura admitted, and when he only stared at her she went on. “You take a long trek to come here, I know it’s a bit longer than even to Joja Mart and possibly even more dangerous, as I believe you travel through the woods a bit to get here, unless you pass the bus stop instead?”
“I just walk up from Marnies. Through the woods.”
“Yes, well, you saw that I added on a bit to the house with Robin’s help. And I wondered… if maybe you and Jas would like to rent a room up here in my home? The extra space is a bit more than I initially realized, and I would give you a fair price. And, Mayor Lewis may want to go to Marnie more instead of-” she was stopped as Shane made a strangled noise over his sandwich, and she grinned slightly at him, knowing he wasn’t fully accepting of that relationship.
“I get it.” Shane groaned slightly, his eyes sliding down to the left as he thought, NOT about his Aunt and the Mayor. It would be nice to gain a small sense of freedom even if it was leaving a family member’s home and living with his… employer. He looked up at Laura, her hopeful eyes watching him. He took some solace in her, that she never really pryed at him but instead let their relationship slowly unfold naturally. There was still that jealousy, but also a small fondness for her, even thinking of her as one of his few friends besides Emily. That alone was reason to make him ponder her offer. He took another bite, and looked away again.
“Maybe.” he finally spoke after a pause. “I need to talk to Marnie and Jas. But… that could be nice.” and after another moment. “Jas really likes you.” his eyes found their way back to Laura, her tanned cheeks flushing slightly, but she still looked at him intently for a moment before taking a bite of her own rare lunch. It was a rare moment for her, he knew. Where he said something kind almost out of the blue. Guilt crept in over the idea that he really didn’t treat this woman well enough. She’d given him a lot with not much in return. Though she’d argue that point.
They ate their meals in silence after that, him finishing before her and he closed up the lunch box neatly and nodded to her.
“Thank you.” he said simply. And walked back out to the field, feeling her gentle eyes on him as he left.