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Sol felt immensely for her dear friend Aria. Losing her brother Abel had to be fucking difficult, the spark had left her eyes and she smiled robotically now and in all the right places like clockwork, but Sol could tell that her mind and heart were else where. Sol thought about her brother Alan and how devastated she would be if she were to lose him, Sol held him as a baby when he was first born, she used to help her mother change his diapers, he's always been her little best friend despite the fact that he towered over her now. But this wasn't about her, this was about what she could do to try and help her friend through her difficult time. Aria was coming to visit her in a couple days to spend Spirit's eve weekend with her. Sol had planned quite the celebration seeing as how it was her first Spirit's eve in Pelican Town. She had plans to host a costume party, she enlisted Shane's help to set up a hayride for the town (Much to his annoyance). Sol picked out her best pumpkins so that everyone could carve jack o lanterns, she picked out a few cases of her wine from the cellar, perfected her recipe for pumpkin cider and added an apple cider just in case.
But Sol's biggest plan was to set up her Dia de los muertos altar, getting to feel close to her furry friends who have crossed the rainbow bridge and have a meal with her grandfather again was something that she looked forward to every year. This would be the first year that she sets it up at her grandpa's farm and she just hoped that he will take a look around and feel proud about everything she has accomplished so far.
Sol was lucky to have friends that cared about her and cared about the people she loved as well. It occurred to her that none of it would have been possible without all of their assistance. She knows that she often bites off more than she could chew, she was just glad that they offered their help with no hesitation. Sol commissioned a multi layered altar from Robin, she took her a sketch of what she wanted and Robin had delivered beautifully. Emily and Haley were doing the colorful paper cut outs to decorate the altar with, Haley even had the genius idea of making marigolds out of orange and gold tissue paper. Emily provided her with beautiful silk white table cloths to cover each layer of the altar. Sol had Shane and Harvey help her take it to the northwest corner of the farm where her grandfather's shrine was. This was the first year that she was going to set her altar up at the farm, but it was also the first year that she was going to include other passed family members. She asked Harvey if he wanted to include his grandpa Rupert who passed away when he was younger. Harvey said he didn't want to impose on an intimate moment that Sol was trying to create for Aria. Though, Sol wanted to do this for her dear friend, it was also about her grandpa Humberto and spending time with him on his farm, sharing his favorite meal and reminiscing on good times. Humberto would want nothing more than to include Harvey's grandfather and Abel. The more the merrier had always been his motto.
After setting up the altar and arranging the table cloths, paper cut outs and handmade marigolds, Sol set up her framed pictures. On the lowest tier she added her tuxedo boy Gary, her beautiful chubby cat Jupiter, and her french pug mixed pup, Bailey. Sol added a few dishes with their favorite treats. Jupiter's favorite toy mouse, Gary's preferred ball and Bailey's blanket. The next tier was a little more difficult. Harvey had provided her with a picture of his grandpa, but Shane like always had been stubbornly uncooperative. Sol wanted to add his brother Scott and his wife Layla. Shane had almost immediately shut the idea down as he didn't want to upset Jas, but Sol had a feeling that it was himself that he was trying to protect. Sol didn't want to push him, but he had still listened to her explain how the plan was to incorporate Aria. He brought Sol a picture of them the very next day. Sol had buttoned her lips and tried her very best not to tease him. Though he had spent a good amount of time being mean and indifferent towards Aria when she first began to visit the farm, Sol could tell that he had been intrigued by her. (As he very well should be) He just had a nasty habit of putting up walls when it came to new people. Sol had managed to tear them down little by little when she first moved to the valley, but he still continued to be frustratingly hard headed when it came to Aria. He just very recently managed to smile at her the last time she came to visit, an incredible feat, Sol knew that meant that he liked her a lot. And it so happens that proof of that was sitting on the second tier of her altar. The top tier of her altar was a photograph of her grandpa Humberto on his wedding day, he was wearing a classic black tux, his curls were gelled back, his eyelashes full and long and a gigantic smile on his face. Sol missed him so very much. She added a glass bottle of Joja cola (the glass bottles are just better) and his favorite pan dulce. Next, it had taken Sol quite a while to find a picture of Abel. Aria had pretty much done away with just about every picture on her social media. But finally, after some major scavenging, Sol had found a picture of them sitting side by side, arms around each others shoulders and grinning at the camera. Sol cut the picture in half (Aria wouldn't mind too much, she hoped) and stuck Abel's half in a dark wooden frame. Sol placed it right on top next to Humberto's photo. Marisol had asked Haley to also make blue jazz with tissue paper. Sol thought it added a nice touch among the orange and gold. She adorned Abel's frame with the blue flowers. Sol only knew what Aria shared about him so she added his own glass bottle of Joja cola and pan dulce. Sol had plans to cook a feast the day of and add helpings of everything to the altar.
The marigolds had come in nicely that year, her and Shane had replanted a bunch near her grandfathers shrine as they had always been his pride and joy and now they served as a beautiful backdrop for the altar. Some will be sacrificed so that they could use the petals to line a path for their loved ones. Sol added a little bowl of marigold honey and a plate of toast.
"That way you can try it, 'lito." Sol smiled.
"Everything looks amazing, sweet girl."
Harvey had snuck up behind her as she added the bowl of salt, candles and glasses of water.
"Thank you handsome! I hope Aria doesn't get wierded out." Sol frowned.
"I'm sure she will appreciate the gesture. When is she set to arrive?" Harvey asked as he planted a kiss on her forehead.
"The day before Spirit's eve." Sol replied. "I told her all about the party and the hay ride for the town. She's super excited to help out. Dia de los muertos is the day after Spirit's eve, I'll show her then."
"I brought something to add." Harvey said, a bit shyly.
Sol looked at him eagerly, waiting for him to continue. Harvey took a Starbird X model airplane out of his messenger bag.
"This was grandpa Rupert's favorite. He gave it to me shortly before he passed, we used to build model planes together."
Sol took it from him gently and gave him a smile.
"That's so sweet, I'm sure he'll love to see it again. Any food you would like to add? I can make anything."
"He did have a huge sweet tooth, he would sneak banana pudding whenever he could. But if you don't mind, I would like to make it for him." Harvey replied.
"Of course! I know he'll love that coming from you!"
Marisol hoped that she wasn't crossing a boundary, but more than anything she wanted to do SOMETHING for Aria.
The Spirit's eve party had been a huge success, enough that Sol was considering making it an annual thing. The whole town had stopped by after the Spirit's eve festival. Vincent and Jas loved the hay ride and it was enough to convince Shane to do it next year too. Shane loved to see Jas be happy and enjoying herself. Jas had dressed up as a fairy princess and Vincent had shown up as a scarecrow and somehow they had both won. Aria was glad that Sol gave them both first prize they had been so excited and Aria was just happy that a grown woman in a bunny costume couldn't beat them at this. Aria giggled at the thought.
"Come on, you're going to help me today. " Shane snapped. Shane dropped a wooden pail at Aria's feet. Aria looked up from the quilt that she had been working on for Sol. It had been a MINUTE since Aria had started it for her, every time that Aria comes to visit or Sol visits her in Zuzu, she constantly has a new home made gift for Aria. Jams, wine, pies, even soap since she recently started making soap out of her goat's milk. Aria had decided that she was going to make Sol a quilt and stitch marigolds in each square… it's just taken her a long time. Aria wasn't always in the right head space to focus on anything for long periods of time, often she found herself staring off into space, no thoughts, head empty. It's been this way since Abel passed, not willing to force herself to do anything that required effort. Her visits with Sol seemed to be one of the only things that kept her tethered.
"Help you with what? Your manners?" Aria huffed. Okay, so fussing with Shane also kept her pretty grounded. It sparked a weird sort of joy to mess with him. It was strange that even though he was absolutely awful to her the first day that Aria met him and even though he was still pretty mean to her now, it gave her a little jolt any time he was near.
"Last day to forage for blackberries." He replied simply, as if that was good enough reason to nearly clobber her foot with a pail.
"What he means to say is will you pretty please go with me as Sol is too swamped with your going away dinner and she can't help my grumpy ass gather the last of the blackberries to make the last batch of blackberry wine for the season." Sol giggled. She came out of the kitchen wearing her pretty sky blue apron, her curls in a loose bun on her head and looking like she's been cooking for hours. (Which she probably has) "Right, Shane?"
"Yeah, what she said." Shane replied unconvincingly. He looked everywhere except Aria, the ceiling seemed very interesting to him, as was the pail in his hands and a little piece of thread that was unraveling from the sleeve of his hoodie.
Aria pursed her lips, she hated herself a little bit for being so attracted to this rude, rough idiot who clearly had no interest in being around her if it wasn't for Marisol. Shane looking at everything in the room that wasn't her gave Aria the opportunity to study him uninterrupted, she studied his large, calloused hands that were busy working over the loose thread with a delicateness that seemed out of character for him. Aria briefly wondered what else he might handle delicately with those big hands of his. Shane suddenly looked up from his sleeve and made eye contact with her, his surprise at catching Aria staring quickly turned into a scowl that she then had to return. How Sol managed to make friends, let alone best friends with him she will never know. What Aria should do is tell him that she had no interest in spending the day with him but what she said instead was:
"Sure, just let me change shoes." Aria was hopeless. "Are you sure you don't need help Sol? You know you don't need to make a whole spectacle of me leaving every time."
Before Sol could answer, Harvey came out of the kitchen looking a bit flustered and wearing a 'Kiss the cook' apron. Sol giggled at his anxious expression and strode over to kiss him on the cheek.
"I've got Harvey helping and he's been warned not to distract us." Sol snickered and then put her hands on her hips, giving Aria an annoyed look."And you say that every time and every time I tell you that not getting to see you for months at a time is cause for spectacle. So get over it and go help Shane please!"
Aria sighed as if the prospect of going off with Shane for the day was such a burden, but secretly she was thrilled. She went off to the guest room that she used when she was here, changed into walking shoes and threw on a sweater. The cold had started to creep in and she had no doubt that tomorrow the valley would be blanketed in snow. Sol and Harvey were back in the kitchen when she came back out and it seemed that Shane was already outside so she made her way out the front door, stopping to give Fat boy a quick peck on his forehead. The chubby cat gave her a little trill of affection from his spot on the back of the couch.
After a few hours of gathering as many blackberries as their pails could carry, and Aria trying to get Shane to answer her with something else other than grunts, they made their way back to the farm. They walked slowly with an overflowing pail in each hand careful not to spill any blackberries.
"So what did Sol bribe you with to get you to bring me along?" Aria asked curiously.
Shane scoffed. "Sol didn't bribe me, it was my idea." Aria stopped in her tracks a little shocked at his admission. Shane paused to look at Aria, annoyed that she was slowing them down. "What are you so surprised at?"
"Because you don't even really like me that much, I'm just surprised that you would want to spend the day near me, much less with me."
"Who said I didn't like you?"
"Um, you every time to scowl at me or are annoyed that I'm in the room." Aria laughed nervously. This was the most conversation she has ever gotten out of Shane in the multiple times that she has come to stay at Marigold farm. If she hadn't heard him talk with Sol and Harvey, she would've sworn that he was mute.
"Sorry… I'm not annoyed with you. Just trying to give you your space, Sol told me what happened to your brother. When my brother passed away, I wanted nothing more than for people to leave me the fuck alone. Sometimes, I forget that not everyone is like me." Shane replied, he shifted his weight nervously from one foot to the other.
"That's okay. I appreciate the thought. At first, I did want to be left alone but then it got incredibly lonely and soon I was worried that I wasn't talking about Abel enough and then I started to freak out that pretty soon he would be nothing but my memory. I've been wanting to talk about him more since then, I still miss him so much and sometimes it is still very hard, but I don't want to be left alone anymore. Abel wouldn't have wanted that for me. I'm sure your brother wouldn't have wanted that for you either." Aria said. Shane finally looked up from the ground and met her gaze, Aria was fully prepared for a scoff and a 'fuck off' instead she received a smile that turned her legs into jelly.
"You can talk to me about Abel… if you want.' Shane said tentatively. Aria smiled back at him, she might be hallucinating, but she swore his cheeks turned pink.
"Thank you Shane, I'd love to hear about your brother too if you want." Aria said, equally as nervous. Shane nodded, picked up his pails and started the trek back to the farm and Aria followed suit. They walked back in a comfortable silence as the sun set over the valley, leaves crunching beneath their feet as they walked. They made it to the storage shed that held all of the farms kegs. Shane opened the shed door and hauled each pail inside. Aria started to make her way back to the farmhouse, she was starving and the smells from dinner had wafted over to them. Before she got too far, Shane grabbed her hand keeping her in place. Her hand tingled from his touch, his rough hand enveloping hers gently and again she wondered what else this large man did gently. Aria could feel her face heat up and she hoped that it wasn't too obvious.
"Dinner is actually going to be this way." Shane smiled at her again. Aria cocked her head to the side, confused as to what Sol was up to, because this did have Sol written all over it.
"Dinner outside? Is she running out of ideas or something?" Aria laughed. She had a sneaking suspicion that whatever is going on is why she was kept from the farm today.
"Something like that." Shane chuckled. He held his arm out towards her and Aria looped hers through the opening. Despite the chilly night air, Shane was warm and Aria felt herself suddenly over heating.
They walked to the northwest section of the farm, passing through the fruit orchards and coming in contact with a trail of marigold petals that paved the way to what seemed to be like quite the celebration. Aria stopped at the beginning of the trail, eyes wide open in genuine awe. Colorful banners and streamers decorated Sol's grandfathers shrine, the two tables that had been set up with plates after plates of delicious foods and deserts. Sugar skulls on every surface, Marigolds had been replanted in this area and at the center of it all was an altar. A vast, beautiful altar with framed photographs of pets, loved ones and what she suspected was Shane's brother and his wife. And right on top was Sol's grandfather… and Abel. Abel grinning at the camera with that smile she had loved so much. Abel adorned with paper blue jazz's. Aria felt the tears start rolling down her face, but they weren't sad tears. Shane put his arm around her, squeezing her shoulder. Aria lifted her head to take a peek at him, she half expected him to be looking down at her, but instead his gaze was focused on the photograph of his brother. The lights from the candles and fairy lights reflected in his eyes, giving them a misty look, but that could have very well be the tears that had started to form as well. Aria hugged him back and he did not push her away. Small victories.
"Aria?" Sol had come up to them then, looking at her nervously. "I know this is a lot, but before you say anything. I was always going to make the altar, so none of that nonsense that I shouldn't have gone through the trouble! I just wanted to add Abel for you, give you guys a chance to eat a meal together again. The valley is magic after all. This day is to honor our loved ones, and to welcome them back for the night. We have dinner and we spend time with them again, tell them how missed they are and how much we love them."
"This isn't too much Sunny. This is just enough coming from you, thank you for including Abel. I was just telling Shane that I want to talk about him more." Aria hugged her friend.
"Come on! We made so much food, I even made fiddlehead risotto just for you!" Sol said excitedly. Sol pulled her over to a table where Harvey, Emily, Haley and even Jas were sitting at. They all smiled at Aria encouragingly. Aria sat next to Jas who stopped eating her cranberry candy long enough to give her a sticky grin. Aria laughed, Sol was sure pulling out all the stops. Shane ruffled Jas' hair and sat on her other side. Aria looked at Shane over Jas's head and they both beamed at each other.
Anyone who happened to be looking in on the cozy scene, would see Aria and Shane bonding over the loss of their brothers, swapping their favorite memories back and forth. Shane telling Jas all about her dad and mom, making her giggle and listen to him excitedly and soaking up all this new information on her parents as it had been hard to come by before. Shane never wanted to talk about them, but he did so tonight, laughing along with a sparkle in his eye as he took in Jas's excited smile and Aria's quiet chuckle. Aria talked about growing up alongside her favorite brother.
"I'm your only brother." Abel corrected with a laugh.
"It doesn't matter, you're still my favorite." Aria responded with a giggle.
Aria talked about all his favorites, how skilled he was at agriculture, how he got a kick out of corny knock, knock jokes. She told them all about how strangers would mistake them as twins even though he was older. Aria laughed, and she cried and most of all she swore she could feel him right there with her, hugging her shoulders and laughing into her ear.
Anyone with a clairvoyant gift would be able to see that he was. Abel was there looking at Aria with all of the love in the world, sharing a meal with her, listening to her favorite memories of their time together, snorting when she shared a particularly funny memory. They would see Scott and Layla sitting across from Jas and staring at her in adoration, wondering where the time went and when was it that their little girl got so big. Scott ruffled Shane's hair in the same manner that Shane did to Jas.
Sol and Harvey's grandfathers were shooting the breeze, both of them equally as proud of Sol and Harvey and excited that they found each other. Rupert held the model airplane in his hand and gave Harvey a bear hug. Harvey found himself feeling warm and loved despite the bite in the air. Humberto was busy marveling over the marigold honey. So immensely proud of his niña, she truly was amazing.
And of course they would see Fatboy, playing with a toy mouse that his twin sister loved when she was alive, once again reunited with Jupiter. They played together, bopping it back and forth, purring with happiness as Gary and Bailey sat together watching their siblings be reunited. Gary bopped his head against Bailey's head and together they went to sit at Sol's feet. Bailey wagged her tail happily staring up at Sol again, her little underbite prominent as she chased Sol's hand with her head. Gary jumped up in her lap and purred contently, he too looked up at Sol with adoration.
Aria's heart felt full to the brim, excited for the future and thankful for Sol's gift. There will always be an ache in her heart at the thought of Abel, he was her only brother, her favorite brother. But at least there was still this, one night of the year where she could feel his presence and spend time with him.
Abel agreed with her, his baby sister who he knows has been having a hard time since his demise. He was glad to see that there were people who cared about Aria. Even the grumpy one with the scowl, his face softened when he looked at Aria and he thought no one was looking. But Abel saw it and he was excited to see where this would be a year from now.