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Kara couldn't stop the unflattering grunt of appreciation from escaping her throat as she chewed on Grandma Evelyn's cookies. They were divine. She'd missed the delicious texture and how each bite melted on her tongue while she ate. She'd missed the sweet, sweet flavour of the sugary treat with the chunks of dark chocolate in between, but most of all she'd missed the smell.
Sitting at the dining table of the Mullners' residence, the air around her was full of it. Even before Grandma Evelyn had opened the oven with the freshly baked goods, the decadent smell of her famous cookies had permeated the entire house. It was just like Kara had remembered.
"Hey, save some for the rest of us," her cousin smirked as he emerged around the corner from the hallway. He plopped down on a chair next to her, and grabbed one of Grandma Evelyn's delights for himself. "You know, eating too many of these is bad for you."
Kara rolled her eyes, but refused to put her cookie down. Cousin Alex had grown into quite the athlete since her last visit to Pelican Town, and despite the happy reunion, she was starting to suspect that the lifestyle advices would prove annoying quite quickly. She'd only arrived a few days before, and he'd already commented on her clothes twice, her lack of upper-body strength once, and—to her great embarrassment—he'd called her out on how much she ate at every. Single. Meal.
Instead of giving her cousin the attention he so clearly craved, she turned to Grandma Evelyn—who was still fussing about the kitchen, already preparing the next batch of baked goods.
"How did you and Grandpa George meet?" She asked, savoring the flavor as she chewed.
"Oh," Grandma Evelyn tutted and waved her flowery tea towel in no particular direction. "That was so long ago!"
"Still, you must remember it?" Kara encouraged.
"Remember it? Of course I do, how could I forget?" She huffed. Was she blushing? "Your grandfather was a patron at the café I worked at. Wouldn't give me a moment of peace until I agreed to go out with him!" She looked almost wistful for a second, staring at the ceiling for only a moment before she returned to her work at the kitchen counter.
"And now you're stuck with me!" A raspy voice called from the living room.
Kara laughed. Grandpa George seemed like a grumpy guy to most people, but she'd never seen anyone love another person as fiercely as he loved Grandma Evelyn. "I hope I can find true love like you guys one day," Kara sighed, and shifted in her seat uncomfortably as a memory she had tried hard to forget threatened to make an appearance in her mind's eye.
"Ahh," Grandma Evelyn breathed, turning her head to look at Kara with an empathetic smile. "But the secret is to not go looking for it. There is no point in chasing that feeling, for it will find you when you least expect it."
"Is that what happened with you at the café?"
Grandpa George snorted from around the corner. A moment later, he wheeled his way to the dining table, grabbing a cookie himself. "I certainly had eyes for your grandmother from the beginning," he grumbled, cookie crumbs falling to his lap as he ate. "—But I had to be close to dying before I got some sense knocked into me."
Kara started giggling, but quickly silenced herself as she saw that Alex was shaking his head. Was Grandpa George serious?
"I had never spoken to her except to give my breakfast order when I had an accident in the mines with a stick of dynamite," Grandpa George shrugged, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "First thing I did when I got out of that blasted hospital was to ask her out. Best Tuesday of my life!" He smiled.
Grandma Evelyn had returned her tea towel to its place on a hook, and came to join them at the table. "I'm not sure it was a Tuesday, dear."
"No, I definitely remember it was a Tuesday."
"How?" Kara asked, leaning in.
"She always wore yellow on Tuesdays," he explained, and turned to his wife. "You were wearing that yellow dress with flowers on it. I remember it clear as day. She was like a ray of sunshine—but wearing an apron and serving coffee."
A pink tint spread over Grandma Evelyn's cheeks again as she smiled. "Oh, stop it," she waved a hand.
Alex groaned. He had evidently heard this sort of musings from their grandparents before, and seemed to be working hard not to roll his eyes at the display of affection.
Kara couldn't be more intrigued. She'd always been a romantic at heart, but her own endeavors so far had proven nothing but painful in the end.
Grandma Evelyn looked at her with that same knowing smile from before. "Don't worry, darling. Who knows—maybe once you get settled in a bit, your very own person will come along and sweep you off your feet. There are quite a few people your age in this town after all!"
Kara thought of the work that needed to be done at the farm. She'd decided to move as a change of scenery after—... Well, it was a nice change of pace with the manual labour, but she wouldn't mind another pair of hands to help her with the work. Especially the renovations that needed to be done had proven far more extensive than she had anticipated when she bought the property. She'd spent a whole day after arriving just jotting down what needed to be done. "That would be nice," she nodded, ignoring the ache in her chest that was obviously not a sign of her growing sense of loneliness.
"It's going to be alright, sweetheart," Grandpa George winked. "Take it from me; Stardew Valley is the perfect place to start over."