Quick Info~

I'm so unbelievably excited to post this chapter! Remember the cameo that a certain town made in the previous chapter? Well, it's back! This time it's way more obvious than the previous one. I like to think that Oak Tree Town might be one of the first towns in the Harvest Moon universe (that is, if we're assuming that they all take place in the same universe). Part of my reasoning for thinking this is because of Dessie, since she's such a young harvest goddess. But, whatever the case may be, for the purposes of this story, Oak Tree Town should be taking place before the rise of Castanet (AKA the town in HM: Animal Parade). Once again a HUGE thank you to everyone reading this! New readers, welcome! Please don't hesitate to leave me a comment if you have anything to say! I love hearing from all of you. :)

"This is absolutely delicious! What type of dressing is on it?"

Annie's stomach had been in a continuous knot since the Antique Show started. Raeger was so busy cooking that Annie was often put on socialization duty. As the resident farmer and ingredient provider for all of the dishes, the public expected her to know every miniscule thing there was to know about cooking.

Part of her wanted to sarcastically answer that since it has turnips in it, it's probably seasoned with the finest manure—or, in fancy terms, 'fertilizer'—and really old dirt. But tonight was Raeger's night to shine, so she bit her tongue and continued to provide the nitty-gritty details to city food blogger after city food blogger.

"I'm not exactly sure, sir, let me check with the head chef," Annie said, smiling her friendliest smile and turning to ask Raeger.

He was so smooth that sometimes she questioned if he ever experienced stress, or even had pores for that matter. He tossed stir-fry with one hand while the other grabbed more ingredients for future dishes.

"You're the mastermind behind these dishes?" the man asked, peaking his out from behind Annie.

Raeger nodded. "Everything you're tasting tonight was made by me and provided by Annie, our resident farmer."

"Oh, my! Well, your talents certainly haven't gone unnoticed, boy," he said, chuckling.

"Thank you, sir. I sincerely appreciate it," Raeger said modestly.

Annie couldn't help but feel her heart sore with pride for her little town. Even though Oak Tree Town was barely a blip on the map, they managed to draw people from all over simply because of a few old artifacts. She guessed that it was one of the plus sides to living in a town that's practically as old as the dinosaurs; old artifacts were about as common as grains of sand on the beach.

The man licked his fingers clean and extended his hand to Annie. "Ah, where are my manners? My son would be appalled that I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Hamilton. I'm the Mayor of a little island about three or four hours off of the coast. It's called 'Castanet.' Perhaps you've heard of it?"

"I'm afraid I haven't. I lived in the city my whole life until I moved here three years ago," Annie said, shaking his hand and trying not to grimace at its wetness.

Hamilton sighed. "Doesn't surprise me. We aren't exactly well known. In fact, our little town is just about as barren as Oak Tree was before you came here. Anyway, keep up the fantastic work, you two! Maybe you can send some recipes our way sometime?"

"Absolutely," Raeger said, nodding.

As Hamilton walked away, Annie stared after him with curiosity. "He was weirdly social," she said.

"Yeah, there's apparently a handful of little unknown towns like that here tonight. Veronica is freaking out. It's like a mayor convention or something," Raeger said as he effortlessly plated four more perfectly executed ratatouilles.

"All because of the Antique Show?" Annie asked.

"In part. But most of them are just inspired by how far we've come. We used to be pretty much bankrupt before you came here. When you opened up the trade depots, the economy skyrocketed for a lot of towns."

"I don't like taking credit for all of it," Annie said, shaking her head and feeling warm with embarrassment.

"Elise, Giorgio, and Fritz helped, too. Does that make it better?" Raeger asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

Annie stuck her tongue out at him.

He ignored her and returned his concentration to preparing the dessert portion of the evening. "Anyway, I know that we're all really happy that you came here. Although, I think I might have lucked out more than the others."

Annie wasn't sure how to respond and, thankfully, she didn't have to. Iris tapped on the microphone set up on a makeshift stage in the living room. She looked absolutely elegant. Her hair was swept to the side in glamorous, movie star curls and she was wearing a skin-tight, sparkly black dress with a slit making its way considerably up her thigh. Her signature purple shawl was still draped elegantly over her arms.

"I hope you're all enjoying the event!" she said, her voice almost like velvet. "Unfortunately, it will all be coming to an end soon. Raeger, our head chef, is preparing a new dessert that he hopes you all love! Dubbed 'Annie's Cake.'"

Whatever Iris said after that Annie couldn't hear. Instead, her head whipped back towards Raeger, her mouth open in shock.

Raeger simply smiled at her as he poured lemon icing over pieces of strawberry lemonade cake. The cake that Annie taste-tested first. Unfortunately, she didn't get to say anything to him because a swarm of people gathered around the cooking station to grab a piece.

She felt her chest fill with warmth as she watched them eat. Unsure of what to say or do, she excused herself from the room and walked outside. The town was dimly lit with a few scattered streetlights, as the sun was almost finished setting, an expanse of stars melting into orange and dark blue.

She wasn't sure how long she sat out there, but it was long enough to hear frogs croaking and crickets chirping. It almost felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart, but instead of blood pouring out, her feelings were splattered all over the ground. They were so far mixed into each other that even if she tried to pick them back up, she wouldn't know which went where.

"The cake was a hit," Raeger said casually.

Annie jumped, not having heard him walk up. She held her hands in her lap and shook her head.

"You didn't have to name it after me," she said.

Raeger shrugged and sat beside her. "You tried it first."

They sat in silence for what seemed almost like an eternity. There were so many things that Annie wanted to ask him. Did he like her as much as she liked him? What did he think of their first kiss? Was there any way he could try and stop flirting with her so that things could go back to normal? Does he have this many questions about her?

Instead, she settled on saying, "I think you're the greatest chef in the world."

For Raeger, it was almost like she told him that she loved him.

"I think you're the greatest farmer in the world," Raeger said earnestly.

For Annie, it was almost like he told her that he loved her, too.

In the few moments that followed, Annie decided to swallow her fear. She knew that Raeger wanted to kiss her again, at least once, and she knew that if he did, she would kiss back. It was terrifying and exhilarating and everything that she never wanted to happen to her. But she couldn't stop it.

So, lifting her head, she hesitantly pressed her lips against his. He seemed surprised for a moment, but not at all unwelcoming. His hands soon found themselves in her hair, his warm fingertips against her neck making her shiver. She moved her own shaking hands to his chest, grabbing at silky fabric on his dress shirt.

The kiss was short, but filled with so much energy that, when they broke away, Annie felt a strange heat pooling in her stomach.

"This is confusing for you," Raeger said.

It wasn't a question, but rather, a blatant statement. Like he could tell from the way she kissed him.

Annie nodded, caught off guard by his bluntness.

"Yeah, me too," he admitted, laughing in a way that Annie had never heard before—a combination of nervousness and pure joy. "It's weird, though. I like it."

"Yeah," Annie said, smiling in spite of herself. "Me, too."

A pause. A deep breath.

"Annie, would you make this less confusing by coming on a date with me tomorrow night?" Raeger asked.

"A date?"

"Yeah. We can work out what all of this means and see if there's a future."

He was speaking so easily, like he had done it thousands of times. Meanwhile, Annie was attempting to speak, but her throat felt so tight she wasn't sure she would ever be able to again.

"Uh, yeah. Sure. I mean, I'll have to check my schedule, but okay."

Stupid, she thought.

"I'll pick you up around eight?" he asked, standing and extending his hand to help her up, too.

"Yeah, eight sounds great!"

"Alright, then. It's a date," Raeger said, laughing as Annie blushed furiously from her rhyme.

As Raeger walked back inside, there were only two things on Annie's mind. Firstly, how the hell she was going to survive a date with Raeger. Secondly, if there were any slices of cake left over.