Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the characters.

It had been two weeks. Two long, uncomfortable weeks. Two weeks of getting up, tending to the animals, taking care of the crops, mining, coming home, depositing the items, and venturing out only to talk to Ann if necessary. I tried to stay out of town as much as possible. I was back to walking the long way to the Inn, and this time for a whole other reason.

I hadn't seen Cliff yet, and I hadn't seen Gray. The only person I could talk to was Ann herself, and even then I wasn't sure what to say. She was ecstatic after the break up. When it became closer to the time of Cliff's arrival home, she began cooking special, intricate meals even though we both knew she was a horrible cook. I couldn't talk to Kai since he was gone. I might have even tried Popouri, but when I saw her she was miserable. She still needed some more time.

Finally, I decided after those two solitary weeks, to head to the one place where I could get the advice I needed.

"Claire!" Carter said cheerfully when I walked in. "I haven't seen or heard from you in-,"

"Two weeks," I interrupted, nodding. "It's easy to count the days. Two weeks since summer ended."

Carter nodded and gestured for me to have a seat back in the front pew. He sat next to me as before, staring ahead. "Cliff stayed here for quite a while after you left. I asked if he was okay and he said he would be fine. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to tell you that."

"Thank you, Carter," I smiled for a moment. "I think he'll be a lot happier. With Ann. Without me, complicating things."

"Oh, he knew of course about Gray, Claire. He knew what took you quite a while to realize. He just didn't know when you would find out yourself. We all knew, to be honest, and we expected it to come soon. I suppose he talked himself into believing the notion that you did care for him."

"Do you think he really liked me?" I asked Carter desperately. It was the question that had been truly bothering me. "Do you think I hurt him?"

Carter hesitated. "I think he cared for you more than you cared for him, but I think overall he felt the same way. Of course, Cliff's not the type to go about and speak his mind. If you didn't say anything you two could have ended up marrying!"

I thought of the blue feather and my eyes widened. "I don't know if I'm ever going to get married," I mumbled, sighing..

Carter looked at me and then laughing, patting my back. "Oh, Claire. I'm sure you will be. There's a young man who would love to be your husband," he told me very pointedly.

I wrinkled up my nose. "I don't think so. I don't think he likes me."

"Think again, Claire. Hello, Gray!" he called over his shoulder, and once again I spun to find a young man walking down the aisle towards me, and I felt a smile spread across my face.

"Hey," Gray gave a small smile to him, and then when he looked at me it spread, and he pulled his hat down lower. "Hi Claire. How are you?"

Carter and I exchanged a look, and he smiled and then headed to his office as I said, "Better."

"Well, I thought maybe I should be the one to break this to you," he told me, his smile fading as he gestured for me to stand up with him. "Cliff and Ann are going on a date- tonight. How do you feel about that?"

I hesitated, and then looking up towards the sky. "Oh, thank Goddess! This is a huge relief. Now Ann will be happy and Cliff will be happy."

Gray chuckled. "I didn't know you'd be so happy. I thought you might be a little disappointed, actually."

"Disappointed?" I scoffed. "I've been going over my relationship with him for months. I didn't know how to do it, I didn't know if I even liked him. Now things are finally sorted out. I'm relieved, like I said."

He nodded slowly. "But now who are you gonna use that blue feather on?" he teased me.

"Oh, gosh, that thing. You almost hated me for it. I hate that thing," I muttered.

For a moment he laughed, and then he said, "That wouldn't be a horrible thing though, would it? I'm not the best friend, after all. I mean, I'm a total jerk."

"It'd be horrible if you weren't my friend anymore, Gray," I replied easily. "You're great. I mean, of course we fight all the time and everything, but would you rather we were just stuck together forever?"

"Are you comparing us to you and Cliff?" he asked, pulling his hat down once more.

My cheeks lit up. "I'm just trying to say that…that…well I would miss you most out of everyone in this town, Gray!"

"Why?" he inquired simply, not showing any more emotion. At least, the part of his face that I could see wasn't showing any emotion beyond straight lips.

"Oh, come on Gray. Don't make me say it," I sighed, folding my arms and looking up at him. It looked like, once again, we were going to end up fighting- over something really stupid this time.

"Humor me, Claire, c'mon," he told me, and then a grin spread across his face.

My jaw dropped. "Now you know, too?!"

"Well, I heard Cliff and Ann talking yesterday. I had a hunch before but…I thought it was just me who liked you, to be honest."

If I had been blushing before, I didn't even know the word for how red my cheeks were. I ran a hand through my hair and looked down before making eye contact with him again. "You mean it? After all this? After everything I've done, you actually like me?"

"Why else do you think I would get so upset over the blue feather? Why else do you think I would try so hard? Seriously, Claire," he snickered, actually lifting his hat up this time so I got a full view of his face for one of the first times in a long time.

I glared. "You're going to turn this into me being dumb now, are you? Well, you're the dumb one!" I poked his chest as hard as I could, which was not very hard. "Why else do you think I would forgive you so soon and then break things off with Cliff and avoid you?!"

"Well, when someone avoids me, I usually think it means they hate me-,"

"Ha ha ha, Gray, really, you should be a comedi-,"

He cut me off by giving another one of his soft chuckles and pressing his lips to mine. When he pulled back, there was a smile on both of our faces. "Do you understand now, Claire?"

I rolled my eyes. "I think I get it now, Gray."

"Really, because if you need more examples, I can-,"

"Very funny, Gray."

"I'm serious, I've got plenty-,"

I interrupted him to kiss him again, and we grinned at each other as he took my hand and we walked back down the aisle towards the church door.

People were going to ask questions, but it didn't matter. Cliff and Ann were happy, and I was happy. Gray was happy. What more could I ask for?

"But honestly, if you need me to spell it out for you-,"

"Gray!"

Author Notes: I'm pleased. (: Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. Thanks to all of the reviewers and everyone who added it to favorites or w/e I can't remember what else you can do/people did. =p Thanks, though! Sorry this story wasn't the best, I know a lot of you guys have...idk the word hahaha, criticisms? Haha I really don't know. But thanks for reading and everything anyways. :D