My Heart was Always in the Valley

Summer Nights

*** Summer 15, Year 2 ***

Nora awoke with a jolt, a sheen of sweat covered her body causing her t-shirt to stick to her chest. It rained earlier that day, the humidity was almost unbearable. She reached over, feeling the empty spot where Sebastian normally slept. She knew he woke in the middle of the night sometimes, but this was the third night in a row. She rose from the bed and checked the living room, his laptop was still on the couch but his hoodie was gone. Nora opened the door, a fly whizzing past her into the house, Sebastian sat on the steps with a cigarette on his lips.

"Are you ok?" She sat down next to him.

"Yeah, just trouble sleeping. The temperature only starts to get comfortable at night." He took a drag, "it always seems to stay a little cooler by the lake."

"I could move a chair closer to the pond for you, but it might not be the same." She smiled, rubbing her arms. "Do you want to talk about anything?"

Sebastian shook his head and looked out at the farm, tapping his cigarette, she could tell he wasn't in a chatty mood tonight. Since they started spending more time together, she noticed the fluctuation in his moods. There were days when he acted almost like Sam, giddy and happy with more than enough confidence for the both of them. He circled her like a vulture in those instances, unable to keep his hands off her. It was endearing for the most part until she needed to get work done. Then there were days when it felt like he miles away, thinking about something Demetrius said or a problem he couldn't solve with his work. The muscles in his neck tensed and he would go hours without saying a word to her. He would either stay that way for the rest of the night or he would erupt in anger. They had their first fight a few nights ago when he stormed into the farmhouse, complaining about the amount of work he had to do for his next gig and how unreasonable the client was being. She suggested that he could go home and finish it if it was bothering him and he interpreted her suggestion as her asking him to leave. She understood how stressful those situations could be but she balked at how furious he was, even Bear cowered in the corner.

He had no issues telling her how he felt about their relationship but he was still so guarded when it came to certain topics. Nora had to remind herself to put everything into perspective, sure they knew of each other for almost 20 years but they had only been dating officially for less than a week. She stole glances at him while they sat in silence on the porch, wondering what was going through his mind.

"I'll go make some coffee." She stood up, kissing his hair.

"You can go back to sleep." He whispered, a sadness in his eyes.

"It's ok, I'm already up." She smiled, brushing her hand on his shoulder. She wanted him to talk to her but she needed to respect his privacy and space. After all, she had moments like that too, it was only fair. She put on a pot of coffee and checked her phone, scrolling through junk emails before stepping into the shower. Being up a few extra hours never hurt anyone before.

*** Summer 18, Year 2 ***

After a year and a half of waking up at six, Nora no longer relied on an alarm clock. Her morning routine was a carefully choreographed dance at this point, make coffee, let Bear out, shower, dress, farm. Of course, she made exceptions when Sebastian was around but he stayed at Sam's last night after a party at the saloon for Sam's birthday. She flipped through her journal, checking off items she needed to do before the end of summer. Time was flying, soon it would be fall again.

She harvested another round of red cabbages, saving one for the community center. It had been a while since she dropped anything off but according to her journal, the cabbage was the final item. She avoided going into town the past week, still processing what she overheard at Pierre's earlier in the month. A part of her knew that she should hold her head high and pretend like nothing happened, but she wasn't sure she was mentally prepared for it yet.