Coffee and Spice | Harvey | Stardew Valley

-21-

I kick mud off my boots and hurry into the cozy warmth of the saloon with a heavy burlap sack balanced on one arm. A fire crackles cheerfully in the stone fireplace against the rustic wooden paneling of the wall, offering solace from the dropping temperatures outside. The rich, homey smells of freshly baked bread and simmering pumpkin soup meld together into a mouth-watering aroma that has my stomach growling as soon as I'm over the threshold.

"Oh, are those the rest of the pumpkins Gus ordered?" Emily asks, meeting me at the door to relieve me of the burden.

"Yep," I huff, passing the sack to her gratefully and closing the door behind me. "That's the last of them until next year. Thank Yoba."

"'Thank Yoba'?" She echoes with a breathless laugh as she carries the load across the bar and hauls it up onto the counter. "You actually sound like you live here. It only took a year."

"It's finally starting to rub off on me." I shuffle over to a barstool and collapse into it. With winter closing in on me like a pack of wild wolves snapping at my ankles, I'd been busier than ever on the farm. Between clearing out my crop fields, making deliveries, and fulfilling requests, I've hardly had a chance to catch my breath. And that didn't even include my current project at the Community Center of repairing the holes in the roof which Mayor Lewis was pushing to have completed by early spring. The amount of plates I was juggling each day was growing and my body was feeling the strain. At this rate, I would run myself into the ground sooner rather than later. I was still tremendously happier than I had been in the city, but the idyllic life of a small-town farmer I imagined for myself when I first took over my grandfather's farm has remained a pipe dream.

"One sec." Emily disappears into the back and returns shortly with a steaming bowl of pumpkin soup topped with a swirl of cream. On the side is a sizable chunk of crusty, buttery bread. She sets it down in front of me along with a glass of water. "In case you need proof that we're putting your crops to good use. And don't even think about paying!" She stabs a finger at me as I reach into my pocket. "We wouldn't even have pumpkin soup on the menu if it wasn't for you."

We go back and forth, but eventually I surrender (mostly because I'm starving) and shift my focus to the food which tastes just as heavenly as it smells. While I eat, Emily completes preparations for her upcoming shift and Gus eventually emerges from the back. After thanking me for the pumpkins and chatting with us for awhile, he leaves to pick up supplies at Pierre's shop.

As soon as the door closes behind him, I decide to get down to business. "So, have you done any more investigating?"

As expected in a town where everyone practically lives on top of one another, rumors spread at the speed of light after the Shane incident. That didn't surprise me; it was common knowledge that small towns are breeding grounds for gossip. What did surprise me was that I would be caught up in the hastily spun web of lies.

As a bartender and natural expert at socializing, Emily possesses a well-honed ability to fish out details from the saloon patrons under the guise of harmless small talk. By this method, she has been able to uncover and then relay to me the rumors that have been swarming amongst our neighbors like an infestation. Not that I could stop people from talking, but it gave me a false sense of control to know about what they were saying.

"I've done a bit," Emily sighs, throwing a dishrag over her shoulder and leaning back against the counter behind her. "Nothing new to report. Everyone's still hooked on the tragic love story angle."

I grimace. One of the more popular rumors going around was that Shane had told me he has feelings for me and then when I had responded to his heartfelt declaration with a scathing rejection, he had made an attempt on his life out of devastation. Upon receiving the news of what happened, I had rushed into the clinic begging Harvey to let me see Shane so I could apologize and grovel at Shane's bed for a second chance.