The Wild Card [Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands]

Chapter 4

"I can't work with her," he growled, banging the door to the feed store open and stomping toward the back. Resuming his usual spot seated on an old barrel in the corner, he glared over at Mirabelle and Julia, who just stared at him.

"With who?" Julia asked.

"That... that new girl. Colleen or whatever the hell her name is. I can't work with someone like that," he repeated.

"Colette," Mirabelle corrected. "Why can't you work with her? What happened?"

Vaughn slouched back a little, tugging his hat lower. "She suggested that I go 'wallow with the rest of the pigs', that's what."

He heard a snort, and looked back over at the two women. Mirabelle quickly turned away, her hands clamped tightly over her mouth. Julia didn't bother trying to hide her face, though, and a moment later burst out in loud guffaws of laughter. That was too much for her mother, and soon the two women were collapsing against each other, laughing and giggling helplessly.

"I'm just thrilled you find me so entertaining," he grumbled.

Mirabelle shook her head, but couldn't speak to reply. Julia gasped a little, then said, still giggling, "Sh-she sure has you pegged! What, did she catch you staring at her bazongas?" Then she started giggling again.

"No," Vaughn snapped. After a moment, he looked away and tugged at his hat again. "It was her legs."

The two women started laughing all over again, and finally Vaughn stood up and stomped back out. "I'm goin' someplace quiet. Don't forget to breathe." Then he slammed the door.

He headed down to the dock and stepped into one of the little dinghies kept there for general use. As he rowed over to Meadow Island, he allowed to himself that, after all, she did have legs worth staring at.

**************

Colette fumed to herself as she threw open the barn door and stalked in. Who the hell did he think he was, anyway? First staring at her like she was a piece of meat, then getting so high and mighty with her about her barns. She was used to being stared at like that, and it had intimidated her for years. But recent events had changed all that for her—now instead of anxiety, she felt anger. She was a human being, not an object, and she no longer had time or patience for those who couldn't, or wouldn't, recognize her as such.

She stared again at the remains of her phone. Honestly, she couldn't explain why she brought it with her. It was the last link, she supposed—the last tie to a life she'd turned her back on, walked—no, run—away from. She meant to never look back, though, and really, wasn't hanging on to this relic doing just that? She turned and hurled it with all her might against the wall, feeling both a stab of fear and elation as it shattered into a hundred pieces.

Then she realized she now had countless shards of broken plastic and glass on her barn floor. "Fuck!" she shouted, and even the act of screaming a curse relieved some of her tension. She yelled it a few more times, clenching her fists and hunkering down as she shouted every four-lettered word she could conjure up from her memory.

Feeling better, she cleaned up the shards of her phone, using a broken piece of board to scrape them onto another piece of wood. She carried it out of the barn, and found herself face to face with a startled Gannon.

"Oh! Errr...." She could feel her face reddening. How long had he been there?

He chuckled. "So yer don't allus speak as purty as yer look," he grinned, and though his words suggested censure, his tone of voice and his expression conveyed approval, even admiration. "Anyway, lady, the roof's all done. Yer can go inside now. I'm knockin' off for the day—got my store to run, too. I'll be back inna mornin'."