Grace Haven: Days 34 - 35

Though I had been nervous about having Jon stay over, he was a perfect gentlemen, and I slept really well. We got up early on Friday, and he took a shower (no--I didn't peek!),

while I made us pancakes for breakfast.

"So, how soon can we get married?" Jon asked me as we sat down to eat.

"I think it's a matter of just a couple days or so," I assured him animatedly. "I've had harvests from 7 Perfect plants already, and I've got this Perfect quality onion plant, and I'm just waiting till it produces."

"You're too funny," he said, taking another bite.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You're just so cute, that's all. You're so passionate about all this stuff--gardening, fishing, cooking. And I know nothing about any of it," he added.

"Well, you're passionate about Mercy Hellhole," I countered, "and I know nothing about the band--except that you play in it."

He looked down at his plate, and didn't say anything. I felt I'd said the wrong thing (though I couldn't imagine how).

He was silent for a while, just sitting there chewing and frowning. Then, just as I was starting to clean up, he brightened and said, "Hey, it looks like you've redecorated a bit--didn't this dining set used to be gray wood, and now it's brown?"

I told him yes, and that he'd convinced me to vary my color palette a bit. "And since you told me that brown's your favorite color, I thought I'd change some of the furniture to a natural, dark wood stain."

"Looks good," he nodded.

I was happy he'd snapped out of whatever he'd been dwelling on so seriously.

I continued. "Though I don't know if you want to live here after we're married--maybe you want us to live in your huge house, with the pool and the outdoor stage?"

He frowned, didn't respond, and went back to contemplating his pancakes closely.

Jon said nothing further while I cleaned up after breakfast. He changed into his swimsuit and went out to the yard to play in the sprinkler.

'I wonder what's going on with him?' I asked myself, looking out the kitchen window back toward the river.

I got dressed to go fishing and stopped to talk to Jon on my way out.

"Jon, it's completely fine if you want to move in here once we're married," I explained. "I just thought you might not want to leave your own house, and I wanted to be sensitive to your feelings."

"That house belongs to the band, Grace--it belongs to Mercy Hellhole. And I don't think you'd be comfortable there--there are always hangers-on, and innumerable people traipsing through. And it's certainly no place to raise kids."

I headed out to fish. 'Oh, so that's all it was,' I told myself.

I stayed out fishing the whole afternoon,

and returned home to go to bed a little after 7:00 p.m. Jon had already left (as I had expected), but again he'd left me a nice note thanking me for my hospitality.

I had another very good night's sleep, and stayed in bed till 2:00 a.m. Saturday.

I got up and sold the gnome I had caught, for $1,000,

and went out to the graveyard, to fish for Angelfish and Deathfish.

I sold all the Deathfish plus the one shark I'd caught, for more than $5,000,

then headed over to the Science Facility to catch Robot Fish.

(I had contractors at the house all day Sunday, refinishing the floors, the kitchen cabinets, and the interior door and window jambs--changing them from gray to a natural dark wood stain--so I was trying to stay out of the workmen's way.)

I fished till I ran out of Piranha bait, then sold my Robot Fish plus a couple of Black Goldfish, for more than $1,000.

I stopped by my house briefly to check on my Perfect onion plant--its Growth State had now changed from "Growing" to "Mature", so I knew I'd achieve my Perfect Garden LTW very soon.

With nothing else to do (it was Saturday night, so Jon was playing a concert at the stadium with Mercy Hellhole), I went out fishing for the third time that day, this time to two spots in the branch of the river that's southeast of my lot. The first spot is near a big rock that's in the middle of the river,

and the second is just before the small bridge.

I had a good outing, and fished till after midnight. I went back to the grocery, and sold the catch for over $5,500.

I went back to my house Sunday morning, and bought some new furnishings--some chandeliers and wall sconces, another kitchen counter, a trash compactor, a blender, and some rugs. If Jon and I are really going to live here, I might as well make it nice and homey.

I didn't spend all my money, though--if I'm lucky, I'll have to be furnishing a nursery before long!

************
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Join us next time, when Grace finally achieves her LTW, and gets a big surprise from Jon.