(Pov Jasmine)

  “And you don't have any questions? You remember which book he likes for bedtime stories?” Julie looked at her, tension obvious in her shoulders. Jasmine had noticed that she had been fidgeting and nervous all morning.

  “Julie, I remember. I will call you if anything happens. You NEED to get going. I can watch Sam for a day. I have a big extended family. This isn't my first time watching a four-year-old, and Sam is by far the best behaved.” Jasmine said with a small smile on her lips.

  “Ok, I am just worried- I am not usually that far away from him.” Julie closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. She leaned down and kissed the small boy standing next to them in the hallway on the top of the head. “Sam, I need you to behave and listen to Jasmine ok?”

  The little boy nodded and gave his mother a hug.

  Julie got up and opened the door to walk out. “Ok, love you, honey. I will see you tomorrow. And thanks again, Jasmine.” She said while leaving.

  “Bye, have a good trip. Say bye to your mother, Sam.”

  “Bye mom.” The little boy said as he made a small wave.

  Jasmine closed the door as the car drove off. She looked down at the boy who would be her partner in crime today. “So Sam, what do you wanna do first?”

  The boy shifted on his heels as his eyes darted around the hallway and into the living room. Following his gaze, a smile dawned on Jasmine's face just before he said. “Can we… Can we play with LEGOs?”

  “Of course we can. Come on, let's go find it.”

  Sam smiled, and Jasmine assumed that he was not bouncing due to a Herculean act of self-restraint. The smile wasn't particularly large, but it was the largest smile she had ever seen the boy have. Jasmine felt a warmth spread throughout her chest. It was nice to see Sam being slightly less locked into himself. It was well and truly adorable.

  They had been at it for maybe three hours, and Sam was trying to build a house. The box of toys didn't really include any full sets of LEGO. At least not anymore. When Julie had originally bought the toys, they might have been in full sets. Not that any of this was detrimental; if anything, it made creativity easier. There was only one problem: they were out of yellow.

  “I am sorry, Sam, I can't find any more yellow bricks.” Jasmine said, still elbow deep in a box of LEGOs. “Does orange work?”

  Sam looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed and a slight tension in his jaw. “No, no. Need yellow.”

  “But Sam, there isn't any more yellow.” Jasmine smiled at him.

  “NO… It needs to be yellow.” The small boy balled his hands into fists where he sat next to the nearly complete LEGO house. They actually had a really nice story about the little LEGO man, who Sam insisted was named Jeff, trying to find his wife. But now that seemed to be over.

  Jasmine's eyebrows furrowed as she checked her watch. “Ok, it needs to be yellow. We can probably find something that works, or we can rebuild the roof. But Sam, I think that might have to wait just a tiny little bit. It's been a while since lunch, and I am wondering if you might be a bit hungry?” Jasmine cocked her head slightly to the side.

  The boy just looked at her for a second, eyes big and brown. For a second, he reminded Jasmine of a puppy. Then he looked at the LEGO house and nodded. “Can we have spaghetti?”

  “Of course we can. What kind of sauce do you want?”

  “The red one.”

  Jasmine hesitated for a second. “Ahhh… Sure, I think I can make a red sauce. Just keep playing in the meantime, ok? Just come to the kitchen if you need anything.”

  Sam nodded his attention again, fully wrapped up in the tiny LEGO figures.

  As Jasmine entered the kitchen, she started to look through the cupboard. Luckily, they had everything she needed to make a red sauce, which was mostly tomato paste and minced meat.

  Halfway through making dinner, disaster struck. Sam had fallen and hit himself on the LEGO house. Luckily, he hadn't really gotten hurt, a fact that had made Jasmine almost laugh with relief. Unfortunately, she had not been able to pay enough attention to the food while she was soothing Sam. The smell of burned tomato and pasta had almost made her gag when she finally paid attention to it.

  ?”That smells icky.” She heard a voice say from the living room.

  Jasmine could only agree, given the state of the dinner. There was no hope in salvaging the black sludge in front of her. She walked through the kitchen and peeked into the living room. “Hey Sam, you haven't been in town much, have you?”

  “No.” Sam shook his head.

  Jasmine looked down at him and winked. “How about we go into town and eat today? Just don't tell your mother, and I can get you some ice cream, ok?”

  The little boy got a small, maybe even mischievous, smile on his face. Though Jasmine couldn't get a good look at it before Sam looked away, she started picking up his toys. Jasmine stared slack-jawed as the four-year-old started cleaning up the mess on the living room floor.

  —-------------------------------------------------

  (Pov Jason)

  Mari was missing again. She had a tendency to always have something come up or mysteriously disappear whenever Jason was working with her. That, of course, left Jason doing all the work. He felt a tightness in his chest, wondering if she was ok. Maybe I should talk to old lady Jannet.

  “eyyy, Jason!”

  Jason turned towards the voice and realized it was coming from the bar. From the rather desolate bar, the deep voice could only be Connors. Jason walked over and leaned on the counter.

  “What?”

  “Have you seen Mari? She's still supposed to be on the clock.” Connor looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

  Jason scratched his neck. “Ehhh… Not since eleven, I think.”

  Connor looked at him deadpan. “You haven't seen Mari since eleven? That was four hours ago.”

  Jason shrank slightly and let out a silent breath. “Yeah, at least I think it was eleven. At least it was around then. I looked at the time after she disappeared, but I don't know how much after.”

  “So she's been gone since before eleven, then?”

  “Ye… Yeah.” Jason studied the countertop in great detail, paying especially close attention to the decades of accumulated stains and nicks.

  Connor pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a deep sigh. “Was she behaving oddly in any way? Was she spacey or did she seem distracted?”

  “No, I don't think… Actually, she did seem to be a little distracted. I figured it was related to what she left for.” Jason's tone got quieter as he spoke.

  Connor seemed to be putting more force into the pinch he did on the bridge of his nose, there being a hint of white just around his fingers. “Ohhh, I bet it was.” Connor let out a deep breath, and for a second, his man bun vibrated. “Ok, follow me for a bit. I think I know exactly where she is.”

  Connor walked quickly, and there was an obvious tension in his shoulders as he headed out towards the back of the bar and grill. Jason wondered for a moment if it was smart to leave the place entirely unattended; in fact, that seemed like an exceptionally bad idea. But he was sure Connor had thought about it.

  As they left the building through the hallway in the back and rounded the area where the trash containers were, Jason's nose twitched. The smell was strong and… skunky? It wasn't a totally new smell, he remembered a similar smell, though far less pungent, coming from Mari the first time they met. He also remembered the smell from one time he ran into his grandfather smoking something a few years ago. He had been very adamant that Jason not mention it to anyone, and he hadn't.

  Just as they passed the last trash container, Jason saw Mari sitting in a folding chair smoking what looked like a self-rolled cigarette. She was looking at her phone and seemed to be suppressing a giggle.

  “Mari! What the fuck!”

  Connor's face was glowing hot red. Jason's eyes darted between the two, with Mari seemingly reacting slowly. Her head did eventually turn towards them, with her eyes seeming slightly hazed over.

  “Hey, Connor, what's up?”

  Connor's mouth bobbed up and down for a few seconds before he finally drew a deep breath and then let it out. “What's up, what's up! What's up is that you're out here getting high while the new guy is left all alone. And it seems this isn't the first time. You even fucking planned for it.”

  Jason felt his heart rate spike. Had she been using him? He knew the tips were collective, so was he the only one working?

  “Wait, so I am the only one getting tips for us?”

  Connor turned on his heels to look Jason in the face. He spoke, his voice strained with effort. “Jason, what do you mean?”

  Jason could feel himself shrink. “Well, you know the tips are collective, so we can all make something when we run into various issues. At least that's how Mari explained it.”

  Connor stared at him, slack-jawed, before rubbing his palm in his left eye. When he looked back up at Jason, his eyes were filled with… pity. “Jason, buddy, why don't you go back inside and watch the restaurant. We can't leave it unattended for too long. I need to talk some stuff over with Mari.”

  “Sure thing.” Jason nodded and headed towards the back entrance. His steps felt heavy as he walked, and when the squeak of the hinges on the back door sounded, he heard Connor explode.

  “MARI YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKING CU…” He didn't catch the rest of the conversation before the door closed, hearing only muffled sounds. Jason winced. He was extremely happy he wasn't Mari right now.

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  His shoulders sagged as he walked towards the main eating floor. He needed to get himself together before he got there. Yes, Mari had used him, or so it seemed; he would need to ask Connor before he passed judgment on that. There might be circumstances he didn't know about, or… something. But judging by that shout, Mari had definitely done something wrong about not working. Had she effectively been stealing from him, werent the tips combined?

  Jason let out a deep breath and tried to straighten up. He might have gotten duped, and quite badly at that. But that didn't mean he didn't have a job to do or that the customers should see it.

  Turning the corner, Jason looked over the seating areas and the bar and didn't initially notice anyone new. That was until his eyes landed on table three. There, sitting facing away from him, was a head of long golden hair.

  Looking over the rest of the seating area, he noticed that other than table nine, the place was empty. It had been a slow day, but that wasn't uncommon on Sundays, from what Connor and Mari had told him. There were more blonds in town or nearby, of course, and it might be someone driving through. But Jason couldn't help but think that only one had hair like that.

  Jason picked up a few menus and walked over.

  “Hei, I am…”

  “Jason Smallers, right? It's great to see you again.” Said a voice coming from the woman staring up at him with a warm, wide smile. Her face was surrounded by what seemed to be a halo of golden hair.

  “You were Jasmine Burns? You were here with Mrs. Anderson a few weeks ago.”

  Her smile brightened. “Ahh, so you remember me then, it's great to know I made an impression.” The woman winked at him. “ But where are my manners? Jason, let me introduce you to Sam. Say hello to the nice man, Sam.” She gestured across the table from her.

  On the opposite side of the table in a small kid seat, which the place kept available for customers to use as needed, sat a small boy, probably around 3 to 5. Jason couldn't really tell, though the fact that he hadn't noticed him made Jason's heart race.

  The small boy waved and, in a very small voice, said. “ Hello.”

  “Well, Hi there, Sam. It's great to meet you.” Jason handed Sam his menu. “Here is your menu. The images for the kids' menu are here.” Jason opened it to the kids' menu. “And if you need any help finding something, just ask. Though I am sure your… mom could help you?” Jason looked over at Jasmine.

  Jasmine waved her hands emphatically in a dismissive fashion. “Nooooo. No, no,no. I am not his mother. He's my roommate's kid. She had to leave town today, so I am watching him. But yes, I would still help him, of course.”

  Jason nodded, roommate, right. “Ahhh, I see. Well, either way, he seems great. Should I get some drawing supplies for him? We do have some.”

  Jasmine looked at Sam with a slightly raised eyebrow. “Do you want some crayons and paper, Sam?”

  Sam seemed to study the countertop before nodding.

  Jason couldn't help but smile down at the boy. “ Well, I will get you your things then. Just tell me when you are ready to order.”

  “Ohh no, we can order right now. Sam, do you still want spaghetti?” The boy nodded again, this time smiling a little. “He will have the spaghetti bolognese, and he really likes Coke. I will be having the… actually, I think I will also be having the bolognese.”

  “Coming right up. And then I will get the drawing stuff right after I give the kitchen your order and bring it over with your drinks.” Jason said as he wrote down the orders.

  —----------------------------------------------------

  (Pov Jasmine)

  The restaurant smelled fantastic, and she was very sure the scent making her mouth water definitely wasn't the chef's cooking, regardless of quality. Sure, it wasn't irresistible, but the gods were truly cruel for dangling the best-tasting man she had ever met right in front of her. Though she knew the gods held little power here, not unless one of them made the trip from the old country simply to tease her. No, this was pure coincidence, nothing more, nothing less.

  Jason was gone for only a few minutes before he returned with their drinks and the drawing supplies for Sam.

  “Before you go, I have been wondering if the barn you guys have by the northern part of the road is still stable? Are there any problems with it or anything like that?” She cocked her head to the side, sneaking a quick glance at his neck.

  Jason looked dumbfounded for a second. “Yeah, it's still fine. We don't use it anymore, not since the herd died. But we've kept it in working order. Why do you ask?”

  Jasmine started lazily stirring the straw in her Coke. “Well, you see, I was jogging through the area when I saw it. And… Well, the company I work for has been looking to quickly expand the logistical capacity of one of its subsidiaries. Unfortunately, we need to do so very quickly, so the entire process of getting the permits needed to build new warehouses would take too much time, not to mention construction itself and just labour procurement as it stands.” She let out a breath while shaking her head before she continued. ”We have already depleted most of the local labour pool with the hydropower project and all that. So I was wondering if maybe your family would be willing to lend us the barn, at least for lets say, a year or two. We will pay, of course, and we don't mind paying for improvements on the barn after we get new facilities either.”

  Jasmine could basically hear Jason's heart race and see the cogs in his head turn. “You would need to talk to my dad about it, but I don't think there would be a problem with that as long as it doesn't damage the soil uphill from the road. Dad's been dreaming of replanting the orchard there for a little over a decade.”

  “I don't think that will be a problem.” She said quickly before her eyes locked onto Jason's. “You guys had an orchard. What kind of trees did you have?”

  Jason blushed slightly and fidgeted with his hands. “We had several, actually, various types of apples and some peaches. If they're the hardier kinds, peaches can grow even here. We had bees, too, back then.” His face deflated, and his lips pressed together. She seemed to have hit a nerve.

  “You know I love orchards. According to my mom, my grandfather had an expression. When one plants a tree, one plants oneself. He supposedly learned it from someone he met in his younger years. I can't imagine what the loss of that has meant to your family. I am sorry for bringing it up.” Jasmine tried giving him a small smile.

  “Mister.” Sam said while trying to hand Jason a piece of paper.

  Jason's face changed quickly, now being filled by a bright if somewhat forced smile. “Well, what have you got there?” He looked at the paper, and Jasmine could see his face light up, the tension she noticed in his smile previously evaporating like water on hot metal.

  “Well, what's this, is that me?”

  Sam nodded.

  “Well, the drawing is fantastic. Thank you, Sam. It looks great, you are very good at drawing.”

  Jasmine couldn't help but wonder again about the presence of divine intervention as a soft beam of sunlight illuminated Jason's face. The way his smile got highlighted, and the small crinkles in the corner of his eye, highlighted the way his eyes turned bright brown in the light. Holy shit, he's pretty.

  It didn't take too long before they got their food. It was good, and more importantly, Sam loved it. Jasmine still quirked an eyebrow at the fact that a bar and grill had spaghetti, but apparently, they did. It was probably due to the size of the town, though it could also just be that they weren't always a bar and grill. Lucky for her, they did have spaghetti, as she didn't know that much about Fairvern or what was around the town. Sure, she had seen maps and driven past some of it, but that had been focused on the industrial or mission-useful area.

  Not long after she and Sam had finished eating, Jason came by to collect their plate. “Do you want to pay or are you planning on dessert?” Jason cocked his head slightly to the side as he asked.

  “You know I promised Sam some ice cream, so we would love to see the menu again, wouldn't we, Sam?” The boy only nodded, but something about him seemed almost giddy.

  “All right then, I will bring it by then.” It took no time at all before Jason was back with the menus. Sam wanted one scoop of vanilla and one of chocolate. Which was fine, she could just eat what was left over, or they could throw it away. Jasmine herself, however, couldn't quite decide, and when Jason came back to take their orders, she decided to just ask.

  “So Jason, what's your favorite ice cream? What would you recommend that you guys serve here?”

  The boy was taken aback by the question, but after a second's hesitation, he collected himself. “We… Well, in my opinion, the chocolate one is probably the best.”

  “Chocolate it is then. So should I order one single scoop or two single scoops?”

  Jason's brows furrowed in what seemed to be confusion. “Wouldn't it be better to order one double scoop?”

  Jasmine couldn't help but smile at that. “I am asking if you have time to and if you want to join us, Jason. Sam likes you, and I do want to talk to you about some things. If you have to work, then of course. But there is no one else here right now, so what would be the harm? The ice creams on me, of course.”

  —---------------------------------------

  (Pov Jason)

  Jason was unable to speak for a few moments and could feel a slight amount of heat creeping onto his cheeks. He was fairly certain they didn't have a policy against it. And he didn't mind talking to Jasmine; he actually quite liked it. Though customer waiter conversation and actual conversation were two very different things. He could also really use some ice cream. Still, that smile seemed completely normal, except he felt there was a bit of… hunger in it?

  “Ye… Yeah, I could join you for a bit. Though I need to get back to work if anyone new comes in the next,” Jason fished the phone out of his pocket and checked the time, “twenty-five minutes.”

  Jasmine nodded. “Great, but it's one me, mister. You seem like the type who will try to weasel his way out of letting me buy you something as small as an ice cream.”

  Jason squirmed slightly at that comment. How did she know that he hadn't tried yet, but he was intending to find some way of paying for it himself? “Right, thank you. I will just go get the ice cream then.”

  Jason sat down next to Jasmine. There wasn't enough space with Sam without moving him and his seat. Doable, sure, but he would rather not.

  Sam at least loved his ice cream, and Jason couldn't help but feel a warm feeling spread through his chest as he watched the little kid devour his ice cream, like a wolf eating a piece of meat. It was really adorable.

  “You ok? You seem kinda down today.” Jasmine looked at him, and her eyes looked soft.

  Jason looked down at the small glass bowl holding his scoop of chocolate happiness. “Yeah, I am fine, just I got a nasty surprise earlier.”

  “Ahh, I see. Well, we all have those days, don't we? There will be a day tomorrow. But in that case, you definitely deserve someone to buy you some ice cream, so eat up.” Jason looked over at Jasmine, only to find her leaning her head in her palm, looking at him. Was she glancing down at his throat? Jason subtly scratched at the place she seemed to be looking at to try to remove whatever smudge she might be looking at.

  They mostly had small talk after that as they ate. Sam interrupted from time to time, asking some more questions. Watching the boy become more and more open with him eased the tension Jason had been carrying since the entire thing with Mari. Still, he noticed from time to time that Jasmine's thigh brushed his lightly, and it happened multiple times even though he tried taking up less space. Afraid she didn't have the space she needed.

  By the time they finished, Jason had learned that Jasmine was the head of West Star in Fairvern and most of the surrounding county. She was also the one who bought the old lodge.

  “Well, I think it's time for us to head home.” Jason followed Jasmine's gaze over at Sam, who was looking tired.

  “Well, thank you for the ice cream and the conversation. I will go get the check.”

  Jasmine was putting on her own jacket, having already helped Sam with his when Jason got back. “Well, here's your check. Thank you for dining here this afternoon.”

  Jasmine had pulled out her wallet when he handed her the small binder. She wrote something on the bottom of the receipt and then took out a few bills and placed them inside. The binder snapped shut before Jason could get a proper look at them. She motioned to hand over the binder, but didn't let go of it as Jason took hold of it. She quickly stepped in much closer to Jason. He could feel a warm sensation radiate from his shoulder, but Jason was too locked into looking into her strangely blue eyes staring up at him through her eyelashes.

  “You know, Jason, I just moved here, and I don't know a lot of people around here. I would love it if you could show me around town, on lets say, next Saturday. Does that work for you?” Her tone was light with a hint of mischief entering as she continued. ”I promise I don't bite, or well, when I do, it doesn't hurt.”

  He could feel the heat spreading across his face, and he felt like it was possible to fry an egg on his forehead. “Ye… ye… Yeah, that… works.”

  Jasmine winked at him with that smile returning, though it seemed more like a hungry grin this time. “ Thank you, handsome. I will pick you up at, let's say, twelve. Just send me a message if anything changes, or drop by to tell me in person, we are neighbors after all.” Jasmine then turned to Sam, the warmth he had been feeling on his shoulder starting to fade. “Come on Sam, let's go. Say goodbye to Jason.”

  “Bye, Jason.” The little boy waved at him as he and the strange woman who had brought him here today left out the door.

  Jason sat back down in the booth and tried hiding his face in his hands. He opened the binder while keeping his head towards the table. Jesus Christ, what… just happened, did she just say that? And WTF is that? Jason's eyes widened as he stared down at the phone number scribbled at the bottom of the receipt and the tip whose total seemed to be.. no it couldn't be…200 dollars!

  —---------------------------------------

  (Pov Chloe)

  Standing across the road from the bar and grill, she had been watching Jason's interaction with that… Woman for the last 5 or so minutes. The day couldn't possibly get any worse. She had just been on a coffee run, and then she had to see THAT. Chloe's hand squeezed shut, crushing the cheap styrofoam coffee cup she had been carrying.

  “Shit” she wheezed as the hot coffee lightly stung her hand.

  Looking back, she could see the still bright red ears of Jason as he looked down at something while trying to hide his face. She felt a tight feeling in her chest. How had she gotten him to blush like that, and why couldn't she do it? Though the more important question was definitely.

  Who was that homewrecking bitch?