With the Stars and Us - Chapter Nine

Winter was here.

The deep snow crunched under Mary’s boots as she and Elli struggled to deliver the final batches of mail to everyone on the island. Winter meant three things to Mary; a further excuse to hole up inside and read all day, her birthday and Starry Night. The latter meant lots and lots of mail. Not just for her, but for what seemed to be a majority of the world.

“Oh Goddess, I can’t believe we’re done…” Elli cried out before collapsing in front of Sundae Inn. “It was bad the past few years but I thought it was because it was just me…”

“Gill and Hamilton didn’t help?”

Elli shot her a look.

“...W-well, Gill is the most helpful out of the two… I’m just surprised…”

Elli continued to stare at her.

“...W-why did you stay as long as you did, again?”

Elli snorted before lifting up her arms to be helped back up. “The boat… and other things.” Mary grunted as she pulled her friend back up onto her feet and brushed the snow off the back of Elli’s skirt as she continued to speak. “Anyway… Unless we get another sudden ship coming in from Flowerbud tomorrow, we’re done. Just in time too.”

“How long are you gone, again?” Mary asked as she opened the door to the in. The two women stomped their boots free of lingering snow on the mat before taking a seat by the bar.

“Until late spring. I still… feel a little bad for taking so much time off.”

“You’ve been working nonstop for like three years,” Kathy said as she dropped two drink menus onto their table. She placed a hand on her cocked hip and pointed towards Elli. “I think you deserve to have a good break. Mary and those two lil’ prisses can handle things while you’re catching up with your grandma and brother.”

“She’s right, Elli… though I wouldn’t go so far as to… call Gill and his father those sorts of names…”

“Oh please…” Kathy huffed. “You’ll be doing all the work. Call them all the names you want. Gill only picked up the slack because Angela kept popping in for a while, didn’t she? Now that she’s seeing Toby…”

Mary grimaced. “A-anyway… Elli, don’t feel bad about taking off. You were only supposed to be here for a year at the very most, right? Poor weather and that job kept you here longer than you needed. It’s hardly unreasonable for you to ask to spend the holidays and a season with your family after so long.”

Elli sighed. “I suppose you’re right… Well, I might as well make the most of my last night here. Kathy, get me an apple and a rice cocktail, please.”

“Alright, how about you, Mary?”

“Mmmm… grape for me, maybe.”

It only took a few drinks for Elli to get a little loose. Not that Mary was much better. She was a snickering mess by the time the former nurse started to babble about how this Starry Night Festival might not be so bad. “I-I’ll be with Granny and Stu, sooooo… I don’t have to feel weird that everyone’s basically getting… y’know that night.”

“W-what do you mean?” Mary asked.

Elli shot her yet another look. “Y’know.”

“Iiiiii don’t know that’s why I’m askin’ you.”

“It’s, ah, it’s a couples thing here. Starry Night.”

“...Oh.”

The two shared a laugh before finishing the last of their last cocktails for the night. “Ugh, it might be unbearable this year, glad I’m not here for it…” Elli muttered as they got up to pay for their tabs. “So many couples… I know it’s just ‘cause everyone’s comin’ in now but jeeeeeez.”

“It’s not so bad…” Mary mumbled. “...It’s Moonlight Night that’s the worst–”

“That’s basically what it is here.”

Mary blinked. “What? Then when’re people supposed to… eat food ‘n’ stuff with…”

Elli shrugged. “New Years, I guess.”

They walked out of the Inn. Their warm breath hung in the cold night air like clouds that were illuminated by the moon hanging above them. Elli took a deep breath. “...Should I invite Dr Trent to dinner with my family?”

The other woman nodded. “Yeah.”

“He usually eats with Carter though.”

“Invite him too.”

“...Would that turn him off? Like… too many people?”

“I don’t think he cares about that kinda thing, the doctor I mean… He’d just be happy to see you.”

“...Yeah…”

“You should tell him, you know.”

“...Yeah…”

“I mean it. E-even if there isn’t anyone there to steal him away… you should tell him. For your sake.”

Elli turned towards Mary and stared at her for a long moment. “Is this about Gray?”

“Maybe a little… but… it doesn’t really bother me anymore… A-at least not like that, y’know? I… just wonder how different it’d be if. I did. But. It’s okay now.”

The brown haired woman nodded. “I get it… I-I’ll do it… On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“...You do it too.”

“What do you mean ‘me too’?”

“You think you’re sooooooooo subtle, it’s so funny. Kathy ‘n’ Maya told me about your lunch date with Dr Jin last season. You guys got so embarrassed that you had to leave.”

“I-it wasn’t–”

“I know. That’s why you have to… that’s why you have to tell him. Don’t have to ask him out for the festival but… tell him before I come back. Promise?”

Mary bit on her bottom lip before staring up at the night sky. The moon was so bright that she could see the shadows that Elli’s eyelashes casted on her cheek and the sparkle of them thanks to the frost the winter air caused. She took a deep breath. “...Okay. I promise.”

Elli smiled.

The two women leaned in for a hug before parting ways.

“Well, save for a few things that Angela says she swears she can get from Mt Gelato and her last minute flowers, I can say we’re done. Maybe we should have held our celebrations now instead of last season.” Jin said with a chuckle. He tucked the last few pages of his notes into a folder and then into a filing cabinet.

“...We can always have another one, there’s nothing wrong with celebrating more than once,” Mary said as she placed her typewriter into its case. “It’s kind of sad.”

“Sad?”

“I know we still have a lot more things to do with this, after all, it’s still only the first draft… but…”

“Our first project together is potentially our last one.”

“Kind of,” she said with a shrug. Her thumbs flicked the latches of her case down. A satisfying ‘clack’ rang through the air. “...We have less of an excuse to spend time together too, I guess. Plus… this is technically the first book I’ve finished.”

The man perked up. “Well, I think that’s definitely a cause for celebration, don’t you think?”

“Me finishing a book?” She tilted her head to the side. “I suppose so. When I planned on coming here, I was hoping RF would have been finished… or at least… for me to decide who Raguna was going to be with.”

“Are you not going with Mist?”

“Mmmm… that always didn’t sit right with me. I know I could just write more scenes with them as a couple or change things… but I worry that any romance between them would be more of an obligation than a genuine romance.”

“What were your other choices again?”

“Tori and Lynette… I’m not so sure about Tori anymore though.”

“You had so many scenes with her though… what happened?”

She grimaced. “...Gray really liked her. I liked her too, of course, but… the more I wrote for her and Raguna, the less it became about the story. It was me being self-indulgent and projecting myself onto my character and projecting Gray onto Raguna.”

He hummed dismissively. “That’s unfortunate. I thought she was rather cute.”

A blush threatened to stain her face. What did that mean? Was it because of her or because… She shook the thought out of her head. “Goddess, I wonder why,” she teased. “Anyway… I might just scrap the whole thing.”

“I can understand that. I think you could reuse the characters and rework things though… it’d be such a shame to throw it all away.”

“Mhm…”

“With the new year coming up, it could be a good excuse to start your project anew.”

“The new year…” Mary mumbled to herself. That was right. It was nearly the last two weeks of winter. There were two big events now that Thanksgiving had passed–thank you Elli for not telling her in advance! She swallowed. “Do you have plans?”

“Plans?” he asked before taking a sip of his hot chocolate. He grimaced. “Ugh, I should just drink water from now on… Anyway, for New Years? No, not officially. I may spend the night with Popo and Perry since he’s so far away from his family.”

That made sense, though, it was just a warm up question for her. Okay, she could do this.

“Did you want to join us if that’s the case?”

“S-sure.” It was now or never. If she didn’t do it now, she’d lose her nerve. “Jin… I have to ask you something else. It’s, ah, it’s rather… serious.”

A minute passed before he nodded and placed his cup onto the desk. “I’m… listening. Please go ahead.”

Her heart throbbed as she turned towards him. Thump, thump, thump. It was all she could hear and feel. The world around them faded into white. Or darkness. Or maybe somewhere in between. Mary just couldn’t focus. There was a lot at stake here.

If she didn’t do it, then what happened with Gray may happen again. Even if Anissa was interested, what was stopping one of the other girls–or maybe one of the men, Mary had no idea–from falling for the doctor as well? Not only that, what if no one was interested? Would he just stay alone? Did he like being alone? When he said he was going to try to better himself, did that mean he was also going to work on becoming okay with the idea of dating again? What if their friendship changed?

So many questions.

So many risks.

Plus, if she didn’t go for it, that meant breaking her promise with Elli. It was a silly one. One made between two lonely, inebriated women who yearned for a doctor who was clueless.

“...Are you… are you seeing anyone for Starry Night?”

“No.”

She inhaled and held for several seconds. Her eyes fluttered shut as she sucked in another breath. “...Would… would you mind… spending it with me?” With her eyes closed, the silence was overwhelming. She couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t stand another second of this. She also couldn't stand the thought of opening her eyes and potentially seeing Jin’s reaction.

“...Mary…” He finally managed to get out. It was barely a whisper. Something that someone wouldn’t hear unless they were an inch apart but somehow she managed. “Are you…”

“I-I’m sorry. I… I know… I know you’re still…” Her hands floated in the air as she tried to think of what to say. For all the time she spent writing romance stories, one would think that she’d be eloquent and well-spoken when it came to her own potential relationships. “I have feelings for you, Jin. Romantic ones. I’ve had them since autumn, maybe even summer. I wish I could… put it into words. You’re so dedicated, to a fault at times, patient and kind. I haven’t connected with someone on an… intellectual level like I have with you. W-we may not be the most similar when it comes to interests… but I love talking to you. I love spending time with you. I-I–”

“Y-you love me–”

“N-no! I mean, it’s… too soon to say that, I think. I… I just know that I do like you. You’re more than a friend to me, Jin. I treasure our friendship more than anything else in the world. Maybe it’s too soon for me to be making a move… I-I know your heart still hurts. M-mine would too! I’m just… I’m full to bursting with these feelings and I-I want to let you know. It’s… it’s alright if you don’t feel the same. We haven’t known each other for too long in the grand scheme of things, I know… It’s only been a little less than a year–”

“...I married my wife after a year of knowing her,” Jin said. “Th-this isn’t me saying… Hold on, let… let me start over.”

Mary nodded. Emotions spun inside her at the speed of sound. Nausea washed over her. The boat ride here left her feeling less wound up. She both wanted this moment to end to spare her sanity and dreaded hearing his response. If he was going to reject her, then just reject her! But also don’t tell her at all! This was the worst, no wonder why she never acted on her feelings for Gray–

“Yes, in the… grand scheme of things… a year isn’t that long. However, we’ve been spending so much time together in that year. We… we know each other. We’re friends. Dear friends. Sabrina and I weren’t friends–at least, not as long as you and I–and yet, we got married. It’s not impossible. You and Gray had known each other for how long?”

“...F-five or so years.”

He blinked. “A lot happened in five years, it seems.”

“Y-yes…”

He took a deep breath. “...Do you mind waiting for my response? I… This isn’t me rejecting you.”

‘Not yet at least…’

“I just… I need to be sure.”

Mary nodded. “I understand… but please, don’t keep me waiting for too long, okay?” She said as she began to leave the clinic. She turned towards him and gave him a weak smile, which he returned.

“I won’t.”

Seven days.

It was a terribly lonely seven days.

Elli had left for Mineral Town a week before. Kathy, Maya and Angela were all caught up in their own relationships, full fledged ones or potential ones stuck in the ‘will they, won’t they’ phase. Mary didn’t feel right weighing them down with her problems. At least, not right now. Not this close to Starry Night.

She kept her distance away from Jin and the clinic as a whole. If she hung out there, then she might pressure him into answering before he was ready. She didn’t want to do that intentionally or unintentionally.

Despite the wintery chill, warmth buzzed in the air. It was different from Thanksgiving–which was more like Valentine’s Day than anything–it was much more potent right now. Jake and Colleen were always openly romantic with each other, holding hands, loose embraces and pet names. The whole works. Right now, they were kissing each other whenever they saw each other. Toby and Angela were a less in-your-face version of that.

Mary kind of understood why Elli was frustrated this time of the year.

Some relationships were made official. Selena and Luke had surprised nearly everyone. They weren’t engaged. Openly flirting was more the situation. Chase and Maya were, however. Julius, someone who Mary didn’t know very well, and Luna’s sister, Candace were now in a relationship.

There were a few others but Mary felt reluctant to ask for more gossip.

Mary groaned as she made her way home. A sudden flurry during her shift meant more snow, the wet and heavy kind, to wade her way through. Snow managed to get into her boots and melt from the heat of her foot. The sensation of wet socks was already horrid. Wet socks in the cold? She kind of wanted to die so she never had to experience this feeling again. She knew she would though.

As she trudged through the knee deep snow, she missed her mailbox. Or rather, almost did.

The tiny red flag was up.

Quickly, she shuffled towards it and opened it up.

A simple envelope with her name on it. She didn’t wait to open it inside as curiosity quickly gobbled her up.

‘Mary,

I believe that I’ve decided. I’d rather tell you face to face, however. Would you mind meeting up at Alan’s Tree at 3 PM tomorrow? Thank you.

Jin.’

Mary shivered as she stood by the tree. The snow wasn’t deep, whether it was because of the slope of the hill or Cain making a trail for people to walk up a few days ago, she wasn’t sure but she was appreciative nonetheless. The base of the tree itself was mysteriously void of any snow. A patch of rich brown dirt with the mysterious red crocus. The diameter of the patch was a couple of feet wide. She stood within the circle despite her confusion. She was thankful to just be out of the snow and to spare herself the agony of having to deal with it melting onto her socks again.

Wind whistled through the branches and rustled through the still green leaves.

She imagined her father would have a field day trying to figure out how Waffle Island and these trees and the flowers managed to survive. Would he accept that there was something about the island? Would he accept that magic was real?

Mary wasn’t sure herself but she had seen it.

She had felt it. Everyone had.

Was it the Goddess or something else?

Her mind wandered to that day with Jin in his house. The arrival of that rainbow was perfectly timed. Was it really just a coincidence or was Jin right to assume that it was Sabrina giving him her blessing? If so, did she know about her feelings for her widower? Was she alright with it?

She bit her lip. Her hands shoved themselves into the pockets of her heavy coat as she stared out into the ocean. The wind blew once again, pushing her hair out from under her hat and scarf and causing it to flutter in the frosty air.

“Goddess, I keep doing this…” Jin said with a sigh.

A jolt struck her right in the soul. Panicking, she spun on her heel to get a look at the man she was waiting to see. “D-doing what?”

“Making you wait for me. I was hoping that I’d be here first…” He said as he pushed up his sleeve to look at his watch. His eyebrows furrowed. “I-it’s not even two-thirty yet, Mary.”

Sheepishly, she rubbed the back of her neck the best that she could through her mittens and the curtain of hair that escaped her scarf. “...I-I couldn’t wait. I was, ah, going crazy,” she said with a laugh.

He flashed her an apologetic look. His eyebrows turned upward and his lips curled into a squiggly line. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend.”

She shook her head. “I-it’s fine, I promise. How… how are you?”

“I’m…. I’ve been fine. Busy but I’ve been alright.”

“...T-taking care of yourself?”

“The… best that I can. I’ll be honest and admit that I’ve been… distracted as of late.”

“I… Yes, I can relate. Sleep has been… It could be better.”

He nodded. “Well, I suppose… we should stop dragging our feet. I, um, I have come to a conclusion.”

“...Y-yes?” She grit her teeth and prepared for the worst.

“Mary,” he whispered as he reached for her hands. Her eyes shot wide open as liquid heat pulsed through her veins at his touch. His long, elegant fingers wrapped around her wrists as he couldn’t lace his with hers thanks to her mittens. “...I… I feel the same.”

Her jaw dropped.

“I’ve felt this way for a while. At first, I thought it was because you reminded me of Sabrina and tried to push these feelings aside. It felt wrong. Not only because… I felt horrible for feeling something for someone else but because… I didn’t want you to feel that I was using you. It’s… different. I’ve thought about you for weeks,” he continued to whisper. “I… I know that I care about you. I want to know more about you, I want to… I want to hear more of your stories, I want to help inspire you just like you’ve inspired me. I will… I’ll always love Sabrina and if that’s alright with you… I-I’d love to be able to… love you the same way, one day.”

Tears pricked at her eyes once again. Pure and utter emotion exploded within her. “I…”

“P-please don’t… please don’t think that I’m trying to replace her with you–I-I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have said–”

“N-no! I… I’m just,” she stammered. A hand pulled itself from his grip so she could wipe at her eyes. Her eyelashes already began to frost up in the cold air. She hiccupped before diving into him. Her arms wrapped tightly around his chest as she squeezed him with all her might. “I… Thank you. Thank you for… taking a chance.”

Even if she couldn’t see his face as she buried hers within his coat, she could feel the warmth of his gaze and smile beaming down on her. “No, thank you, Mary.”

The two of them stood there for what seemed like an eternity. An eternity that still wasn’t enough for Mary but they had to let go eventually. His hand brushed against her hair as he gave her another smile. “...Is your… Is your offer for Starry Night still standing?”

Laughter bubbled up from her chest and into the air.