Harvest Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

caught my hand.
    “What’s in Jackson?”
    I jerked my hand away, instantly alert. “What?”
    “The night you were hurt, when you were sleeping, you kept saying Jackson.”
    Bending my knees, I hugged my arms around them and looked out at the water. These last few days I’d allowed my guard to relax, and Jackson had drifted from my mind. Now it was all back in my face. I remembered everything—what I had to do and why, and I was ashamed that I’d been letting my mind drift to thoughts of this guy beside me. I’d been thinking about him as a person and wanting to know him better in a kind of sentimental, affectionate way instead of staying focused on my goals.
    “I’m sorry,” Gallatin said. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
    “It’s not that. I just remembered someone.”
    “Jackson’s a person?”
    “He’s my fiancé.” I cleared my throat and straightened up. “He’s not here, but I’m going to find him.”
    Instantly, my companion’s demeanor changed as well. He moved away from me and then stood, walked over to the creek, and stepped down into it. I studied his back as he lifted his arms and dove under the surface.
    The little grove was silent as I waited for him to emerge, and when he did, he was on the whole other side, my old side, by the fallen log. I didn’t know what to do now. It was like we’d gone all the way back to the beginning in the space of a few words. But that didn’t make sense. The possibility of something more than friendship was never why I spent time with Gallatin. Was it possible that was why he spent time with me?
    I watched him exploring the hill where the stream met up with the larger pond, then I noticed the position of the sun.
    “We probably should start back,” I called, standing and pulling on my coveralls.
    He looked back and then made his way around the edge of the pool. I picked up the blanket and started to fold it as he stepped into his pants and the pulled the t-shirt over his head. His eyes avoided mine as he loaded the pack and swung it onto his shoulder.
    “Do you need help?” he asked as we began to walk.
    “No,” I said, feeling guilty although I had no idea why.
    We walked in silence to the top of the small hill. Then I stopped and caught his arm.
    “Did I do something wrong?”
    “Of course not,” he said, but our eyes didn’t meet.
    “You seem angry or something.”
    He turned and started walking again with me close behind.
    “Gallatin,” I said. “I thought we were friends. Friends talk about things, right?”
    We were back at the fence, and he paused. This time his eyes did meet mine, and they were sad.
    “Sometimes being here, in this little town, makes me feel... I don’t know.”
    “Like you miss the desert?”
    “Yes. But at the same time...” His eyes traveled around my face. “It’s like something’s happened to me.”
    He turned, and we slipped past the cabins. Then he paused to drop the pack by his door. “It’s early still. Want to see Bully?”
    “Sure,” I said, following him the back way to the barn.
    We entered at the stall, and there was the growing calf with its mother. Gallatin climbed up on the wooden fence and watched him, and I leaned my head against the rail, looking through the space in the boards.
    “We probably should move them to a bigger yard,” I said.
    “I’ve thought of that, but I’m not sure we have space.”
    I leaned back and put my foot on one of the boards, raising myself until I was level with him. Then we faced each other. He looked at me and smiled.
    “What?” I said.
    “So you’re planning to be married?”
    I shrugged. “That was the plan before all this happened.”
    “Did you lose your ring?”
    I studied the back of my left hand. “I didn’t have a ring.”
    “But I thought it was customary in this country to give a ring with a proposal.”
    “We weren’t officially engaged. Yet.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    I looked up at his curious eyes. His previous