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In Sheep's Clothing	By : ParisWriter Category: +G through L > Harvest Moon Views: 2169 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Chapter Twenty

Avery sat quietly at the counter in Raeger's restaurant, stirring the ice cream in her dish into a soupy mess. Occasionally, she'd look over at him and bite her lip to keep from smirking before returning her attention to the slop in her bowl. The once bright yellow ice cream had turned into a brownish-grey mess with tiny, colorful specks and larger yellow chunks throughout. In a way, she felt like it was reflective of the current state of her love life with Klaus. There were still a lot of sweet little moments and they had made some larger, more pronounced memories, but for the time being she felt like things were murky. Ever since that day he'd gone off to the city unexpectedly, she'd still had a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that he was keeping something from her. She wanted to believe that Raeger was right and it was nothing to be worried about at all, but she still had a somewhat irrational fear that she could never be the kind of woman Klaus truly wanted.

It sounded silly, even in her own mind, but she knew that if he'd just take her to bed a lot of that anxiety would be gone. After all, she hadn't really experienced much disquiet concerning their relationship until she had learned about his extensive past with women. Klaus had assured her that she was the only one he wanted, but she still worried that her inexperience would hinder her ability to please him as much as he'd already done for her – and how much more she knew he would once they finally did start sleeping together. He wanted to wait until the time felt right, and she fully agreed that they shouldn't rush into things until they were both truly ready to take that step, but a part of her needed to know that she could be everything he needed... both in bed, as well as out of it.

"You gonna eat that or not?"

Avery looked up at Raeger, who was standing in front of her with his hands resting on the counter, looking from her to what had once been a perfectly-built sundae and back again. She sighed and pushed the bowl toward him, giving him an apologetic smile.

"Sorry. I'm not the biggest fan of pineapple."

"Neither am I, to be honest," Raeger told her, smiling at her in a way that let her know he wasn't the least bit insulted that she had barely eaten any of his latest creation. "I just figured it would be a good flavor for summer."

"Try mango," she suggested as he picked up the bowl to take it to the sink. "And add in some strawberries. They go quite well together."

"Maybe you should use that combination for one of your wines," he mused, washing out the bowl and setting it aside before walking back over to stand in front of her once more. "The samples you gave me were quite a hit, by the way."

"Really?" Avery asked, blinking in surprise.

"Yeah," Raeger said, chuckling at her shocked expression. "Those bottles you gave me didn't even last two days."

"Maybe Klaus really is onto something with that idea of his."

"What idea is that?"

"He suggested not aging some of the wines as much, so that they remain less tannic and retain more of the flavors of their source."

"That's not a bad idea," Raeger agreed. "Aged wines are more of an acquired taste, and in my experience women generally prefer lighter, fruity drinks to strong ones."

Avery gave him a slightly disapproving look. "Are you hoping to use my wines to lure women into complacency so that you can have your evil way with them?"

Raeger laughed. "In case you didn't notice last week, Avery, I really don't need wine for that." He winked at her, and she finally let the smirk she'd been holding back make its was across her lips.

"Speaking of... Since when were you and Lillie dating?"

She said it just loud enough that Cam – the only other patron in the establishment – would be able to hear her, and a glance over at his table confirmed that the statement hadn't slipped past him.

"So you finally asked her out, did you?" he questioned Raeger, wiping his mouth with a napkin and standing from his seat. Raeger groaned as he gathered up his meal and made his way toward them in order to sit at the counter, turning his narrowed blue eyes to Avery.

"Thanks. I asked you not to go telling people about it, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but it's not like I told Marian," she pointed out. "Besides, with what happened before with Lillie and Cam, I figured he has a right to know how things turned out."

Cam grinned at Avery as he settled down on the stool next to hers and resumed eating his salad. She returned his smile and then looked to Raeger once more, batting her eyelashes innocently at him while he glared at her. After a moment, he sighed in defeat and took a step away from them to lean back against the prep station, folding his arms over his chest.

"Technically, we started dating the day after White Day, but I asked her out on White Day... sort of."

"Sort of?" Cam wondered.

"I... wrote her a letter and hid it in the box of madelines I gave her," Raeger admitted, his voice unusually quiet as a blush began coloring his cheeks.

"What did the letter say?" Avery asked him, and Raeger shook his head.

"It's not important."

"I'll hazard a guess," Cam offered, turning toward her. "He apologized for the way things turned out with me and for the way he was acting, told her he had been jealous of the attention she'd be paying to me, and admitted he liked her in a romantic way. Am I right?"

They both looked to Raeger, and he stared at the floor as his face turned the same shade of red as the apron he always wore while working. Avery smiled at him, resting her chin in her hand as she called his name in an overly-sweet manner, then waited for him to finally look her way before speaking.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Raeger. It's good that you're getting in touch with your feelings, rather than just touching and feeling like you two were at the Fireworks Show."

Cam smirked. "So that was where they disappeared off to?"

"You noticed?" Raeger asked him, eyes wide in horror.

The other man nodded. "Of course I was looking, too. I'd seen you two talking a few times in town recently, and I had my suspicions that you were together, so... knowing your reputation, it wasn't hard to imagine you dragging her off somewhere for a bit of making out during the show."

"They were doing more than simply 'making out,' from what I could tell," Avery informed him, and Cam chuckled as he took a sip of his tea. Raeger simply continued to look horrified.

"If you figured it out, then..." He closed his eyes and let out a weary sigh. "Lillie's dad must know. But why hasn't he said anything to me about it?"

"Maybe he doesn't feel like he needs to?" Avery suggested. "Lillie is a grown woman, after all. She's old enough to make her decisions."

"He basically threatened to kill me if I laid a hand on her, Avery," Raeger informed her.

"I'm sure those weren't his exact words."

"No, but I could easily read between the lines there. What he actually said was that he knows the kind of guy I am and he doesn't want me to hurt her."

"But are you really still that same man?" Cam wondered. "Or have you changed."

"I... don't know," Raeger admitted, sighing in defeat. "I really, really like Lillie. Hell, I might even be falling in love with her... but I also still really like sex, and whenever some other girl walks up to me and practically throws herself at me I can't help feeling tempted."

"Have you ever acted upon said temptation?" Avery asked, a note of fear in her voice. Cam looked over at her, a single eyebrow raised in curiosity, but said nothing.

Raeger shook his head. "Believe me, I wanted to. I don't want to screw things up with Lillie, though. And yet, I'm still scared shitless that just having to force myself to push them away means I haven't actually changed at all."

Avery nodded, her shoulders slumping a bit, and Cam finally spoke up.

"What's wrong?" he asked, directing the question toward her.

"She's worried because Klaus basically used to be me when he was younger, and hearing me talk like this has her wondering if he might be having the same sort of internal conflict," Raeger offered. "Am I right?"

"I'm being incredibly stupid, I know," Avery said, shaking her head. "Klaus loves me. I know he does. But things have been... strange, lately."

"Strange how?" Cam wondered, turning more fully toward her in his seat.

"Even before we officially started dating, we used to meet at his place every Tuesday and Thursday just to have coffee together and talk. Once we became a couple, we started doing other things, too – like going on picnics or just walking up the mountain trails and back – but it has still always been every Tuesday and Thursday. Earlier this season, he went into the city on a Tuesday, completely unannounced. If I hadn't run into him at the clinic, he probably wouldn't have even told me he was going."

"Could have just been some sort of emergency situation and it slipped his mind to tell you," Cam reasoned with a slight shrug.

"And then there's what happened after the Fireworks Show," Avery added.

"What did happen after the Fireworks Show?" Raeger asked, giving her the best suggestive smile he could muster, given the situation. "Veronica was looking for him at the end so she could thank him again for his donation, but the two of you had already split."

"Nothing happened, which is partly my fault. I was so tired I ended up falling asleep and he left sometime after that. He did put me in bed first, though," she quickly added, as if to defend him.

"What happened before you fell asleep?" Cam asked.

"Well, things had been progressing toward something a bit... intimate, at the show," Avery told them, blushing as she looked over to Raeger, who chuckled a little as he remember what Klaus had said about the two of them apparently having had the same idea.

"And?" Cam prompted.

"When we were leaving, Klaus said he planned on drinking more wine at my place, which um..." she paused, biting her lip and blushing even more. "Earlier we'd done that and he'd gotten a bit... creative with it, so I thought he meant to continue where we had left off with that."

"Kinky," Raeger remarked, earning himself a silencing glare from Cam.

"But once we got back to my place," Avery continued without acknowledging his outburst, "everything felt different. I figured he'd be all over me once we were behind closed doors, but it was like the moment he crossed that threshold all the desire in him vanished."

"What, exactly, did he do?"

"We drank wine," Avery answered Cam's question. "There was some kissing, but it was mostly chaste, and we cuddled. Then I fell asleep and the next thing I knew I was waking up in my bed and Klaus was gone."

Cam made a thoughtful sound and folded his hands together in his lap as he sat back in his chair, smiling a bit.

"I think I know what the problem is."

"What is it?" Raeger asked before Avery could.

"He's afraid of intimacy. More specifically, he's afraid of being intimate with you."

"That's impossible," Avery argued, shaking her head. "We might not have had sex yet, but we've done... other things. Besides, he's got a lot of experience. There's no reason he should be nervous."

"Are you a virgin?" Cam asked bluntly. Avery averted her eyes and nodded silently. "That's the problem, right there."

"You're saying he doesn't want to have sex with me because I'm a virgin?"

"No, I..." Cam sighed and leaned toward her, glancing over to Raeger, who was watching the entire conversation with a thoughtful look on his face.

"That came across wrong, and I apologize," he said as he turned to Avery once more. "I'm sure Klaus does want to have sex with you, but because he loves you it's scaring him to death and the fact that you're a virgin is only making that worse."

"I don't get it," Avery said, shaking her head.

"Being a girl's first is a big fucking deal," Raeger interjected. "Most of them have their idea of what it's supposed to be like – and I'm sure you do, too. As a man, you either live up to those expectations, or you end up completely disappointing them and ruining their little fantasy... which leads to them inevitably regretting that it ever happened. And you can't undo that once it's been done."

"Spoken like a man who's been there," Cam remarked.

Raeger nodded, sighing. "More than once."

"Me, too. But, anyway, that's probably why Klaus keeps seemingly running from hot to cold on you, Avery. I'm sure he knows what he wants, but he's still trying to figure out what you want."

"I just want him!" Avery cried out in exasperation, tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't care if it's perfect. I just want to share something special with him that I've never done with anyone before because I love him more than anything and I need to know he loves me that much, too."

Both men were taken aback by her sudden outburst, and Cam gave Raeger a confused look. The chef sighed and went to stand in front of Avery at the counter, reaching out to stroke her hair.

"This isn't just about Klaus, is it?" he asked her in a soothing voice. "It's about Iris, too."

Avery looked up at him and nodded slightly, swallowing around the lump in her throat.

"I shouldn't have said what I did when you were waiting for him at the Fireworks Show," he told her. "I was being a smartass, and it looks like I've made you start to doubt Klaus."

"It's not just what you said," Avery assured him. "He's been spending more time with her, lately, or at least it seems that way. Half the time when I go to meet him at his place, he's leaving hers right as I get there."

"Maybe he's bitching at her about that book she obviously wrote about the two of you," Raeger suggested. "Or perhaps he's trying to convince her not to write the sequel to it I hear her fans are clamoring for."

"Maybe," Avery acquiesced, closing her eyes and sighing. "I know I'm just being jealous and immature, but I can't help it. She's closer to his age, and judging by her books she's obviously more experienced than I am. She's successful and gorgeous and... whenever I see them together I feel this tiny little pang in my heart because I can't help but think that they would make the perfect couple."

"If I might offer a relative outsider's observations on this situation?" Cam requested. Avery looked over to him and nodded after a moment. "I haven't quite been here half a year, yet, but it's been long enough for me to make some observations about people and their relationships with one another. I figured out Raeger definitely had a thing for Lillie after that little outburst he made when I admitted to being married. I knew Fritz had a thing for Agate the first time I saw him talking to her. I can tell you that Mistel is secretly in love with Elise and desperately trying to figure out a way to get her to notice him. Veronica and Maurice are secretly having an affair, and while it looks like Maurice is comfortable with the idea of them going public Veronica seems to be dragging her feet. Licor... Reina," he quickly corrected himself, "has a bit of a crush on Nadi – though that one I have an unfair advantage on because we've known each other since we were kids. The very first thing I noticed, though, is that Klaus is desperately in love with you – not Iris."

"How can you tell?" Avery wondered.

"He smiles in a certain way whenever he's talking about you. It's hard to describe, so don't even ask me to try. All I can really say is that it's different from other smiles, and I've only seen that kind of smile on people's faces when they're talking about the person they love. Raeger does it sometimes, too, when he's talking about Lillie."

Cam smirked and looked over at Raeger, who blushed and averted his gaze from both of them. Avery smiled at him and reached up to playfully shove his shoulder.

"That, right there, is another way I know there's nothing more than friendship between Klaus and Iris."

"What right where?" Avery asked, turning back to Cam.

"The way you and Raeger are with each other, specifically the way you two look at each other. It's the same way Klaus and Iris look at each other. There's warmth, yes, but it's just friendship."

"And how does he look at me?"

"Like you're the only woman in the world," Cam told her, smiling. "And he'd die for you in an instant if you so wished it. I've seen that look before, a lot. My brother-in-law – Lily's sister's husband – looks at his wife just like that all the time, and I'm sure I probably look at my wife like that, too. I know I certainly feel that way whenever I look at her."

"In short," Raeger said, "Klaus may be good friends with Iris, but he loves you. And only you."

Avery looked back and forth between them, smiling a little.

"You're right. Both of you. I'm sorry for dragging you two into this. I guess I just needed to hear from someone other than Klaus that he loves me."

"Feeling better now?" Cam asked her.

Avery nodded, her smile growing. "Yep. Much. Thank you."

"Any time," he said, tipping his hat to her with a grin. He then turned his attention toward Raeger. "Now how about we get to the bottom of your friend's worries, shall we?"

"Ooh! Yes! Let's!" Avery agreed, excitedly clapping her hands and turning to Raeger. He merely groaned and laid his head down on the counter in a vain attempt to hide, causing her and Cam to both laugh.

The tip of Mistel's tongue stuck out the side of his mouth as he concentrated on the task before him. Elise had pulled him aside before the start of the Fireworks Show to tell him about an old music box she had which was broken. She'd apparently already sent it out to several dealers, but none of them had been able to fix it for her. It was an important family heirloom, she said, and once belonged to her mother. Fixing it would mean a lot to her, she told him before asking if he'd be willing to take a crack at it.

Mistel had been all too eager to offer his help. For the better part of the past year, he'd been sending her fancy little trinkets as signs of his affection, but to no avail. All he had ever received in return were short little thank you notes written upon scented stationery. He'd kept every single one of them, and each time the scent of her perfume wore off of the most recent one he'd received he would scramble about his shop in search of something else he thought might suit her refined tastes.

He knew most of the other people in town disliked her. They saw her as cold and distant, and her fellow farmers ridiculed her behind her back for not really being a farmer but rather the manager of a group of highly-trained farming experts who then took credit for all their hard work. He couldn't argue with them on that point, though none of them truly understood why she was the was she was or did the things she did. Only last year did he himself get a glimpse into the person Elise really was, as she was an intensely private person – another trait which many saw as a fault, due to her not being particularly keen on socializing with her fellow townspeople even at festivals.

It just so happened that he'd stopped by to deliver a vase she had purchased on the same day her father was paying her a visit. He knew it was wrong to eavesdrop on other people's conversations, but his curiosity got the better of him and he what he overheard shocked him. Elise's father said nothing to praise her, and instead continuously praised her sister in a manner that any child would take as being a passive-aggressive way of belittling them. In response, Elise had attempted to get her father to acknowledge all she had accomplished, but he had ignored her. The desperation in her voice had touched Mistel, while the dismissive tone of her father's replies had hurt him. That was the day he'd decided to learn more about Elise in an attempt to befriend her.

He'd stopped her maids in town on a few occasions to ask about her family and learned that Elise was the second daughter to a wealthy noble family, and after her mother passed away her father focused solely upon the elder of his two daughters and threw all of his money and support behind making sure she was successful in life. Elise tried her hardest and did everything that was expected of her – and then some – but was still largely overlooked. She then spent most of her trust fund to purchase land and build her farm in Oak Tree Town, hoping that once she had proven herself a successful businesswoman in her own right her father would acknowledge her. Unfortunately, that hadn't been the case, and she turned bitter and resentful toward those who had successful relationships with family and friends.

From the members of her farming staff, he learned that she was jealous of the other farmers who had settled in Oak Tree Town. They had all taken upon the challenge of tending to their land themselves and – for the most part – succeeded. She even envied Fritz, who wasn't the best at farming but still had a positive attitude in spite of his failures. Most of all, though, she was jealous of Avery. They were relatively close in age, so she had hoped they could be friends... but then her competitive nature and tendency to act superior toward others had spoiled any chances she had of that. Then Madam Eda had passed on her farm to Avery and not her – which Elise saw as a personal slight, since she'd been there first and was arguably the most successful of all the younger generation of farmers – and she grew to hate the other young woman. That hate turned into melancholy, however, when she learned why Eda had given the land to Avery.

Avery had a dream.

Mistel knew Elise would never admit it, but she had no true desire to run a farm, and he sincerely doubted she really knew what it was she wanted out of life. That, in itself, was the root of the jealousy she held toward all three of her rivals. Each of them had a dream, something they wanted to accomplish and were steadily working towards. Giorgio wanted to make the world more beautiful with his perfectly-cultivated flowers. Avery wanted to run her own winery, a reality which was slowly coming true. Fritz wanted to be the best farmer in the world, and while it was unlikely he would ever achieve that goal he still had a goal in mind. Elise had none of that. She had drive, but nothing to strive toward aside from getting her father's attention.

"A person without a dream is just an empty vessel," Eda had told him when he asked her why she was helping him build an antiques shop in a town where no one was likely to ever purchase antiques. Mistel never fully understood that statement until he learned about Elise's hardships, and now he had a new dream of his own he was working toward: to help Elise find her own dream, and then to be at her side as they realized it together.

That was why he'd agreed to take on the project of the broken music box. If he could succeed where so many others before him had failed, surely she would have to notice him. Perhaps, just in case, he would ask her to join him for dinner when he presented it to her. First, though, he had to fix the damn thing. It had taken him the better part of a week, but he had finally found what was wrong with it – a spring had broken off inside and a tiny part of it had gotten lodged in the mechanism which turned the drum. He had dismantled the box as much as he dared to without risking permanently damaging it beyond all repair, but for the life of him he still couldn't get the stray piece dislodged.

With a frustrated sigh, he sat down his tools and glared at the music box. He had wanted to do this all on his own, so he could claim full credit for restoring her special treasure to working order, but it was all too clear to him that what he really needed was a second pair of hands to assist him with the extraction of the broken spring. Reluctantly, he pushed his chair back from the desk and made his way toward the stairs to retrieve his sister. Her hands were small, like his, so they wouldn't get in the way and hinder his ability to see what he was doing – plus, he knew she would let him keep all the credit to himself if he asked.

"I hate doing this, Iris. All the sneaking around... I'm essentially lying to her, you know."

Mistel stopped halfway up the stairs when he heard Klaus' voice. He didn't know the perfumer was visiting, though he should have guessed he would be. He'd been coming by more often the past few weeks, always to see his sister, and the two of them always ended up disappearing upstairs to the living quarters not long after his arrival.

"Are you going to tell her?" his sister asked, sounding concerned.

"Of course not," Klaus replied, and Mistel heard him let out a heavy sigh before continuing. "I promised you I would keep this between us, and I am a man of my word. I won't say anything to her or anyone else until you're ready."

Mistel quietly made his way back down the stairs, not wanting to hear any more of their conversation. Quite frankly, he was shocked at what he had heard. His sister and Klaus? When had that happened? And what about Avery? Klaus seemed to be so deeply in love with her. How could he be betraying her like this?

A part of him wanted to run out of the shop, track Avery down, and tell her everything he'd just heard. She had a right to know, after all. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if he'd misinterpreted what they said. He'd only heard a few lines of their conversation, after all, so maybe they weren't even really having an affair. Perhaps Klaus was helping her with her next book but they wanted to keep it a secret until closer to the release date, or at least until they finished the manuscript.

Yes, he decided, nodding to himself. That had to be it! His sister was a bit of a troublemaker at times, but there was no way she'd ever steal away another woman's man.

"Mistel, how have you been?"

He looked up and forced a smile as Klaus walked over to him from the bottom of the stairs.

"Good, Klaus. Thanks for asking. And you?"

"Never been better," the older man replied, grinning.

"And how's Avery?" Mistel asked as he made his way to the door, hoping he didn't sound too suspicious.

Klaus chuckled, running a hand back through his hair. "Lovely, as always. It was good seeing you."

Mistel bade him goodbye and closed the door to the shop behind him, his breath catching in his throat. Klaus hadn't been wearing his usual cravat. Of course, he hadn't been there when he arrived, so perhaps he'd simply chosen not to wear it for some reason or another. He had to know, though.

Acting as casually as possible, he made his way upstairs. Iris smiled at him when he walked into the open sitting area they'd set up, and he felt his heart start to sink a little when he saw that she was straightening up the covers on her bed.

"What's wrong?" she asked, fluffing the pillows before turning fully toward him.

"I, um... I was just hoping you might be able to help me with that music box Elise asked me to fix," he requested, noticing that her makeup had been reapplied recently.

"Of course!" she agreed, going over to him and kissing him on the cheek and flashing another cheerful smile at him. "Anything to help my baby brother win the heart of the girl he loves."

Mistel smiled back at her as best he could, knowing that she would assume his unease was due to the nervousness he felt regarding Elise. She made her way down the stairs and he began to follow her, but stopped short as his eyes fell upon the final, most damning piece of evidence in their small apartment.

An all-too-familiar piece of golden silk was lying on the floor next to the sofa.
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In Sheep's Clothing