The twins grew up so fast, one minute I was teaching them to walk and talk, and changing diapers, and then, all the sudden they're simply not babies anymore. They're children.

It was so much easier to see their personalities now. Brent was a little social butterfly. He loved making friends and hanging out with all the neighborhood children. He was very kind, and just like his older brother, he could talk his way out of everything.

Brynne however, was a bit of a loner. She much prefered to be alone, and to paint. However sometimes she'd go out and play with the few friends she did have. When she wasn't painting out out with her friends, she would help me in the garden and have me teach her to cook



Shane rarely was at home anymore, he was either out with his friends, or painting, or out hunting with Rusty. Shane was the most charismatic person I'd ever met. All the teen girls in town loved him, and he knew it. He was always bringing one of the girls with him wherever he went. However, he didn't stay single for too long. He started dating Christine Parker, a beautiful young woman who moved here with her twin sister, Riley Parker. Both girls were beautiful, and he had taken both out with him before, but Christine asked if they could be exclusive, and he had agreed.

He brought her over for dinner a few times, and she really was a lovely girl. She was polite, kind and soft spoken. Shane was mostly calm and quiet himself, though he could be quite loud and intense when you got to know him a bit better. The two of them honestly had very little in common, but I wasn't going to say anything about it because they were young, and she was a nice girl.



I spent most of my days now heading over to the store and overseeing what was going on, and helping out. I really needed another person working the store, but most people were taking care of their gardens and cattle and working on their homes. So it was a little difficult. Especially now that the Harvest is almost over, and winter will be here soon.

"I don't know, Chester," I sighed, "I don't know what to do about the store, we need at least one more person to work down there, but very few people here can. Riley Parker is working down there, and so is Dave and Emma, but we need someone else and I'm just not sure who can do it."

"Why not Shane?" Chester asked.

"He's never home, and he's out hunting all the time, thats important, I don't want to make him work too." I sighed.

"I can take over the hunting, rather easily actually. Plus, it might be good for him to have a job to do. And, if he was working down there we can keep an eye on him. It's also going to be a good idea because he knows whats' what and how to manage the store. Let's at least ask him, okay?"

"Okay. I guess we'll ask him."



"You want me to do what?" Shane asked, eyes wide.

"I want you to work down at the store. They need your help down there and you need to spend more time contributing to the community."

"But I go hunting! All the time! That's not enough?" He asked, obviously upset.

"It's not that it's not enough, sweetie, it's just that we need you to do something else. It would be better for your dad to go hunting, so he can teach the others who are new here," I said gently, "It would help me out a lot if you would do this."

"Okay, fine. Can Rusty come down to the store with me?" Shane asked.

"Only after we train other hunting dogs, we're gonna need him at first." Chester said.

"Okay, fine. I'll go down to work at the store." Shane sighed.



One evening while Chester was out hunting and the twins were out with their friends, Shane came home from work with dry tears staining his cheeks.

"Oh honey, what's wrong?" I asked as I pulled him inside and had him sit down on the couch with me.

"It's Christine. She broke up with me" He cried, resting his head in his hands.

"Oh Shane, I'm sorry. What happened?" I looked at him and I felt sad, he and Christine had been together all fall and most of winter. This really devastated him, and I knew it.

"She thought I was cheating on her with her sister, Riley. I mean yeah, Riley and I work together and we're friends, but I didn't do anything. I mean I hug her all the time, but that's because we're friends. Just friends. Christine doesn't seem to believe either of us and she broke up with me when she walked into the store tonight."

"I'm sorry sweetie. Would you like me to make you something?"

"Maybe an apple pie?" He asked, looking hopeful.

"Of course." I smiled.