After leaving the beach, Charlie got ready to head home.
It was only seven in the evening.
If he went home now, he could still chop some trees or break a few stones.
Or he could stop by The Stardrop Saloon for a drink.
Maybe just a cup of coffee.
Coffee would be better.
After all, alcohol cost 100g more.
Charlie still didn’t really have a clear goal in life.
He was just taking things one day at a time.
Today, he wanted to earn money to renovate the house.
Tomorrow, he might want to buy a Coop instead.
He was drifting along, muddling through without much direction.
It made sense, in a way.
Before his reincarnation, he had only been a nineteen-year-old kid who had never really been out in the world.
“Forget it.
If I run out of money, I can always earn more.
Let’s go!”
“I’ll go hang out at Gus’s!”
“And if I run into Shane, I can buy him a drink.”
He made up his mind without thinking too hard about it.
Just as he was about to head off, a voice called to him from behind.
“Hi, Charlie.
What a coincidence.”
“I didn’t expect to see you here.”
He stopped at once.
That voice sounded familiar.
Turning around, his eyes widened.
Penny was standing not far away, waving at him.
“Penny?
She’s still outside this late?
Wait… that road?”
“That’s the way from Marnie’s place.”
Since Penny had greeted him first, he naturally wasn’t going to avoid her like he had that morning.
“Hi, Penny.
Good evening!” Charlie said, walking over to her.
“Mm, good evening!”
“What were you doing today?”
“I didn’t see you at all…”
Penny asked carefully.
“Me?
Ah… sorry.
I spent the whole day fishing, so I probably smell like fish.”
“It’s pretty strong… I’ll stand a little farther away.”
He sniffed himself, then considerately took a small step back.
That gesture immediately raised Penny’s opinion of him.
She didn’t like fish, after all.
“Mm… thank you for thinking of that,” she said gratefully.
“By the way, why aren’t you home yet?
It’s already dark,” he asked, finding a topic.
“Oh… I was walking the children home.
I just dropped Jas off.”
He understood at once.
“Oh, so that’s what it was.
Teachers really do have it hard.”
But Penny shook her head.
“No.
Being able to teach children and help them grow doesn’t feel hard to me at all.”
Charlie sighed softly.
She really was the same as ever.
He had known she would say something like that.
Then he took out the Diamond he had found while fishing.
“Here.
People who work hard deserve a reward.”
“This is for you.
I hope you’ll like it.”
When Penny saw the Diamond in his hand, she was startled.
“Ah, something this valuable… how could I accept it?”
“Charlie, you should save it for someone you like, or someone important to you…” Visit g.com for the full chapter.
But gifts raised friendship.
There was no way he was giving up.
Hearing Penny try to refuse, he had an idea and decided to tease her a little.
“But you are someone very important to me,” Charlie said, softening his voice and putting on a wounded look.
“Eh?
Eh, eh?!”
Penny stared at him in disbelief.
“I’m… someone important to you?”
Seeing her face turn red so quickly, he explained gently.
“Of course.
Maybe someday, if I have a child of my own, I’ll have to ask Ms.
Penny for help.”
“A child’s teacher is definitely an important person.”
“So please take it.
Think of it as a little reward for all your hard work, Ms.
Penny.”
“You can count it as tuition paid in advance.”
His joking tone left Penny a little flustered.
Or maybe she had misunderstood him.
Since he had put it that way, she found it hard to refuse his kindness.
“Then… thank you.
I’ll accept it.
I really like this gift.”
Penny took the Diamond and smiled as she thanked him.
“Good.
I’m glad.”
“You should get home soon.
You still have to teach those two little rascals tomorrow, so get some rest.”
After saying that, Charlie was about to leave.
He planned to take a roundabout way, avoid Penny, and still go to the Saloon for a while.
But just as he tried to go, a hand caught his sleeve.
Penny was holding the hem of his shirt.
“Um…”
She looked into his eyes.
“Were you planning to go drink at Gus’s?” she asked carefully.
That put him on the spot.
Did she hear that?
He felt a little nervous.
Charlie knew Penny hated alcohol.
It was obvious from how she felt about her mother’s drinking.
But looking into her eyes, which seemed to already know the answer, he sighed.
“Uh… sorry.
I’ve been working all day, so I’m kind of hungry.”
“I was going to buy something to eat at Gus’s.”
It was a reasonable excuse.
He didn’t have a kitchen at home, so he ate Field Snacks every day.
To be fair, they didn’t taste bad.
They just used up a lot of materials.
He had to chop down several trees just to make a few.
Penny looked a little surprised to hear that even a farmer like him had to buy food.
“So farmers run out of food too.”
“That’s kind of surprising.
I thought farmers never had to worry about food or clothes.”
Then she realized how that sounded.
“Sorry… I didn’t mean to look down on you.”
“It’s fine.
You’re not wrong.
But…”
Charlie scratched his head.
At this point, he was more like a fisherman than a farmer.
“It’s a little embarrassing, but I don’t have a kitchen at home, so I can’t cook.”
Hearing that, Penny seemed to remember something.
“I remember Robin is a carpenter.
She can renovate houses.”
“You could ask her for help!”
He already knew that, of course.
“Mm, thanks.
I know.” The source of this chapter is g.com.
“But it costs money… and I don’t have enough yet.”
At the mention of money, Penny grew anxious.
She took out her little coin purse.
“How much are you short?
I can lend you some.”
“I have a little money left after daily expenses.
Or you could sell this Diamond.”
“Besides, Ms.
Jodi and Ms.
Marnie sometimes pay me for tutoring Vincent and Jas.”
But Charlie turned down her kindness.
“No.
You don’t make much as a teacher in the first place.
How could I take your money?”
“The money itself isn’t the problem.
It’s mostly that I have trouble saving it.”
He glanced around.
“It’s a little hard to explain standing here.
Let’s sit and talk.”
Penny nodded.
The two of them walked over to the bench where Penny and Maru often sat, then sat down together.
“Sorry.
The truth is, I’m the kind of person who can’t save money.”
“And I can’t really focus.
One minute I want to do this, then the next minute I want to do something else…”
“Uh… so I guess I’m just like that.”
But Penny didn’t agree.
“Please don’t say that.
Everyone has flaws.”
“Take Mr.
Shane, for example.
He drinks every day, but he really does work hard.
He gets up early every morning.”
“Shane, huh.
He really does work hard.” Charlie nodded when he heard Shane’s name.
Penny brightened when he agreed with her.
“Right?”
“Maybe you could set a goal for yourself.”
“A goal?” he asked, confused.
“Yes!”
“It doesn’t have to be anything big.
Something like saving enough money to renovate your house.”
“At first, I wasn’t confident I could teach Vincent and Jas well either.”
“So every day, I made myself read books related to teaching.”
“Once you commit to something, you can follow through with more strength than you’d expect.”
“Set a goal, then work hard to reach it.
Isn’t that a way of giving yourself an answer?”
Ding-dong.
Penny’s words left Charlie sitting there in a daze.
Giving myself an answer?
He silently repeated the phrase.
For someone who had been drifting from one impulse to the next, those words landed harder than he expected.
It was like a path had finally opened in front of him.
His eyes cleared.
He clenched his fists and suddenly stood up from the bench.
“Okay.
I’m going to set a goal for myself.”
“I’m going to earn enough money to renovate my house.
And when I do, Ms.
Penny can taste my cooking!”
Seeing his serious expression, Penny sat beside him and quietly clapped.
“Mm-hmm.
I’m looking forward to your cooking, Charlie!”
Charlie was deeply grateful for her encouragement too.
“Penny, you really are suited to being a teacher!”