Evelyn felt uncomfortable asking why he’d been surprised by her offer. Instead she quietly ate her toast.

“In the village I am from, we eat all our meals as a group. Everyone takes turns pitching in to help with cooking. The village was a very communal environment,” John said with a bit of a nostalgic smile. 

Evelyn wondered if this was somehow related to cooking breakfast or if he was subtly attempting to change the subject by talking about his past. It was interesting how different southern Asala was from northern Asala according to his recollections. 

“Wouldn’t it be a lot of work to prepare food for a lot of people at once? Would all your meals be as a group?” Evelyn asked, her curiosity of his culture growing stronger.

He nodded. “It wasn't that difficult. Yes we ate all meals as a group," he paused for a moment and then finished. "Unless you were attempting to court someone.”

Evelyn realized why his face was flushed. Her own face was probably still flushed with embarrassment from her earlier blunder. Why didn’t lunch together alone with her bother him then?

“I know northern culture doesn’t think this way. I’ve gotten mostly used to the lonely meals up here, and I’ve enjoyed your company when we have time to eat lunch together. I’m not sure why offering breakfast made me remember that tradition,” his eyes were downcast as he said this. 

“Did you leave someone behind when you enlisted?” Evelyn asked. 

John shrugged. “Parents and siblings. No one special. Our village had an enlistment quota to make up for taxes we couldn’t afford. I volunteered because my family would get extra money and relief from taxes.”

“Family is still special,” Evelyn tried not to think too hard about how her own parents were fairing after learning she'd disappeared. 

“Yes. They are,” He pulled out a small string of beads. “My mother made me this token of safe return. It is said that as long as you keep it on you, one day you will return to the village.” He ran his fingers down the beads in what seemed like a routine. “But I didn’t have a spouse and young family like many of my friends and siblings when the empire’s quota was announced. I wasn’t even in a relationship like a number of the other volunteers. ”

“Have you ever been in a relationship?” Evelyn couldn’t resist asking. 

He shook his head.

Evelyn was surprised by this response. He was quite handsome, kind, and hard working. If this was a webnovel all the commenters would love him. Evelyn herself would probably ship him with the female lead, but surprisingly, Evelyn didn’t see herself shipping him with anyone in the town. 

“Have you ever been in a relationship?” He asked her. 

She smiled. “Nope. That's why I build ships for other people.” 

In her old world she would have said that was why she read romance webnovels all the time, but in this one there were very few romance books, and books were quite expensive. Maybe one day she would have enough excess cash to buy books for herself. 

John smiled and chuckled. “So what you're telling me is we are two lonely ship builders trying to set other people up to assuage our loneliness?”

Evelyn glanced away from him. “Uhh, I guess that could be one sort of description. I wouldn’t describe it quite like that.”

He laughed harder. “Instead of calling it “Evelyn’s Flower Shop’, you should rename it to: “Evelyn’s Flower Shipyard.”

Evelyn stared at him wide-eyed. She’d almost thought he was going to call the shop a ship and put them on a ship together. She didn’t hate the thought. 

She shook her head to clear the images of them standing on a flower covered ship together. “We don’t just build ships here. We captain them. We keep them sailing. Speaking of which, are’t Richard and his wife supposed to come by this afternoon?”

John nodded. “Maybe they don’t want to brave the rain or are hoping it slows down later into the afternoon. If they don’t show, then maybe they aren’t coming today.”

“Today is the perfect off day to see them. I hope they make it. If not we probably won’t be able to see them till after the flower festival.” Evelyn finished the last bit of her toast and went to look out the front door at the downpour. A few huddled figures hurried along in the rain, but otherwise the normally busy streets of Tevington were empty.