Soley: I had just gotten to Fairfield for two months to try my hand at running a restaurant. Grandma was going on vacation for 6 weeks and I was doing a pop up at her place while she was gone. I’d quit my two jobs on the East Coast for this opportunity and was excited to be my own boss. Amidst the deep cleaning and rearranging of 2nd St Café, my family managed to pull me from my work and to the Cidery to hang out and play. That's when I met Benjamin. He had a hint of wild and carefree with a city style. He spoke to me, not my features. So many lines of my life were parallel to his that curiosity glued my bottom to the bench. The kids ran in circles around us occasionally popping by for showers of attention as we shared little peeks into each others lives. I walked away knowing I had just met the most interesting person in town and planned to make him my best friend before leaving Fairfield. But I never left… Benjamin: I stepped out of the east coast for work that promised to pay for my first novel. I was excited, but having lived in Fairfield once before I was well acquainted with its agonizing sense of slowness, and was not looking forward to that inevitable isolation small towns in the midwest can bring. I was wrong of course. Upon arrival I found friends to be plentiful and generous. I got to work outside with my hands and in the sun, and I enjoyed the peace of long drives on days off. Then one July night, under the stars and bistro lights and between sips of cider and laughter I was introduced to Soley. I couldn't look away. She was creative, kind, experienced, intense and unapologetically herself. We talked about Fairfield. About Iceland and China and our travels. About parents and siblings and childhood. I left the table thinking one of us would leave before we could meet again. I was wrong of course...