Blended TML Ch 4

Many people would call Piper a trooper and heap praise on her stoicism and work ethic. But Piper only embodies those qualities when she is intentional in pursuit of something or there is an audience. Isabella “Bella” Jameson is another matter; she really is the diligent, dutiful person that everyone else is not.

The sky is overcast for a change, but that hardly takes the edge off the heat. The humidity is the real killer anyway. Bella toils on her hands and knees in the front yard, using a root removal tool in the endless war against weeds around the porch. Because they live outside town, there’s no reason to be self-conscious about things like sweat stains, dirt, bad hair, or pointing one’s hindquarters at the driveway.

Bella removes an earbud and looks up as Piper approaches. Her wide-brimmed hat is straw with a little band.

“That hat looks so good on you,” Piper says, straightening her Cowgurls cap.

“Driven from her lands, she ventures into the heat-baked wasteland and seeks my counsel,” Bella says dramatically.

“You been reading those horny fantasy books again?”

“I don’t have to answer that.”

“I don’t have to ask.”

“Where is she?”

“You knew Kayla was frisky?” Piper kneels and puts on her work gloves, transferring Bella’s weeds to a lawn waste bag.

“She had that energy when she got home.”

“What’s going on with her?”

“You don’t know? Or you don’t want to think about it?” Bella replies as they work side by side.

“I guess what I’m really asking is why people can’t just read my mind, know exactly what I want them to do, and then do exactly what I think they should,” Piper says.

“But you aren’t asking why. You know why. You just want to vent about it.”

“I have to get out of this house.”

“You have options.”

“I don’t have options that don’t make my problems bigger.”

“What do you mean?”

“The same thing will happen wherever I go because I’m the problem. And I cannot work on that problem with…” Piper waves a hand at the house. “Them.”

“Is this that meme that’s like ‘oh no, my lobster is too buttery’?”

“I don’t know. I stay off socials. I’m a model of mental health.”

Bella laughs. “OK. It’ll settle down when school starts.”

“Will it?”

“That’s kind of up to you, isn’t it?”

“Why are you always the one doing this out here?” Piper asks, annoyed. She’s already gross. Two minutes have passed since she left the AC, and she is disgusting. She brushes a bug off her shoulder.

“Did you come out here to get sweaty so that you’d have an excuse to shower that wouldn’t make it as obvious that you and Kayla just boned?”

Piper is indignant. “I asked you a question. You don’t get to answer with just some other random ass question.”

“I’m out here because your mom isn’t. She should be doing this.”

“How come?”

“Because she’s…” Bella hesitates.

Piper cocks her head. “She’s what, Bella?”

“She’s the butch one.”

“I know. She also has a bad back, like we will if we keep doing this. And she’s not here.”

“I know. I just hate seeing how depressed Aunt Mary looks when she comes home and this place looks like that Will Smith movie.”

“That’s fair. She’s seemed pretty rough lately,” Piper concedes.