Chapter 2 - Trash Barrel
Jens jaw falls. She gawks. She backhands Lauren's arm and points. Lauren gasps the same.
There they are; Bella and Jameson making their way out of his mom's car. Together. Hand in hand.
Bella shyly beams when she walks their way. Jen and Lauren are cool and calm, but inside they're dying.
"See you at dinner?" she says to Jameson. He nods and pulls her in enough to give her lips a peck when his mom isn't looking. She's busy dropping off the canvas bags full of groceries for the summer.
The moment they step away, the girls squeal like idiots. That's what Bella's dad thinks as he rolls his eyes from the porch. He got to the cabin early to get a head start. Renee is already dusting the cots in the rooms to get themselves settled.
"Girls, quit your yappin'. I ain't havin' this all summer! You've been warned."
The girls pipe down.
"Yes, Charlie," says Jen too sweetly. She's always fancied him in his twitchy dark mustache. It grosses Bella out every time.
"That's Mr. Swan, and you know it!"
The try not to laugh.
They get going again when he heads back inside. He minds them for now and gets back on track on finding that bucket and trash barrel he swore he left under the porch last summer. Things don't just grow legs and walk away, for crying out loud.
He gets to shouting over his shoulder at Renee who's swapping pictures out from the frames and setting them back on the wall, hiding the stains. That one task he promised to paint over every time they come back to the campgrounds of Maine. Photos of the family, the progression throughout the year. She likes that. But mostly she does it to keep those ugly stains out of sight.
She rolls her eyes when he does shout. This time, she refuses to be bothered. "Go buy another damn barrel!" She yells back. She tilts a frame. Last year's Christmas card. Picture perfect.
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