end of round summary: 2086-2088

How about the 2-year round that took 6.5 real life years to write!? 

(photo gallery best viewed on web version — click for bigger)

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

     

Too many sims with too many beefy stories. 

Also, so much going on in my family and life, including that I had a whole new baby that has since grown into a whole giant preschooler. 

Also, Covid happened. 

The whole world literally changed during the writing of round 2086, lol! 

my sweetheart #10: call it what you want

September 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Ingrid Thompson is 24, Maria Boone is 26, Johanna is 4.

warnings: NSFW

“Hey! What’s the story, morning glory?”

Ingrid’s voice was entirely too energetic for eight in the morning, bubbling with the energy of a late-night party that never ended. Jordan had a sore neck and a sore back, and there was no comfortable way to sleep in the cab of this truck. Technically homeless now, he needed to find another option. It would have been much more comfortable to roll out his sleeping bag and sleep under the stars, but he had just too much pride to do that. In the suburbs, at least. He just needed to get out of here.

my sweetheart #9: uprooted

September 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Felix and Milo are 9, Colette Marin is 31, Ingrid Thompson is 24, Maria Boone is 26.

“Find the only broken camper on Brindleton Main Street, parked next to a duplex. You really can’t miss it.”

Jordan found Ingrid’s camper, and hopefully it would mean a quick buck. Having spent half his savings on the climbing class, he needed more money. And fast. Ingrid said that she would pay him for the work, and he hoped she meant in actual money. He had nowhere else to go, and this was as good a place to park as any.

my sweetheart #8: honeymoon

September 2088. Justin and Stephanie Nova are 28. 

The day after their wedding, Justin and Stephanie headed off for their honeymoon in Sulani. The brochure promised a private, secluded beach hut and the thrill of living off the island.

Stephanie especially looked forward to some time unplugged with her new hubby. But when they arrived, they found that the Wi-Fi connection was full strength, outlets powered up to charge their devices, and there was running water and a gas stove.

What’s the first thing they should do here? Skinny dipping in the waterfall? Sandcastles? Snorkeling?

my sweetheart #7: don’t be sorry

August 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26.

previously: Jordan and Colette are not on the same page // Jordan has many admirers, but his mind is elsewhere // Maria kills her own fantasy

warnings: NSFW

The last wedding guests retreated to their cars and hotel rooms, commencing the cleanup shift. Jordan had his hands in warm dishwater when a shapely red figure appeared in the doorway. The dress was unfair. He suspected she chose it on purpose, to highlight the curve of her hips, the fullness of her breasts. To say, Look what you passed on, you stupid boy.

The dress was payback because he said that he would take her on a date and also that he needed to escape this whole life and be alone. Both were true. Both can be true at the same time, he wanted to explain.

“Hey,” Jordan said to her. “I didn’t know you were still here. I thought you would have gone home with everyone.”

my sweetheart #6: carve our names in a heart on a tree

August 2088. Stephanie Nova and Justin Kim are 28. 

wedding song: “Ho Hey,” by The Lumineers

my sweetheart #5: the rocket man

August 2088. Keri Riley is 27, Bentley Booth is 25.

previously: the mythical bunions

Time melted away for Keri because her mind was light years away in her work. Somewhat literally. The Cassiopeia mission charged ahead to its big moment. They had their crew, their pilots, their scientists. They developed flight suits and long range sleep pods. There was so much still to do and get ready, but everything was coming along on schedule. And Keri did what Keri does best. She worked. She was at the helm of this ship and it was going to sail spectacularly.

They finally had a date set for launch. The crew buzzed with excitement over it. It was really happening, after all this time. The next great leap for humankind. June 4th, 2090.

Thankfully, with only twenty-two months left to departure, Keri’s mother had finally stopped nagging her to find an insta-husband and baby.

my sweetheart #4: someone else’s wedding

August 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26.

Maria’s sister came to take Johanna home because Maria was working long tonight. They all were. Tomorrow was the big day. They’ve prepared for plenty of weddings before, but for Stephanie’s big day, it felt more personal. Nobody wanted to make any mistakes.

So Maria and Drake put the finishing touches on the wedding cake and cupcake display. Drake was studying culinary arts at Dresden. He used each kitchen utensil for its intended purpose—never grabbing a fork instead of a whisk just because it was nearby—and he knows the French names for all of his methods. Not only that he knows the French words, but he speaks each one in a pompous French accent, because, of course, he’s also studying French in university.

my sweetheart #3: feral

August 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26, Willow Nova is 7, Johanna Boone is 4.

one day before the wedding…

Jordan balanced six feet off the ground on a step ladder, with wires and electric candles in hand, while outside there were children’s voices counting down from ten, “Ready or not, here I come!” Then, whoosh. A streak of yellow and red and loose brown hair, breezing by with such force that the ladder swayed, even though the tiny girl couldn’t have weighed forty pounds. Maria’s girl, Johanna.

One of these kids would be the death of him. Or might have been, had his days not been numbered here. So, in that regard, he wasn’t mad. Someday he knew he would even remember the chaos of all this with fondness.

But, in any case, it wasn’t safe. “Not in the barn today,” he called out.



“I need to hide,” Johanna hissed from underneath the table, in something between a whisper and a dinosaur growl.

Johanna was the littlest of the bunch. Stephanie’s girls were bigger and should know better, but Johanna was only four. Jordan came down from the ladder.

why are you here? #4: then go

August 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26, Colette Marin is 31, Felix and Milo are 9.

previously: the last time she tried to hug him was a little awkward // Colette crushed all his hopes and dreams

There were two weeks left before the revised date of Stephanie’s wedding, which had Jordan occupied outside, much to Maria’s disappointment. She’d missed him while he was away with his boys. For the kitchen staff, it was still too early to start food preparations for the wedding, so their workload was the regular fare—catering orders and supper club prep. She wasn’t too busy to steal five minutes to go find him.

The weather couldn’t be more perfect, and everyone hoped it would hold for the wedding, but it was still too far out to know for certain. The barn was scented with the light fumes of fresh paint. Those would dissipate in the next two weeks. Banners of gauzy ivory chiffon draped the ceiling between hanging pendant lights. The lights weren’t turned on yet, but Maria knew when they were, it would be breathtaking in here.

Jordan stood at the back door, gazing out, absently, somewhere beyond the trees.

She stood next to him. God, I missed you, she wanted to say. Did you miss me, too? Did you remember me at all?



Instead, she booped his pink nose and said, “You’re sunburned.”

Oh, god, Maria, she said to herself, did you actually just boop that man on the nose?

Yes, she did. Thankfully, he didn’t look unamused by it.

why are you here? #3: a cage left open

July 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Colette Marin is 31, Felix and Milo are 9.

* length advisory: 5100 words and 92 pictures! Hope it loads! 😳 The text length isn’t so out of the ordinary for this blog, but I couldn’t stop taking pictures. It was a very scenic episode!

** if it has trouble loading, let me know and I’ll split it in two

They say you can’t run away from your problems, but the further Jordan drove, that was exactly how it felt. He left his problems back in Wisconsin, and here, life was pretty incredible. He ran away from his problems. It worked.

Out here, they could breathe. Jordan wondered if his boys could feel that too? How the air smelled sharper, cleaner, alive. How the sky looked bigger and brighter. How the roads went on forever in any direction you could choose. Here, they could wander without an endpoint, go where money and status didn’t matter, to have no expectations and disappoint no one. Out here, there was nobody to tell them no.

Jordan just wanted to be left to be, to exist, to parent his boys the way he saw fit. And out here, he could do that. He could breathe, and their boyish trio was a happy one.