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.

“What a surprise,” Ingrid continued. “Ian told me you were here yesterday, and this morning, too? You missed me?”

“I needed something to do,” he said. “I fixed your camper.”

“You look like you’ve been through the wringer. Was it hard?”

“The camper? Nah, not so far. You had a corroded battery terminal, among other things. It needs more work, but it’ll run for a while. It still stinks though.”

“Awesome, so now we can run away together.”

He let out a single chuckle. “You can pay me, I guess. I could use the money.”



They walked together over to the camper where he showed her what he did and how he did it. She would need to know how to replicate the repairs when the time came, but she wasn’t paying any attention to his instruction in the least.



She flashed him a grin and waggled her eyebrows. “Are you sure I can’t interest you in anything else? I’m a woman of many talents.”

He laughed. But, actually…

Her camper. That was what he needed. Surely he could clean it up and make it livable. Although he could absolutely rough it—he was a backcountry camper, after all—having four walls and a roof and a dry bed that he could stretch out on would be nice.



“Actually, maybe, sell me your camper? I know you only spent two hundred bucks on it. I’ll give you a thousand. You’ve only had it two weeks and never took it anywhere. You’re not attached. It’s broken, it stinks. It’ll break again soon, and you don’t know how to fix it.”

“Oh,” she whimpered. “That two hundred was a steal. How am I gonna do my vanlife channel without a camper? I was gonna be a traveling hippie artisan.”

“Ingrid, I’ve seen those van life channels, too. This junker doesn’t fit the aesthetic. This camper is more trailer trash than traveling hippie artisan.”

“But then you get to have all the fun.”



She looked gloomy for a minute, but then her face lit up with an idea.

“How about a deal? We’ll make the swap in California. You drive me out. You let me tag along and shoot some videos on the way there. It’ll be an epic road trip adventure. Then you can drop me off, and it’s yours. What’s that, like a week? Two weeks tops?”

“Hmm. Okay,” Jordan said. “Paperwork now, and it’s a deal.”

“Ho-ly shit!” Ingrid squealed. “You’re actually going to run away with me?”



He faltered. “Well, it worries me when you say it like that.”

Ingrid bounced with excitement. “Hot damn, let’s go.”

“Okay, but I’m running away and you’re tagging along.”

“Don’t worry, baby! We can call it that if you want.”

They exchanged and signed the title paperwork, and now Jordan was the proud owner of this smelly piece of junk, and contract-bound by the honor of his word to take this wild hippie artisan to California.

“When do we leave? Tonight? Tomorrow? I’m ready when you are!”

Jordan blew out a heavy sigh. “I’m not sure what I just got myself into. Soon. I’ll let you know. There’s something I need to do first.”

—

Maria got a text almost twenty-four hours since she last heard from Jordan. He wanted to see her. She met him outside her door, and she should have been filled with excitement at the prospect of afternoon delight with her new lover. But she asked him to say goodbye before he went, and the look on his face said that was what he was here to do.

“This is it, isn’t it?”



“I’m sorry, it’s time,” he said. “It has to be. I’ve been dragging this out for too long. I’m sorry about how I left yesterday morning, and I’m sorry if I ghosted you last night, and I’m sorry that ‘I’m sorry’ is all I ever say to you and I think you’re going to get sick of it. You see, I told you I wasn’t the most reliable kind of guy. Remember I told you that?”

There was desperation on his face like he’d blown the whole thing already before they even started.

“I remember,” she said. “And I appreciate that you’re sorry. If you were the kind of guy who was never sorry about anything, I wouldn’t like you as much.”




She reached for his fingers. “So, can you come inside? Or is this goodbye? Like, right now?”

“Yeah, gotta jet. See ‘ya.”

His impish grin lit her heart on fire and simultaneously ripped it in half. Oh, why did he have to go?

“Just kidding,” he said. “I can hang out for a bit.” 



They went inside and sat on the living room sofa. Taking a cue from his posture, from the weight of his shoulders and thoughtful expression, she guessed that he had more on his mind than a quick goodbye romp. 

“So, I gather you told Colette then? It didn’t go well?” 

“It never does. I wasn’t surprised. I don’t know. I guess I need a lawyer or something.” 

He went into himself quietly. Colette was a fresh wound for him, still bleeding. Maria didn’t know everything about that relationship, but she suspected it ran deeper than she wanted to believe. For ten years Colette has been his lover, his family, his torment, and they were raw in the middle of ripping their lives apart. Talk about bad timing. Her crush on him had been an easy fantasy, but loving this man had proven to be messy and complicated. Maria hated to call this flirtation a mistake, but she worried it could easily become one if she pushed him too hard or too fast. 

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said. “For the record. I just bought a rancid camper from Ingrid, because I’m technically homeless now and I guess I live in it. I can’t decide if it smells more like piss or vomit. And part of the deal is I have to drive her to California, which sounds annoying and the exact opposite of the trip I wanted. I’m a mess. Why do you even want to date me? You’re the most precious person on this whole rotten planet, and you deserve so much more than all this.”

Maria laughed. “To my credit, I did fall in love with you before you made yourself homeless. So, you bought her camper? And you’re driving her to California?”

“It’s a long story.”

Maria’s head spun. He just called her the most precious person on the planet, she could hardly worry about how he intended to drive Ingrid to California.  

“Maria, I didn’t really come here to talk about Colette or Ingrid.”

“Oh, right. I totally agree.”



This man loved to kiss, Maria discovered about him. He devoured her lips indulgently while his hands explored a bare strip of skin underneath her shirt. What is this to him? She wondered in a flash, before surrendering to his touch again.

Whatever intentions they had got lost on that couch. They never made it to the bedroom.

When they finished, they lay together in a peaceful silence. Whatever had been at war inside him, between panic and bliss, had been put to rest for now. The bliss won in the end. He tucked his face into her neck and settled there, cozy and still.

So what was this? It wasn’t the end, she knew, at least. And they didn’t have to call it one thing or another, because the way he kissed her, held her, loved her, made her feel cherished. He wouldn’t say that he didn’t love her, which could only mean that he loved her more than he was ready for. 

And that was enough. It was plenty. 

He moved to pull her body on top of him instead. Early September warmth poured through an open window and kept them warm. No words, only murmurs and nuzzles. Outside the afternoon waned, and the neighborhood continued through its day. She didn’t keep track of how long. She had the night off work, and a couple hours to herself before Johanna finished school. She didn’t intend to spend her last few hours with him asleep. He dozed off first, and he crashed hard, hungry for a deep comfortable sleep. She hated to disturb him by moving, so she joined him for a nap. 

And the next hour was gone in a blink. 

An alarm buzzed from within the pile of clothes on the floor. 

“Wake up, sleeping beauty,” he whispered. “Your phone is buzzing over there.”

Time to pick up Johanna from preschool. 

“Oh no, how long did we sleep?”

“I don’t know, an hour maybe.” 

“Oh, I guess we just couldn’t resist. We fit together too well.”



They dressed leisurely, stopping often to cuddle some more, not wanting to rush through their last minutes together. He scooped her into his arms. 

“Mmm,” she hummed. “Are you like this with everybody?”

“Like what?”

“Like, so snuggly.”

“Oh, not really. Colette is not exactly snuggly. And, well… Okay, don’t laugh, but I’ve only been with Colette before you.”

“No way! Really?”

He chuckled. “You really thought I was a whore, didn’t you?”

“Oh, no, I think I knew you weren’t. I couldn’t see that for you. You’re so brave and strong, but also a little bit shy. It’s endearing.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

“I always thought so.”

“You were right, you know,” he said. “We should have done this sooner.”



“Can I ask you something?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Why didn’t we, you know, do this sooner? You were just going to go? If I hadn’t poked at it, if I hadn’t kissed you in the kitchen at work.”

“Oh,” he paused, considering his answer. “Because I didn’t want to start something and then leave you. I know you have a whole life here with JoJo, and I knew I had to leave. I never thought you’d be okay with that. I still don’t think you’ll be okay with it. You’ll be too lonely or sad. You’ll forget about me, you’ll move on.”

She nuzzled her cheek to his. “Not likely.”

“Well, I’m glad you kissed me in the kitchen at work. Really glad. Are you still okay with this?”

“I am,” she said. “Or, I will be. It’ll get easier, maybe. I’m not asking for dates on a calendar, but I can’t help it if I want dates on the calendar. I’m just so spoiled, seeing you almost every day. When do you think I might see you again?”

“I won’t want to be alone all the time and forever,” he said. “I know it upset you when I said that. It’s just… the way things have been the last few years in my domestic situation has me feeling kind of… caged. But that’s not your fault. Because this is pretty nice.”

“I do get it. I’m not upset anymore.”

“You know, I’ll be lonely for you sooner than I’m able to come back,” he said. “I bet I’ll be lonely for you next week, and I’ll sing your name from the mountaintops.”

“Aww.”

“Wait, it won’t be as romantic as it sounds, I’m not much of a singer.”

“Oh gosh, Wouldn’t we be the sweetest thing to ever not work out?”

He laughed. “You already think we won’t work out?”

“I don’t want to think that. I guess it’s hard to visualize how this works. How do you see us? Like, if you were living the best-case version of your life?”

He pondered his future—their combined future maybe—and smiled. “Okay. I have the camper, and it doesn’t smell anymore. It’s homey and everything is fixed. And I go wherever the whim takes me, but probably I have a few favorite spots I keep coming back to. The storage in the back, we’ll turn it into a bunk room for the kids. And you come out to join me whenever you want, really. Whenever you can, for as long as you want. That part is up to you. You’ll bring Johanna, I’ll teach her to fish and hike and light a campfire.”

Maria grinned. “Maybe no fire until she’s older.”

“And I’ll be back to Wisconsin to see my boys. Of course, I’ll see you then, too. But Colette decides when that happens, I guess.”

“Colette decides when you can be in Wisconsin?”

“Ha, no. I guess I can come to Wisconsin whenever I want. Home on wheels, you know. And we’ll do that until we don’t want to do it anymore, then we’ll decide something else. … Does that sound terrible to you?”



“No, maybe not exactly terrible.”

“But it’s not what you want.”

“I just don’t think I ever imagined a life like that,” she said. “Like, so temporary, so many starts and stops, like we keep putting it back on the shelf.”

“Does it have to feel that way?”

“I don’t know. I hope not.” 

The time. She really needed to run out the door now. 

“So, I swear I’m not trying to hold you hostage, but do you want to stay for dinner?”

He laughed.

“And then it’ll be late, so you should probably sleep over,” she added, shamelessly pressing her luck. “You know, you need your rest if you’re trying to drive a whole camper out to California. Especially with Ingrid as the co-pilot.”

“I see your game, and your game is smooth,” he teased. “But I do think I’m gonna let you hold me hostage. For tonight, at least. Is that okay? With Johanna here?” 

“I don’t know,” Maria said, cracking up. “But let’s do it anyway?”

“I’ve been such a bad influence on you.” 

“But it’s been fun?” 

“The most fun ever,” he said. “But after tomorrow morning, I really do have to go.”

“I know you do. And I’ll miss you.” 

—

Flippant as she may sound, Maria had thought about how and when to introduce the idea of Jordan to Johanna, but she had come to no useful conclusions. It was complicated by the fact that Johanna already knew him, already saw him at work in her mother’s kitchen nearly every day. His existence in her world was not in question, but the context was about to change. 

And was that okay? When should that happen, now or later? Maria had no idea what to do. Either this thing would work, and it would all be for the best. Or it wouldn’t. And if it didn’t, it left them both disappointed.

Not knowing one way or another, she went with her gut and decided that they would all spend the evening together.

Johanna beamed when she saw them both. “Mister Jordan, you’re at my school!”

“Yeah, I was wondering if I could hang out with you guys tonight?”



“We get a dinnertime playdate? That means we have to eat pizza and watch a movie and stay up late. Did you ever have a dinnertime playdate before? I had one with Becca before, and it was so fun!”

In the end, the playdate with Mommy’s “friend” wasn’t very unusual to her at all.





The dinnertime playdate was a smash. They ate pizza and watched a movie, and then Johanna ran them in circles around the house until she ran them outside to expend all her bedtime energy on the swingset. As a father of rough-and-tumble boys, Jordan pushed her higher than Maria usually did. 

“He pushes better, Momma,” Johanna squealed. “Whee! I’m a eagle, caw, caw, caw!”

He pushed better because he pushed like a dad—with vigor and measured strength. That was something poor little Johanna knew nothing about.



Maria tucked Johanna into bed that night, feeling torn and unsure.

Jordan fit into their lonely twosome like he was made for them. For one night, all of Maria’s wildest dreams came true. Only until the morning, though. She felt like a fairytale princess who made a deal with a cruel witch and their time was running out. In the morning, he would vanish and they would go back to their lonely twosome. 

Maybe it wasn’t fair to let Johanna fall in love with him, too, knowing how much she would miss him. Maybe not this time, but some other future morning when she woke up and he was gone. 

Maria wondered if she should have tried harder to let him go? Should she have forced herself to fall in love with someone else, someone ready to be fully committed? Did she owe that to her little girl?

Because she knew she couldn’t change Jordan. Others had chosen that path and failed miserably before. 




When she came downstairs, she found him in her kitchen with a wrench. 

“It was just leaking a little,” he said with a shrug. “I always have a toolbox with me.” 

He was who he was, she thought. And who he was made her heart buzz. He was sweet and mellow. He craved a simple life of laughter and adventure, and why should anyone fault him for that? He may be intermittent sometimes, but when they were together, he gave everything he had. She hugged him and knew that she wouldn’t change a damn thing about him if she had the chance.

She had asked him, that night in the wedding barn with the holographic hearts dancing around them, Is this all the love story I get?  

She had her answer now. This is it. This is what you get. So hold on tight, because it’s gonna be a wild ride. 

In the morning, Maria marveled that he was still in her bed and hadn’t snuck out in the night. She savored that moment, but she promised she would let him go. So she roused him awake and snuck him out the door before Johanna could ask more questions than they had answers for. 

“Thanks for dinner, and the sleepover, and stuff,” he said. “That’ll keep me going for a long while.”

“Good,” she said. “So be careful, and wear your safety gear, and listen to your trainer. And text me, if you want. Please keep texting me. And watch out for Ingrid, I think she’s more dangerous than the rocks.” 

“Okay. And hey, I’ll see you soon. And if it’s not soon enough, then come find me.”

— 

gameplay notes: about a broken, stinky camper // 

This chapter concludes the 10-part My Sweetheart story set. (Novella if we’re being true, at 15k words! 

If anyone wants to know why I don’t have another novel finished yet, this is why, lol!) But you will hear more from these characters in the next “book” (because it’s equally as large) too, though their conflicts and challenges will be different. And I think Ingrid and Colette may want a little more screen time in the next one. We’ll see.   

Maria and Jordan didn’t do too badly for a couple of townie bin characters, stealing the spotlight and getting their own series of novellas. My legacy sims are jealous! 😂

But before the next big story, I look forward to indulging in some much-needed gameplay! Jordan’s adventures are going to be super fun to play, and he will run in with Maya and Tyler and a few other characters we haven’t seen in a while. 

And Maria’s townhouse will hugely benefit from the new For Rent pack! You don’t know how many times I had to kick her neighbors out of her kitchen while shooting these scenes! 

Also expect a little timeline surge coming up, if I can manage to move things along. The next book will take place over almost a year of their lives. Which is good, because my stagnant gameplay needs a little time skip! 

Thank you to everyone who read along with me. I really appreciate your likes and comments, so that I know I’m not just screaming alone into the void!  ❤️