boxes and squares #5.3: hindsight is a bitch (2/3)

November 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26, Johanna is 4, Jack Phoenix is 39, Nessa is 38, Sophie is 65.

previously: invited to Thanksgiving // marriage is a cage, he said

warnings: just a peek of NSFW at the end 😘

As promised, Jordan brought his girls to San Sequoia to attend Thanksgiving with Jack’s family. “Bring the camper, stay a few days,” Jack told them. “Home on wheels, right? Why not?”

So they did.

“And this is their front yard,” Maria said, amused. “Their front yard is actually the whole San Sequoia Bay.”

“Holy cow,” JoJo shouted. “I see a boat! And another boat. And another boat!”



“How many boats does that make?” Jordan asked her.

“One, two, three!”

“Good, now tell your grandpa you learned math in homeschool.”

boxes and squares #5.3: hindsight is a bitch (1/3)

November 2088. Colette Marin is 31, Audrey Roseland is 48, Vicky Garth is 24, Darwin Hadley is 35, Felix and Milo are 9, Gabby Roseland is 16. 

previously: so, I have been seeing someone… // going on a date with a doctor, she said

optional background music: “fake plastic trees” as covered by Phoebe Bridgers

* warnings: long (as it goes lately...), bad decisions, briefly NSFW: obscured toplessness, spicy memories (text-based), and obscured self-pleasure

The boys were in school for another hour or two, and they had their activities after. Colette had no showings booked, and neither did Audrey. Nobody wanted to buy or sell a house a week before Thanksgiving.

Colette liked this swanky lounge by the water. She liked the smell of new renovation overlying its aged frame. The place served coffees and croissants and an assortment of music. By now, even Colette was tired of pumpkin spice everything, but peppermint wouldn’t be on the menu until after the holiday, so she ordered a frothy plain cappuccino. Audrey took one last pumpkin spice latte in her to-go cup. “Thanksgiving is next week,” she excused herself.

“You do you,” Colette said.

“Friend,” was a loose term for Colette, as in “keep your enemies closer.” But Colette didn’t think of Audrey Roseland as an enemy, either. A competitor, sometimes—there was only so much premium real estate to go around—but they tried not to step on each other’s toes. And that Colette tried at all for this woman probably made her more of a friend than Colette ever had before.

“I really loathe that he’s fucking someone before I am,” Colette confessed.

boxes and squares #5.2: come down from the clouds (2/2)

November 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26, Johanna is 4, Felix and Milo are 9, Nessa Phoenix is 38, Colette Marin is 31.

previously: climb club family // the plain-looking plucky friend // the blonde photographer // the boys always know first // they made vows

warnings: little bit saucy, additional spice linked elsewhere





Jordan had been distracted since Maria and JoJo came to join his adventure. He had skipped more climbing sessions than he wanted to admit. But now that they were settled, it was time to pick up the slack. “Go climb, my love,” Maria told him. “You’re not quitting this thing on my behalf. Isn’t it the whole reason we’re here?”

Another bonus was the free family passes to the park, already bought and paid for as part of his climbing package.

“So you guys check out the park. Nessa will show you everything, and I’ll meet up with you later for dinner.”

Jordan was quite proud of the skewers he’d grilled for the group tonight. It was his turn to make dinner for climb club after hours.

boxes and squares #5.2: come down from the clouds (1/2)

November 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26, Johanna is 4, Felix and Milo are 9, Lou Corelli is 29, Dom is 58, Judith is 54.

previously: a freeloading loser // that money is not for spending on your boyfriend // this beach is for dancing

Go ahead and live this fairytale for just a little bit longer.

You could almost fool yourself that it could last forever, like you can just forget that fairytales aren’t real.

boxes and squares #5.1: live the fairytale

November 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26, Johanna is 4. (Flashback Jordan is 24, Colette is 27.)

* grab yourself a steamy beverage and a cozy chair, this one is long! 5100 words and 65 pictures!

** warnings: briefly NSFW.

What are you going to do in Nevada? Not stay there, Maria would soon find out, because Jordan mentioned the wild horses in Arizona and Johanna lost her little mind over the idea. So now they were in Arizona, scouting the canyons for wild horses. Among this and many other things she never would have guessed her life could include, there was the sound of yodeling on the canyon walls. Back and forth, a booming manly echo answered by sprightly little girl song, growing closer and mixed with laughter. He taught her to yodel. Maria never would have guessed that he knew how to yodel, but so he did, and now they both did.

Long after their sound gave them away, Maria saw them emerge around the bend of the trail, carrying back their sacks full of treasure. Would it be rocks, pine cones, sticks shaped like swords?

“Did you see any horses?” 

“No, we found bugs! We’re gonna eat them!” Johanna’s face was bright with the idea. 

“Oh, God, no! You can’t eat a bug!”

“Jordan said we can!”

She gaped at him in horror. He shrugged with a sheepish grin. “How’s it different from eating any other animal?”

Maria was prepared for there to be bugs on this wild adventure, but she never imagined they were going to eat them!

look how they shine

* collected gameplay and mini-stories from the Akiyama/McCarthy families

Fall 2088. Vale Akiyama is 28, Vicky Garth is 24. Blossom McCarthy is 29, George is 34, Abe is nearly 2. And welcome baby Abigail.

content warnings: childbirth, and... menstrual blood, I guess?

previously: Vale and Vicky get engaged // Blossom is the golden child in this family




🎶 Look at the stars

Look how they shine for you 🎶

—

In September, Vale and Vicky finished the last tour stop of their whirlwind musical summer. Being home again now, they were quite happy to settle into a cocoon of warmth and rest while they daydreamed of what might come next for them.

As for their wedding, they were both in agreement about one thing—it would be intimate but lavish. And if they kept the invite list small, they could spring for a destination wedding. Think of a swanky hotel on a tropical island, a long flight to somewhere they’ve never been before, sparkling waters and sandy beaches.

But that was all just talk for now, so they let the talk be as fantastical as they wished. No date set, no deposits paid. They’ve been too busy and too tired to make anything official. For now, they’re just enjoying their engagement and their raging musical success.

boxes and squares #4.5: home is wherever you are, part 3

October 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26, Johanna is 4, Lou Corelli is 29. Stephanie Nova is 28.

previously: Is anyone else going to grad school or to climb mountains that I should know about? Maria?

Maria felt tender and deflated about her sister’s underwhelming reaction to her news, and she didn’t know what to do about that, so she just took her sorry butt to work. For the last time, perhaps. If she was going to move her whole life into her boyfriend’s camper in a few days’ time, quitting this job was a necessary first step.

She had been so excited to tell Lou. But maybe that was dumb—Lou was always going to be Lou, too practical and grounded and allergic to joy. But if not Lou, Maria wondered who else would possibly be happy for her and this huge moment in her life?

Not her parents, for sure. Not her boss. Not her co-workers.

Thankfully, Maria could delay any more announcements until the end of their shift. It was all hands on deck tonight. Tonight was the reason she could only visit Jordan for twenty-four hours, so that she could make it back to help with this big lunch catering order they had due on Tuesday morning. And didn’t that feel silly now, knowing that she was going to quit and run straight back to him? If she didn’t have JoJo to come back for, she might have just blown them all off.




But, no, she couldn’t do that to Stephanie. Stephanie was a sweetheart and she didn’t deserve to lose the sous chef she’d poured so much energy and knowledge into. If Maria had learned anything at all about cooking, she’d learned it from Stephanie.

When Maria came here two years ago, it was just a lowly kitchen job. It was just something to fill her time and pad her budget as a widowed single mom. Who could have guessed that the people she met here would change her whole life so much?