I frown and type back quickly.
Me
I’m handling it remotely! I sent Eden’s posts yesterday.
Esther
I know. I just worry about you losing momentum on what you were building here.
Esther
Playing farmer is fun for a visit, but you have a real business waiting for you.
Esther
And a bedroom that doesn’t require a tetanus shot to sleep in.
The words sting. Playing farmer. Like this is a vacation. Like I’m a kid pretending. Is that what I’m doing here? I should have gone home days ago, and maybe Esther’s right. It is impulsive and irresponsible to stay when I could handle this from Pittsburgh.
Eden
Esther, be nice
Esther
I AM being nice. I’m being practical. Eva has actual paying clients who need her attention.
Eila
She can work remotely. That’s literally the whole point of what she does.
Esther
I’m just saying. The longer she stays up there, the harder it’ll be to come back.
I stare at my phone, not sure how to respond. They’re talking about me like I’m not here, like I’m a child listening in while the grownups talk. She’s not wrong. I do have a life in Pittsburgh. I do have clients. I do have a room at Esther’s house, rent-free—a safety net I’ve been relying on since high school.
But she’s also wrong. This doesn’t feel like playing. It feels like discovering something I didn’t know I was looking for.
I lean against a tree and type out a response.
I’ll get the calendar done this week. Promise.
I don’t address the rest of it. Can’t. I don’t have an answer yet. I shove my phone into my back pocket and pick up the scrub brush, attacking the bucket with more force than necessary. The satisfying scrape of metal against metal drowns out the echo of Esther’s words in my head.
Playing farmer.
I scrub harder.
I’ll show her this isn’t a game. I just have to figure out what it is.
When it starts to get dark, I head inside. I’ve been staying here since I got the power and the water going. I sink into a bath, looking through my phone at the pics I took today of Baabara in the clearing, Ethel’s hands on the maple bark, and the walk back through the grove.
It’s all really interesting stuff. My followers will love it once I get enough cell data to post it anywhere. I need to look into a part-time contract with the Meow people or something since Asher is being stingy with his Wi-Fi password.
Esther would tell me he’s setting a boundary. I wish I could call my sisters right now and tell them I’m going to someone else’s family dinner. I know Storm Sister meals are chaotic and loud, with everyone chiming in and talking over each other. It’s been really nice having to set a bigger table since all my sisters partnered off. But also a little lonely as the ninth wheel.
I wonder if Asher knows he’s being forced to dinner with his brother-in-law’s family.
