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My mouth is tempted to quirk into a smile at her sass. She’s not wrong; I am a classical music person. But I’m not letting her know that she’s correct. “I guess you don’t know me very well.”
She sighs. “David, turn the music off.”
“I’ll turn it off when you mow your lawn.”
Her hands go to her hips. “Are you kidding me right now? That’s what this is about?”
“Your yard looks like a jungle. It’s uncouth.”
“Uncouth? Who even talks like that?” She rolls her eyes. “My dad is coming over to mow the lawn later today. So can you please turn off the music?”
The knowledge that big words irritate her inspires me to continue. “Marvelous. I truly hope he cuts the grass posthaste.”
She huffs and spins on her heel to leave. I shut the door, chuckling to myself as I flick the music off. I shouldn’t enjoy seeing that look of ire in her eyes, but I can’t help it. I enjoy it. My spats with Isa are the only exciting moments in my life.
“Isa,” I whisper to myself, testing the shortened version of her name. I always thought Isabella was too formal a name for such a wild, sassy little thing. But Isa suits her perfectly.
Chapter four
Isabella
Monday evening, Papa comes over after he gets off work. This is probably the main reason why he wants to marry me off… so he can have a break from mowing my lawn and being my on-call handyman.
He shows no sign of annoyance as he walks up my narrow walkway and grins at me. “How’s my Bella?”
I smile, noting he’s already changed out of his work clothes and into worn jeans and an old t-shirt. “Pretty good. Thanks for coming over and mowing. I can never seem to get the mower started.”
Walking toward the small shed in my backyard, Papa releases a sigh. “Why don’t you just ask that guy next door to help you start it?”
I scoff. “David?? You obviously haven’t met him… He’s perfectly proper and well-manicured. I doubt he could start a mower.”
Papa chuckles and opens the shed door. “Ah, one of those types.”
I smile sardonically to myself, thinking of all the yard ornaments I purchased today at thrift stores. As soon as the sun goes down, David’s pristine lawn is getting a fun makeover.
My father pulls the mower out of the dusty shed and I hold the door open for him. “Are you good here, Papa? I was going to get some work done inside.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Are you still working on the little blog?”
Holding back a sigh, I answer, “It’s a website, Papa. And I have over 200,000 subscribers.”
He nods. “It better not get in the way of your work at Abuela’s.”
“Yeah, I know.” I give him a tense smile, not wanting to get into this yet again. “I’ll bring you some lemonade in a half hour, okay?”
“Sounds good,” he answers, then starts the push mower effortlessly with one pull.
I wish I could do that.
Ten minutes later, I’m back on the sofa with my laptop, scheduling my usual Tuesday and Thursday posts to my website for the next few weeks. I like to have my articles and posts planned out in advance so they don't interfere with my schedule at Abuela’s. And I never know if I’ll have service when I’m traveling. I always have my phone and laptop with me, but they are mostly for photos and videos since I don’t want to spend money on an international phone plan.
As long as I can take pictures and make notes for my travel and entertainment website, Isa’s Itinerary, I don’t care too much about not having Wi-Fi.
Mama and Papa pay us decent enough for working at Abuela’s, but I have to stay on a strict budget so I have enough money to travel.
Working at Abuela’s just doesn’t fulfill me; it isn’t my passion. I want to travel the world and explore. Not stuck in Kansas working in a kitchen. Or married off to the next man my parents find for me.
I click on a tab that shows all of my sponsorships and make sure I have what I need for photos in Peru. One of my biggest sponsors is a company that makes women’s athletic wear. My contract states I need to make two posts a week that include photos of their clothing. This will be easy on a hiking expedition. I have all my favorite matching athletic sets packed and can take lots of gorgeous photos wearing them in the Andes Mountains. Hopefully the group I’m traveling with doesn’t think I’m a huge dork for all the photos I’ll take… but these sponsorships are how I travel every few months, so it doesn’t really matter what they think.
