The trouble with love...

Sight Language

It's the next morning and Natalie is too tired, from a sleepless night, to deal with Mrs Brown, so after a brisk shower, she sneaks out for a morning jog around the farm. The sound of birds and sheep in the distance {from the neighbouring farm} is a natural relaxer and by the time she has circled back around to the house, she feels energized enough to deal with Mrs Brown.

She walks in and finds everyone already seated. The table is full this morning because of two extra additions to their group. One of them being Ella. "Nattie!" Ella happily exclaims before standing to hug her. Natalie laughs as the small brunette bounces over to her and gives her a bone-crushing hug, "it's good to see you" she said. Ella's short brown hair is cut, just touching her collar and it's curly strands bouncing with every move she made.

Her black cardigan and plain blue jeans give her that 'friendly pixie" look that Natalie just loved. "It's good to see you too," Natalie says, her smile wide, just before she turns back to the table. At the sight of the other guest, her smile lessens and Mrs Brown noticed that because her smile grew wider. "Hi Marsha. I didn't know you'd be joining us today," Natalie said, throwing a confused look at Charlie and him giving her one back.

Their mouths didn't move, but their eyes had their own silent conversation. 'What is she doing here?' Natalie's eyes asked, 'I don't know.' Charlie's eyes replied. Natalie raised an eyebrow, 'I think you do,' Charlie's eyes widened, 'I swear I didn't.' Natalie glared, 'angry' her eyes said, 'sorry' was the message Charlie's eyes had. This all happened within about one minute, before Natalie turned back to Marsha with a fake smile.

Marsha smiled too, although hers wasn't fake, nor was it genuine. Her smile was something else, something sinister, something smug and Natalie didn't like it one bit. "oh yeah, I saw little Ella Bella in town and I thought I'd give her a lift," she said. They both turned to look at Ella, her eyes read 'I didn't do it!' before turning back to each other, "then Mrs Brown invited me to stay for breakfast and tag along on y'alls little trip."

"Oh, but I thought this was a family trip," she asked, "And Marsha is just as much family as anybody else. More than others I would say," came Mrs. brown's reply. 'More than you," is what she really wanted to say and everybody knew it. With one last angry glare at Charlie, she forced a smile onto her face and turned back to a smirking Marsha, "wow! How...fun" she said, the enthusiasm in her voice as fake as Marsha's nails. Everyone at the table just watched the three women's' exchange, their eyes all saying the same thing: "oh no..."

"She did this on purpose, Charlie," Natalie said as they both packed a 3-day bag for the trip. They were going to a lodge close to the lake for a family retreat. The Browns did that every year and they were doing it again this year, this time with Natalie. "I'm sure it was a last-minute decision," he hesitantly explained. They both knew it wasn't, "but if it bothers you too much, I can talk to her about it." "NO! Absolutely not. You heard what she said at breakfast. 'Marsha is just as much family as anybody else,' she'll never change her mind and if you go and talk to her about it, I'll never hear the end of it. No, don't talk to her. Leave it alone," Natalie rants.

She was angry and Charlie could tell. Her face was stoic, her voice was calm and her features looked too calm to be real. Not the kind of calm that comes before a tsunami hits. The dangerous kind of calm.

Charlie knew Natalie was beyond angry, no matter how calm she looked. "look baby, don't worry. Just...ignore her. I'm sure we'll have a great time. You won't even notice she's there," he said, holding her shoulders and smiling down at her. She just barely passed his chest. She didn't smile back, hell she didn't even blink. All she did was walk out of his arms, grabs their shared bag and walks out, leaving Charlie standing alone, his hands still stretched out.