Life On the Fjords

Boiling Water

"Jamie, what's the matter?"

"Huh?" He looked up from the ground to see Caleb's quizzical face.

"You've been spaced out the whole time."

Mary was just in the middle of play-tackling with Claude and Monty... she currently had the latter in a headlock. "You were like that this morning, too!" Claude managed to attack from behind and she rolled him off of her, laughing.

"What's wrong, Jamie?" Pippa asked and sat next to him on the log he was perched on. Caleb rejoined the wrestling match.

"Nothing's the matter." Except that his brother had a secret girlfriend... And that was only the beginning of all the questions he had. "I'm really tired. That's all."

"Oh."

Normally she would press him for answers, but Pippa herself was distracted. He noticed her grinning to herself. "What is it?"

"Hm?"

"You're smiling."

"Oh, nothing. Well, it's something, but nothing important." The four seemed to be rolling around in a ball now, getting covered in wet leaves and grass. Pippa couldn't fathom how Mary wasn't squirming from all the dirt in her hair and clothes. She curled her nose up a bit as they passed by. She turned back to Jamie. "Yesterday, someone left a note for me at school. It wasn't really a note, it was a drawing."

Jamie tried to feign ignorance as convincingly as he could. "Drawing of what?"

"Rød jonsokblom." She said dreamily. "Those are my favorite flowers." She hugged herself.

Jamie felt himself smiling with her, but he didn't want to get caught and so he kept a straight face. "Do you know who it's from?"

"All it said was 'secret admirer.' I doubt Caleb or Claude did it, and Monty's too busy being paranoid to be romantic."

Caleb cried out in fright. "Okay, okay!" Mary had him in an arm-lock, pinned to the ground. "I yield!"

She dropped him. "The foul demon has been banished!"

"Y'know," Claude pounded the dirt off his pants, "you're pretty rough for a girl."

"And you're soft for a boy!" Mary smirked. Caleb performed a sneak attack and nudged her onto her bottom.

Pippa continued the conversation between her and Jamie. "Don't tell Jack, though. I don't want him thinking I've got eyes for somebody else."

Was she serious? Jamie blinked. He had no answer. "I won't." He murmured. If only she knew what Jamie now did. He wasn't going to break her heart over something she'd (hopefully) outgrow. It started raining, and since none of them had any inclination to stay out in the cold rain, the group parted ways for now.

...

When the twins arrived home, Jack was slicing potatoes in the kitchen, freshly dug up from the garden. They were dripping with rainwater, but they didn't have to worry about upsetting the beast by leaving water tracks.

"There you guys are." Jack was in a better mood than usual. "Dinner's gonna be ready in about an hour."

Mary wrung out her hair. "I'm gonna go put on some dry clothes."

Jack snorted. "That's probably a good idea." He answered, focused on his task. Jamie was dead silent. He didn't follow Mary into their bedroom. He instead walked into the kitchen to go for the water pitcher. "How was school?" Jack monotoned, now making sure he didn't fuck up this stew that he was trying to get right on the first try.