“…that woman is a menace. Would it have killed her to give us some warning about this?” Emma shook her head, and exhaled deeply as she turned to look at the many boxes that needed moving. “Or at the least pitched in?!” Beth broke out into laughter and happily lifted up one of the may boxes of knickknacks.
“Because she’s sneaky like that.” Beth giggled and waited for Emma to grab a box. “You know darn well if Ma had warned us first of her intentions, you would have said no.”
“Of course.”
“And you would have said no way if she warned you that Ben wanted to organise it all himself.”
“Absolutely. No one interferes or plans my future but me.” Emma huffed and realised there was no other way around it. The Carter’s were moving to Oregon. Their education wasn’t getting derailed, but accelerated, and their mother was getting married. But those darn alarm bells wouldn’t stop gong off in her head. Something wasn’t right about this whole thing and she couldn’t help but worry that when the other shoe dropped, she’d get squashed like a bug beneath it’s heel. “And how come you’re going along with this total upheaval in our lives without a fuss?” Emma countered, deciding on a box with ‘Kitchen stuff’ written on the side in Ben’s scrawl. Even his handwriting is a mess.
“Because.” Beth shrugged and began the side by side journey to the elevator with her sister and their boxes. “I was always moving away to college, and I’ve always been a free bird. No one I know was going to the same college as me anyway. As long as I get to do my photography course and stay with my family, I’m happy.”
“…far too easily pleased.” Emma shook her head and used her elbow to press the ground floor button in the elevator. “And far too trusting. Don’t you think it’s weird that we’ve never heard of Glen Valley before? Or been there to visit? But now we’re all suddenly moving in with the guy?”
“Mum’s been there.” Beth shrugged, grinning away as she imagined the picturesque little town their mother described. “Forests and a lake. I bet there are beautiful places to get pictures of animals and nature spots out there.”
Emma looked at her airhead sister sourly and huffed.
“Far too easily pleased.” She rolled her eyes and pouted. “Give the girl a camera and set her going. That’s all she needs.”
“And a dark room.” Beth chuckled. “Don’t forget the dark room.” The elevator opened and as the pair stepped out into the foyer Beth hurried to block Emma’s path before they could leave for the carpark. “Listen, Ben’s a great guy. You spent every semester at college, fine, but I’ve been here and he’s really a good guy Em. He really makes Ma happy, and if he says he’s arranged for us to continue our studies, I believe him.”
“A huh.” Emma shook her head and walked around her with a suspicious pout on her face. “Look I don’t dislike the guy, I just…don’t like the guy either?” She shrugged and waited for Beth to catch her up. “He’s good for Ma long distance? But what will it be like when they live together all the time? What happens to us and our studies if they beak up? Stuck out there in Oregon with-”
“Emma? Seriously? They’ve been madly in love for 2 years. It’s not like this is a rush job.” Beth cleared her throat and nodded with a grin over at the dark green pickup truck parked up ahead. Emma followed her eyeline and saw Ben and Joanna were making out like a couple of teenagers.
“Oh dear Lord I am not on enough caffeine to deal with those two lovebirds. I’m going to barf. Hold my hair.” Beth barked with laughter and watched, giddy with anticipation as Emma marched over to the pickup and dropped her box into the back with a thud. Beth nearly dropped her box she was laughing so hard at how high Ben and her mother jumped and fumbled out of the truck at being caught. “Either of you going to help us with this mad move? Or you just going to keep sucking face while we do all the work?”
“Emma?!!” Her mother flustered, but Ben cackled with mirth.
“I know what I’d prefer.” He spanked Joanna’s backside as he sauntered past her and back towards the apartment building. “But the sooner we load up, the sooner we hit the road.”
“Yeah.” Joanna giggled and hurried after her fiancé. “What he said.”
“…loved up morons.” Emma grimaced and palmed her face. “How many hours is it to drive to Glen Valley?” She pulled her cell out of her back pocket and checked it online. “Without traffic over three hours. Three hours of those two making gooey eyes and flirting the whole way there…Beth?”
“Yeah?” Her younger sister put her box in the back of the pick up truck and leaned against the side next to Emma.
“I’m going to need one of the following. Noise cancelling ear plugs and a blind fold, a full bottle of scotch, or a gun. Do we have any of those?”
“Nope.”
“Damn.”
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