Diamonds and a new girlfriend.

It was roughly mid-morning by the time Spencer and Danielle were up and out of bed. Spencer informed Amy of their plans to take a drive for the day out to see an old diamond mine and possibly stop somewhere else for dinner. They first headed into Avonwick so that Danielle could drop off her car at her house before heading back out north towards Cherryville and the mine. It was just over a 90-minute drive so they stopped briefly at a roadside dinner for some takeaway lunch and pulled into the tourist attraction between noon and one o’clock.

It was getting late in the year so the car park was only sparsely attended by other vehicles. Spencer, Dani and Amy got out and made their way to the entrance where they were given small metal mallets along with gloves and safety glasses in exchange for their entry fee. Past the entrance, the place opened out into a large dusty grey quarry lined on three sides by 10 feet high walls of solid rock. Parts of these were roped off to public access as they remained areas of potential commercial activity still. In truth, there weren’t any diamonds at the mine at all but the potential to find double-terminated quartz crystals that had come to be called diamonds. Inside the dolomite rocks, there were small cavities within which the crystals would form. Most were usually very small and worth next to nothing unless they were practically flawless and much larger.

Amy headed off to a collection of small to medium-sized boulders in the middle of the mine while Spencer followed Dani towards one of the side walls. Danielle made an attempt to smash a few small rocks open with the hammer while Spencer took some lacklustre swings at the protruding ridges of the cliff face. It was no picnic. The rocks were hard and took a strong blow to break apart. They did manage to find a few small crystals in an hour and a bit of time they made an attempt at it. Amy seemed to have more luck than the adults as Spencer and Danielle frequently heard her calling over to them that she find one and then another. Danielle’s technique was to go about splitting rocks in two until she found the evidence of a quartz crystal contained within and then give the rock to Spencer for the final task of smashing it all to pieces and collecting the gem. He did his work and they eventually had a tiny collection of beautiful sparkling rocks in the palm of Spencer's hand.

Seeing Spencer was tiring Dani halted her fossicking to ask, “Everything alright Spencer?”

“Oh, nothing. I just thought I gave you a good enough hammering last night,” he said with a wolfish grin.

“Oh, you cheeky bugger!” Danielle laughed at Spencer’s crude jest before making one of her own. Holding up the mallet in her two hands and measuring it, “it's about the same size as your jackhammer too!”

They were still laughing when Amy came over to them. “Dad, I’m getting tired.”

Spencer came over and wrapped his arm around his daughter who was clearly the dustiest of the trio. “That’s fine. I think were done here anyway.”

On the way back out to return the tools they stopped in the gift shop for some drinks to wet their thirst. There were trays and trays of more of the “diamonds” for sale along with dozens of other sorts of rocks and minerals. Spencer found a small cluster of 3 pointed quartz that caught his eye. Joined all together there was a large piece, a medium piece and a final smaller one. Just like the three bears or the three of them together today. Spencer didn’t share why he bought it but it meant something to him and would be a memento of their day together.

Rather than drive straight home, Spencer took them on a scenic route that ran through some olden-style covered bridges. They stopped once again and had dinner at an apple orchard and cidery. There wouldn’t be any fruit until after winter but there was good food and sweet tangy ciders to wash it down for Spencer and Danielle.

When they got back to Avonwick in the early evening Spencer and Amy dropped Danielle off at her place. She needed the night at home to get ready for her work week as well as unpack at last from her two weeks in New York. She remained at hers for just one night before again spending the night at Spencer's. Her visits became more and more frequent over the coming weeks as she and Spencer began to spend almost every single night together at the farmhouse. Amy welcomed Danielle into their home just as much as Spencer did.

Word spread around the town of Avonwick like wildfire. Spencer Askren was off the market almost before they knew Spencer was even on the market. Darcie Collins tried to maintain her blasé indifference to Dani and for the most part, she managed it. She wasn’t mean or outright catty to Spencer’s new girlfriend but they would never be described as close friends. This made things easier for Spencer as he had to spend a good deal of time with Darcie as President and Vice President of the school’s PTA. Their previous sexual connection remained a private concern amongst those involved. Namely Spencer and his new squeeze Danielle and Darcie and her husband Tony.

Spencer’s other dalliance before Danielle remained an even tighter enigma known to just the two involved. As word spread of Dani and Spencer's new relationship status, Evelyn Malone made the conscious effort to forget all about Spencer and their one reckless afternoon of misguided passion. The deputy altered the path of her patrols so that she no longer came near Spencer’s side of the town. It might mean that a drunk driver or two managed to make their way home out that way but it also meant that Evelyn didn’t have to see Spencer other than by pure coincidence.

Finally, as Spencer no longer felt any pain in his shoulder from the car accident in Cherryville, there was no need for a certain Goddess and her healing touches either.

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