Avery's last morning in Avonwick.

Spencer was up before the sun the following morning. With winter fast approaching the nights were getting longer and the sun wasn’t rising until much later in the morning. It wouldn’t be fully up and getting bright until he was on his way to drop Amy off at school.

Making a start on breakfast, Spencer though he should make the effort to cook a hot breakfast seeing as he had Avery staying the night as a guest. He found some muffins in the cupboard that were only a little stale and put them in the oven at a low heat to freshen them back up and not burn them also. He loaded the drip coffee maker with a fresh filter and grounds, starting that brewing before adding a good number of rashes of bacon to a frying pan.

As the bacon came up to temperature in the pan Spencer made his way to Amy’s room to make sure she was waking up for school. Opening her door slightly he called out to his sleeping daughter letting her know that breakfast would be on the table soon and that she should get up.

Spencer was just flipping the eggs he’d added to the pan when Amy made her way into the kitchen dressed for school in the Carter Junior H.S. uniform. She dumped her school bag onto a chair at the kitchen table before coming to the island bench to wait for her Dad to dish up.

Spencer and Amy ate their breakfast while Spencer sipped a coffee from the insulated travel mug he would take on the drive to school with him. They were just finishing up when Avery came into their dining area looking only slightly disheveled but radiant still in a long silk robe.

“Good morning everyone,” the blonde woman said in greeting.

“Good morning. How did you sleep?” Spencer asked her.

“You know I never would have thought that I would find silence so hard to get to sleep in,” Avery mused.

“It can take some getting used to alright,” Spencer agreed.

“Guess I needed to be lulled to sleep by police sirens or some gunshots.” Spencer and Amy laughed at her. “But once I got to sleep, boy, was I out! Guess that’s why I slept in so long. Sorry.”

“No problem at all. You’re our guest, you can sleep as long as you like. We’re just about to take off for a little while, I’ve got to take Amy to school but I’ll be straight back. What time is you flight?”

“It’s 1:30 this afternoon.”

“Great. I can take you into town before you go. Anyway, there’s bacon and eggs in the oven and coffee in the pot,” Spencer told her.

“Smells wonderful. That must have been what woke me in the end,” Avery smiled at him. “It was lovely to meet you again Amy,” she added as they rose to go.

“You too. I’m so excited for my pony. Thank you again,” Amy told her before they said their goodbyes to one another. Avery would be gone by the time she got home that evening.

At the school Spencer was just giving Amy her school bag from the rear seats of the car and wishing her a goodbye when Loren Chapman approached him. She’d been making her way along the line of car’s handing out a small flyer containing a notice for the school’s Parent-Teacher Association.

“Good morning Spencer,” she called out as she came up to his car just as Amy ran off into the school building.

“Good morning Loren,” he answered back. “What have you got there?”

“Oh, just a notice for the next Parent-Teacher meeting, not that you ever come,” Loren laughed at what she thought was her own very funny joke. “Were holding a vote for the office holders for the next year.”

Loren was the association President and had run unopposed the last three years. She’d probably be voted straight back in again. She wrestled the Presidency away from Karen McAdams four years back, defeating her again the year afterwards and never been challenged since. Spencer knew from Darcie that Loren liked to run the Parent-Teacher association as her own personal fiefdom.

“Thanks,” Spencer said taking a flyer and tucking it into his sweater pocket, “I’ll keep it in mind depending on what I’m doing that night.” It was Spencer's go to excuse for things he didn’t want to attend. None of the ladies in town really knew too much about the amount of work Spencer still kept up in his retirement. It wasn’t a whole bunch, just some freelancing here and there but he could always fib and say he more on that he really did. Without a boss to answer to nowadays, who was to know?

Back at home Spencer couldn’t see Avery but could hear the sound of running water coming from upstairs. The noise from a shower was very clear in the common central room of his house. Spencer thought to himself it shouldn’t be that loud with the door closed and he guessed Avery must have left the door open. Thinking further was it another invite to come and join her just like she’d said she’d leave the door to her room open all night? An image of Avery naked model-like body standing in his shower, the water cascading down her slicked hair and over her lean fit frame. It was an invigorating idea Spencer couldn’t lie but still he remained downstairs, instead helping himself to another mug of coffee. Perhaps that would calm him down after picturing his former work college au naturel.

He was just swirling the dark sediments and undissolved sugar granules at the bottom of his cup when Avery came back downstairs, dressed in an all-black Under Armour jogging ensemble, the dark colour showing off the lightness of her hair. Not returning to the office today, Avery had fitted herself out for comfort, not wanting to feel constrained on her plane ride back to D.C.

“Ah Spencer! That shower of yours is amazing upstairs. I could have stayed in there for hours. I hope the one in your room is just as good,” Avery raved before helping herself to another cup of coffee too.

“Much the same. I had identical shower heads fitted all through the house. You can’t beat a rain shower,” Spencer told her, happy to get talking about the details that went into his renovation.

“Great thinking,” Avery agreed, “so what did you want to do with me while you’ve still got me?”

Taking in her sporty attire, “how about I give you a quick tour of the rest of the property and then we get something to eat in town before your flight.”

“Sounds great!”

Spencer led Avery through a quick lap of his small section of country pointing out features such as the location the barn was to be built. Most of the actual farming land had been sold off long ago separately but Spencer’s property still retained the old farm house, the huge lake and the woods running all the way back to the Carter Trail and Mountains. Working up an appetite the two of them decided to call into the Corner Coffee House on their way through town. The coffee shop having a nice selection of things to eat for lunch in addition to their wide variety of cakes and deserts.