A home around 15 miles outside of Bath, Somerset.

Serenity R wrote:

a CD of punk bands singing pop songs

[dude. i hate those albums. passionately. sturgeon's rev. so hard.]

[DUDE ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!


THE ONLY REASON I LIKE THEM, TBFH,
IS BECAUSE ALL THE GUYS SINGING SOUND SUPERHOT AND LOOK IT. :3]

[THEY SPEND MORE TIME ON THEIR HAIR THAN THEIR SOUND]

[And the problem with that is....?]

[you can't see them while listening to tracks
it's a waste]

"Jake, honey, I'm home!" Selia called after coming home from Serenity's and checking on the bakery. She had some leftovers that had to be taken off the shelves that he might want to eat.

~

Upstairs, Caroline didn't know her mother was home. The music was too loud, obviously.

Caroline sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Today was one of those days, the day that you just didn't want to do anything. Going outside had tired her out enough, so she just turned her music up louder and lied there, doing absolutely nothing.

~

Selia looked around for Jake. "Hey, I have some bad news.."

Jake lowered his newspaper. "What is it, honey?"

~

Charlotte was reading a book.

Selia lowered her voice- thin walls, and all- so Charlotte and Caroline wouldn't hear. "I think Serenity's going to get a divorce. They had a fight and she's devastated and apparently he didn't love her (I knew he was bad news from the beginning) so now her kids have to deal with that and it's pretty bad."

~

Caroline noticed a fly on the ceiling. What an odd little thing. What would happen if one of its wings was hindered? Could it try to fly or would it immobilize it?

"Seriously?" Jake whispered. "That's horrible..."

"Yeah. But, that's it for the bad news.. We increased our monthly profit by 2% from last month. That's really quite good."

About a half hour later, Rachel went to go visit a good friend of her's (Leaving Nick home to watch the kids), Selia Yashnid. Under her arm, she clutched a recipe book she had sorted, filled with newspaper and magazine clippings of recipes, along with cards she had received over the years. She then rapt on the door.

Selia, feeling especially lonely on one of her days off, opened up the door. "Oh! Rachel, is that you?" She asked, her face lighting up excitedly. "Come in! Come on! Oh my gosh, where's my good china.."

"Oh no, you don't have to bother with all of that!" Rachel said as she stepped into Selia's house, admiring it. "Did you redecorate since the last time I've been here?!"

"We reupholstered all of the furniture with cloth on it, and repainted the living room, yes. How are you?" She led Rachel into the living room, and sat down. The place was impeccably clean now that Caroline and Charlotte were off at Hogwarts. "How are things with you and Nicolas?"

"Oh things are nice," she said, politely taking a seat. "But, I think that man overworks himself. He had a day off today, and he was completely beat, even though it was at two... I worry about him sometimes. What about you and Jake? Does he finally have a job?"

"Oh.. No. He, uh, he's a stay at home dad.. But now the kids are at Hogwarts. He really doesn't need one! I'm perfectly happy with working hard enough for the both of us. But things are just wonderful." Selia said meekly.

"Hmm... that's really nice!" Rachel said nodding, though she secretly believed that it if anyone should be the stay at home parent, it should be the woman, but she wasn't going to preach her Gospel now.

"Anyway, the real reason that I'm here is that I want your garlic bread recipe. I'm making spaghetti tonight, and I thought that sounded good..." she said, laughing a little bit at herself. "Of course, I wanted to chat with you a bit. How's Caroline doing at school? Didn't she start this year?"

"Caroline's doing well, I suppose. She's made some friends, from what she's told me, and stayed out of detention. And I'm afraid you can't have my garlic bread recipe. I'm making a profit off it.. It'd be quite unfair." Selia said, looking very distraught. "I suppose I could give you some fresh."

"Oh..." Rachel frowned slighty. "That'll be fine, I suppose." She began to dig around in a tiny purse she carried. "How much...?"

"Oh, no, I won't charge anything! You're a friend." Selia said, getting up and going into the kitchen to bag some. "It's got instructions for magical reheating on a card in the bag, if you don't know the incantation- I'm sure you do, though." She said, handing over the long, uncut piece of garlic bread.

"Cupcakes.. La, la la.. Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty.. Cupcakes.." Selia was singing to herself, taking some out of the oven.

Things were so calm and peaceful when Caroline and Charlotte were off at Hogwarts. No sister fights (although Selia was quite familiar with most of the arguments, having an older sister herself), no huge meals every night to make.. Just work, Jake, and.. Well, their dog was stressful, but not all the time.
Making so many sweets, you'd think Selia would get quite fat. Indeed, she had put on a bit of weight at the start of the shop. But no longer- she had eaten so many sweets that the thought of eating more than just one made her sick.
"Hey, Jake? We should get a new couch!" She shouted. "In fact, we should remodel our whole living room!"