"It's lovely," Avery whispered. "The rent must be high."
"The mortgage is," Hunter replied. "The original motel owners went broke and a developer bought the whole complex, added the extras such as a laundry and back yard to each unit and on-sold them in individual titles. I bought this unit, fully furnished, four years ago. I guess that's why it still has that motel unit look." He walked across, opened a door where Avery could see a double bed in a somewhat messy bedroom and grinned. "That's why there's a double bed and another single one next to it. They're part of the original motel furnishings. I haven't even changed the curtains."
"That's even better than renting," Avery said.
"Sure is. The value has more than doubled in the four years since I bought it." He nodded at the other door. "The bathroom if you'd like to freshen up. Sorry if it's untidy. I wasn't expecting your company." He flushed. "Hell, Avery. I'm not very good at entertaining beautiful ladies in a bachelor's pad."
"Thank goodness," Avery replied. "If the place was reeking of stale perfume and had pantyhose dangling across the table, I would have made a hasty retreat."
"But now?" Hunter asked.
"I'm here, aren't I?" Avery said and stepped into his arms.
*
Strangely, Hunter appeared more nervous than she felt when they climbed into bed, both in their underwear. The kissing and fondling became urgent love making with remaining clothes and blankets disappearing in the urgent expression of their perhaps pent up emotions. For the first time in her life, it was love and not just male lust that consumed her as she forgot about everything except the exhilaration of being a woman with a man she loved.
She awoke and saw the small bedside clock showing that it was well after midnight and Hunter was snoring softly beside her. She lay there thinking about everything before she felt a hand around her.
"Are you awake," he whispered.
"I am," she replied and it all happened again, with passions coming to the fore as they made almost violent love before she slapped his arm and sat up.
"I'd better go."
"Why? Stay for breakfast and I'll get you home afterwards."
Avery grinned in the dull reflected light from an outside streetlight. "I must say that you're the limit."
But she did stay and in the morning they had sex yet again, before she had a shower, dressed in yesterday's clothes and walked out to the smell of toast and coffee.
"I need to go home, change and get my car." She glanced at her watch. "It's after seven, we'd better hurry."
"So what if you get to school at eight thirty instead of quarter to eight?"
Avery smiled. "Yeah, I know that's when you usually drive in." She laughed. "You've still got those essays to mark before Friday."
"Damn," Hunter muttered. "I forgot about them."
*
When Avery walked into her home she was greeted by her stern faced mother.
"So you finally decided to come home," Natalie whispered. "My God, Avery where were you?"
Avery was taken back. "I went to Hunter's place," she whispered and lifted her eyes. "Yes, we went to bed together and had sex. Does that answer everything?"
"You hardly know the boy and..."
"Boy! Oh don't be naive, Mum," Her voice rose. "He's no more a boy than I am a teenage girl. We are adults, men and woman and for the first time in my life I enjoyed having a loving man inside me."
"Oh don't be crude, Avery."
Avery dropped her voice to a whisper. "I'm twenty-two Mum and perfectly capable of making my own decisions on these matters. If you bothered to get to know Hunter you'd find that he is a kind, gentle man who is a popular teacher at our school."
"Who expects and gets sex after only a couple of dates."
Avery glowered. "Skip the lecture, Mum. I know you are trying to protect me as you have done for years but we have to move forward in our lives. If you don't like what I did, I'm sorry but I am not about to become a frustrated old maid who depends on my teaching for security and comfort." She grimaced. "We've got a dozen or more of those on the staff. On the whole, they're lovely people who are as old as you but they have nothing to look forward to in their lives so cling to the past."
Natalie's angry expression changed to one of hurt. "So that's how you see me, is it?"
Avery also calmed down a little. "I don't actually but I do think you are leaning on me too much for your companionship and that is part of the reason you don't like Hunter. I love you Mum and just because I have met Hunter and chose to have sex with him, doesn't mean that I am about to abandon you."
Natalie swallowed and appeared to be incapable of saying any more on the topic. "Your breakfast is on the table. It's probably cold so you may need to heat it in the microwave."
Avery gulped, stepped forward and gave her mother a hug. "Thanks Mum," she whispered before she walked across to the table. She ate her second breakfast that morning for she did not have the heart to tell her mother she had already had one.
"Better hurry," Natalie said. "It's after eight and I have to get to work. You'll need to lock up when you leave."
"Sure Mum, see you tonight."
After her mother left, Avery ate the last piece of the egg on toast, sipped her second coffee for the day and sighed. Perhaps, just perhaps, this confrontation was necessary and would in the long run help to clear the air. She hoped so, anyway.
*
Because of the build up of traffic, Natalie took longer than usual to reach Noble & Frances Lawyers in the suburb of Takapuna about ten kilometres south of Albany. She was the junior partner with Max Noble. After Thomas Bowan retired she had bought into Bowan & Noble. When he died, his widow had sold the family's final shares in the company and the name was changed to include her own. It was a successful but relatively small firm that catered for a niche market concentrating on young families with property sales and setting up trusts. Old Thomas had avoided trying to expand into the criminal law area so had avoided a crash that had led to a couple of larger law firms becoming bankrupt a few years earlier.
The profits were low but the hours suited Natalie without the emotional stress of court work. Max and herself did a good job at a reasonable price and worked well with clients provided mainly by several real estate companies and banks. In this fast developing area of the city, there was always work to do.
She had just begun work in her office when Max walked in. "Your daughter Avery teaches at Joseph Ward Junior High, doesn't she?"
"That's right. She's a first year teacher there."
"And how's she getting on after that stabbing?"
"Improving. She still has nightmares but they aren't so bad now."
"We have a new case involving the school, if you're interested."
Natalie frowned. "What's wrong?"
Max laughed. "Nothing. It's the opposite actually. The new principal there has shaken the place up and enrolments for next year will begin in a couple of months."
"So how does it involve us?"
Max rolled a map of Auckland out on Natalie's desk. "This shows all the school zones in the area.
"So what's the problem?"
Max grabbed a swivel chair and sat down behind her desk. "Can I?" he asked.
Natalie nodded and watched as Max brought up a map on her computer that was similar to the paper one he'd rolled out. He scrolled around for a minute before zooming in a cul-de-sac where the boundaries touched.
"Here it is. Mudgeway Crescent. What do you notice?"
Natalie peered at the map. The crescent came off to a Stillwater Drive and circled back to the same road. However the boundary cut it off from Stillwater Drive, thus placing it in the Westview Intermediate zone.
"So why is it a problem?"
"The residents in Mudgeway Crescent want their street rezoned to go into the junior high. Since the new principal arrived, it has become the 'in' school whereas before the intermediate was the more popular choice. We have been approached to represent them in a case to hav
e the zone changed. It involves six families and about fifteen kids over the next three years.
"This is different from our normal work, Max," she said.
"True, that's why I said I'd get back to them. The hearing is only a month away so there is not a great deal of time. Would you be interested in doing it?"
"Yes, but I'll need to transfer some of the house conveyances back to you."
"Fair enough." Max smiled at her and left her office.
Natalie just sat gazing at the empty door. Max was a nice guy about five years older than her who had indicated on several occasions that he was interested in being more than a business partner. Two years ago he had been though an acrimonious divorce but now his children were over eighteen, the fight over their custody became superfluous. As far as she knew, one daughter stayed with his wife and a son attended university down in Otago.
Up until now she had brushed aside all his advances but now... She sighed. Avery was right in saying that they should both move forward. Her stabbing had given them both a fright and Max had been so helpful during the emergency.
She gulped, stood and walked across the corridor to Max's office. He glanced up to where she stood in the doorway. "Second thoughts?" he asked.
"Not about that zoning job." Natalie hesitated. 'That other offer, though..."
"What one?"
"You asked if I'd like to go with you to that live orchestral concert over in Auckland next weekend and I said I was busy. I'm not now but I guess you already have someone else to go with."
Max grinned. "No. I was going to resell the tickets. So you'd like to go?
"I would if the offer is still open."
"Wonderful. How about a meal before the performance?"
"That sounds lovely," Natalie felt her cheeks burn but Max did not appear to have noticed.
"I'll make a booking. That's on Saturday. Okay?"
Natalie nodded and made a hasty retreat back to her office, hoping that she had not acted too impulsively. But at forty-five she still felt young but time waited for nobody. It was true that she not even given herself a chance to get to know Hunter.
She grabbed her mobile and sent a text to Avery. 'Sorry Sweetheart, you were right about everything. Why don't you ask Hunter over for a meal tomorrow night so I can get to know him? Love Mum.'
*
Avery enjoyed the fortnightly Tuesday general staff meetings in preference to the Shearwater Syndicate meetings that Felicja Kraczko held on the alternate week. Felicja was inclined to ramble on a little and became distracted by minor items that staff brought up whereas Karla was precise in her announcements and made a point of always finishing before four-thirty with a little quote or inspirational message that made her feel that she was speaking directly to herself and not the other teachers in the staffroom.
Today though, Karla appeared quite stern as she gazed around the crowded room. "I have one final announcement to make, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am sure it will be a great disappointment to the participants who miss out but as in all situations such as this there must be one winner."
Avery stared around at Hunter who sat beside her but he just shrugged. Karla had stopped talking and a strange silence of anticipation fell across the room.
"It is four twenty-nine by my watch," Karla continued. "The teacher closest to picking that time and date will be the winner of the Yes, the boss is going to announce her pregnancy lottery." She smiled. "Yes, I am pregnant with my baby due some time in November."
For five seconds the room remained silent as Avery and everyone else in the room absorbed the news. Someone began clapping and soon the whole staffroom broke in thunderous applause.
"How did you know about the lottery, Karla?" someone yelled out after things quietened down.
Karla glanced up. "I am principal. It is my duty to know everything that is going on at Joseph Ward Junior High School, is it not?"
Everyone laughed and spontaneous clapping and cheering erupted again.
"I think I won!" an excited teacher across the room that Avery barely knew, called out. "I said four-twenty-seven at today's staff meeting. Can anyone beat that?"
Nobody could so she was declared the winner of close to a thousand dollars by the organiser. Avery felt her hand being squeezed and smiled at Hunter. She felt so proud to be part of everything around her and to have this tall guy beside her. It also appeared that Mum was coming around for she was almost gushy last Thursday when Hunter came around to meet her. Without even caring that the room was filled with her colleagues she turned, grabbed him in a tight embrace and kissed him firmly on the lips.
*
CHAPTER 8
Karla found the weeks had flown by with a much-earned holiday come and gone and the second term into its third week. It was now early May and well into New Zealand's autumn season. She had already noticed a difference from the Deep South where she had been the year before. Compared with the crisp frosts already starting down there, Auckland continued with moderate morning temperatures but with numerous wet days and a climate perhaps similar to San Francisco in California.
Apart from a mild bout of morning sickness that had now subsided, her pregnancy had gone well and three year old Alexis had, if anything become even more chatty and was thriving at her pre-school. Ryan's firm Spider's Revenge was thriving with several hours a week spent working with the police. He hadn't said a lot about his work with them except that it was going well. He had also picked up several local contracts with North Shore business firms so was quite busy.
One of the minor problems that had swollen well out of proportion was the adjustment of the school's zone. Ministry of Education requirements stated that any adjustments for the following year's zones had to be in place by the end of May for in June, applications for student places for the following year began.
Karla glanced at her watch. She was due to meet Natalie Francis about the latest developments at ten o'clock in five minutes time and she was now right across the other side of the school in the Manual Arts Block where the students in Gannet Syndicate three Year 10 classes, both girls and boys had designed and created a wide range of furniture including bookshelves, tables, television and computer tables. 10GP, the class she was now visiting had put in a tremendous effort involving math and design to make up the plans before the hard material teachers guided the students in the actual construction of their products.
She had originally intended to stay for only half an hour but the students were so keen to talk about their efforts that included displaying their plans as well as the final products, she ended up talking to and complementing every student on their work, hence her reason for running late. She called the office on her mobile and told Vivian to apologise to Natalie for she would be a few moments late and to offer her a coffee.
"Done that," Vivian replied haughty. "She's in your office waiting."
"Well give her a magazine to read," Karla retorted. Sometimes the school's executive manager could become bossy and the rumours that she practically ran the school and the previous principal was merely a figurehead were probably not far from the truth.
She had one more item to inspect, a beautifully designed computer desk and was not about to rush out without talking to the pair of girls who had designed and produced it. She discretely looked up the girls' names on her mobile and walked across to them.
"Hello Aja and Lalu," she said to the two girls of Indian descent. "What a wonderful computer desk and I see there is a working computer on it." She examined it as if she had all the time in the world and ignored the end of period bell that rang. The class were having a double period of manual arts so also ignored it. "So where are all the wires down the back for the computer?"
"We designed special little tunnels to hide them," Aja said.
"See," Lalu added and unclipped a semicircular cylinder stretching across the underside of the desk top at the back. "It hinges down so it is easy to clip the cords in." Both girls were so enthusiastic in explaining their innova
tions that Karla didn't have the heart to say she had to leave for an appointment in her office.
It was ten fifteen before she finally made her way to her office. She ignored Vivian's gaze and walked in to find Natalie looking quite relaxed and reading a document on an iPad.
"Sorry, I'm late," Karla said. "I've been looking at some wonderful efforts over in the manual block and every student wanted to talk to me."
Natalie glanced up and smiled. "Avery told me that when you're in her room, you seem to have all the time in the world to chat to the kids."
Karla nodded. "That's why I'm here, Natalie. It's the students and teachers who are my priority." She sat down across from her visitor. "So what are the latest developments in the Mudgeway Crescent zoning issue?"
"Will you have time to actually come and look?" Natalie asked.
Karla nodded so a few moments later they were heading south in Natalie's car. Karla knew their zone quite well with the west being the northern reaches of the Waitemata Harbour around which Auckland was built and the east being the main northern motorway that headed north from the harbour bridge. To the north, was the edge of the urban area but to the south was a line that twisted and turned through urban streets. As Natalie explained as they drove through the suburban streets, the original zone when Joseph Ward Junior High was first opened really carved up the new zone from four high schools and two intermediates to their east and south. On this southern corner of the zone, the line followed a ridge along what would have been open land. In the intervening five years this was subdivided and was now built on. Both Stillwater Drive and Mudgeway Crescent were new roads created in this subdivision.
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