Page 27 of Little Fury

“All right, everyone done?”Harry asks.

‘Yup” Marcus and I say in unison again.

“Then let’s go.”

“I think I'm going to walk back,”I tell them.“I ate way too much, and I feel like I need to walk some of it off before bed.”

“Seems like a good idea,”Beth says.“Marcus, you walking with Ava or riding with us? Like I even need to ask.”

He rolls his eyes at her.“I’m walking with Ava.”

“Alright, see you kids in the morning. 7 a.m. Come on, Bethy, I’ll give you another ride. “

Beth flushes pink at his words.

“Seriously, old people are so odd.”

We walk in silence listening to the night sounds. The mountains are beautiful any time of day, but I love them best on a night like tonight. Clear sky and a full moon. The moonis so bright tonight that the mountains remind me of a painting I once saw on TV, painted by a guy with crazy hair.

It takes us about 20 minutes to make it back to the house. Harry is still here; we can see him and Beth in the living room talking. Harry says something to her, and Beth looks up at him and bites her bottom lip. Harry drags his thumb along it, forcing her to let it go. I cock my head to the side as I watch them.

“What? “Asks Marcus.

“Oh, nothing; Harry and Beth are talking, is all.” Marcus stomps up the stairs and flings open the door, kicking off his shoes and heading into the living room. He drops onto the couch, grabs the remote and turns the TV on.

“Well, I better go, don’t stay up too late you two or tomorrow is going to hurt.”

I groan at Harry's words and give him my best-annoyed smile, and wave once at him as he heads out the door.

“You ok Beth?"Marcus asks our caregiver.

“Yeah, I’m good hun thanks for asking. ‘Kay kids I’m heading to bed. Don’t stay up too late or you will regret it when 7 a.m. comes early tomorrow morning.”

“I’m tired, Marcus. I'm going to go upstairs, get ready for bed, and read for a bit. Night.”

“Night Ava.”

7am arrives bright and early, but it’s easier than it was last week. I'm kind of looking forward to the workout if I’m being honest with myself. I get dressed quickly, head into the bathroom, wash my face, brush my teeth and use the toilet. I’m downstairs just as Harry enters the house. He gives me a surprised and approving look, seeing me already awake and ready to go. I move to help Beth finish up the pancakes while Harry heads upstairs to wake up Marcus. Sure, I could have woken him up, but this is a lot more fun for me.

“Wake up, buttercup.” Harry happily chirps.

I laugh when I hear a thump and wonder what Marcus threw at our mentor.

“Nice! I needed a new pillow.” Harry says.

I can hear Marcus groan as he gets out of bed. His heavy footfalls make their way to the bathroom.

Harry makes his way back downstairs witha grin on his face, still carrying the pillow Marcus threw at him.“How late were you two up last night?”he asks.

“I went to bed and read briefly as soon as we got home. I have no idea how late he stayed up. I was asleep before he came upstairs.”

Sitting at the island I start to dish out pancakes to myself, I’m just about to take my first bite when Marcus finally makes it to the kitchen.

“Morning,”he mumbles, still not fully awake.

“Morning,”I sing-song to him and I’m rewarded with the most beautiful glare I could have asked for. I laugh at him and go back to eating.

After breakfast, we climb onto the golf cart with Harry and make our way to the gym, where Theo is waiting for us. We do what we now know is our warm-up routine: running on the treadmill for 32 minutes (it increases by a minute every couple of days), followed by an ab workout and some other exercises that Theo picked for us individually.

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