p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was with the fresh, warm breeze drifting in the air that Dan walked, with his friend, down the street, away from Hallow Slough and Pendula View./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They were both very relaxed and were finding it increasingly difficult to stay upright with every step./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Legs wobbling, Phil shaded his eyes from the sun with his hand as a shield, looking out over the river as he and Dan made their way across to the Willow Creek Commercial District, past Magnolia Blossom Park./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He didn't know what time it was, but he guessed it was around mid-day./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He yawned, flexed his fingers – that disappointingly didn't crack because of the hand massage he'd been given – and admired the fact that nobody was around./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dan gazed through the gaps in the buildings to look over the huge lake. He could only just see the end of it where dry land started again, and that, he knew, was Magnolia Promenade./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He remembered that he had written going there with Dab on his ideas list, but he suspected it was too late for that now, seeing as Dab was at the Pancakes' and the Howlter parents would be back in a few days, anyway./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"So much for that idea, then./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"As they stepped past the museum, Dan remembered their trip there a few months ago where they laid underneath the cherry blossom trees./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Their biggest concern back then was about the barrier, but they needn't have worried, as they got home perfectly fine in the end./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dan wasn't sure that he had any concerns this time, and he was glad of that; June was going well so far./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He held onto this thought for a while before remembering something that he'd been meaning to ask Phil about./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Not that there was much to ask about./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"'Coffee on Sunday' was pretty self-explanatory./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dan frowned./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"This was exactly what he worried about every time Summer turned up./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was bound to happen sometime, he supposed, and he should've said something, really, before it did. Too late now, though./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He was going to bring the subject up at that very moment, but as he turned to his left, seeing the calm and imperturbable expression on his friend's face, he couldn't bring himself to spoil it./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Besides, they'd just been to the emspa /emto emunwind/em – he couldn't just stir in some conflict to the mood, or at least not just yet./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"So instead, he made relaxed conversation, talking about how nice the lake looked, how the light shone off the perfectly clear water with a pretty little shimmer./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Being as serene as they both were, it wasn't hard to stand and appreciate a lake for a few minutes before carrying on walking, and even though he had stuff playing on his mind, Dan still stayed placid./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"What he didn't know was that Phil, too, was busy thinking about Sunday. He and Summer had decided that Oasis Springs would be a nice change of scenery, and there was a bar there, too, that served coffee, called the Rattlesnake Juice Bar. Phil vaguely remembered sending Dil and Tabitha there on their honeymoon./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"His main fears consisted of, but were not limited to: running into someone he knew, Eliza and Summer not getting along, Eliza not turning up at all – so he was stuck with Summer – and embarrassing himself terribly./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Even though he wasn't too keen on Summer and he knew Eliza wouldn't judge him, he still wanted to keep his reputation on the good side, and saying something stupid certainly wouldn't help that./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He turned to the side to open his mouth to inform Dan about his plans, but decided against it in the end, not wanting to concern him after such a peaceful morning. Maybe he'd tell him tomorrow – besides, surely he had no clue what was going on anyway: he couldn't have heard him talking to Summer, could he?/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Surely not./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"And anyway, Phil was sure Dan wouldn't mind. After all, it was only coffee./p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Home sweet home," Dan chirruped, swinging open the front door to the Howlter home./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The house was humid and the heat rushed out of the doorframe, wrapping him in a blanket of stifling warmth./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was certainly… moist./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dan winced as his mind stumbled across the word 'moist' and decided not to comment on the temperature of the house, nor the humidity, for that matter./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He stepped inside, ushered Phil through, too, and locked the door behind them both./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Phil always seemed to change as soon as they were inside the house – always making sure everything was clean all the time (and that emwas,/em truly, emall the time/em) and never really sitting down to relax – but today, Dan thought he seemed perfectly fine./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The spa must have done him good./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dan supposed that discussing Summer would have to wait, even if in his mind, the matter was in dire need of taking care of. In the meantime, he decided that he'd just have to make the most of the whole day without a child to take care of./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Which meant food and TV./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They were both very relaxed and were finding it increasingly difficult to stay upright with every step./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Legs wobbling, Phil shaded his eyes from the sun with his hand as a shield, looking out over the river as he and Dan made their way across to the Willow Creek Commercial District, past Magnolia Blossom Park./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He didn't know what time it was, but he guessed it was around mid-day./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He yawned, flexed his fingers – that disappointingly didn't crack because of the hand massage he'd been given – and admired the fact that nobody was around./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dan gazed through the gaps in the buildings to look over the huge lake. He could only just see the end of it where dry land started again, and that, he knew, was Magnolia Promenade./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He remembered that he had written going there with Dab on his ideas list, but he suspected it was too late for that now, seeing as Dab was at the Pancakes' and the Howlter parents would be back in a few days, anyway./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"So much for that idea, then./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"As they stepped past the museum, Dan remembered their trip there a few months ago where they laid underneath the cherry blossom trees./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Their biggest concern back then was about the barrier, but they needn't have worried, as they got home perfectly fine in the end./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dan wasn't sure that he had any concerns this time, and he was glad of that; June was going well so far./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He held onto this thought for a while before remembering something that he'd been meaning to ask Phil about./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Not that there was much to ask about./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"'Coffee on Sunday' was pretty self-explanatory./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dan frowned./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"This was exactly what he worried about every time Summer turned up./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was bound to happen sometime, he supposed, and he should've said something, really, before it did. Too late now, though./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He was going to bring the subject up at that very moment, but as he turned to his left, seeing the calm and imperturbable expression on his friend's face, he couldn't bring himself to spoil it./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Besides, they'd just been to the emspa /emto emunwind/em – he couldn't just stir in some conflict to the mood, or at least not just yet./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"So instead, he made relaxed conversation, talking about how nice the lake looked, how the light shone off the perfectly clear water with a pretty little shimmer./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Being as serene as they both were, it wasn't hard to stand and appreciate a lake for a few minutes before carrying on walking, and even though he had stuff playing on his mind, Dan still stayed placid./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"What he didn't know was that Phil, too, was busy thinking about Sunday. He and Summer had decided that Oasis Springs would be a nice change of scenery, and there was a bar there, too, that served coffee, called the Rattlesnake Juice Bar. Phil vaguely remembered sending Dil and Tabitha there on their honeymoon./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"His main fears consisted of, but were not limited to: running into someone he knew, Eliza and Summer not getting along, Eliza not turning up at all – so he was stuck with Summer – and embarrassing himself terribly./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Even though he wasn't too keen on Summer and he knew Eliza wouldn't judge him, he still wanted to keep his reputation on the good side, and saying something stupid certainly wouldn't help that./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He turned to the side to open his mouth to inform Dan about his plans, but decided against it in the end, not wanting to concern him after such a peaceful morning. Maybe he'd tell him tomorrow – besides, surely he had no clue what was going on anyway: he couldn't have heard him talking to Summer, could he?/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Surely not./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"And anyway, Phil was sure Dan wouldn't mind. After all, it was only coffee./p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Home sweet home," Dan chirruped, swinging open the front door to the Howlter home./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The house was humid and the heat rushed out of the doorframe, wrapping him in a blanket of stifling warmth./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was certainly… moist./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dan winced as his mind stumbled across the word 'moist' and decided not to comment on the temperature of the house, nor the humidity, for that matter./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He stepped inside, ushered Phil through, too, and locked the door behind them both./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Phil always seemed to change as soon as they were inside the house – always making sure everything was clean all the time (and that emwas,/em truly, emall the time/em) and never really sitting down to relax – but today, Dan thought he seemed perfectly fine./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The spa must have done him good./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dan supposed that discussing Summer would have to wait, even if in his mind, the matter was in dire need of taking care of. In the meantime, he decided that he'd just have to make the most of the whole day without a child to take care of./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Which meant food and TV./p