February 3rd

"Tash, come on," said Adam.

Tasha rolled over onto her back and covered her eyes. The sun was too bright and she didn't know why Adam was disturbing her from a perfect good sleep in the sun. It was his idea to go to the beach, anyway, so he didn't have to end it.

"What time is it?" asked Tasha.

"Time to go," replied Adam, "if we are going to get back in time to pick up Braedon."

"I don't want to go. It is so nice."

"I know, but Braedon will wonder where I am if I am late."

"Okay, okay, let's go."

With that decided, Adam and Tasha collected their things and headed back to the car. They had had a good day at the beach today.

Except for one incident.

Adam knew that Tasha loved to have a relaxing day at the beach and if she happened to fall asleep, that was okay. But clearly he decided to have some fun with that today. While she was asleep, Adam went and found himself something special to scare his girlfriend.

A real live crab.

It was real.

Tasha hated it.

As soon as she felt something on her back, Tasha woke up and screaming before running at full pelt down the beach so she could be away from the crab. Tasha liked the beach as much as the next person, but crabs were scary. They were like the spiders of the beach and Tasha hated being around them. They were so scary.

But, other than that incident, the day at the beach was a good one and Tasha was feeling a lot calmer and relaxed after the morning's discussions.

...

Adam pulled into the car park at the front of the primary school and waited to hear the bell to dismiss everyone. Tasha wiped her still wet hair from her face. She was still wishing that she and Adam were at the beach. She had such a good time and now she was going to be going back more often.

Before long, the bell for the end of the day rang and Braedon could easily be seen running towards the playground, intent on having a good time. He must have thought that Adam would be late or something. Adam wasn't really sure why this was happening, he said, and he had to actually get out of the car and get Braedon to come over.

And, after what seemed to be a little fight, Adam managed to stop Braedon from playing and come to the car. Braedon sat in the back seat and started going through the beach stuff.

"Did you go to the beach?" he asked.

"We did," replied Tasha.

"Why?"

"Because we wanted to."

"Oh."

"How was school today?" asked Tasha, "what did you do?"

Braedon listed off everything he did during the day.

"Sounds interesting."

"It was boring."

"Why?"

"I don't like maths."

"It's not that bad."

"Everyone says it is going to get harder."

"Well, everyone is right."

"Oh," Braedon whined.

"But it's not too bad. You're not thrown into the deep end or anything," replied Tasha.

When that conversation was over, Adam pulled out of the car park and drove everyone home. Tasha was glad that Braedon's bad mood had lifted and now she just had to wait and see with Stan.

...

Isabella felt like she could not get Nicole to stop visiting Destiny. Isabella knew that Nicole loved Destiny and she was excited for the birth of the foal, but seriously? Nicole did have her own horses that would have loved for her to spend some time with them.

But Isabella knew how Nicole felt.

Both girls were excited for Destiny to have her foal and for Storm to become a father.

Isabella was especially excited for Storm to become a father.

Nicole and Isabella had planted themselves on the fence and they were happily watching the horses. Isabella liked that Storm had become a little more protective of Destiny lately. Isabella knew it was because he had fathered her foal and they were now mates.

Nicole said that she couldn't stop thinking of the foal. She kept saying how excited she was to see it and what colour it was. The girls hoped that the foal would be as beautiful as it's mother. They couldn't wait to see.

Mrs Doyle disturbed the girls from their thoughts, coming out to tell them that she had made some brownies. The girls were hungry and they took the zip lock back from Mrs Doyle when she handed it to them. The brownies smelt fresh and chocolatey; exactly what they wanted right now.

"What do you think the foal is going to be?" asked Isabella as she looked at Destiny, "a colt or a filly?"

"A filly," replied Nicole, "what do you think?"

"I was kind of hoping for a colt. Kind of like, I don't know, a little son for Storm."

"Do you think Storm would rather have a son or a daughter?"

"A son."

"Why?"

"Because he'd like to see a mini version of himself."

"You think?"

Isabella nodded, "wouldn't it be great for Storm to be the father of a colt?" she asked.

"I think a filly," replied Nicole, "it will be cuter."

"A colt will be adorable," said Isabella.

Nicole laughed, "I think this is going to be something we are going to disagree on until the foal is actually born."

Isabella nodded in agreement, "definitely," she said.

Isabella smiled and then she and Nicole started talking animatedly about university and how excited they were to start going. Isabella was so excited to study something she actually wanted to study, and it would be fun to learn at such a prestigious university. And when she thought about it, Isabella could really see herself going far as a riding instructor and she was so excited. It would be such reward working and she would love spreading her love of horses to many generations.

"The only bad part about going to uni is I won't get to see you guys all the time," said Isabella, knowing that she was going to miss her friends while she was gone.

"You will get to come back on the weekends," replied Nicole.

"But we will all be studying."

"Yeah, but we will be able to make time to see each other. And don't forget, I will be coming over to see Destiny as much as I can."

"I know that, but what about Tasha and Adam? I can tell they aren't really interested in the fact that Destiny is in foal."

"Yeah," said Nicole, "but that's okay, and I was thinking that maybe, even though they don't seem interested now, they might want to actually see the birth."

"I'm not really sure it would be a good idea them watching the birth," replied Isabella.

"Really? Why not?"

"Do you think that they have ever seen a foal being born before? I can just imagine them squealing at the sight of it."

"Maybe, but have you ever seen a foal being born?"

"No, but I have seen a calf being born when I was on the farm. It's pretty gruesome. I don't think Tasha would be able to handle it."

"Well, yeah, I suppose."

"It might be too early," said Isabella, "but should we start planning for the birth?"

"We should probably start talking about it, but we do have ten months to plan," replied Nicole.

"Yeah, you are right. This is the most exciting news we have had in such a long time."

"I know."

"The shelter is coming on nicely," said Nicole, pointing to the shelter that Mr Doyle had been spending his days working on.

"I know," replied Isabella, "Destiny and the foal are going to love it."

"What about Storm?" asked Nicole, "he seems to have made himself comfortable."

The girls looked at the shelter with no roof and smiled when they saw Storm poking around. Storm lowered his head and sniffed the wood. The girls laughed when Storm quickly retracted his head because he got pricked by a splinter. It didn't look like he got a splinter in his nose because he didn't seem bothered by it. And then it wasn't long before Destiny and Lightning, who was in the paddock while Nicole was spending time with her friend, came over to see what was so interesting.

Then, all three horses were soon in the shelter.

"We should probably get them out," said Isabella, "it is not safe in there for them."

Nicole nodded in agreement, even though she was still laughing at the amusing horses.

"Yeah," said Nicole, "I should probably get home as well. Dad is probably wondering why I spent longer here than I told him."

The girls then hopped off the fence and Nicole went to get Lightning's tack that was perched neatly on the fence. It wasn't hard to get the horses out, either. The three of them came over to the girls, wondering why they had invaded their paddock. And as soon as the horses were out, Isabella shut the door that was attached to the shelter so the horses wouldn't be able to get in again. It wasn't the best door ever, but Isabella knew that it would deter the horses from trying to get in again.

Isabella looked at Nicole as she was saddling Lightning, "do you want to tell me about your date with Riley? I heard about his, well, reputation. Do you mind me asking about it?"

"No, not at all. If you really want to know, I will tell you because you are my best friend," replied Nicole.

Isabella nodded her head in anticipation. She was keen to hear about this date because it sounded like it went really well, despite the fact that Nicole had found out that Riley was a player.

"It was a shock when he told me, I won't lie," said Nicole as she put Lightning's bridle on, "but he did tell me that he has changed."

"So, do you like him?" asked Isabella.

"I do, and he kissed me."

"You kissed? Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Was it hot?"

"It was just a first kiss, Isabella."

"Okay, so, do you think there will be more in your future?" asked Isabella.

"I think so," replied Nicole.

Isabella was so happy for Nicole.

She really was.

But, she couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Now her two best friends had boyfriends and, even though it was selfish to think like this, she felt left out. Isabella now found herself wishing that she had a boyfriend, but she knew that it was wrong of her to think this way.

But she couldn't stop feeling left out now.

She kind of felt like a third wheel and she didn't want to feel like this.

But Isabella didn't know how to fix it.

Isabella would have talked to Mr and Mrs Doyle about this, but she knew what they would say and she could just see them saying it. They would have told her not to worry and the right boy would come along in time.

Isabella didn't like that.

She needed to stop thinking of this.

"Well," said Isabella, needing a distraction, "it was nice of you to come over."

"Yeah, thank you. I will talk to you soon," replied Nicole.

"Okay, see you later."

"Bye."

With that over, Isabella headed back inside, knowing that she needed to stop thinking jealous thoughts.

She needed to spend time with Storm.

That would fix everything.

...

Tasha didn't feel like leaving Adam's house that afternoon. She just wanted to be back at the beach with Adam. She never thought that she would have had that much fun at the beach because she came home with all this sand in her hair. It was actually very fun and that felt good.

Tasha didn't want to go home because she didn't want to see Amy and Mr Wilson wrapped up in each other and acting all lovey dovey because they were married now. Tasha knew that they were only newly married and they were so in love, but she didn't really want to see them doing all that stuff.

"I can go in with you if you want," said Adam as he pulled up his car in front of Tasha's house.

"Yes, please," replied Tasha, "can I hide behind you?"

Adam laughed, "don't worry, Tash. They live in a house full of people and yeah, they might like a bit of PDA, but they also have to respect the others."

"Well, yeah, I guess."

"Come on. Let's go."

With that, Adam and Tasha got out of the car and walked hand in hand inside. Tasha opened the front door and she was happy to see that her sister and brother-in-law were not on the couch. Tasha smiled at Adam and they walked into the kitchen, wondering if anyone was in there.

No one was.

"Where are your parents?" asked Adam.

"Around," replied Tasha, "maybe in the study, working."

"Cool."

"Can you stay for a little while?"

"Yeah, I can," said Adam, "I'll text Stan and tell him I'll be a little later."

"Great."

Tasha had never been so in love with her boyfriend and spending the day with him at the beach just confirmed that she loved him so much and she wanted to be with him. Tasha now knew that they really did have a future together because their relationship was so strong and they had told one another that they loved each other. If felt so good that they were that committed to each other.

"Stan's cool with it," said Adam, looking at his phone, "he just wants to know what's for tea."

"He can't organize something himself?" replied Tasha.

"I think it's his subtle way of telling me he wants me to bring pizza home."

"That's not fair."

"Maybe not, but then again, now I do kind of feel like pizza."

Tasha laughed, "you're impossible."

Adam pulled Tasha into his arms and kissed her on the head, "that's why you love me."

"Sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

Tasha laughed, "yes."

"Very funny."

"I know. I crack myself up."

"I can see that."

Now that she had a smile on her face, Tasha knew that this year was going to turn into a good one. She still had her best friends, her strong relationship with Adam and she was going to study something at university that she was actually passionate about, and something she could see herself doing in the future. It felt so good right now and Tasha was looking forward to everything.