Swell (Complete)

Chapter Two (Part Two)

"So keep your mind open,
But always keep your mouth shut."

....

Adora waved as Iain pulled out of the driveway and turned down the long dirt road, adjusting the strap of her backpack on her shoulder she turned and went into the front foyer of the old fashioned farmhouse.
"Mum? I'm home!" She called out loudly. The sound of thick claws on tiles skittered through the house and Adora smiled as she put her bag down and saw Edgar running excitedly towards her. The chocolate Labrador's tongue hung from his mouth as he bounced towards her. "Edgar!" She held her arms out and knelt down to receive his excited greeting and laughed as she tried to avoid his tongue. A few rough face rubs later and she stood up again, Edgar bounced around her legs as she took her bag on one shoulder again and moved around through the front foyer into the common room.
"Mum?" She called again as she saw the room empty.
"In the kitchen, Adora." Her mother's voice called out.
Edgar trotted towards the voice and Adora put her backpack down on the striped couch before following the dog into the kitchen.
Anne Dodgers was unloading the dishwasher as Adora entered and sat down on a bar stool on the opposite side of the bench island.
"I thought we were rearranging the common room when I got home?" Adora smiled as Anne looked up from the other side of the bench, using her thumb to gesture to the common room behind her.
"Dodge came over during lunch and helped with that." Anne smiled back. "He filled me in on the newbies, and told me you were playing tour guide. How did it go?" The blonde woman closed the dishwasher and leaned on the bench across from her daughter. The two females looked almost nothing alike, except for their plump-lipped smile.
"Erm, well, there's three of them, twin boys in year 12, and a girl in my year. They seem nice enough. Very..." She frowned as she thought about how to describe the Taylor teens. "Pretty." Adora laughed a little at the idea of calling boys pretty.
"Dodge said that their parent's bought the Jones' bakery; apparently their mother is a cake decorator and their father the baker. Sounds like a good team, should be interesting to see how they fit into town. I'll have to go introduce myself to them tomorrow, see if they're still interested in doing our catering." Anne moved to the fridge and looked over her shoulder as she held up a bottle of water. Adora nodded.
"Yes please." She took the bottle from her mother's hand and twisted the lid open. "I don't see why they would change much, I mean the Jones' only sold because Mr Jones got so sick. It's not like the bakery was going out of business. And Marti told me her mother used to work in an office... So maybe it's more Mr Taylor's thing..."
"Hmmm, well you never know, maybe she was an avid at home decorator?" Anne smiled after she took a sip of water. "I need to go over this weekend's guest list and make the final arrangements in the cabins, do you think you could check the main rooms and just give them a going over before Friday?"
"Yea, no worries. Just leave a list if there's anything else that needs to be done. Is anyone booked in for during the week?"
"Yea, one man on his way through to W.A, just for the night on Wednesday." Anne answered.
"Easy." Adora twisted the lid on her bottle closed and got off the stool. "I'm going to go upstairs, I'll be in the study. I think the boys will be wanting some catch up sessions on Psych and I want to go over the notes so far to make sure I am actually helpful." She explained as she walked over to her mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Anne wasn't much taller than her daughter, so there was barely any space between their faces for her to close. "Alright hun, I'll yell out when dinner's ready."
"Thanks." Adora went through the common room, picked up her bag and rubbed Edgar's head before she moved around the front desk and opened the door behind it. Beyond the door there was a small office area before a set of carpeted stairs that led up to the floor Adora and her mother lived on.
Edgar's Escape was a property that Adora's parents had dreamt up together. Anne and Josh Dodgers had met at a folk festival, Josh was a guitarist for one of the bands and Anne had been selling crafts and books.
The two of them had lived in the city for a few years as they worked and saved up enough money to buy the property in Josh's hometown of Wheeler Falls. The old farmhouse had been renovated before they started to build the small accommodation cottages around the property. It was on the outskirts of town, a concealed driveway off the Ocean Highway.
Adora had grown up on the property, in this town, and she knew nothing else.
She remembered running through the trees with her cousins, testing out new rope courses beyond the cottages and even helping her parents line the dirt paths with native plants. The five cottages were connected by a dirt track that weaved through the trees, and all of them had different themes.