Chelyan and Mel agreed they had endured enough driving for one day, so they decided to spend the rest of Monday preparing the house for an extended period of desertion and packing up everything they wished to take with them on their drive back to the beach in the morning. There was not that much to do really, but it took much longer than it should have because of a continuation of their pleasurable birthday celebrations from the weekend at the resort.
They commenced their drive after the morning rush-hour traffic dissipated, stopped for a quiet lunch along the way, and pulled into the driveway at Chelyan’s cottage before two in the afternoon. After they unloaded their suitcases, they headed into Port Bramble to stock up the refrigerators, hers and his, and the pantries. On their drive fro
