Chapter Thirty Six: Changes.

Ainsley broached the topic to Nathaniel and he agreed to have a look over the number nineteen apartment.  He was mildly amused at the thought of having lived in three different units in the same building.

The apartment looked okay and had all the basic facilities in a reasonable kitchen.  It felt smaller than their current apartment, but featured a balcony which number eighteen lacked and more importantly a small, second bedroom.

Ainsley barely noticed the suspicious hole in the wall of the main bedroom.

A new rental agreement was signed.  Ainsley and Nathaniel enlisted Bob, Bradford and Mitchell to help lug all the furniture across the corridor.
Mitchell joked to Nathaniel "I thought you just did this?"
They hit up the flea market, department stores and even some trendy baby gear shops to set up Emmett's new room.  Little Emmett's development was somewhat delayed for his age, so Nathaniel decided to get him a high chair for meal times.  He still had some difficulty with toilet training too.

Ainsley loved when Emmett was around, although her heart hurt sometimes when he was dropped off in mismatched, hand-me-down pyjamas.  She also had to carefully control her temper when Emmett would throw food on the floor.

When he wasn't busy helping his daughter move apartments, Bob was making the most of his retirement rediscovering old hobbies.  He dug out his old fishing gear and loved to watch the big old ferry boat go by as he fished in the river.

The Pancakes celebrated Addison's eighteenth birthday at the Spiced Foods Festival.  Half the time Addison was too busy chatting up guys to bother hanging out with her family.

It was a shame the regulations prevented them from bringing their own cake.  However, when the sky lit up with 'Happy Birthday' in fireworks, even Addison was impressed.
"I know a guy who knows a guy" Ainsley said smugly.
Eliza entered a 'hottest curry' contest and was even declared the winner.  Her years of reviewing restaurants of various ethnicities, skills and reputation standing her in good stead.
Ainsley played guitar, dedicating some songs to her sister and some to her man.

A few weeks later, Addison ran into her old friend Callie.  Callie asked about what Addison was doing after school let out, how she thought she'd do in her exams and what college that might get her into.  Addison admitted that she wasn't really sure.  Truthfully, she was a B student at best and she didn't think she'd bother with college right away.
Callie wasted no time changing the subject and showing off pictures of the dorm room she was planning to move into.

For Ainsley's thirty second birthday, they didn't have a party.  They did however have cake.  Bob managed to come around at just the right time to have a slice.
As she sat there with her fiancé, next to the highchair that belonged to Emmett and she considered the new apartment; Ainsley concluded that she had reached a new stage in her life.  Thirty had not seemed that different at all, but the last year had brought a lot of changes.
One of the distressing changes was how old Bob seemed to be now, children tend to think of their father's as invincible, but adults often have a harsher view of the world.