On The Rebound

Somehow they all managed to sleep in the cottage.
It was a lovely time for the seven children as they all walked along the rocks with John amongst them as Claire and her friend Caroline straggled behind in deep conversation!

The sea air was so refreshing and the sound of sea gulls each morning a lovely alarm. 

The second night they all went to the family pub for tea and a drink.
Caroline took her two children back over to bed and a little later Emily took  the others as John and Claire finished their drinks. They were about to leave when John over heard a nearby conversation. Some local older men discussing how they hated hearing children swear.
On leaving the pub John commented that maybe some people did find it offensive. Claire added that it was more than concern about people being offended it sounded awful hearing children swear.

They all travelled back to Claire's house in the two cars and spent the last couple of days going to the park and the beach.

Summer holidays were over and soon it was phone calls and weekend visits.
Now John would sometimes collect Claire and Sam and take them to his flat in the city where he lived.
It was only small so Sam had the futon bed and they slept on the sofa bed. When all the children were there the three girls shared the bed with Patrick on the floor.

They often ate out and John introduced them to some lovely restaurants.

Everything was going fine even if he wasn't the love of her life.
She still often thought about Neil but rarely saw him!

At one point John told Claire he loved her but wasn't in love with her and felt she was in love with him but didn't love him. Now he was saying he was in love with her.
At times she found it all analytical!

Claire took the lead in their love making. John had some experience but had never made love with the light on! 
She introduced him to many positions not realising she was mirroring her love making with Neil. 
Once at the cottage she was sitting on the step with The Joys of Sex hidden within another book so as not to upset the passing tourists. Her and John had fun looking through it but their differences became apparent after turning a number of pages saying "I've done that, I've done that...." to his response "I've not!".

There was a first between them though when they often shared a bath, making love each time. 

Soon things were to change as Claire lost her main job. She still had her other two but these didn't add up to many hours. 
Not wanting to be idle she started some local voluntary work.

Then one day she saw an advert in her local shop, someone wanting a house exchange from the city where John lived.
She phoned the number to find it was the daughter of someone already on her street, someone she knew.

She told John and they decided to view the house. It was strange they had never discussed Claire moving to be nearer to John yet they never questioned this new venture.