Gail Populous was very excited to have a birthday.  Being a kid wasn’t all that great – it was difficult to get your ideas taken seriously, and at school you weren’t allowed to play with any of the exciting chemicals.

But now she was a teenager, things would be different.  She would be able to start experimenting, able to start preparing herself for her dreams to come true.

Gail didn’t plan to be like her brothers, slaving away at home, working, looking after the little ones until they were old enough to leave.  No, her plans were bigger than that…

Unlike their sister, Fitzy and Eddie were happy plugging away at their painting and writing.  Eddie was now a master painter and both of them found their work was in great demand across the Valley.  Fitzy had started to branch out into sci-fi and non-fiction now he didn’t have as much to write about from his home-life.

Bebe, meanwhile, carried on as normal, fixing things, working from home and keeping the house clean.

She also found time to train Ian in all his essential skills.  She was busy, but she wasn’t as happy as she’d once been.  She was missing the sense of intimacy in her marriage with Asa.  Sure, they woohooed on a regular basis, but there was something not quite right in their communications; a distance there hadn’t ever been before.

Truth be told, Asa’s mind was in several places.  He had been concentrating incredibly hard on learning music theory, even though he found it really difficult, but his persistence had paid off and he was promoted to hit movie composer.  He knew he should be pleased with his achievements, and he was, but there was something inside him nagging at him and telling him he should quit while he was at the top, before the pressure got too much.

And there was the conversation he’d had recently with Morgana still playing heavily on his mind; the thought she’d planted in his head that maybe he could be loved by even more people than Bebe and the children.

While Asa pondered on the direction his life was going in, Bebe quietly took herself off to hospital.  She wasn’t afraid of home birth but sometimes the peace and quiet of the wards was a nice change, and she wasn’t sure that the children always appreciated their siblings arriving in the world in front of them.  Baby Julie arrived as healthy and attractive as she expected any child of Thornton’s to be.

Over breakfast the next morning, Asa asked Henry what he should do for a job instead of composing movie themes.  Henry said his daddy should work at the supermarket, then he could bring home lots of food at the end of the day.  Asa thought this was a great idea and changed jobs later that day.  Bebe was a little confused at her husband’s sudden change of heart, when he was doing so well, but decided not to question it too much.  She knew work had been stressing him out and maybe this change was what he needed.

Gail also took a job there, and her big brother Cameron still worked there part-time, so it became a real Populous family haunt.

After his first shift of work, Asa went to the park to play his guitar and unwind.

He was a little peckish after a while, and a couple who were new in town, Pablo and Jennifer Martinez, invited him to have lunch with them and tell them all about life in Riverview.

Asa enjoyed spending time with the Martinezes, but after a while, Pablo had to go to work.  He and Jennifer talked for hours.  She was so easy to talk to and seemed to really appreciate his company.  He felt warm inside, knowing he’d made a new friend.

As Asa Populous went to sleep that night, his thoughts turned back to his time in the park with Jennifer and to Morgana’s words about the ladies of the town finding him attractive, and it being possible to fall in love with more than one person. Asa slept that night feeling a little troubled, yet also strangely excited…

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