I remember
Life as an ordinary family begun with a shopping trip.
We arrived home late in the evening. I opened the fridge to see my mum or Rose had stocked up on food.
Gratefully I picked up the note on the counter.

"Dinner to celebrate your return. Tomorrow 5pm.
Love, mum Rose"

Ethan smiled over my shoulder.

"Which gives us the morning for laundry," he yawned.

I turned and looked at him, feeling a weird mix of happy and frightened.

"We're home!" I nodded.

"For real this time!" He smiled back before kissing me gently.

"There's so much to do though!" I said.

"And an ocean of time to do it," my husband said.

"We have to talk to Ellen about budget. And get the kids into school. And..." I listed.

"We'll get to it," he said.

"And the garden! I can finally have a vegetable garden. And pick the apples we're never here to eat," I said with a bit more enthusiasm.

"But right now, my wife needs to get some sleep! Tomorrow is the first day of our new life and I want you to be relaxed enough to enjoy it!" Ethan smiled.

A few minutes later my head hit my pillow. My own pillow. In my own bed. In my own home. I turned to look at the man next to me with a worried frown.

"Just promise you won't get bored with me now that we're staying still?" I asked.

"How can I ever get bored with you?" He grinned and tucked me close to him.

"It's just... we're not used to being in one place without a goal," I shrugged.

"We have a goal, Izzy! To be a family! I'll make music. You'll design and paint your beautiful art. And we won't have to argue about the stress of living in a suitcase!" Ethan smiled.

"Instead we'll argue about the stress of getting the kids to school on time and who's turn it is to do laundry," I chuckled.

"Like a normal family..." Ethan laughed.

I fell asleep in my husband's arms, satisfied and deliriously happy that this man was mine.

We woke the next morning with the noise of Ayame and Sebastian screaming at each other.

Ethan groaned and got out of bed. I couldn't resist giving a small pout as he pulled on a pair of boxers.

"Got to hinder world war 3," he grinned with a raised eyebrow.

"We could leave them to it?" I suggested.

He chuckled and leaned over the bed for a kiss just as the door burst open.

"Seb woke me up! By jumping on my head!" Aya accused.

Ethan stood up and pulled a t-shirt over his head.

"I didn't jump on your head! I tried to hug you!" Seb screamed, his voice full of tears.

"By jumping on me!" Aya shouted and returned to her room, slamming the door behind her.

"Why were you in Aya's room?" Ethan asked.

"I wanted her to help me make you guys a special breakfast!" Seb said quietly.

Ethan and I exchanged a look.

"We're not going on tour. You're not rock stars any more. Just mum and dad," Seb mumbled.

Ethan put on a pair of jeans and walked over to our tearful son.

"How about you and I go down and make our favourite girls some pancakes?" He asked.

"Can I make them? Could you teach me?" Sebastian asked.

"Yep. And then we'll go to the garden centre to get stuff for your mum's vegetable garden," Ethan smiled.

"Like a greenhouse?" Seb asked as they went down the stairs.

"Not a bad idea. I think she might like that," Ethan smiled.

Some breakfast and hugs later, Aya and Seb were stood next to a trampoline display plotting how to convince us to get the large oval one. I was ignoring the various phones pointed our way. Since we announced our retirement, public interest had shot through the roof. It was as if people thought we would vanish from the face of the earth. The truth was more of a gradual wind down. We still had a few award ceremonies and interviews before we could fully abandon the public eye.
Ethan sauntered over with a brochure in front of his face.

"They can set it up for us," he said, pointing to a smallish greenhouse advertised as ideal for hobby gardening.

"And there's a lot of plants over there," I nodded towards the attached greenhouse.

Ethan looked up with a grin.

"Okay. We get this. A trampoline with a net and a few plants?" He asked.

"Yeah. And I kinda want one of those compost bins," I nodded.

"I knew I married a clever one!" He chuckled and wandered over to a service desk.

A few minutes later we were stood with a young man who was trying his best to pretend he hadn't recognised us. He was stealing subtle looks at Aya while filling out our order.

"Now. I need a name and address so we can get things delivered. Your greenhouse needs foundations built. Do you prefer doing that yourself? We can do it at an added price." He asked.

"If you can get that done too... " Ethan smiled.

"Sure thing!" He nodded.

We gave the address and his grin widened.
As we finished he looked at Aya again before looking uncertainly at me.

"I'm sorry, but I have to show you something. My little brother drew this after seeing you on the Emma Show..." he said, finally giving in to his impulse.

Quickly he pulled his phone out to show an instagram account full of drawn portraits of famous people. He opened one picture of Ayame, smiling at Marco.

It was well drawn and very lifelike.

The boy looked at us with a grin.

"I've put your order in. And the guy bringing it is very likely to ask a million questions. I could put it in under a different name, but I think most of my colleagues have seen you by now," he smiled.

I looked at his nametag.

"Thank you, Spencer. But we're kinda used to it," I replied.

Ethan grinned at me before pulling my sketcpad from my bag. Quickly he ripped one out and handed to Spencer. It was one I had done of Aya on the plane the day before. She had looked at the clouds with a dreamy expression on her face.

"Give that to your brother. This is how a portrait should look," Ethan smiled.

Spencer looked between me, Aya and the portrait.

"Hell no! This is mine!" He grinned and grabbed it with both hands.

Two weeks later I had a functioning greenhouse filled with tomato and cucumber plants. Spencer had recommended trying a few varieties, which seemed to be smart. By the fence was an inconspicuous green bin that we regularly fed foodscraps, eggshells, potato peels and grass clippings in a hope of getting decent garden soil out of it.
Six kids were on the ridiculously large, oval, trampoline. Juni and Elsie had mastered the art of cartwheels without giving anybody a black eye.

Our previously large garden had suddenly shrunk, but I didn't mind. Over by the fruit trees was the playhouse Simon's dad had built for me when I was little. We had it painted and gotten some child size furniture for it when Aya was born, and the kids had all used it on occasion. Now, Juniper and Elsie were growing out of it as well.

Us adults were all sat on our brand new patio furniture. We had a barbecue planned for later.

"You guys really went all out at the garden centre!" Simon laughed at our new additions.

"Yep. And text to the green house I'm getting some raised beds for carrots and stuff," I replied.

"And a robotmower," Ethan grinned.

"Oooh. We should get one of those!" Selma smirked.

"Not my fault I haven't mown a lawn since I was 18," Simon shrugged.

"Good point... but we do have a big lawn!" She said.

"Anything you want, baby!" Simon smiled.

Oddball looked around at the garden before turning to us again.

"You know what? We need a party. With all of the Obstruction team. To thank them for their help," he said.

We nodded.

"And now that you guys have this swanky new garden... I think we should have it here. Get it catered. Set up a dance floor and a bar..." Oddball smiled.

Ethan and I exchanged a look before we both nodded.

"Mr. Summers. Dave the studio tech. Fred and Rhea. Penny and Dylan. Gina the backup singer... everyone!" Oddball listed.

Selma had her phone up in two seconds.

"When?" She asked.

"Two weeks?" I suggested.

"Done!" Selma said after sending one of her super effective personal assistant e-mails.

"That... wife... is the last thing you do with that mail address!" Simon said.

"Why?" Selma asked.

"Because.. Obstruction no longer need a PA so you are hereby officially fired!" He grinned.

"Don't you dare fire me!" Selma threatened.

"But... we don't need a PA!" Simon said.

"Don't know about the rest of them... but you need all the the help you can get!" She huffed.

A sneaky smirk made its way to Simon's face.

"How about a swap," he shrugged.

"A swap?" She scoffed.

Simon's grin widened.

"Yeah. Teach me how to be a PA. Set me up with an e-mail at SelmaRyderWrites.com and I will do everything you need me to," Simon said casually.

Selma stared at him in shock. He sat up and took her hands in his, staring into her eyes with a warm smile.

"Your books. Your stories. It's time we focus on your career. I will take the kids to school. I will make dinner and I will make you all the coffee you need to write. I will deal with all the correspondence and requests for your appearance. Stuff you have said no to so many times because of being with me on the Obstruction schedule. I will tell agents and publishers to back off until you are ready," he said solemnly.

"Simon!" She whispered.

"So yeah. You're fired. Because I need you to write that booker price winner I know you have been working on," Simon grinned.

And so we had the party. Selma wrote an amazing three books in less than a year and Simon somehow followed through. He went with her to all the events, filtering the requests so she could go to promote her novels.
Every time he was seen in public it was to promote Selma.

Somehow we all settled into a peaceful life.
Our children settled too. Seb joined the school football team and loved doing something with his new friends. Ayame had her friends from childhood but gained some new ones at school. She loved life as a mediocre student.
Selma and Simon left their kids with us for occasional booktours but mostly we all stayed at home.
Ethan taught guitar and violin in the basement.
I worked with Oddball on the charity campaigns and enjoed just being a normal mother.

And that was life.
At least for a few years.

***

Teaser: Ethan and Izzy see the therapist.