(Book 2) This Could B Us

Part 9

We make our way inside, I head straight to the pantry to see what's available to throw together. I find some fettuccine noodles and a jar of alfredo sauce. I had just bought some French bread and spring mix lettuce the other day. This will work, it's not glamorous, but it's fast and easy.

Noodles boiling, I toss some grated Parmesan into the salad mix, and cut up some black olives. I slice some French bread, lightly butter it, and toss it into the broiler.

I'm getting hungrier as I'm preparing it, Prince is watching me quietly from a stool at the counter. I know he won't eat much, but I've made enough for two.

As it's coming together, Prince hops up and goes outside. He comes back in carrying the bottle of wine we took from the vineyard Sunday night.

Disappointed he says, "It's not chilled."

I put the bottle and two wine glasses into the freezer, who knows, it may help. We have water with our salads, I pull out the wine when the fettuccine is done. The wine is not really chilled, but it's not too warm either. Prince does eat his salad, part of a slice of bread and a small amount of fettuccine.

After we eat, we head out to the back porch. Prince on his guitar, me in my flowers. I only work in the garden a short while, when I tell him I'm going in to call Angel and then start packing.

After taking the taxes for the house and dividing them out, I then added my average utility costs. I decided to pad the amount by almost $125/month in case of any repairs, again, I have to safeguard myself. Plus, I'm also leaving furniture and a riding lawnmower. I was happy to come up with a rough monthly rent of $450, which is insanely good for a two bedroom house on almost an acre lot. I can assume Angel is paying roughly $500-$600 for her tiny apartment, so this should work.

I call her, she's ecstatic, "Are you sure that's enough?"

"That's plenty, Angel, and you'll have to let me know what furniture you don't need so I can have it removed," I mention.

"You're leaving your furniture?! This is too much," she sounds flabbergasted.

She's not due out of her apartment until the end of next month, and we discuss getting together to hammer out the final details in a couple weeks when I come back down. She has agreed to stop by a couple times during the weeks I'm gone, to water flowers and keep an eye on the place, I tell her where the key will be hidden and for her to take it when she stops by.

"This is all tentative," I tell her, "remember I could get to Minnesota and things could go south fast, so please, still look for a backup option," the one serious kink in the whole plan, the 'what ifs'.

"I will," she assures me, "but I want your place, so this is gonna work," she laughs.

I hang up with her and head to the spare room to gather some luggage. I have two small carry-on sized bags, a medium and a large rolling suitcase. I grab the two rolling suitcases and head to the bedroom.

I'm just placing the suitcases on the bed when Prince strolls in. He eyes the suitcases, "Is that all you're taking?"

I laugh nervously, "It's where I'm starting, I didn't know how much you wanted me to haul up this trip."

He thinks about it a minute, "Good point," he looks around the bedroom, "I need to use your phone."

"Oh, it's on my nightstand."

Prince walks over and picks it up, as he flips it over his face changes, "There's a text from Aaron," his jaw clenches as he tries to hand me the phone.