Another Chance Book I of III

Book III-Chapter 27, The Elephant In The Room

The Elephant In the Room

Prince's POV

The rest of Monday seemed to speed by as Bella and Elaine finished laundry and identified the things that the movers would need to pack and move while they were away.  They put small blue stickers on all of the items which were staying and bright red stickers on the drawers and closet doors  that had things that needed to be packed.  Prince personally packed his keyboard and a couple of guitars that would not be on the road with him this time and tagged it with the bright red stickers and the word Study.  They were grateful that since they had rented a place that was furnished and equipped with all of the basic  cooking utensils and such, they did not have a lot of stuff to move.  They would write on the stickers, blue or lavender for which bedrooms things should be taken to and the bodyguards would do the same...using the codes beige or rust for the color of the small sofas in each of the bedrooms.  By the time they completed all of that it was time for dinner.  It was so nice outside, Prince and Carlos decided they would grill outside.  Bella made some vegetable shish-ka-bobs and seasoned some whitefish and some prawns that had been in the freezer and put them on platters for Prince and Carlos to grill.  Ross made the ginger based Bar-B-Que sauce and also a dipping sauce for the vegetables and a pasta salad with a vinaigrette dressing.  Bella made Sweet Potato Pie for dessert and Elaine made some fresh wheat rolls from scratch.  This was the last home made dinner over which they could linger for a few days, so they went all out.  Bella made some of her fresh lemonade and put it in a giant pitcher to chill. 

When Prince smelled the Sweet Potato Pie he came into the kitchen and opened the oven door and looked in it.  He said "I see you made 3 pies, one is for me right" and smiled that adorable crooked smile.  Laughing , Bella banished him back to the backyard.  He couldn't help himself though and came back into the kitchen two more times to check on the pies and as he put it...to smell 'em!  He was very serious about Sweet Potato Pie!  Bella wiped down the patio table and then set it for dinner.  Once the food was done they sat down joined hands and Prince asked Frank to lead them in saying grace.  They dug into the food and they found themselves complimenting each other because it was so good! Bella had set the pies out on the side board to cool before they sat down to eat.   She went into the kitchen and got the dessert plates down and went to cut and serve the pie.  It was then that she noticed there were only two pies on the sideboard...one was missing.  She looked in the refrigerator, and in the breadbox but the missing pie was not in either place.  She then looked in all of the cabinets, but it was not there either.  She shook her head and smiling said to herself "what is this crazy man up to with this pie"?  She went into the bedroom and as she did she smelled the unmistakable aroma of Sweet Potato Pie.  Sitting there as big as day on the table next to the Chaise was the missing pie and a huge piece was gone.  Bella shook her head again and with a smile took the dessert plates out for all to enjoy.  Prince came in to help carry the dessert plates out.  He was quickly assessing to see if any pieces were larger than others.  He looked at her with a sheepish grin and sat down and enjoyed his pie.  She would talk to him later about his shenanigans! 

After dinner, Prince and Carlos cleaned the grill and the grilling tools and Bella and Elaine took kitchen duty.  Once everything was cleaned up, they all went into the living room and turned on Cloud Stream.  They had missed the 5:00 and 6:00  news casts, but one of the channels was streaming a repeat of their 6:00 broadcast.  Most wanted refills of the Lemonade while they watched the news which Bella poured for everyone. Day 16 of the Peace had held and there remained no new  violent crimes reported at the time of the broadcast in all four of the areas that had been referenced earlier in the day.  Northern and Southern California, New Orleans and Atlanta were enjoying an unprecedented peace.