New Home, New Chapter

             “Kevin, shut up for a minute and listen. It’s fine. Just send us our severance pay and we’ll call it a day. No, it doesn’t matter. Because we were going to quit, anyway. No, that does not mean we can date. No, Becky isn’t available either. Goodbye Kevin and don’t call again.” Gemma disconnected the call and looked at Becky.

             “That was nasty. Thanks for dealing with him, hon. He’s so creepy.” Becky bubble wrapped an empty mason jar.

             “Yeah, I’m calling to reroute our mail right now. I don’t trust him not to track us down and stalk us. At least he won’t find us here tomorrow if he comes around.”

             “You think he might try to hand-deliver our severance cheques? Maybe we should stay at a hotel or something? Just for safety.”

             Gemma considered Becky’s suggestion before replying to her. “I don’t know. The movers will be here early in the morning. Maybe we’ll just not open the door to him or anyone else tonight. Well, beyond the pizza delivery guy.”

             Becky sealed a carton before putting it into the main living space with thirty or so other boxes. “Sounds good to me. Let’s just get this done, have some food, and get some sleep. I don’t think I could cook even if we’d not packed up the kitchen already. I’m just too tired.”

             “Yeah, I didn’t realize we have all this stuff. I still have more to pack in my room. I haven’t touched the computer yet, or my plants. Are you still okay with moving the bathroom, electronics, and plants in our car? From experience, those are the things that get destroyed in transit by the movers.”

             “As long as cleaning supplies and emergency needs bin can go too. It’s got sheets and a change of clothes for the next day. I’m not living in dirty clothes until we find them to unpack them.”

             “It might take a couple of trips, but we’ll have a better idea of that in the morning.”

             “Yeah, you know, at least we can agree on things like this. Could you imagine not being able to agree on things like reasonable adults?”

             “Hey, it may still happen. You never know how things might change. Don’t forget your attitude about Brad.”

             “And we could agree to disagree about that without losing our friendship. Even though I still think he pulled crap so that he could pull us apart.”

             “Wait, what do you mean by that?”

             “You still won’t see the crap he pulled? He avoided encountering me beyond that one meeting. If I answered your phone for you, he’d hang up without even saying hi.”

             “He told me he thought he had the wrong number.”

             “People don’t do that seven times in ten minutes. Gemma, he’s a waste of humanity and we’re both better off without him. Could you see his reaction if he found out about this job and move? You wouldn’t be at his beck and call anymore, and he’d need to attempt to go see you. I don’t believe that he would do that. I will still maintain that you’re better off without him.”

             The buzzer rang, interrupting their conversation. “I hope that’s the pizza. I’m starving.” Gemma got up and went to answer the door. The apartment building was cheap because there was no security, and anyone could walk to your door. After checking the peephole, Gemma was assured that it was the pizza delivery and not Kevin lying in wait on the other side of the door.

             She returned with a steaming box and a bag full of drinks and other things.

             “Score. Comfort food to the rescue. You know what? We’re the caretakers. We can get a pet now. None of this asking permission just to be denied.”

             “We’ll see. I don’t want a pet if we’re too busy with the estate. It wouldn’t be fair to them.”

             “If it’s a dog. It can follow us around on the estate. Don’t estates always have dogs? They always have dogs in the movies and books.”

             “I don’t know if that’s true. We’ll see. They might have dogs already. But I don’t want this to screw up our chances. Now let’s eat and then get the last of this stuff done. I’m as tired as you are. I swear after this move, we deserve a vacation.”        

             “I doubt we’ll get that anytime soon.”

             “True. But we’ll be able to set our schedules and get things done on our time.”

             “That’ll be nice. We’ll need to find out how and where the shopping is done. I mean, we’ll need groceries and such. Do we go get them? Or are they delivered? Are the shops close by? Or do we need to buy for a month at a time or what? Are we expected to feed the workmen?”

             “I guess we’ll find that out after we get there. Now I know you’re excited, but calm down or you’ll have heartburn all night, and I’ve already packed the antacids.”

             “Oh, come on. You can’t tell me you aren’t excited about the unknown adventure we’re embarking on.”

             “Unknown adventure? Not unless it feels like my stomach is falling into a bottomless pit. I feel like this is the biggest mistake we’ve made yet.”

             “No, that was going on March break, and I reserved a room at the wrong motel. Sorry about that.”

             “When will you stop apologizing? I forgave you a long time ago.”

             “I’ll never stop apologizing. That was a nightmare of biblical proportions.”

             “Bah… Eat up. I’ll see if we can find something on tv. Movie or tv show?”

             “Movie. I don’t want to move for a while.”

             “Movie it is. Let’s see what’s on-demand.” The women sat on the floor and ate from the box, laughing at an old comedy.

             “If we didn’t finish packing tonight. Do you think we can finish it in the morning before the movers come?” Gemma asked after she finished her drink.

             “I doubt it. Want me to help you finish up?”

             Gemma sighed and nodded. “I’d love it.”