Rookie

“Go out to lunch or back to the house?” Corey asked as he took over driving since I now had no idea where I was driving.

“Out, I could go for something delicious and different. Go to your favorite place,” I instructed him.

“My favorite place, huh? Okay,” he took the highway to the second exit and we pulled into a small diner. “What a coincidence, my parents are here too.”

“Welcome to Corey’s, oh, Corey, it’s you. Your parents are here with the cutest little girl. They are in their regular place.”

“Thanks, Sally,” he said to the waitress and took my hand before leading me to a private back sitting room.

“Corey, welcome home, dude. Congrats on the cup!” a waiter exclaimed.

“Thanks Drew. Let’s get together for drinks this summer, okay?”

“Sure thing bro,” and he was out of sight.

“This isn’t your diner or something, is it?”
“Nope, it’s my parents. I just got to pick the name,” he grinned as we found Ava and his parents.

“What do you think of it?” Linda asked
.
“It’s cute. I never knew about it though.”

“Of course not, silly girl. You’ve never been up here with Corey before to know. Now, order whatever you like. Mac’s cooking today and everything is good,” she exclaimed.

“Trust me, Mac’s the best,” Corey squeezed my hand with a smile before turning towards Ava.

“Order for me, anything,” I suggested. He looked back at me and smiled

“Did you order?” he asked his parents.

“Tell Mac our usual and Ava needs macaroni.”

“Okay,” Corey got up and went to the kitchen, I assumed.

“How long have you had this place?”

“Since Corey was, what, ten?” Linda said and her husband nodded.

“Why’d he get to name it?”

“Keenan and Corey fought over it for months. And then they decided that whoever could find the fastest way to get from our home to here would get to name it. Corey won.”

“Interesting way to pick.”

“They were very competitive being only two years apart. And Keenan, being older, challenged Corey to push his limits, he always wanted to beat her.”

“And I did. My freshman year and her senior year, she made the cutoff. Boys vs. girls varsity hockey. I made varsity freshman year and it took her until sophomore year to make varsity,” he said as he reentered the room.

“She was upset for weeks that her baby brother beat her in team sports,” Linda added to Corey’s story.

“She sure was,” Mr. Crawford said as our food arrived. I apparently got the same thing as Corey and it was good. A Rueben sandwich it was and it was perfect.

After lunch, Ryan called with a new address for us to meet him at. We switched the car seat from the Crawford’s car to the Mustang’s backseat. We than drove the three of us to the new house, it was on the north side of the city.

“I like the looks of this one,” I told Corey. He nodded and grabbed Ava as I met Ryan by the front door.

“And who is this cutie?” Ryan asked pointing to Ava.

“Ava, our daughter,” Corey replied.

“Well, she’s adorable. You ready for this one? I think it’s exactly what you are looking for.” And was Ryan right, the house was perfect. It was half siding and half brick, a two story, and big. It had a pool and summer room, it backed and faced parks for the children, had six bedrooms, and four and a half bathrooms. Another perk was the private courtyard that could host parties and amazing gardens. It was literally the perfect house.

“Momma, I wanna puppy!” Ava announced as she saw the dog in the backyard, it was tied up of course.

“Maybe, baby,” I replied and we continued to look around. The master bedroom had his and her sinks and closet system that I loved. “I think this is it, Corey.”

“I think so too, and you’re sure it’s the one you want? I mean, we will only be here for a few months a year until we retire, but it’s the looking forward to coming home.”

“I love it; I love the dog house, the bedrooms, bathrooms, and the kitchen. I mean, have you seen how perfect it would be for hosting parties?”

“Okay, it’s settled, we want this one, Ryan.” Corey wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead and Ava was at our feet.

“Good thing I didn’t schedule those other houses. I had a gut feeling you’d love this one. The owners are willing to be out quickly if needed. It was their parents’, but they went to a retirement home. The kids just have to pack up shop.”

“Ask if they want the furniture, if not, I’ll put in some money for that too, just to make it easier on us, if that’s okay, babe?”

“It’s perfect.”

“My room!” Ava yelled as she sped away from me in her cute yellow dress. She was standing in a bedroom on the main floor with white furniture and pink walls.

“I think it could work,” I told her as Corey came to pull us both into a family hug.