Leaping for Your Dreams

***Mari’s POV***

The next morning I said goodbye to Geno and the guys. They were giving him a little bit of chirping for _not_ being at the hotel last night, but nothing he couldn’t handle. Once I got back to my place, I called the office and arraigned for someone to come today and pick up the filing cabinets and few things that had to go back to them. That left me with packing to do.

At 3 pm there was a knock at my door, opening it I found Zach himself standing there along with someone I didn’t know. “Hi Zach, I didn’t expect you to be the one coming to get these.” It was clear where my home office was, and the other gentleman began loading one of the filing cabinets onto the dolly he had.

“Some of the files you have are considered sensitive material. I felt it was safer if I came to get them instead of sending someone who might not like you as much.” He looked around a bit, noticing the chaos that was usually order. “How’s the packing going?”

I laughed. “I’m sorting through my closet and seeing if there’s anything I want to get rid of. I only have to pack my clothes, jewelry, electronics, and my files for work. All of the paperwork is already done, so really I don’t have a lot to do besides get rid of what food items I can’t take with me.” I was still mourning the loss of my wine collection, it was small but it was all mine.

Zach looked confused. He knew I had a small collection; right now it was ranging between 8-12 bottles. “You can’t just move them in your car?”

I thought about it, I had kept all of my receipts including the ones I did get in Pennsylvania when I went on a pre planning adventure for the Draft. I went through the file I had all of that information in and found the Liquor Control Boards number. I quickly called them. “Yes hi, I’m moving to the States for work this weekend and I was wondering if I had an under 20 bottle collection what I had to do to bring it with me. Well, no some of them _are_ from Pennsylvania.” I counted the bottles in my collection, I had 10 and 6 of those were from Pennsylvania. “What if the whole collection was 10 bottles, 6 of which were made in the state? Really? Well I have all of that information. Thank you, you’ve just made my day.” I happy danced lightly around the living room. “Seeing that over half are from there, I can take them all!”

By now the cabinets had been moved and loaded. I handed Zach the files I had, all of one banker’s box full. “You have no idea what a weight you’ve taken off of me Zach. I can move my collection and I know that these files will not be sabotaged.”

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Friday I was startled by a knock at my door. It was the movers. “Oh I didn’t expect you until tomorrow.” I moved and let them in.

“No one called you.” The foreman rolled his eyes. “It figures. We had a cancellation so we’re here to go ahead and pack you up. That’s not a problem is it?”

I laughed. “No it’s not a problem at all. I’ve gotten everything I’m personally taking already boxed up; my car is going to be loaded tonight. I even packed the TV in its original box so even it’s ready to go.”

As they looked around, it might have been my imagination but they looked impressed. Then the foreman blew me away. “This might be the easiest packing job we have today. Do you need any specialized boxes for glassware or anything?” He was directing the other two to begin wrapping my furniture.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I’m not taking most of my kitchen supplies; my friends have divvied them up already. The only thing I can’t find the correct boxes for are my wine bottles.”

He nodded. “We were told you had a small collection. Do you want us to take them or are you going to? I’ve got a box in the van for them either way.” He opened the door and two more movers came in. “You might want to dismantle your bed if you want the sheets within the next 3 days as well. I’ll go grab that box for you and then we’ll get this place packed up and ready to leave tomorrow.”

I went into my room and took my sheets and such off the bed. I had a vacuum bag to put them in. In face I had vacuum bags to put MOST of my clothes in. I loved them, it made it so much easier to pack and move when they were neat and could fit into the trunk. After that I texted the few friends I had that were going to be helping me and let them know that I would be without a bed this evening as mine was being packed.

Marc, Lise and Saber were quickly over and we packed up my car for the trip. They were all happy that this was going so smoothly. It actually took us more time than it did the professionals and we had less stuff to move! The end result was still the same, my apartment was empty and I was ready to drive tomorrow to my new home.

The three of them took what they wanted from my kitchen after I had packed what I _was_ taking. There was no way I was leaving my Keurig or a few other items mostly for sentimental reasons. By the time we got the entire place completely empty and cleaned up it was 6 pm. Lise insisted I stay with her tonight before driving for 6+ hours tomorrow.

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The next morning I was up and moving at 8 am. I wanted to be on the road by 9 am, 10 am at the _very_ latest. In truth I wanted to be pulling into the driveway at 6 pm but I was betting it would take some time at the border. Lise was also up, but that was normal for her. I was fighting for wakefulness still.

Lise pushed me through my early morning and got me out the door and on the road at 9 like I had wanted. I did make a swing through Timmy’s for coffee; I needed it that badly. I even picked some up in the k cups so I could still have my Timmy’s when I needed it.

I began my long drive on the Gardiner Expressway. I was glad I had the specific address as I had plugged it into my GPS and was now at the beginning of my long day. After turning onto Queen Elizabeth Way I followed the directions, most of which were keep left or keep right.

A couple hours later I was coming up on the border crossing. Due to my preparations and documentations the process went _very_ smoothly. In fact I saw others who were not as organized who were having much more trouble. When they asked finally if I needed directions I shook my head. “I’ve got my new home’s address in my GPS already.” The guy helping me nodded. Turns out he had cleared my belongings earlier that morning; I was an hour behind them roughly.

When I was cleared I got back into my car and continued my drive. I swung through a McDonald’s for lunch so I could maybe catch up with the truck. I got onto I-90 soon after and began my trek through Eastern New York. Soon enough I saw the ‘Welcome to Pennsylvania signs and began looking for my turn off for I-79.

At about 2:30 in the afternoon I jumped when the GPS told me to turn right. I was now on the outskirts of Pittsburgh. My phone then rang. Looking at it, I saw that the movers were calling me. “Hello? Yes, I’m on 295 right now.” I laughed; I had indeed passed them while driving through lunch. “I’ll meet you at the house soon. No thank you, you guys have been great. Ok we’ll see you then.”

An hour and 45 minutes later I watched as the moving truck pulled into the street in front of me. I’d been here an hour already and knew where I wanted things to go. In fact I had unpacked my car already. Ok so I dumped most of it in the Master Bedroom, but I could sort through and hang things up later.

In less time than they had packed it all up, they moved things where I wanted them, at least temporarily, to go. I thanked them all profusely and knew for sure that if I ever had to move again I’d go with their company first.

Once they were gone, I collapsed on the couch. I was here; I was home. I texted Geno. ‘Am moved in, now to find the game…’ I turned the phone around and took a shot of me on the couch with the remote. I attached the photo and sent it. I turned on the tv and fumbled my way through finding the sports channels. I found several hockey games until I spotted the one I wanted to watch.

My phone beeped with a text. Picking it up I saw it was from Geno. ‘Sorry little food. Game on Root Sports. Takeout menus in drawer under phone in kitchen. Lyublyu tebya. (Love you.)’ I had to laugh; he was apologizing for being a hockey player. I got up off the couch and got lost looking for the kitchen. Ok so there wasn’t much to work with but I could work around that.

My next text was to Moka. ‘Have arrived, need groceries where’s good?’ I got back a reply that had me laughing. ‘We’ll shop tomorrow, I’m coming over to make dinner and watch the game.’ I texted him the address.

A half hour later the doorbell rang. I ran to get it; it was Mike and another guy I didn’t know. “Hey, come on in.” I waved them in. “Can I take anything?”

Mike laughed. “No just point us to the kitchen. Oh and before I forget, Hon this is Michaela, my new boss. Mari this is, Angelo, my boyfriend.” We nodded at each other.

“Please call me Mari, it’s what I prefer when I’m not in a strictly professional setting.” I guided them to the kitchen and didn’t get lost. This was a victory cause I had twice already.

Angelo set his things down on the island and shook my hand. “Nice to meet you. Moka just raved about you when he got home Thursday.” I blushed. “In all seriousness it’s nice that we can be open with you about our relationship.”

I brought over one of the stools and sat on it. “Why do I care who you guys love? It’s much more important to me _that_ you love. I’ve never had an issue about it.”

We sat and chatted while they made dinner. They wouldn’t even let me help explore to find things for them. It was nice not being alone too.

Watching the game on this screen was something else. The first had been intense, right until the point Geno scored. By they way we were all yelling and cheering you’d think he could hear us. While we ended up winning the game, it wasn’t as sweet as it could have been. Still 2-1 was nothing to sneeze at.

I said goodnight to Moka and Angel and made my way to the bedroom. I hadn’t done anything with the things I’d brought in. Instead I vowed to do that tomorrow after a good night’s sleep in my new home. I sent a message to Geno to call me when he got a chance. I had just crawled into bed when the house phone rang. I checked the caller ID, saw who it was and answered the phone with no hesitation. “I didn’t expect you to call back so soon.”

I hear the smile before he spoke. “Want to make sure you doing ok in house. Everything safe?” I could hear the racket of the locker room in the background.

“I’m fine, beat the movers here. Tired but not too sore right now. I was about to crawl into bed.” In fact I was doing so at the moment. I cuddled into the bed and got comfy.

“Just remember I like right side. We go to Jersey soon, then after game we go to Montreal. Come home after Montreal. You be ok that long?” There was concern in his voice; it warmed my heart.

“I’ll be fine. I’m going to unpack and settle in tomorrow. Monday I’ll go into the offices and begin getting my routine on track. I can’t wait for you to get home and begin our life together.” I yawned into the phone, the long day catching up with me.

He chuckled. “Go sleep Misa, deal with all the new things tomorrow. I see you soon.” He also murmured a goodnight and good bye and then the phone went silent.

I cuddled down on the left side of the bed and yawned again. He was right, I could deal with everything else tomorrow, now it was time for sleep.