Soar

Posted on Tue Jul 19th, 2022 @ 8:40pm by Dominique LaFramboise & Jarrod Lask

Mission: Prequel - Or How We Met
Location: Mid-sized log cabin halfway between Clarksville and Nashville

“I say we just blow up the air mattress and call it a night.”

Nicki grinned. “That’s tempting,” she admitted. “But it’s only five o’clock.”

“Yeah, but we came from Eastern time,” argued Jarrod. “So it’s really more like six o’clock.”

“Nice try,” she said, opening the back of the Uhaul. “We can at least get the bed set up properly. That’s why we packed it at the back. We really should have gotten a tiny house set up before we moved. Then we woudln’t have to unpack anything. We could just stay in it for the night and unpack tomorrow.”

“Let’s go buy one,” he suggested.

Nicki grinned. “That seems harder than unpacking the bed,” she pointed out. “Come on, let’s get to work.”

Nicki had flown down for the day a few weeks ago and picked up the keys and signed the final paperwork for the house as well as getting electricity and internet turned on. They were, it appeared, remote enough to not have water lines, but the property came with a well as well as a rain capture system, so they shouldn't have any problems. Now all that remained was to fill it with their stuff. They hadn’t really brought much with them, deciding to sell most of their furniture and buy new stuff after renovations were complete. Of course, Nicki still had to hire a contractor. There wasn’t a lot to be done- mostly the two bathrooms and the kitchen, but also opening up the main living area and adding a front porch- but it still had to be done. Never mind. The house was functional as it was. They could live with an ugly bathroom and outdated kitchen for a while.

They did manage to get the bed, a dresser, and the TV- complete with fire stick- set up and find some cans of soup and some crackers before deciding the trip had worn them out enough to just relax the rest of the day. They could unpack the rest tomorrow and return the trailer to the nearest Uhaul dealer sometime in the afternoon.

After watching a movie about alien contact in the Middle Ages- it had been campy and cheesy, but fun nonetheless- they simply lay in bed, too exhausted to really do anything else, but not yet tired enough to sleep.

“Let’s get married,” said Jarrod abruptly.

Nicki sighed. “Jarrod,” she started, but he didn’t let her say anything else.

“I’m serious, Nicks,” he said. “And why not? I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. And you’ve told me that you feel the same. Let’s just do it. Let’s get married.”

She sighed again and nuzzled his neck, which is where her face happened to be at the moment. “It has nothing to do with that,” she said. “We’ve only been dating for like three months.”

“And we’ve known one another for how many years?” he pointed out.

“Jarrod,” she sighed. “I’m just not ready for that.”

There was silence for a few moments. And then, Jarrod said, in a small voice, “you’re afraid I’m going to… to go. Like Ryan did.”

“Don’t be absurd!” she said, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she realized he was right. She hesitated for a second, trying to grapple with that, and when her voice came again, it sounded even smaller than Jarrod’s had. “You’re a hound. You can’t-“ But she couldn’t continue. Her mind had offered her an image of the night Ryan had died, except this time, it was Jarrod lying lifeless on the cold cement of the hospital parking lot as doctors and nurses tried to save him. She sobbed once, unable to deal with the image.

Jarrod’s arms tightened around her at once. “Nicks, that is not going to happen,” he said gently, yet firmly. “You know how hard it is to kill a hound, especially after five years. I’ve been a hound longer than that.”

“ I know,” she replied, still crying. “I know. It’s so irrational.”

“It’s okay,” he assured her. “I understand. If it had been me in your place-“ His voice hitched and he clutched at her, swallowing hard. “Oh God, Nicks,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “I can’t. I just can’t.”

Her arms tightened instinctively around him and they simply held each other for several long minutes, both eternally grateful that the other was still around. Finally, Nicki broke the silence. “I guess I wasn’t completely healed after all,” she said.

“You never really are,” replied Jarrod, voice heavy. “I still find it hard to think about my birth father sometimes. There’s always a part of you that will be raw and wounded.”

“What a happy thought,” she commented.

He kissed the top of her head. “The truth isn’t always happy,” he said.

“True story,” she replied. “Listen, Jarrod. I love you. I’m just not quite ready for another marriage. Give me time. I’ll get there.”

He squeezed her one more time. “That’s good enough for me,” he said.

---

True to their word, they got an early start the next morning and emptied out the Uhaul trailer. They were closer to the Uhaul dealer in Clarksville by about two miles, so they decided to head there. On the way back, they stopped at a little pizzeria that had decent pizza. Nothing to write home about, but it was tasty and reasonably priced. Then it was back home to unload everything from the boxes.

There was not enough room in the kitchen for all of the small appliances Nicki had decided she could just not live without, but luckily, there was a large pantry that she knew they would never fill with food, so she took a couple of shelves for the food processor, blender, waffle iron (yes, she needed the waffle iron) and a few other things that wouldn’t fit, like the plethora of utensils she had accumulated over the years and some of the larger roasting and baking pans. The next room to get together was the bedroom. There was a huge closet that Jarrod joked was almost big enough for all of Nicki’s shoes, but in reality fit most of their clothes.

There wasn’t much to go in the living room- just a television and a couple of chairs- and the dining room only had a small but serviceable table with two chairs. Nicki had decided they should probably leave it sparse for now as they were most likely going to tear down a couple of interior walls and they’d only have to move stuff for the workers who would be traipsing all over the place. There was a bed for one of the guest rooms, as well as a small dresser. Even though there wasn’t much stuff, Nicki still felt accomplished once it was all put away.

“I feel like I’m finally adulting,” she said as she flopped into one of the chairs in the living room; Jarrod took the other. “I mean, you know. All by myself. Yes I had an apartment in Bay City, but being a homeowner just hits differently, you know? I mean, the house was Ryan’s. It didn’t really feel the same as having my name on the deed and paying for it myself.”

“Like you’re finally spreading your wings,” agreed Jarrod, “and it’s time to fly.”

“To soar,” agreed Nicki. There was silence for a moment, and then, “I… I never told you how much Ryan left me.”

“It doesn’t matter,” answered Jarrod. And it didn’t. He knew it was quite a sum, but he didn’t really care how much.

“You should know, though,” she replied. “So you don’t worry.”

“Worry about money?” asked Jarrod. “I don’t. Well, not much. I have no debts, not even credit cards. Sometimes I wonder how long you’ll put up with me not contributing financially, but beyond that…” he shrugged.

“Pretty much forever, as long as you help with the chores,” she answered. “But, you do need to know. I’ll feel better if you do.”

“Okay, then,” he relented, gesturing for her to continue.

She hesitated. “I'm glad you’re sitting,” she said. “Because… we’ll, there is no delicate way to say this. He left me $278 million.”

Jarrod blinked and his head snapped to face her. “What?” he said.

“He left me $278 million,” she repeated.

Jarrod heaved a huge sigh and rubbed his eyes with one hand. “You’re telling me you have $278 million?” he asked, astonished.

“No,” she replied. “I'm telling you he left me $278 million. Some of it was invested. I have roughly $318 million. Well, slightly less since buying this house and the moving expenses.”

“Holy shit,” breathed Jarrod, leaning forward to put his head between his knees. “Where the hell did he get it?”

Nicki laughed, almost incredulously. “He won the lottery a couple of years before I met him,” she said. “And moved back to Bay City to be closer to his family. Apparently, he gave some money to his mother and some to his brother Richard. They’re set for life now, too. He never told me. Meant to when we got back from our honeymoon, but… well, you know. His brother told me about it. Ryan had put my name on all the accounts, so I didn’t even have to pay inheritance taxes. Not that it would have mattered.”

“But why wouldn’t tell you?” asked Jarrod.

“He wanted to make sure I liked him- loved him- for who he was and not what he had,” she replied. “I had figured he must have a trust fund or something because he volunteered all his time, but money never seemed to be an issue. I never guessed he had that much, though.”

Jarrod was silent for a few moments, then burst out laughing. “I’m dating a millionaire,” he said finally.

“And you proposed to her,” she pointed out.

“That still stands,” he reminded her.

“I know,” she said. “Just give me time.”

“I’ll give you the rest of your life if that’s what you need,” he replied.

She smiled at him. “I appreciate that,” she said.

There was silence again, during which Jarrod sighed heavily. “$318 million,” he mused. “Shit!”

“I know,” she said. “When Richard told me, I bawled my eyes out for like two hours. Granted, we had just buried my husband and everything was overwhelming. But, I think I’d have cried even if Ryan had told me. It’s a frightening sum.”

“For sure,” he said. “But enough that we can fly without worry or care.”

“I wish we had some wine,” said Nicki, standing to check the fridge. “We have coke!” she announced, pulling out to cans and opening them on her way back to the living room. “To soaring!” she said, handing one can to Jarrod.

He touched his can to hers. “To soaring,” he agreed, and they both drank.

Time to soar.