A New Life

Chapter 31 – Spring Time – Conclusion

Bette and Tina awaken early in their Toronto hotel room. They had coffee and packed and took the shuttle to Toronto-Pearson International Airport. They went through security and boarded the plane. They had more coffee on the plane and were served breakfast about 45 minutes after the plane was in the air.

After breakfast was served, Tina had her laptop out and wrote a long email to Carrie informing her that her boxes were on the way to her in New York.  She included a paragraph that assured Carrie that the break up was not her fault but was for the best. She told Carrie that she deserved someone who could give her a complete commitment and not someone who was still in love with someone else. She wished her the best and then signed off.

Tina then put her laptop away and then got comfortable and went to sleep beside Bette. She made sure that she was touching Bette as she slept.

Once in Los Angeles, they took a cab home and saw the new garage addition to the house and the new automatic gate.  Pierce help with the luggage and gave them their gate remotes, and method to set codes for the gate, the remotes for the new garage door and then accompanied them to lunch. Bette and Tina seemed even happier today than when he had seen them a couple of weeks before.  Bette and Tina said nothing about being engaged. They wanted to talk to Angie and Shane first. They really had not talked about it between themselves yet and certainly not on any particular plans. They were only two weeks away from spring break and the Yellowstone trip.

They both returned to the house and unpacked and began to talk as they did.

Bette: Okay, Tina, when would you like to get married? And what kind of ceremony do you want?

Tina:  I want to get married as soon as we can. And I don’t really care what kind of ceremony we have. I would prefer something small and intimate. I don’t want a whole bunch of pomp and ceremonial traditions. I just want you and Angie and maybe a few of our closest friends. Maybe we can get Peggy, Marilyn, Helena, Dylan, Alice and Nat, and Shane and that’s about it. Maybe James and his wife. Of course, I would like for both you and I to be there too.

A New Life

Chapter 30 – Toronto – The Move

The next morning, both Tina and were up early to get their run in.  Angie had left for her run about an hour earlier.  Once they ran, they decided to shower and dress so that they could get their dirty clothes laundered before they left. They would encourage Angie to get her shower and clothes down as well.

Bette and Tina decided to have a big breakfast as they believed that they would probably have a late lunch and hoped to sleep most of the way to Toronto.

Pierce arrived at 7:30 which was about 30 minutes after the workman on the garage got there.

Bette:  Pierce, you know you are going to have to be here around 6:00 am?

Pierce:  Yes, I know.  I need to be here before the workman get here.

Bette:  You know you can spend the night here.  You can invite your boyfriend over if you like and stay in the guestroom.  It has towels in the on suite and the bed is ready for your use. If you need to wash a few clothes this week, you are welcomed to use the washer and dryer. You can also cook your meals if you like. But you will need to do some grocery shopping.  Now we have lunch food and snacks for you in the fridge.  There is sandwich makings and bread, fruit, vegetables to make a salad. There should be enough of that for a week. We have some left over broccoli slaw that you may eat. If you don’t want it, please throw it out.  The garbage can is around back, so please use it when appropriate. There is a supply of garbage bags in the pantry.  We ask that you give the workman access to the house if they need to use the toilet. They can eat at the table should it be raining, but you will be responsible for making sure everything gets cleaned up after the meal.  We have an entertainment room with a lot of movies that you are welcomed to watch if you stay over.  Here are the keys to the vehicles which they may need to move when painting the garage.  Your job is to make sure none of our stuff walks off nor the house gets trashed with construction debris.  Here is your money for doing this for us.  You have our cell phone numbers. Make yourself at home.  Oh, would you like some coffee or some breakfast?

A New Life

Chapter 29 – Sunday of Arts, Artifacts and Gardens

The family got up in their usual manner, showered and dressed to go out in dressy casual clothing.  Angie had gotten up early and gone for a run. Bette and Tina were busy preparing a big breakfast for her when she got home.  Once breakfast was finished, Bette and Tina cleaned up the kitchen and put a load of laundry in the washer.

Angie went upstairs to get her shower and dress.  She came back downstairs and was ready to go about 15 minutes earlier than anticipated. All were dressed in good walking shoes and casual clothes as they planned a lot of walking. They loaded the vehicle and started to the Huntington Art Gallery, Museum and Gardens.  The drive would take a little more than 45 minutes.

Once at the facility, Bette suggested that they visit the gallery and museum first then have lunch then visit the gardens.  Bette purchased the tickets for entry and then went through to the art gallery area. There were two sections. One was the permanent collection and the other was the temporary collection which displayed various regional artist of the area.  The museum contains some 250 two-dimensional art pieces and another 50 three-dimensional pieces of various sizes and mediums. Tina admired the sculptures of stone.  There were several nude women statues which Bette and Tina thought were truly some of the bests they had ever seen.  Bette noted the artist as she thought about commissioning a sculpture for their new home.  Angie listened to her moms and asked questions about the various pieces. Bette was impressed with Angie’s interest and apparent knowledge of art techniques.

Bette made note of several other artist in the temporary collection as she wanted more information for possible future reference when she became the Executive Director of the Peabody Arts Foundation. Bette still wanted to promote young artist which she saw had obvious talent.

Tina saw many that she thought were beautiful and expressive. She told Bette about the ones she really liked. Bette made note as they might find something available for their new home at some future date. Bette smiled as she knew that Tina had a good eye for the best pieces in a collection.

A New Life

Chapter 28 – Construction Begins 

Next morning, Tina bounded out bed with renewed energy. Bette was a little slower.  They headed out for their run. It was still dark, but the streetlight provided enough light to run down the sidewalk.  Bette and Tina ran for a little more than an hour and returned home to start breakfast. Angie would be in about 6:30 and would be ready to eat at 6:45. Bette and Tina consumed a second bottle of water before they started the breakfast.

Bette:  Perhaps one of us should go and do our grocery shopping. We need to get about 15 cases of water for the construction guys.  We need to get the food for Pierce’s lunches and snacks and Angie’s afternoon snacks.

Tina: Well, why don’t you go. You’ll need your big SUV to carry all that water.

Bette:  Why don’t you go, and I’ll start on the rest of my closet while you are gone? Just take my vehicle.

Tina:  Okay. But I’m going to need help unloading that water.  I’ll get help at the store getting it loaded.

Bette:  Maybe we can get some of Mark’s crew to unload it and put it in the garage, so they have access to it.  You may have to park on the street when you comeback.  Maybe I should move my car to the curb now before they get here?

Tina:  Yeah, that’s a good idea.

Bette got her keys from the rack and went out into the garage. She parked her car right in front of Angie’s car. The construction crew was pulling up as Bette entered the house.

Bette: Construction crew is here. They may be out of here by lunch.

Tina:  Well, Mark did say they would have a short day today. Pour the cement and smooth it out.

Bette:  Yeah, but that is a lot of cement. That floor is going to be two foot thick. And I don’t think they can back the truck up close enough to just pump it out of the truck into that pit. But maybe they can. They have about 10 guys out there.

Tina:  How about helping me with these strawberries.  Or you can go ahead and make Angie a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Put it in one of those self-sealing plastic bags. I send her some strawberries as well.

A New Life

Chapter 27 – A Busy Week

The next morning, Bette and Tina got up and put on their running clothes and made their run. Once back at the house and after consuming a couple of bottles of water, they both began to prepare breakfast for the family. Today, would be scrambled eggs, link sausage, cheesy grits, melon and toast.  Bette questioned whether Angie would eat the grits.  Tina said told Bette that if she didn’t it would be fine. She was in the mood for grits and she would be serving them. Bette laughed. Tina then told Bette what a difficult time she had had finding grits as they simply were not carried by their local grocery store.  She had to resort to Amazon to order them and have them delivered.

Angie came in and went through her cool down routine and then joined Bette and Tina at the breakfast table.  When she asked what the new dish of a white grainy substance with cheese was, Tina tried to explain.  Tina gave up and suggested that she just try them.  If Angie didn’t like them, then she would eat them. Angie tasted them and actually like them. Not a whole lot of flavor and a better texture than cream of wheat. She even asked if she could have a second serving which really threw Bette off balance. Bette thought they were okay, but nothing special. With that, Tina announced that she would be serving them from time to time for breakfast. Angie seemed thrilled with that.

Bette:  Well, I guess you can tell that Angie is your child. She loves the grits.

Tina:  Sometimes, you just have to try something with no preconceived ideas in order to get a true opinion on what you like or don’t like.  Angie has always had a pretty adventurous spirit when it comes to food.  You did that for her by introducing her food from various cultures and dishes which many people have no exposure to. The bottom line is that Angie trust that you nor I would never serve something that was truly awful. She just figures that if we eat it, it must be good.

Bette: Yeah, I guess you’re right.  We did okay in that department, didn’t we?