Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 102: Unlock It

Courtney falls asleep again not long after she gets home, and just as she'd predicted, with a half-written text to Shayne on her phone, not yet sent. The sleep helps, though, and she almost feels like she's back to normal when she's woken much later in the evening by a hand on her shoulder and Shayne's soft voice calling her name.

"Hey, Shayne," she mumbles, reaching out for him, smiling softly and pressing closer when he shifts himself down onto the bed and pulls her into his arms.

"Hey, love, Ian let me know what happened. How are you feeling now?" he asks.

"Almost normal, just a little vaguely... off, nothing specific," she answers, carefully, "what time is it?"

"Just after five, you been asleep for a while? Ian said Damien brought you home a few hours ago."

"Yeah. I was gonna text you too, fell asleep before I sent it though, it's why I got Ian to text you too," she tells him, Shayne humming in acknowledgement as he presses a kiss against the top of her head.

"I was thinking, if you want to try and see a different doctor – you could try seeing mine? He's a guy, not sure whether that matters, but he's usually decent. Not that I see him often, but, yeah, if you do want to see someone else?" Shayne offers.

"Yeah, that might be good. I'll do that," she agrees, quickly, before pressing tighter against him, as she decides to change the topic, "so, what's our plan tomorrow?"

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It's not abnormal for them to finish early on a Friday afternoon, and conveniently, they do just that. Courtney's car had ended up staying at work overnight, so they take both their cars back to their apartment after they finish, grabbing just one particular box they'd specifically packed for this night before they drive to the real estate agent's offices.

The previous owners of the house have already been by to do their part of the finalisation, they're told, and the bank has already handled the payment side of it for them, but Shayne and Courtney sit at the round table in the agent's office and sign most of the final contracts, before being handed a small bag full of all the existing keys and garage fobs, and a folder of documents.

"There's just one more thing in there you need to sign, a handover condition report – you just need to get that back within 14 days, and note down any issues with condition of the place, although your inspector has already given the all-clear on most fronts and there was professional cleaning done yesterday, so it should be fine," the agent tells them, both nodding along in understanding, "and with that, we're all done!"

"Great," Shayne nods, the excitement simmering audibly in his tone. They don't say much more, but the agent wishes them well, tells them to call with any issues, and they all say goodbye as Shayne and Courtney step outside and back to their own car.

"Well- let's go to our new house, hey?" Courtney grins, gripping over to squeeze his thigh in excitement before she turns the key in the ignition to start driving there. It's right on 5pm, so it takes longer than they'd like to get from the agent's offices back to the house, but forty minutes later they both stand at the front door, nerves and excitement buzzing between them.

"You wanna unlock it? Or me?" Shayne asks, holding up a key from the bag they had been given.

"You do it," Courtney tells him, bouncing slightly on her feet as Shayne twists the key in the lock, pushing the door open when it clicks unlocked, and gesturing for Courtney to step in before him. She does that, but he quickly follows, closing the door behind them again as he steps in beside her in the entryway.

It looks a little different to the last time they were there, with no furniture and having evidently been cleaned to spotless perfection very recently, but still, they both laugh in uncontained excitement as they move forwards, Shayne's hand slipping into Courtney's, to wander through the hallway into the main living area.