Keep My Blood Cool

Chapter Three

After his date with Savannah, Romeo got home to an empty house, as expected. Well, empty besides their housemaid, Mrs. Young, who was in the kitchen making dinner.

Despite her last name, Mrs. Young was around her fifties. She was a very friendly lady who has been working for them since they moved there after his mother's death. However, he had never really been nice to her. Actually, he barely acknowledged her existence.

When he came back from the farm as a new man, however, Romeo started being a lot kinder to Mrs. Young, even making small talk, which surprised but pleased the woman. After all, she was nothing but kind to him and she took great care of their house. During his stay at the farm, Romeo had done a lot of house chores due to Savannah's clean freak side, so he now valued the woman a lot more.

"Goodnight, Romeo." Mrs. Young walked to the living room when she heard him arrive. "Dinner is ready. I'm afraid your father won't be here for dinner, he just called saying he got caught up from work." She told him, a hint of disappointment in her face. She was so happy to see how good the farm had been to Romeo, she just wanted his father to see it too. Of course, he would never see it if he never saw Romeo at all.

"Alright, Mrs. Young. Thank you." Romeo said as he took his jacket off and placed the house keys in their usual place. "I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night." He politely said.

The maid nodded and walked back to the kitchen to prepare herself to go home. Romeo, on the other hand, made his way to his bedroom. He set up his new computer and cleared the old one, still leaving it ready for use. When he was done, he went back to the kitchen and served himself some dinner.

Romeo was used to sitting alone in the large, fancy dining room. He was used to eating alone, the sound of the silverware touching the plate being the only thing breaking the silence. He was used to spending the meal scrolling through his phone or just staring at the empty seat in front of his. However, after spending two months at the farm, where he always ate his meals with Jacob and Savannah loudly talking about their day, being back to this house felt extremely lonely. The food didn't taste the same when alone. Alone, the time he spent eating was something he did out of necessity and survival, not a moment of pleasure and sharing.

Who thought Romeo Russel would ever miss the farm? If someone told him that on his first day, he would roll his eyes and tell the person to fuck off. He was born and raised in the city. All his hobbies were in the city, his friends were in the city. What was there for him to do by the countryside? There was no wi-fi, the phone connection was terrible, there were barely any people and there was basically nothing to do in a radius of way too many miles. Not to mention he was there to actually work: wake up at 6am every day, what a nightmare. Not only wake up at 6am, but work with animals all day: clean the stables, milk the cows, pick the eggs, all that gross stuff. No way he would ever like it. Yet, he found himself learning how to love it. Of course, there were things he still disliked, such as waking up so early and working almost all the time. However, the good things made the bad things worth it. He fell in love with the peacefulness, the landscape, the lack of social pressure, not having to live up to anyone's expectations or fight to keep his reputation, the lack of peer pressure, and, most of all, Savannah. In the countryside he found the love of his life, a father figure better than his own and, most importantly, himself. Stepping back from everything and everyone was exactly what he was needing and it worked. He opened up about his mother, he learned to accept his feelings instead of keeping them in, he rediscovered his passion for the piano and finally decided what he wanted to do with his life. So, one could say being sent to the farm was the best thing that could have happened to him.

If he found himself missing the farm, he couldn't even imagine how Savannah was feeling. He wondered if she had had dinner already. He hoped she did. He hoped she was taking good care of herself and not letting the new life mess up with her health. He would make sure she took good care of herself. He promised that to Jacob, after he promised it to himself too. Savannah guided him through the countryside, now it was his way to reciprocate. He wanted her to have the best experience ever in the city, even though he knew the adaptation wouldn't be easy. However, Savannah was a strong girl and there wasn't anything she wasn't capable of.