Life After Love

Chapter Three

"Why don't we do something crazy," I blurted out. Jori turned her attention from the tv over to me.

"Like, get a random drunk tattoo kinda crazy?" She giggled and I smiled, reaching up to gently touch the lilies on my neck.

"No, like real crazy. You should quit your job."

"Excuse me, what?" She laughed and swatted my arm playfully. "Not all of us get alimony from our rich lawyer ex husbands." I rolled my eyes at her and swatted at her hand. The sale of my house left me a good nest egg to put away, and she was right, I was getting alimony. It had been two months since the papers were finalized, and honestly, I was starting to feel a lot better about the whole thing. I was finally starting to have more good days than bad. I think living with Jori has helped with that. 

"C'mon, just do it! You could sell this place for so much more than you bought it for, you'd have a decent amount to put away then." She was still smiling but I could see the shock and nervousness in her eyes. "Think about it, Jori. You hate your job. You don't even really like this city, and this house is definitely not you vision of a 'forever home'. So, why not?" She shifted uncomfortably, I could tell she was nervous. Her smile faltered but didn't leave her face.

"Okay, quit my job and sell my house? Then what, Lyn?" She questioned. She was starting to realize that I was serious, I could see the wheels turning in her mind. She was trying to process without hurting my feelings. "If I do that, we're both out of a house."

"I know, but maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing. What if we just took a while off and got away from all of this. Got away from real life? With the money from both of our houses we'd both have plenty, not to mention my novel is almost finished, and I would still get my alimony. We could adventure for a while before having to come back to reality. Don't you wanna get out of here and experience more of what life has to offer?" She was silent. I could tell she was thinking about it. Though it is surprising that I was the one to push this idea. Between the two of us, Jori was the more adventurous. 'Life is too short to waste it in one place,' she had told me after her first, and only, trip to Los Angeles five years ago. She had gushed about the star walk and the Hollywood sign, the desert countryside and the bustling lifestyle. She swore she would move there someday. But, she never did. And she hasn't taken a trip to anywhere but the bar or the grocery store since. 

"Okay," she said hesitantly, "how do we do it?" I smiled and clapped my hands together. I knew I could talk her into it. 

"Yay! Okay, let's call a realtor and get started. We're going to Eat, Pray, Love this bitch." She laughed and leaned back into the couch.

"You're serious?"

"What's stopping us?"

-

The next day, Jori got a realtor. They came while she was at work, so I showed them around and talked about all the amazing features of her house. Fully upgraded smart home with a sleek modern design and top of the line security system, in a quiet neighborhood close to good schools. It was an easy sell. When she came home that night, they had already posted the for sale sign and it was live on the website.

"Okay, I put my two weeks in," she said as she came through the door, dropping her keys in the bowl on the side table. I looked up at her from my laptop and grinned at her. A fluttering feeling started to bubble in my stomach, rising up through my chest. The excitement was confusing, I was looking forward to our next chapter so much. But the reality of it was scary, too. I had never done anything like this obviously, and the more the years passed by, it felt like a long off daydream. That one thing you had wanted so badly as a child, but became increasingly unrealistic in your grown life. Here it was, my chance. Dangling in front of me and begging me to grab ahold of it.