New In The Territories (Book 1) COMPLETED

Chapter 21 Sam

The great mood from the night before stayed with when I woke. Even the dreaded house hunting today didn't faze me in the slightest. Wearing a silk, jade coloured camisole, black slacks with my favourite 3-inch zebra print heels. Not only did I look great but felt fantastic.

With some arm-twisting, and help from Nate, Mady agreed to call an acquaintance of hers to facilitate me in finding a new home. Agreeing to meet in front of his office today at 9 am was a god sent. Only my fourth day in this new town, I didn't want to become a burden by overstaying my welcome. Staying with them was great, but this was not a vacation and I needed my independence. Wanted to start my new life.

Pulling up to the office five minutes early I spotted a balding, short portly man. His dirty blonde thinning hair was in a professional cut, small beady light green eyes. With his pale complexion should have looked washed out with his well-fitted, single-breasted dove grey suit but the bright red power tie balanced out the dullness of the man and his suit, which made him stand out.

"Sam?" Assuming it was the gentlemen in the suit, my attention went to him as I got out of my car. "Umm, yes."

"I'm Bill, Bill Collins, the agent that will be showing you some homes today," he said, walking around the car and offered me his hand.

A nice firm hand shake without any of the previous issues I have got from most of the people of this town. Huh, maybe it was just my nerves after all. "Nice to meet you Mr. Collins," I greeted.

Bill fluffs off the formality. "Please call me Bill. May I call you Sam, or do you prefer something else?"

"Sam is fine," I reassured him.

"Great. Mady didn't go into any specifics on what you were looking for, so I pulled out seven homes for us to see. They have a little bit of everything. I figure the worst thing that can happen is that after we go see them you will have a better idea on what you do want."

"Sounds good. Lead the way, I'm all yours." Following him, to what I thought was to the office; instead going to a cute sporty Mazda, he opened the passenger side door.

Bill noticed the pause in my step. "I thought we would take my car so you can look at the information of each of the houses before we get there," he stated, passing over some papers.

Understanding the convenience of it, even though I wasn't the most comfortable with the idea, I climbed in. If I would have known those were the last four seconds of quiet I was going to have while he walked around the car to get in, I would have insisted in taken my own car. He was a great guy, very friendly, upbeat, and a little too helpful most of the time. He wanted to make sure I seen every inch in every house. If I would have gone on my own, I could have easily seen all these homes in half the amount of time. It was a very long four and a half hours.

By the time we made it back to the office my good mood was straining to stay in place. Liking two of the properties, I arranged to see them again tomorrow on my own. Thankfully, Bill didn't take that to heart, he completely understood, telling me if I wanted to make an offer to contact him.

I didn't remember it being this taxing looking at houses when I bought my first and only home. It probably didn't help that I compared all seven homes to my former one. I did have to admit the two I did like were completely different from each other and my old one.

Practically bolting out of the man's car before he found something else to talk about, I quickly shook his hand, said thanks, and then waved over my shoulder trying to keep a steady pace without running.

Stomach demanding food, I decided to stop at the first place I saw. Spotting a decent size patio with a few customers sitting, enjoying the sun as they ate, I pulled into a spot just past the restaurant. Walking up, I glanced up at the sign and had to do a double take to make sure I read it properly. What kind of name is Furball's for a restaurant? Debating on trying somewhere else that sounded a little more appetizing, my stomach protested so loud I wondered if anyone else heard. The odour that followed as a young girl who walked out the restaurants door was absolutely mouth water; my stomach may be onto something.