Run Away With Me

I Don't Even Like Milk

"When are we leaving?" I asked excitedly. Now that leaving was put on the table, I was ready to go.

"Let's let the owners of this place know we are leaving Monday of next week. That give us eight more days here to tie up loose ends, say our goodbyes and leave with a bang." He laughs as I jump into his arms, hugging him.

"Ok, I'll call the rental owners and tell them we are leaving Monday morning. You go through the food and find what needs to get thrown away and what we can live off of for the next week."

"Can we switch? You're so much better with food than I am." I pout. Even though he has been teaching me to cook, I still know next to nothing about it. I could look into a full pantry and see absolutely nothing and Jack can see an entire weeks' worth of food.

I mean, how was I supposed to know you boil the dry pasta to make it edible?

"How will you ever survive without me?"

"I'm just praying my college roommate can cook."

We go our separate ways, Jack to take kitchen inventory and I head for the home office to call the renters.

As it rings, I fire up the ancient looking computer left for guests to use. I suppose they weren't worried about anyone stealing it because it looked like it weighed a hundred pounds.

"Hello?" A soft voice came over the phone.

"Hi, Sarah, this is Maddie Parker, I'm one of the people renting your house on Oceanfront?" I've never actually talked to the owners before. Jack was the one who rented from them but I assumed he gave her my name as well.

"Oh! Yes dear, how can I help you?"

"Jack and I are actually leaving town next Monday. We wanted to let you know and see if there was anything we needed to do before leaving."

"Continuing your adventure, are you? How wonderful." Jack seemed to fill her in on the details of our trip. "No, nothing needs to get done on your part. We have a cleaning crew come in after you and deep clean it for the next guest. As long as all of our things stayed in the house and nothing was broken, you guys are fine. But I assume everything will be great! We have very nosy neighbors around that house that always call us if someone is being too loud. We didn't get one complaint. I was a little worried too. When I spoke to Jack, he sounded young. I'm glad you two were responsible." She sounded cheery, and my gut wrenched. Just add her to the list of people we've lied to in the short time we've been in California.

"Thank you for letting us stay here. Your home is wonderful. I'll miss the beach when we end up going home."

"You'll just have to come visit! Make it a yearly vacation, that's what we do! Albert and I stay in the beach house twice a year. Once with the grandkids and again for our anniversary."

After a bit of polite conversation, Sarah tells me to leave the keys where we found them when we arrived and tells me to have a safe adventure.

When I hang up, I try to look at the search history of the ancient computer, but it's been wiped clean. I know where were going obviously, but there were two other doors and I want to know where they lead to.

With no luck, I shut down the computer not waiting for it to turn black because it was taking forever.

I find Jack in the kitchen with a notebook and a pen writing up recipes for us to eat while were here.

"How is Sarah?" He asks, setting his notebook down and pouring me a glass of milk. At my quizzical expression he says, "It's going bad in a few days, we should drink it."

I take a sip. "She's good. Told me the neighbors, who are usually very picky, were surprisingly happy with their temporary renters." I share a knowing smile with Jack and he goes back to recipe making.

We had originally planned meals for the time we were spending here, but when you have a hundred people coming and going throughout the week, food disappears. Animals.

"Is there anything else I should do before we leave?" I finish my milk and Jack refills the glass.

"We just have to figure out how we are going to say goodbye."