Where Does My Heart Belong? (15 page)

CHAPTER
38

The next morning we meet
with John at the management company.  “Do you have any potential renters?” I
ask him.

“Would you consider
renting the whole house or are you planning to stay?  There was a family from
Oregon in here yesterday that are looking for a 4-bedroom.  The husband’s a
doctor who’ll be working at the Family Health Clinic.  They have two teen-aged
sons.”

“Yes, I’ll rent the whole
thing.  Can you get ahold of them?”

“Sure, they’re staying at
the Eagle River Lodge.  I’ll give them a call right now.  What’s a good time to
bring them around?”

“Any time after 10:00.  I
have an errand to run and then we’ll be home.”

He makes the call and
sets up an appointment for 10:30.  I tell Tony I want to stop at the liquor
store and pick up some empty boxes.

“Does this mean you want
to go back to California, Libby?”

“Yeah, I think so, but no
matter what I decide I need to clean out some stuff and donate it to the good
will.”

We pick up the boxes and
go home to wait for the family.  Dr. and Mrs. Mike Warner, a delightful couple
in their late 40’s, are thrilled with the place.   They spend a long time
looking everything over.  They’re very interested in it but tell me they have
one more house to look at before they make a decision.  John says he’ll call
later when they’ve made up their minds.

“Well,” I ask John, when
he calls.  “Do they want to rent it?”

“Yes, they’ll rent it,
but what they really want to do is buy it.  Would you consider selling?” 

“Wow, I’ve never thought
about selling.  Let me discuss it with Tony tonight and I’ll get back to you in
the morning.  Do they have the money or will I have to wait for them to get
financing?”

“They’ve already sold
their home in Oregon so they’ll be able to cash you out.”

“Great.  I’ll be in
touch.”

Later that night Tony and
I go over my financial records and come up with a selling price. 

“If the Warner’s are
willing to pay this much I think I should go ahead and sell.  If I just rent to
them, they might change their minds about buying if they happen to find
something else that they like better.  I don’t want to lose them.  There’s no
telling when someone else will come along who has this much cash.”

“I think you’re right. 
This is not a large populous area. If that’s your decision, then I’m all for it. 
You don’t know how glad I am that you’ll be coming back to California with me.”

The next day I call John
and give him the price I’ve decided on.  He calls me back in a couple of hours
and says they’ll take it.  They don’t even make a counter offer.  We set up a
time to get together for them to sign an earnest money agreement and then I
order the title report.  My good friend, Paul, in the title company promises to
rush it through and tells me we can probably close in two weeks. 

From then on, it’s a mad
rush to pack up what I want to take back to California and advertise everything
else for sale. 

One day we're working our
butts off getting things boxed up to donate to the senior citizen's second hand
store.  All of a sudden, I get dizzy, everything goes black for a couple of seconds,
and I have to sit down.  I put my head between my knees and hope I don't pass
out.  Tony sees me and rushes over.

"Hey, what's going
on?  What's wrong?"

"I almost passed out
there; I'm feeling a little woozy."

"Come on, lie down
on the sofa.  I'll get a cold cloth for your forehead."

"I'll get you
something to drink," Angie says.  She comes back with a can of beer.

"Oh my sweet baby
girl, what would I ever do without you?" I tell her.

"Daddy, I can't open
this thing," she yells.

"Just hold on, I'll
be right there."  He comes back with a cold wet washcloth and lays it on
my forehead then reaches out for the can.  Angie hands it to him and just as
he’s about to opens it, he realizes what it is.  "Oh, no, no, no, she
can't have this, what were you thinking?"

"I thought she’d
like a beer.  Libby likes beer, Daddy.  There’s nothing else in there, the cans
are all the same.  There must be hundreds of them."

"I know she likes
beer, but in her condition, she shouldn't have it."

"Are you the beer
police, now?”  I ask him.

"Yes, as a matter of
fact, I am."

"What condition? 
She’s just lying on the couch. What's wrong with her, Daddy?"

"She almost passed
out.  The beer might make her worse.  Why don’t you bring her a glass of
water?”  She heads for the kitchen.

"Whoo, I thought for
a minute there you were going to tell her about the baby.  I glad you didn’t. 
She’ll blab it to your folks and I want to wait a while before I tell anyone."

“I won’t say a thing. 
You decide when the time is right.”

  After Angie comes back
with the water, I tell them that once I’m feeling better I want to show them
around Eagle Valley and introduce them to my friends and the animals I left
behind.

“We’ll go tomorrow if
you’re feeling better.  I’d like to meet your friends, Chris and Barb, and
Angie will love seeing the animals.”

The next day I’m feeling
fine so we go to Chris and Barb’s.  Chris and Tony hit it off and Angie is
thrilled to meet Danny and little Billy G.  I give her a ride on Danny and she
decides she wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up.  She tells Tony that she
wants her own horse when we get home and that she wants Billy G to come and
live with us.  He says he’ll buy her a horse and her own little miniature goat
but Billy G has to stay here, he wouldn’t be happy all by himself at the farm. 

For the next couple of
days I show them all my favorite haunts around beautiful Eagle Valley.  I
discover that Red left behind his camping and fishing equipment so we use it
and spend a two days and nights at a mountain lake and campground.  Girly girl,
Angie, thinks it’s all gross, but Tony has a great time.  “We need to do this
more often when we get back to California,” he tells me.

CHAPTER
39

A
couple of days after our camping and fishing trip I get sick again. 

I
tell Tony that if this keeps up I don't think I'm going to be able to drive my
car all the way back to California.  I guess I could sell it but I need the
stuff I've packed in it and there's no way we can fit all of it in his car.

"I
really don't want you driving that far by yourself anyway, even if you’re healthy. 
Let me think about this for a minute. Okay, I have an idea.  How far is the
nearest commercial airport?"

"It’s
about two hours away, in Yakima."

"Can
I use your phone to call back home?"

"Of
course, you can."

He
goes to the phone in the control room and I hear him make the call but I can't
tell what he's saying.  He’s in there for a long time, almost an hour.  When he
comes back out, he says, "Here's what I've come up with, tell me what you
think.  I’m going to fly my brother, Luis, up here and he will drive your car
back to California.”

"Oh,
my God, Tony, that’s awesome, thank you so much.  Where’s he going to fly into,
Yakima or Spokane?”

“Hopefully
neither, here’s the best part.  Your jet is available.  It’s been in San
Francisco for routine maintenance and it’s free for the next week.  The pilots
are actually on vacation but they’re willing to make the trip up here.  I think
we should use it to fly Luis here and then fly you back home.  That way you
won’t have to spend several days in a car on the road.  The flight attendant,
Sandy, has offered to stay with you at the house until I get back.  Luis and I
can haul ass and be home in two days.  What do you say?”

“Oh
my, yes, let’s do it, how in the world did you manage to pull all this off?”

“I
told you once, baby, I’m a master magician when I put my mind to something.”

“You’re
the most amazing man in the world, that’s what you are.”

“And
you’re good for my ego, sweetheart.  You just keep thinking like that, I won’t
let you down.  Now, let’s do some planning.  Can you find out when the title
company thinks your sale will close?”

“Yeah,
I’ll call them now.”  Just then, the phone rings.  I listen to Paul at the
title company tell me that everything’s done, all I have to do is sign the
papers and he can hand me a nice big fat check.  “Thank you, thank you, Paul. 
I was just getting ready to call you.  I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Woo
hoo,” I yell at Tony.  “That was Paul, it’s done, I just have to sign the
papers.  Will you drive me to the title company?”

“You
bet, that’s fantastic news, let’s go.  Where’s Angie?”

“She’s
asleep on my bed.  I’ll go get her while you get the car started.” 

After
we wind things up at the title company Tony takes us out to dinner and then
it’s back to the house to finalize the travel arrangements.  After talking with
the pilots it’s decided that we’ll leave on Thursday, 3 days from now.  They’ll
pick Luis up in Santa Rosa at 9:00 in the morning and by noon I’ll be on my way
to San Francisco.  Sandy is going to bring me home from the airport in her van,
which means I’ll be able to take most of my personal belongings with me on the
jet instead of sending them with Luis.  Tony calls Luis and gets things set up
with him.  While he’s talking to him, Angie screams out, “Bring cousin Carmen
with you.”  I yell, “Bring Merlot with you.”

When
Tony’s finished talking to him, he tells Angie that Carmen won’t be able to
come.  She’s not at home she’s visiting her other grandparents.  Merlot isn’t
going to be coming either.

“Why,
not,” I ask him.  “Who’s it visiting?”

“Definitely
not with you, that’s for sure.”

“That’s
okay, the jet has a bar, and there is a wine cellar in my house, you know.”

“You
think you are so funny. You must be feeling better.  I think all this fainting
and getting sick has mostly to do with stress.  You were doing so well there
for a while.   It wasn’t until we came here and you had to deal with all this
house stuff that you got sick again.”

“I
think you’re right, I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my
shoulders.  I can’t wait to get back to San Francisco.  Just think I’ll have
two days of pampering by Sandy.  I will be one spoiled pampered princess by the
time you get back, and I can’t wait to fly my jet again.  Oh, I wish we were
going tomorrow.”

“Fly
your jet again?  Do you know how to fly that jet?”

“Yeah,
sort of, the pilot lets me sit in the right chair whenever I fly with them.  He
was giving me instruction until Grandma leased it to them.  I grew up in
aviation.  I held the stick of an airplane long before I ever held the steering
wheel of a car.” 

“Boy,
I learn something new about you all the time.  Do you have a pilot’s license?”

“Not
any more.  I gave it up when I left home and didn’t have a plane to fly any
more.  Besides, it’s just too expensive.  The day of the weekend pilot is
basically over.”

  “That’s
kind of like me and my polo ponies.  After I stopped playing they were just
lounging around but still costing me.  I leased them out the same way your
Grandma did with the jet.”

“Polo,
you play polo?  My God, why haven’t you told me this before?  I’d love to see
you play.”

“I
haven’t played for several years but I’ve got some home movies I can show you.”

“We
need to go riding together some time.  Angie wants to learn so we could go to a
riding stable where they give lessons and have trail rides.  That would be so
cool.”

“I
don’t think you’re going to be doing any riding in the near future, but I’ll
keep it in mind.  I’d like nothing better than taking my two favorite girls
riding.  Now, let’s hit the hay, we’ve still got a lot to do before Thursday
and you need your rest.”

Early
the next day I call the Warner’s who are still living in the motel.  I tell
Betty that we’ll be out of here on Thursday but they’re welcome bring stuff
down and even move in with us before that.  She’s ecstatic and says she’ll be
here with a load of stuff within the hour.  When she gets here Tony helps her
unload her things and then we sit down for coffee.

“I
have one big problem,” I tell her.  I haven’t been able to sell my living room
furniture.  I guess I’ll just donate it to one of the churches for their
rummage sales.  Will you guys help me call around and see who wants it?”

“Forget
that, Libby,” Betty says.  “We’ll buy it from you.  Most of our stuff is still
in storage in Oregon.  To tell you the truth, I like your furniture better than
I do my own.  Consider it sold.”

That’s
it then, everything is done.  Everything is taken care of.  All I have to do
now is wait for Thursday.  We spend the next two days enjoying Betty and Mike’s
company and Betty’s fantastic cooking. 

On
Thursday, we get to the airport just minutes before the jet lands.  I watch as
the door opens and then Luis is bounding down the steps.  I’ve only met him
once but I would know him anywhere, he’s the spitting image of Tony, only 10
years older.  He comes over and he and Tony embrace, pounding each other on the
back, the way that men do.  Then he looks at me and I reach out my hand to
shake his.  “I don’t know how to thank you, Luis, this is one of the best
things anyone has ever done for me.”

“No,
thanks, necessary, little lady, this trip is really a godsend for me.  I need
the time away and getting to spend a couple of days with Junior here is just
icing on the cake.”

The
pilots come over and I introduce them to Tony.  I tell them that I want to show
him the jet and then I have some things to put in the baggage compartment. 

“Show
us where they are and we’ll load them while you show Tony the jet,” John says. 
I take them over to my car and tell them to load everything in the back seat. 
The stuff in the trunk can go with Luis.

After
I show Tony the jet and all my stuff is loaded it’s time to be on the way back
to my beautiful Sea Cliff home in San Francisco.  I can’t wait to get there.