Page 199 of Never Say Never
The awesome part is she didn’t have to worry about cost, and was able to take care of the invoices herself.
“Okay, let me show you where everything is going to go,” she says as the movers greet us.
Three hours later, her house is outfitted with couches, shelving, tables, and even two beds, all set up by the guys.
“Almosthome sweet home,” she says as the delivery people leave.
There are boxes everywhere of smaller, but no less important items, like dishes and pans, that she’s ordered over the last couple of days. Still a ton to organize and unpack, and probably more to order too.
“We thrive in chaos, right, Avie?”
“Too true.”
A knock comes at the door. “Hi, hi,” I hear Grace’s voice say.
It’s round two of today’s visitors as Landon, Rori, Grace, and Johnson arrive. Rori is in her offseason, and everyone decided to chill locally during the bye week, knowing this move was on my agenda.
“We can’t have a trip without you and Avery,” Grace said when I brought it up a few weeks back.
So the whole group is here, other than Connor, who’s now marching through his sophomore year at Princeton.
When they walk in, Landon’s carrying several pizzas and Johnson has a cooler.
“We come bearing gifts,” Rori says, holding some paper bags.
“And I promise you it’s not just the food,” Grace notes with a laugh. “We have some real housewarming presents.”
“Oh, please, it’s just nice that you’re here to support this whole operation,” Avery says, smiling.
“Well, put us to work,” Landon says after he sets the pizzas down, with Johnson nodding.
“There’s plenty of that to go around,” I observe, before directing them to help me with some of the heavier boxes that need to be moved before they’re unpacked.
We do that for about forty-five minutes, Landon and Johnson letting me take the lead on each step and looking to me for their next orders.
Once we’ve finished those tasks, we head back to the kitchen. Avery is stacking the dishwasher with some of the new items for a cleaning, while Grace and Rori are unpacking other boxes.
“I’m starving,” I admit to the group, assuming I’m not the only one.
“Yeah, let’s eat,” Avery agrees, pushing the start button for the dishwasher.
“We brought paper plates,” Grace volunteers, before grabbing them out of one of the bags Rori had.
As we chow down, the conversation turns quickly to questions about Avery’s offseason plans.
“Honestly, I’m excited to have some downtime while Rawley and the rest of you Waves finish the NFL season. I’ll set up the house, get to explore the local area more, and recharge my battery.”
“That sounds nice,” Grace acknowledges.
“Once the NFL season ends, we’ll have at least ten weeks before any Surge duties come into play, so we’re thinking about a Europe trip.”
“I’ve never gone, and Avery only went as a kid, on family vacations,” I add.
Rori puts her fork down. “Ooo, if you can match up the schedules right, maybe you can come to one of my spring tournaments there?”
“Definitely,” Avery adds. They’ve gotten tighter the last few weeks, having hung out a lot since their seasons are both done.
We’ve all finished eating after another ten minutes, and we’re about to get back to work when Grace gets a notification on her phone. She picks it up, and her face twists.
