Chapter 1 The First Trip

Serenity climbed out of the truck and pulled her debit card out of her wallet. She had told Kristoff to stop off at the only gas station in the small town of Ripley before they headed out to the new house. They would need ice for the coolers and she didn't want to be stuck 15 miles outside of the small town with under a quarter of a tank. As she swiped her card to pay, she noticed that Kristoff was still sitting in the driver's seat of the truck.

"Hey, do you want to run in and grab a few bags of ice while I'm pumping the gas?" she asked Kristoff. She was used to scenarios like this, where he would just leave everything to her. After 8 hours of being cooped up in the truck, she was already annoyed with everything. It was 8 PM on a Friday evening and she had worked 6 hours before he picked her up and they set out on their adventure. Although she knew this was the plan they had made for every week going forward until the new house was ready to live in, this first trip already seemed too long. Serenity thought to herself, 'I can make it. I just have to adjust to this new routine. Once the house is livable, I will get somewhat of a break.'

Kristoff came out of the gas station and threw a bag of ice in each cooler and they were ready to hit the road for the last leg of the drive to the new house. Serenity watched the scenery pass her by as she quietly anticipated their arrival to the new house. Kristoff had agreed to move to the Ripley area with her as long as she found a property that already had a home on it. Once she found the old Sutter home online, they made a trip to Ripley to see the home and property. Serenity immediately fell in love with what it could be with time and work. Kristoff was skeptical but agreed since this was Serenity's dream and not his. They had lived in separate homes for the 5 years of their relationship and neither were sure of where this move would take them. Serenity had hoped that after her children were off on their own, Kristoff would commit to the cultivating of their relationship and they would find a way to live harmoniously together in 'their' house. All of these thoughts tumbled through her mind as she watched the forests and occasional small farm pass by her window.

Suddenly Serenity realized that Kristoff had started to slow the truck. She came to attention as the mailbox marking the driveway of their new home came into view.

The property had trees lining the road in front of the house and yard, but you could still see the house and outbuildings from the road. As the sun was getting close to setting, Serenity thought to herself that they needed to get the exterior lighting going as soon as possible. Once it got dark out, it would be impossible to navigate the property around the house.

As they pulled down the long drive, Serenity held her breath in anticipation. They had already toured the house and the cleared portion of the property prior to Serenity making the purchase, but it felt different to approach the house as her own. She had never actually owned a house while her kids were younger. Raising her kids alone had taken every penny she had and then some. They had on and off financial issues, though they always made it through and always had what they needed. She just had never had the opportunity to focus on credit and saving until the last five years or so. As her kids became adults and she helped them get going on their own, she was finally able to start saving and thinking about the future.

The truck came to a stop near the side door. Serenity slowly exhaled and grabbed her door handle. Kristoff scoffed, "we better get in there and get things set up so we have somewhere to sleep before it gets any darker out." Serenity opened the back door for her dog and Cinnamon quickly leaped out and started sniffing. Serenity unlocked the door and they went inside the house.