My Life After the Disaster

Chapter Seventeen

-The Next Day-

-Friday, August 10th, 2023-

I had an amazing day with Alexia yesterday. After breakfast we decided to watch a movie together in my aunt’s living room. Guinevere came down and joined us, even made some popcorn to watch the movie with. By the time night fell it was time for Alexia to head home because she had classes in the morning.

Now I’m all dressed and I’m going out for a walk by myself. My aunt decided to stay home this time. I had breakfast already and spent some time talking with my aunt. Now I just want some peace and quiet as I walk about the city.

My phone starts ringing and I see that it’s Annabelle so I pick it up and enthusiastically say, “Annabelle! What’s going on. Usually I’m the one calling you.”

Annabelle laughs and says, “Something just came to me and I needed to contact you. I have a situation here and I believe you can help me with it. Do you know of any buildings around there that are up for sale?”

I think about it for a second and say, “Actually now that I’m thinking of it, there is one not far from me. Were you looking into buying property out here?”

“Yes. I’m opening another women’s shelter out there. To help abused women that need to get out of province. It creates a secondary level of safety. Would you be able to get in contact with the people selling the building and direct them to me. I’d also like you to help set it up and run it for me since that’s where you live. Once you move out here you can find someone you trust to run and manage the shelter,” she tells me.

I hear some talking in the background but I can’t quite make it out. Sounds like a woman but they’re too far away to be heard through the phone.

“I think I can do that. Alexia could help too. She loves this kind of stuff. I’m going to go check it out now. I’ll talk with you soon. Love you girl. You’re amazing,” I tell her, hanging up the phone.

I guess I choose the perfect time to go for a walk. Now l just make my way towards that building I saw the other day. Hopefully it’s still for sale.

After walking a bit further I come across a big complex looking apartment building. I see there’s still a for sale sign in front of it and pull out my phone to make a call to the number on the sign.

“Hello, this is Alexander Cormier. Who am I speaking to and how can I help you today?” A male voice answers.

“Hi, this is Rose Wood. I calling you about the apartment building you’re selling. I have a friend in New Brunswick looking to buy it from you.”

“Oh, that’s great to hear. Are you at my complex building right now?” He asks me.

“I am, I’m standing in front of the building. Why?” I ask him.

“I’ll be right over. I’d much rather talk in person. I can get all the information from you that I need once I get there.”

The call goes dead. He hung up without saying another word.

I guess I’ll just stand around here as I wait for him to show up. I decide to sit down in the grass rather than stand around tiring my legs out.

Soon enough a car pulls up and parks on the side of the road. It comes to a stop and a man gets out. He’s tall, has short black hair that’s styled backwards, his skin is white as if he doesn’t get a lot of sunlight, or his skin just doesn’t take well to tanning. He’s wearing a black suit with a white dress shirt and a blue tie. He has sunglass on so I can’t see his eyes. He walks over to me with a dazzling smile on his face and says, “Hi, you must be Rose. I’m Alexander but you can call me Alex. He extends his hand out to me.

I take it, getting up off the ground and say, “I am. It’s nice to meet you. Do you have something you can take the information down with?”

“How about we go inside out of this heat to talk about it,” he tells me, reaching his arm up to point at the building.

“Alright. I guess we can do that. Though there isn’t much to talk about,” I tell him as we walk towards the building.

He takes out a ring of keys and grabs one, putting it into the door and unlocks it, pulling the door open. He steps aside and says, “After you.”

I step passed him and walk into the building. It looks amazing. “So, my best friend called me about an hour ago. She ask me about any buildings that were for sale out here. I thought of this one cause I passed by it the other day,” I tell him, leaning against the wall.

“Okay, what is your friends name?” he asks me, pulling his sun glasses off, revealing his light blue eyes with a ring of brown around Gus iris.

“Her name is Annabelle Richardson,” I tell him, trying not to look at him, he was making me rather uncomfortable.

He takes out his phone and starts going though it, typing something out. “Now, what’s her phone number so I can get in contact with her?” he asks me, looking straight at me.

I pull out my phone and open up my contacts, selecting Annabelle’s. I then show it to him and say, “This is it. You can give her a call any time she’ll be expecting it. Just let her know who you are and why you’re calling.”

He starts tapping his phone again, likely putting the number in then puts his phone away and says, “Alright. Could I get your number now so I can contact you if I need to?” he asks me.

I sigh and say, “Shouldn’t you already have my number in your phone? I called you before you came over here.”

“Oh, yes. Right. I’ll just add that to my contacts,” he says, pulling his phone back out to start tapping the screen again.

“Okay, if that’s all, I’ve got a walk to finish. Thanks,” I tell him as I make my way towards the door.

“Thanks a lot Rose. Enjoy your walk,” he tells me as he sticks his phone back into his pocket.

I open the door to go outside and hurry out of there, going the opposite way to make sure he wasn’t watching where I was going.

I turn up the next street and go back towards my aunt’s place. Getting back home just in time for lunch. I definitely worked up an appetite.

“Hey Rose, I was beginning to think you had been kidnapped again. That was a long walk. You were gone for two hours. Maybe longer. I’m making lunch right now. It’ll be ready any minute,” Guinevere tells me as I close the door and take my shoes off.

“Yeah, I got a call from Annabelle about buying a place out here. I went to talk to the person selling the building up the street. I took a detour to get back home which prolonged my walk. What’s for lunch, it smells great?” I ask her as I walk into the kitchen.

“I’m making spaghetti and garlic bread. The garlic bread is in the oven and the spaghetti is just about finished. I’m just waiting for the sauce to warm,” she tells me, stirring the sauce.

I grab some plates out of the cupboard and place them on the table to help my aunt. Then I go to the fridge and take out a pitcher of water, pouring it into a glass to take a big gulp of it. I drink the whole glass and pour myself some more, feeling insanely thirsty.

“Did you see the inside of the building?” she asks me as I put the water pitcher back into the fridge.

“Just right inside. I didn’t explore it. The man made me kind of uncomfortable. But he was charming, if you’re into that kind of thing. He looked to be in his mid twenties. So he’s older than me, but still pretty young to be owning a building,” I tell her, sitting down at the kitchen table.

“Didn’t you just say Annabelle wanted to buy the building. She’s only 18. If you have the money you can buy anything you want, no matter how old you are,” she tells me, turning the oven and stove off. She grabs the plates one by one and covers them in food, placing them back on the table.

“I guess you’re right. I hadn’t really thought about that because Annabelle is rich. I don’t know anything about this Alexander Cormier guy. But he definitely looks rich. He was wearing a fancy black suit and had his hair slicked back,” I tell her, grabbing my fork to pick up my spaghetti.

“I might of heard of him. He’s not from around here. He’s from Alberta but he came out here to spread his money around and build it further. Something like that. Apparently he’s a good looking guy too. He’s 25,” she tells me, sitting down at the table.

I nod my head and just eat my food. My aunt is such a good cook. I love everything she ever makes. Mmm, this is so good.

We finish eating our lunch not really talking any further and the day moves on. Soon enough Alexia finishes school for the day and comes over.

I bring her into my room and tell her all about Annabelle’s call from earlier and what she wanted me to do. She was really excited about it and agreed right away to help out.

Then my phone starts ringing and I see it’s Alexander. I pick up right away. “Hey Alex, what are you calling me for?” I ask him, not quite sure why he would need to talk with me.

“I just completed the sale of the apartment complex to your friend Annabelle, she instructed I give you the keys. I’ll need and address to drop them at,” he tells me, sounding cheerful.

“Okay,” I respond, giving him my aunt’s address. Then the call ends and I put my phone into my back pocket.

“He’s on his way here?” Alexia asks me, looking at me curiously.

“Yeah, he’s handing me the keys for the place. It’s an apartment complex so there’s a lot of keys,” I tell her, getting up off my bed. “I’m going to wait out front for him. Would you like to come with me?”

Alexia gets up off the bed and says, “Of course, I’m not going to let you meet up with him on your own. Not after what you told me.”

We walk out of my room and head outside. Soon enough Alexander’s car pulls up and he gets out of the car, smiling that same dazzling smile as he walks over to us with his ring of keys.

“Here you are. Enjoy,” he tells me, handing me the keys. “I’ve got somewhere to be so it was nice to meet you. Have a great rest of you day. He turns around, pulling his phone out and gets back into his car.

Alexia and I head back into the house and my phone starts ringing. This time it’s Annabelle, likely calling to confirm I have the keys.

I pick up the call, giddily saying, “Hey Annabelle? What’s up? Calling to confirm finally sale?”

“Yes. Alexander just called me and said everything is all settled and that he handed off the keys to you. Can you confirm that you have them?” She asks me, sounding nervous.

I jingle the keys around and say, “I have them right here in my hands.”

“Good. Can you and Alexia go to a*****e and pick up all new locks? I don’t know that guy and something about him just feels a bit off. I don’t fully trust him and I want to make sure the shelter is safe. If all the locks are replaced then there’s no way he can get in there without someone else letting him in,” she tells me, continuing, “I can pay for them. I just need them bought now so they can be changed over.”

“We can do that. Don’t even worry about the payment. We can pay for it. And it’ll be fun. We’re going to find out how many locks we’ll need then we’ll head to the store,” I tell her, looking over at Alexia. “Thanks for trusting in us. I’ll talk with you later.”

“Wait Rose,” she tells me before I can hang up.

“What is it?” I ask her, curious what she could have to say.

“I’m coming out there to do the installation. But I can’t come out till tomorrow. Do you think you could meet me at the airport? I’m going to be bringing my brother and sister with me,” she tells me, sounding serious.

“Seriously? I get to meet your sibs? Of course I can meet you at the airport. This is so exciting! You’ll get to meet Alexia! You’re going to love her! I can’t wait! I’ll let Guinevere know so we can borrow her van,” I tell her excitedly.

“Sounds great. I’ll book the flight tonight so we can leave in the morning. I’ll see you then,” she tells me, ending the call.

I turn to Alexia and say, “Are you up for some shopping?”

“What are we buying?” she asks me, only being able to hear half of the phone conversation.

“Well, first we’re going to head over to the new apartment complex Annabelle just bought and count how many doors there are. Then we’re going to the store to buy new door knobs, the kind that lock, the same amount as the ones in the apartment. Annabelle is coming here tomorrow. She’s going to change all the locks in that place,” I tell her, nearly jumping where I stand.

“What are we waiting for them. Let’s get out of here and go over there,” she tells me, turning back to the door.

I call out to my aunt to let her know I was going out and wouldn’t be back for awhile then I took off with Alexia in her car to go back to the apartment building Annabelle had just bought.