chapter one

November 25, 2011

The ripping sound of tape filled the silence as Kasey Summers secured the flaps on the top of the very last packing crate. Checking her watch, she sat back on the floor, grinning in satisfaction. She'd finished the job in record time and Adam wasn't due to arrive for another few minutes, or so she thought.

Just as she was about to heave a big sigh of relief, there was a frantic knocking at her door. It didn't take long for the door to burst open with Adam letting himself in, a piece of paper folded up in his shirt pocket. "I got the rental van outside so we can load up everything in one trip." He seemed very happy, nothing new for him generally. But even moreso at the moment.

"Awesome," she rose from the floor, stretching her stiff muscles before moving through the maze of boxes to join him at the door. His happy mood was definitely infectious as she found herself grinning even before she wrapped her arms around his neck and stretched up to kiss him. "You seem pretty chipper. I didn't know moving my junk was that exciting an occasion."

"Oh, it's not!" He responded with a smile, scooping her up off her feet with a smile and weaving back to where her couch was, plopping himself down and hugging her on his lap. "We haven't signed a new lease on the apartment yet, but we may not have to. Don't tell anyone..." He looked around as though there were people trying to hear him when he whispered, "I'm going to be a millionaire!!" He continued to look around, still searching for those imaginary eavesdroppers.

"You're going to be a millionaire?" She echoed, sounding a bit incredulous even as she wondered just what sort of harebrained scheme he was getting himself into this time. "Did someone die and leave you a giant inheritance?"

"No! I got an email today." Adam's face was positively aglow as he spoke. "From royalty! I'm the descendant of a very wealthy man that died! Which is really strange, because I thought all my relatives lived in New Jersey." He gave her body a little squeeze. "Anyway, when I get the money, we'll get us a big place with....two bathrooms....and....a yard.....other stuff rich people have."

"Royalty?" She squinted at him, trying to soften her words, "Adam, honey, are you sure it's legitimate and not just another scam?"

"Heck no! Scams take your money, not try to give it to you." He shook his head, looking at Summer as if she were being silly. His hand reached up and stroked her cheek, pushing a strand of hair away from her face. "I'm going to inherit....fifty million dollars! I just gotta go pick up the money!"

"Fifty million dollars!" She gasped in surprise, knowing that an amount that big definitely sounded too good to be true. "Where do you have to go to pick it up?"

"Nigeria!" He beamed, looking very pleased with himself. "I've been there before! My parents took me to see their waterfall up in New York when I was a kid. I didn't even know people lived there! It's really cool! They have...all this water! And it's falling into a river!"

Kasey stifled a laugh, nuzzling against his neck instead. "I think that's Niagara. It's pronounced a little differently." Smiling, she was clearly amused by his mistake, "Nigeria is in Africa... I think."

That brought a look of confusion to his face as he looked down for a moment. "Wow, that's a really long way to go! But it's worth it for that kind of money. After your match, I'll go get it and come back and we'll be rich and do stuff rich people do! I just have to go there and bring him the money order." That would have been what was sticking out of his pocket, which he showed her to the amount of $1500. "That's my savings!"

"Wait..." her eyes fastened on the money order as he waved it in her face, "Adam, I thought you said this Nigerian King was giving you money, not stealing your life savings?"

"Well you have to pay taxes on money! Just like when you get a paycheck, the government takes your money to pay taxes. I didn't realize tax on fifty five million dollars was so cheap!" He nodded as though that was the unbelievable part of this. "Think what we could do with that much money? I could get a subscription to all my favorite comics....and we could get Netflix! They say you can watch any movie anytime you want!"

"Adam," she shook her head, knowing it was useless to try and drill sense into his head on this thing. Instead she quickly changed the subject, "I was thinking about something really important earlier that I wanted to ask you about. Since I'm moving to that new place and it's a whole lot bigger than this one," she paused, looking up at him with a super serious expression, "do you want to officially move in with me?"

Adam sat in silence, furrowing his brow as he seemed to be deep in thought. "You want me to move in with you? Okay, sure! I can sleep on the couch since you only got the one bed." He gave a little smile, looking down to the money order and putting it back into his pocket. "Does your new place officially have Netflix?" Before an answer could be heard, he chimed in again. "I officially accept. I should officially get some boxes and stuff then, huh?"

"You don't have to sleep on the couch. I kinda..." she blushed as she looked away from him, "I kinda hoped you wanted to share my bed. And if you want to get Netflix we can. I mean, I think I can afford that now that I'm back working for Samantha Star."

"That sounds great! And sleeping with you is good too! I don't really like sleeping on the couch at my apartment, but sometimes I forget to make the bed so I have to." He gave her body a little squeeze. "My mom used to tell me an unmade bed is not worth sleeping in. So I don't. Besides my couch is a little small anyway, it's only got two seats! And when I turn over in the night, I tend to knock the lamp over."

She giggled at the image of his big feet hanging over the edge of that tiny loveseat of his, and gave him a little squeeze back, "then it's official. You can share my bed and I promise to make it every day so you don't have to sleep on the couch. And Adam?" she bit her lip for a second, and then blurted out her next question, "I think maybe it's time we made things a little bit more official by getting a joint bank account."

"Okay, but I don't think that's a good idea. I don't even like to drink!" He responded, but then explained. "This homeless guy outside my building is always complaining about the joint across the street, but all they sell is alcohol. I didn't even know they had a bank in there!" He seemed surprised by that. "You sure they are going to let us open an account there?"

Kasey stared at him, clearly confused, "no... wait. There are no homeless people at the Bank of America; at least I didn't see any. I just meant an account that we share. I'm not really interested in starting a tab at some gin joint... unless it has good chicken wings. Then maybe...." she waved her hand before she got sidetracked into his absurd tangent. "I just thought maybe, if you're going to be a millionaire, we should take better care of your money than burying it in a jar in the backyard."

"That makes sense then. We'll get an account at the Bank of America. I saw them on the news the other day. They give you $5 every time you use your debit card. That's a lot of money over like....a week! I don't even see how they stay in business." With that happy smile on his face still, he gave her a kiss as he held her.

"Maybe their CEO is a descendant of Nigerian royalty, too?" She joked, snuggling against him as she kissed his lips and then strayed to his cheek, sighing against his skin. Breathing in slowly, she willed the passionate moment to pass, knowing that if she didn't they were definitely not going to get these things moved tonight. The prospect of moving and getting back into the FFW ring was making her really excited. It was all about changes for the better.

"I heard about one of the girls you work with now on TV today...on the Today Show! That Al Roker guy was talking about her. She must be really good!" He responded, patting her leg as he looked down into her face. "During the whole segment, he kept talking about how Windy Breeze is going to be all over the Pacific Northwest, but I thought the show was in Dallas."

"It is in Dallas... but you know, I think she might be from Ohio or something so maybe that's what he meant." She grinned, clearly thrilled to be back among the best in the business, "maybe they'll talk about me on that show someday! Wouldn't that be so awesome? Then you can tell everyone that you're with a celebrity."

He just gave a shrug. "It doesn't matter to me if you are a big star or working somewhere else. You could be doing anything you wanted, and…" he smiled down at her. "I love you no matter what."

"I'm glad because I love you, too," she whispered, giving him a huge hug. It was always comforting to know that no matter what, he was truly her biggest fan.