Chapter 1

My name is Lonnie and I’m an average looking guy, 5’ 10”, and 170 lbs. I retired a couple of years ago due to some good investments in the stock market and real estate. My wife, Bobbie died a couple of years ago just before I retired. She had a great job with lots of benefits and insurance that took care of both of us for years. I was lonely in our large house on the westside of Atlanta and wanted to do something different. I decided to go to Charleston, SC for a visit. We had been there as a couple a few times together and I loved the area. There were three colleges in the area and many beautiful young women for some reason. I always wondered why sexy young women walked down the streets constantly. We always stayed in the historic district when in Charleston and that’s the only explanation I can come up with.

I decided to go to Charleston and stay at our favorite hotel in the old historic district of the city. The place was quaint and yet modern with that part of the city. Settling into a hotel on Meeting Street and found a little café on King Street a block or so away. Charleston seemed a great place to settle for a while and I may even decide to stay, who knows. I didn’t really want to go back to the memories of the west side of Atlanta and Bobbie being gone. I had locked up the house and had a lawn service start mowing the lawn when I left but I was not sure what I wanted to do with the 5-bedroom house Bobbie and I had lived in.

A week in Charleston and I started feeling more at home. I read, mostly at some of the parks or places that had wifi and I wrote. I love writing about my experiences and things I encounter and do. Not a big writer but more a blogger that has dreams of writing someday. I found a little café not far from the hotel and started frequenting there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I mostly ate breakfast and dinner depending on my mood and hunger. I walked the area some and found a few for sale signs along the areas of side streets that connected to King Street that had some potential. I walked along a different way back to my hotel every day looking for different paths and more opportunities to get to know the neighborhood.

I visited the same café every day for almost two weeks and started to get to know the wait staff. Casey was the young server assigned to my table almost every day I went there and I always left her a very good tip. We chatted and got to know each other a little more every day. She was a college student barely making ends meet and sharing a room at a house a few blocks down with another girl who is also a student. She was a very pretty, 20 year old girl, blond, about 5’ 3” and 110 lbs and full of life and energy. She was a naturally happy person that seemed to bounce as she walked.

She was a sophomore in college studying biology on a partial scholarship, which she was in danger of losing because of her grades. She had to work so much to make ends meet that it was cutting into her study time. I felt sorry for her because I knew what it was like to be a struggling student. Over twenty-five years earlier, I had graduated with a BS from a University in Atlanta. It was a struggle then like it is a struggle for young college students now.

I had located a small, two-bedroom house a couple of blocks off King Street near the café and within walking distance to the college. The house was barely over 1200 square feet and the bedrooms were small but adequate since I lived alone. I could put a small desk in the smaller bedroom and make it my office. I scoped out the neighborhood and it seemed Okay, mostly college students and a few permanent locals. I made a couple of calls and got the ball rolling on the house. I made an offer that was accepted immediately and I called for an inspection. Two days later the report came back good and I was sitting in a lawyer’s office writing a check for the full amount of the house. I got the keys after the closing; I went to the café, had dinner, and talked to Casey about it. I asked her to come by and see it but she seemed a little troubled about something. I tipped her well and she thanked me as I left for the hotel.

The next morning I walked to the café, had breakfast, and was able to talk to Casey again. She still seemed troubled but she was pleasant to me. I told her I was going to pick out some furniture for the new house and asked if she would like to tag along with me if she wasn’t doing anything. She said she didn’t have any plans and would like to go with me just to have something to do. I tipped her well and left but came back later in my car at the appointed time and picked her up in front of the café when she was off work. I took her by the house first to show her and give her an idea of the size of the house. I let her know what I was looking for as far as furnishings and decorations. Next, we went to two different stores and picked out furniture for the whole house. It wasn’t difficult because the house was so small. She was very opinionated in helping me pick items and I liked her style and told her. She smiled at me a lot and I really enjoyed hanging out with her. We picked out beds for both bedrooms, a small desk for the second bedroom and a bigger bed for my room. We picked matching kitchen appliances, tables, chairs, and living room furniture. I picked a nice 40 inch flat TV for the living room, which seemed huge for the room and a smaller one for my bedroom. The third and last store we went to was Wally World where I got sheets, towels, shower curtain and a few things for around the house and she helped pick it all out. This stuff would stay in my trunk a couple of days until the furniture was delivered and set up. I asked if she would mind helping me when everything was in and I would pay her. She didn’t want to accept my money but I knew she needed it and I would make sure she took it.

I was getting hungry after shopping away in the afternoon so I drove us to a nice steak house on the other side of town for dinner to her surprise. We had been so busy shopping and I knew she had to be hungry too. We chatted and got to know each other better as we ate dinner. I really liked Casey, had fun with her today, and told her so. After dinner, I took her home to her apartment to drop her off. I pulled into the parking lot, got out, opened her door for her, and thanked her for all her help today. I leaned in and kissed her cheek as I turned to get back in my car as she touched her cheek with her hand. I waved at her as I pulled away and she waved too as I headed to my hotel a few blocks away. I spent a quiet evening reading and contemplating the next few days and what I needed to do.

The next morning I had my shower, dressed, and headed to have breakfast at the café, as was my usual routine now. Casey was there waiting tables, looked up, and smiled at me when she saw me come in. I found a table in her area, sat down, and waited for her. She made her way over to me, I gave her my breakfast order, and we chatted briefly. I looked up the local cable company on my phone, called them while I waited for my food, and ordered cable TV and wireless internet for the house. They said they could install it the next day. Luckily, that’s when all the furniture was being delivered also. I was planning to spend much of the day at the new house and told Casey as she delivered my breakfast to me. I asked her if she would like to come by after work to check out the fruit of our labor from the day before and she agreed. I left her a large tip and headed out to get more things ready on the house and me moving in a couple of days from now.

The next morning seemed to come quickly as my alarm was going off and I fumbled to turn it off. I wanted to get breakfast a little earlier today because of the deliveries and get set up at my new house. I walked to the café and found a seat at one of Casey’s tables. She grinned and waved at me when she saw me come and sit down. She made her way over to my table and I ordered my usual breakfast. I told her about the deliveries and cable and asked if she would like to come by after work and check it out. She agreed but said she needed to run home first but would drop by after that. I finished eating, left her a large tip, and walked over to the house. I wasn’t there long before a moving van from one of the furniture stores arrived and started unloading my new furniture and setting it up. The cable guy showed up as the furniture guys were finishing up putting the beds together. I told the cable guy where the desk and both TV’s would be set up and he went to work running wires, making connections and setting up my wireless router.