Christie's Homeless Partner Pt. 03

He walks back out into the living room and sees the girls admiring his memories, making him smile down at the picture he's holding.

"When you two left, I got frames for most of them," he says, handing Christie a picture that shows her and Cindy leaning against him. "I thought about taking them with me when I was kicked out, but since I didn't really have anywhere to go, I figured they'd be better preserved staying here and out of the elements until I could arrange a storage solution. Then before I knew it, the locks had been changed, and I remember being scared that everything would be thrown out."

Christie turns her face inwards against his chest, remorseful over causing him that feeling.

He kisses her on the head and holds her by the hip as Cindy comes over to rest on his opposite shoulder.

"Imagine my confusion when that didn't happen."

"I'm sorry we couldn't tell you," Christie says, hugging him tighter. "Your cell service was already shut off by the time this all happened."

"Yeah. I'm just thankful it's all still here," sharing his appreciation through more kisses to both ladies.

Continuing to look around the room, Cindy asks, "Did you ever get a picture with your little kitty friend? I noticed you have a few cat pictures hanging up already."

"Yeah, I got some with him, but they are on my phone. I'd have to go back to where I was staying to get it."

"Well let's go get it then, we can do that on our way to our new property location."

"I'll have to charge it up though. It's been without one for quite a while now."

"That's fine; we can charge it in the car. You just have to tell us where to go."

"Sounds good." He looks around the room once more, "I can always shine this place up later. Not like I'll be entertaining guests here anytime soon."

"You know we'd be more than happy to help you clean up here too, right?"

"You mean make it trample-worthy again?" he asks with Christie in his sights. "I'm sure you would."

Having her guilty pleasures called out lights up her smile again and she is comforted further with a kiss on the forehead and an endearing hug.

Brian then makes sure to bring his prized picture with him and leads the way out, locking up the house behind them.

Back in the car, he sits shotgun this time, calling out the turns with Cindy driving and Christie in the back seat.

Halfway through the trip, Christie exercises her gift again to find out where he's been staying via his memories. What she finds keeps her quiet the rest of the way.

It takes Cindy a little longer to put the pieces together, but with every turn her suspicions become more validated.

"Stop here," Brian says.

With a deep breath, he steps out and closes the door behind him.

In disbelief, Cindy looks back at Christie, "Isn't this..."

Christie simply nods in confirmation.

The ladies get out and follow him over to a spot in the tall grass that is perfectly concaved from where he had been sleeping.

Within arm's reach of that spot, he starts digging through the layers of grass to reveal a small container that he stored his stuff in. Sure enough, his phone is in there and has no charge left.

Christie feels something brush her leg. When she looks down, she doesn't see anything at her feet, nor does she see anything as she looks around the area surrounding the group. Her gift kicks in and leads her eye line to a tail bouncing away from them. Without saying anything, she follows it.

Cindy hears her footsteps trail off, keeping a loose eye on her but stays with Brian as he continues to sift through the other items left in the container. He tries to pull it free from the grass, but the elements have taken their toll on it and it cracks apart.

"Only a matter of time before that happened," he says, relieved that his stuff is mostly fine. He stands back up with his possessions in hand and notices Christie missing. "Where'd she go?"

"Didn't you say you stayed near where you buried your kitty?" Cindy asks.

Brian mentally connects the dots instantly and looks off in the direction of his cat's burial plot. Minutes later they catch up to her.

"How did you know where this was?" he asks Christie.

"We aren't the only ones here," she says looking to him with tears welled up. "This is beautiful," referring to the stones on the ground being arranged in a heart shape around a piece of wood.

"Were either of you two ever going to tell me that you could see ghosts?"

"Only when it became relevant...like it did today."

He smirks and gives her a soft hug before kneeling down to pay his respects, as he's always done.

"Hey buddy," directing his voice towards the plot, "I um, I guess I don't really need to tell you that I'll be fine because you went and found yourself a translator. You couldn't have found a better one," he says looking up at Christie, "she's really pretty and really sweet. Pretty much has a heart of gold."

Christie smiles big as she dabs her tears away.

He looks back down, "We're um....we're on our way to check out a location where I'll be helping these two build their..." his words being corrected by her leg nudging him, "I mean...OUR new home, so I guess my visits here will be limited for a while. I suppose that won't stop you from visiting me, but as we both know, I can't see you like she apparently can, so do me a favor and don't spook her too bad when you visit again, alright?"

"Sweetie, about that location," she says, pausing briefly to dry her eyes as he turns to look up at her, "we're already there."

He is stunned back into confusion. He looks at his plot briefly, then back at her, "What?"

"This is where we were headed originally," she says. "We're standing roughly in the northern part of the lot."

She can see a worrying feeling come over him as he looks to the ground again.

"Wha....what about my thing here?" he asks, getting pale in the face.

She kneels down with him, "Love, after everything you've been through, after everything WE'VE been through together, do you really think I'd take this away from you? You know better than that." She rests her arm over his shoulders, "All it will take is a simple adjustment of the floor plan," looking down at his plot, "and we can build around this. Better yet, we'll make it a part of the house."

He looks to her, slightly jaw-dropped.

She smirks and closes it with her fingers, followed by a soft kiss.

"Are you sure?" he asks.

She nods Yes, maintaining her precious smile, and kisses him again.

He tries to convey his gratitude, but is unable to vocally say 'Thank you' as his eyes now well up with tears. All he can do is drop his stuff on the spot and pull her into another hug. He looks up to see tears already streaking down Cindy's cheek and motions her over to join them.

Over the span of several minutes, his trembling sobs turn to flutters of joy, enabling him to start a lift that brings all of them to their feet together.

Resting his forehead against Christie's, but keeping Cindy in his sights also, "You two are just so amazing," kissing them on the lips and cheek respectively. "Guess I don't have to worry about not visiting as much now do I."

Both girls giggle softly and kiss him back at the same time, coaxing a soft moan from him as a result.

After a deep breath followed by a sigh of relief, he releases them, dries his eyes with a sniff, and looks around at the field behind him.

"This place is going to be epic, I can feel it," he says.

"It will be for sure," Christie replies. "Just wait until you see the floor plan. I think you'll love it."

"Let me guess -- it's going to be in the shape of a foot?"

She laughs, "Not exactly," dragging her finger around in the shape of a heart on his chest, "but it will be a place that you'll LOVE to be trampled in," nibbling her lip as she smiles at him.

He grins, "Sounds like a dream."

"Yeah, it is for now, but it'll soon be our reality," kissing him once again. "So, now that you have your stuff and have been assured of your little friends' security, are you ready for a late lunch-slash-dinner?"

"Lead the way," he replies, patting her on the tush.

He gathers his things he dropped, smiles proudly at his cat's plot, and turns to head back to the car with his ladies.

They sit up front so that he can check the status of his stuff in the back. He plugs in his phone to let it charge, and sifts through a few pieces of paperwork.

Christie catches a glimpse of some of the things he's looking at, and see's something familiar. It's the flyer she gave him the first day they met.

Pulling it from the stack, "Of all the things you decided to take with you, you chose this?" she asks.

"Yeah," he replies.

"Care to enlighten me as to why?"

"It was the first thing you ever gave me. It's always held a special place in my heart, just as you have."

"AAaawwww!!" She reaches back to caress his cheek, "Well would you be ok with framing this when our house is done?"

"I would be honored," he replies, kissing her hand.

She hangs onto it, taking a trip down memory lane by reading the tidbits inside only to hand it back later when they arrive at their destination so that it's not misplaced.

To be continued...