It'd been six months to the day that Chris shut me down and I felt like a completely different person. Still living in San Francisco with my brother, everything about me was different. My days were more relaxed. People didn't recognize me that much so I actually felt normal, like I had a normal, good life. I dressed differently. Going almost every day to the center city H&M, I'd created a new wardrobe for myself. I wasn't wearing all black anymore, I had some actual color in my wardrobe and it felt incredibly good.
And the biggest thing of all- within the last month, I'd sold my house in London. The house I'd had for the past eleven years now belonged to some Russian college student and his twelve year old girlfriend. I sold everything in it, too because I decided to buy a house in San Francisco. There was nothing like the feeling that city gave me and I wanted to feel it for the rest of my life.
"We're home!" I yelled as I opened the door with one hand, holding Tilly in the other hand. "Tilly had a great time at play school, but I think she ate too much cheese so, have fun with that later."
Mike smiled at me and took his daughter. "So listen, Natalie's flying in at one o'clock then we're all going to the Giants game tonight."
"Sweet." I said, jogging up the stairs. "Are you ready for some baseball?"
"I think that's football, love." Mike called.
When I got to the top of the stairs I felt my phone begin to vibrate. I pulled it out of my pocket and pressed "answer". "Zooey? Hi, this is Veronica Stone, returning your call."
The best real estate agent in the city. "Hello, thanks for calling me back." I said.
"I heard what you said you're looking for and I believe I have some houses picked out for you. Would you be able to meet me this afternoon to make your choice?"
I smiled and took a deep breath. It'd been a few weeks since I had contacted Veronica about settling down in the city and I could not wait for her call. I was excited about starting my life anew, with the person who made me hit rock bottom on the other side of the world.
Veronica agreed to meet me at four o'clock, right after I pick up Natalie from the airport. As I crawled along the busy freeway, blasting Death Cab for Cutie on the radio while trying to reach Natalie on her phone, I noticed something about myself in the rear view mirror.
There was a tiny smile laying over my face. I realized I was happy again.
"Where are you?" Natalie answered, and I could hear her heavy breathing into the phone.
"I'm just pulling up now." I said, putting my blinkers on. "Just to let you know, we're going to look at houses."
"Ooh, sounds like fun!" Natalie said excitedly. A few seconds later I saw her push her way past the glass doors, luggage in hand.
"Have you talked to Phil?" Natalie asked, playing with the buttons on the radio.
"I did last week." I replied, stopping at a red light.
She looked up at me and smiled. "So, you don't know."
"Know what?" I said quickly, hating to be out of the loop.
Natalie sat back in her seat while I pressed on the gas when the light turned. "Are you sure I should tell you now?"
"Tell me!" I whined.
"Well, for the past few weeks I'd been feeling really sick. I mean like, crazy sick. So I went to the doctor three days ago and, well, they told me I'm pregnant."
As soon as those words came out of Natalie's mouth I slammed on the breaks and pulled the car over. When I looked over at her she had a big smile on her face, so I knew this wasn't bad news.
"What did Phil say?" I asked.
"He's absolutely thrilled and so am I." She chuckled, and I pulled her in for a hug. "You're going to be an aunt!"
"I am so unbelievably happy for you!" I said, thinking about how I was now the only person in my group of friends to not be settled down with someone.
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