Taking A Chance On Love
Chapter 1: Starting Over
'Number four River Road, Los Angeles, California.' Roxy thought over and over again in her head as she drove toward her new house. Letting it sink in, that she was moving on in her life to start anew.
She parked on the street to leave room for the moving truck to park in the driveway, she sat staring at the house itself until a face came into view.
"The place is already sold, if you were looking to buy it. The new owner is moving in today." A lady with brown hair and hazel eyes told her.
Roxy smiled, "I am the new owner." she said and got out of her car, going around the hood so they could talk properly.
"You don't say?" The lady asked, looking her over before smiling. "I'm Kristy Barnes," Kristy said and put out her hand, Roxy shook it as she continued on. "My husband Henry and I live next door." pointing to number three.
"Roxy Summers, it's nice to meet you." Roxy said in turn, and looked over the roof of her car at the river beyond.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Kristy asked following her gaze.
"Yes, it is." she replied before opening the car door for her purse and one of the many boxes piled on the back seat.
"Need any help?" Kristy offered looking at the boxes.
"Sure, grab a box." Roxy said and a laughed a little, Kristy did too.
Inside the ladies put the boxes in the rooms as per the label, and went back again for more, repeating the process until the car was empty.
Kristy went into the kitchen where Roxy had started putting away her dishes.
"Wow, this kitchen is beautiful!" Kristy exclaimed, her eyes going over every detail; from the birch wood to the double ovens, and of course the big island in the middle of the room.
Roxy raised an eyebrow, "You've never seen it before?" she asked.
Kristy shook her head, "The man who used to live here was more of a loner, never had anyone over. Not to mention he was kind of paranoid, hence the tall fencing out back." she replied.
Roxy went to have a look, and nodded to herself. "The fence is higher than everyone elses." she commented and shortly after her cell phone rang.
"Hey, Roxy Summers here." she answered.
"Roxy, it's David from Big Movers. We got a problem." he told her.
"What kind of problem?" she asked nervously, she hoped it wasn't too bad. These guys had all her furniture and some more boxes that couldn't fit in her car.
"Our's truck's broken down, they're sending another one but we're going to be roughly thirty minutes later than planned." he explained, his tone full of sympathy.
"Alright, that's fine. I'll give you guys an extra bonus when the job's done." she said, they didn't paid overtime.
"Great, I'll see you later. Bye." he said and hung up, as did she.
Roxy sighed being behind schedule was frustrating but half an hour wasn't too bad, she'd deal with it.
"Everything alright?" Kristy asked, she hadn't been listening but Roxy looked upset.
"Yeah, the truck's just going to be late is all." she said, and headed back to the dishes.
"Leave the dishes, I'll take you for pizza. My treat, think of it as a welcome to the neighborhood gift." Kristy told her, and who was Roxy to argue with that.
Kristy drove and filled Roxy in on the rest of the people on the block.
"House one is Phil, young man just moved in last month to start working at the dental center over on Fifth Street. House three is Mr. Green, he's retired and keeps to himself. House four is Melissa or as I like to call her 'The Chatter Box.' She never stops talking but her heart's in the right place. Saving the best for last is number five, Ruby's house. She's the kindest single mother I've ever known, two kids both mid-teens in high school." she explained and pulled into Carlos Pizza.
"Wow, you know a lot about your neighbors." Roxy commented hoping out of the car.
"I'm all about information, how about you?" Kristy replied as they walked inside.
"Kristy, found us a new face." the man behind the counter said.
"Yep, just moved to the first river block. Roxy Summers meet Charlie Pike." Kristy said introducing the two.
"Well it's a pleasure to meet you, Roxy." he said smiling, Roxy nodded. "Usual order Kristy?" he asked his friend.
"You got it." she replied and the two ladies when to sit on the bar stools at the counter to wait.
"I moved here to work at the Beautiful Bakery as a dishwasher." Roxy said answering Kristy's earlier question.
"Ah, a new worker for BB's. A word of advice; clean like you've never cleaned before." she told her.
"I'll keep that in mind." Roxy said, though she knew what she was doing, the manager had made sure of that during the interview.
They got the pizza and a big bottle of pop. Back at the house they ate standing at the island, the pepperoni pizza was the best Roxy had ever had in her life.
"Thanks for the pizza, this is sooo good." she said taking another slice.
"Don't mention it." Kristy said and went on eating her own.
Roxy liked Kristy; she was relaxed and laid back, whereas Roxy herself was nervous and a little uptight.
A horn sounded from the driveway indicating that the truck had arrived, they went to go meet it.
"Hey David, Cody." Roxy greeted, and introduced Kristy.
"Hey Roxy, Kristy. Lets get moving all this inside." David said, and lifted up the door on the trailer.
Between the four of them it didn't take too long, Roxy gave them the extra money, and they headed off for their next job.
"Would you like me to stay and help you unpack?" Kristy asked.
"Alright, you take the dining room and I'll go back to the kitchen." Roxy replied.
"Deal." she said and went off in the dining room.
A while later they did the living room together, Kristy unpacking and putting things away with Roxy's direction, while unpacked some boxes of her own.
A few hours later they were done and Roxy's new house was set up and all ready to go.
"Phew! What a day." Kristy said and streched her muscles.
"Yes it was, thank you for all your help." Roxy said and pulled a circular tin from her pantry, handing it to her.
"You're welcome." she said and peeked inside the tin seeing cookies. Kristy licked her lips before she could stop herself, she loved cookies!
"I'd better get home, but here's my number. Call if you need anything." she said, handing her one of her husband's business cards.
"Thanks, I will." Roxy said and followed her to the door.
"See you around." Kristy told her.
"Yeah, bye." she said and closed the door after she left.
There was still some unpacking left to do in the bedroom but it could wait, Roxy felt like getting out for tonight before she started working tomorrow.
Lee Christmas and his friends were celebrating after another job was completed; he had a good view of the door and when a pretty, little, brunette walked through it, he didn't even hear what Barney had just said until he shouted at him.
"Lee, get the next round!" Barney yelled to get his second in command's attention.
Lee torn his gaze from the lady as much as he didn't want to, and looked at Barney.
"Fine, no need to yell." he said irritated and on over to the bar. "Another round." he told the bartender and while he waited he spotted the girl again.
She was now seated at a smaller table near the pool table, her leather jacket rested on the back of her chair and a navy blue long sleeve top made her long brown hair really show.
"Here you go." The bartender told him. Lee grabbed the drinks and went back to the table, handing them out.
"Go talk to her." Barney told him, taking a swig.
"She's probably already got a boyfriend." Lee said drinking some of his own beer.
"Always negative, I'll bet you a beer she's single." Barney said, feeling lucky.
"You're on." he said getting up with his drink and going over to her, she was racking up the balls on the pool table.
"Hey, how about a partner?" he asked with a smile.
"Hi, why not." she said and handed him a pool stick.
"Lady's first." Lee commented gesturing for her to go first.
She did and made a good break sinking a solid ball; she went again, but missed her target giving Lee a shot.
He sunk one, "I'm Lee Christmas." he said introducing himself, and went on to sink another ball before it was her turn again.
"Roxy Summers, you come here often?" she said sinking two of her balls in one shot. Lee was impressed, she knew her game.
"Nice to meet you, often enough. Let me ask you a question; do you have a boyfriend?" he said just going for it, he had nothing to lose.
"You're bold that's for sure, no. How about you?" she replied.
"Nope, what do you say winner gets the loser's phone number?" He said, lining up his shot.
"Alright, you got a bet." she said and tied up her hair, making Lee miss his shot, she laughed and sipped her drink.
'I've already lost one bet, I don't need to lose another one.' Lee thought and gave it his best shot but Roxy won in the end.
She was grinning and held out her hand, he wrote his number out on a napkin and gave it to her.
"Good game." he said finishing off his beer.
"Yeah, you too. I'll see you around." she said finishing her drink, and going for her jacket. Lee didn't want her to leave just yet.
"Stay a while, I could buy you a drink." he offered smiling working his charm.
"That's sweet but I have to go, work in the morning and all that." she said, and added, "I promise to call you tomorrow."
"Perfect, good night Roxy." he said nicely.
"Good night Lee." she told him slipping on her jacket and heading out.
Lee got a beer for Barney and went back to the table.
"So she is single, did you get her number?" Barney teased.
"For your information, I gave her mine. She promised to call me tomorrow." he told him.
"You're loosing your touch." he stated.
"I will stab you one day." Lee told him, anger in his tone.
"What's her name?" he asked curious.
"Roxy Summers." Lee replied.
He thought about her all night, so much he didn't get a lot sleep. Each time he closed his eyes all he could see was her face, he wanted her.