Annie pulled up in front of the apartment building that she would be living in for the next few years. She had been talking to her new roommates over the summer through facebook and they had skyped a few times. She parked her car in the assigned spot and grabbed her purse and backpack off the front seat. Looking at her phone she knew her parents' flight had just touched down and Teddy and Henry we're about an hour behind her with the rest of her stuff. They wanted her to have some time with her new roommates before the parents descended.

Annie met the landlord in the lobby to pick up her keys. She went upstairs and opened the door to her new unit.

"Annie," a voice with a thick Texan drawl called.

"Hi Stephanie," Annie replied.

Stephanie came out of her room, "it's good to see you in person."

"It's nice to meet you too," Annie replied, "have you been here long?"

"I got here last night, momma and daddy helped me unpack then," Stephanie replied.

"My mama and Henry are on their way with most of my stuff," Annie replied.

"You call your father Henry," Stephanie asked.

"Step father," Annie said.

"Are they staying long," Stephanie asked.

"4 days I think," Annie replied, "they drove so they can leave when they want. Mama doesn't have to go back to work until the 6th."

"They drove your stuff out from where," Stephanie asked.

"My family is split between Seattle and the Vancouver BC area," Annie said.

"So mama and Henry got the fun trip across the country," Stephanie asked.

"They did, my younger sister has some special needs so mom and dad stayed home with her. Dad will be out in a few weeks for an education conference though," Annie replied.

"Your parents split when you were young I guess," Stephanie asked.

"I was adopted, mom and dad are my adopted parents who raised me, mama is my biological mother and she's married to Henry," Annie said , "our family has always been open about where I came from. What about your family?"

"I'm the youngest of 4 and the first in my family to go to college," Stephanie answered, "I have two older brothers who both work on the ranch with daddy."

Annie's phone rang, "I'm coming down."

"Your parents are here," Stephanie asked.

"Yep," Annie replied.

"Do you want help bringing stuff up," asked Stephanie.

"If you don't mind," Annie replied, "then we can help Amy when she gets here.

"Let's go," Stephanie said.

They made their way downstairs and met Teddy and Henry at the parking lot Annie made the introductions, "mama Henry this is my roommate Stephanie."

"I'm Teddy, it's nice to meet you," Teddy said.

"It's nice to meet you as well," Stephanie said.

"Let's get Annie's stuff upstairs," Henry said, "what floor are you on?"

"We're on the third floor," Annie replied.

"You don't have that much stuff," Teddy said, "it's mainly clothes, books and bedding."

"You had to pack it in those big bins," Henry grumbelled.

"They all stack together and the clothes, ones fit under my bed with out of season clothes," Annie said, "I purposely got bins that all match."

"Our planner did it again," Teddy said.

With Stephanie's help they carried Annie's bins and boxes upstairs. When Annie started to unpack Teddy gave her a hug and said, "Henry and I are going to go check into the hotel. We'll come back later and all go for dinner."

"Thanks for helping me move in," Annie said, "I'll text you later mama."

"See you later kiddo," Henry said.

"Bye Henry," Annie replied, "thanks for your help."

When they got in the car Teddy said, "she looked so grown up unpacking in her first apartment like that."

"She looked happy," Henry said, "Teddy we agreed, no tears."

"My baby is all grown up," Teddy said, "they're happy tears."

"She's been grown up for a while," Henry said.

"I just missed so much. Sometimes it's hard to see her grown up and as mature as she is," Teddy said, "I still feel guilty some days about giving her up."

"Why did you give her up," Henry said, "it's clear you never stopped loving her."

"It was never about love. I wasn't ready or able to raise a baby at 21," Teddy said, "I was a few months older than Annie is now when she was born. I was just starting medical school, she actually did the first 6 weeks of medical school with me. Her biological father wanted nothing to do with me once I was pregnant, he told me to terminate her or he would leave. I refused to kill my baby so I spent the next 9 months on my own. It was really hard, the only person I could talk to about everything was my mom. I see so much of my mom in Annie. I had her on a Saturday night and was back in class on Thursday. Dan and Leslie picked her up the night she was born. I only had 10 or 15 minutes with her when she was born. I called her Grace, they gave it to her as her middle name."

"When you told me you had a daughter I wasn't expecting you to say she was 19," Henry said, "looking at you when we first met I thought she would have been 6 tops."

"You're the first man since her father I told about Annie," Teddy said, "she was just back in my life and I didn't know how you would react."

"I admire that both of you had the courage to let eachother in," Henry said, "the first time I went to your house Annie had been home for a couple weeks after her surgery."

"Sorry I kept you at arms length for a while," Teddy said, "especially where it came to Annie."

"You're a mom," Henry said, "and very protective of her. I understood that even though she was 19 she was going through a lot and you wanted to keep her safe."

"You were new in my life," Teddy said, "we were just getting to know each other. I didn't realize I could be this happy. A lot of that is you."

"I never imagined this life either," Henry said, "you saved my life in more ways than you know."

"Now who's being sappy," Teddy asked.

"I mean it Teddy," Henry said, " you are the best thing that ever happened to me."

Teddy wiped more tears from her eyes, "I love you Henry."

Annie and Stephanie helped Amy bring her stuff into the apartment.

Standing in the kitchen Annie asked, "how do we want to do dinners and groceries?"

"What do you mean," asked Amy.

"At UBC my roommates and I shared buying groceries and took turns making dinner," Annie said, "it made life easier because you only cooked twice a week but had dinner the other nights."

Stephanie thought, "I like that idea. Momma made me bring a slow cooker so we can throw stuff in there in the mornings and have dinner when we come home."

Amy added, "how would it work to buy groceries?"

"We would plan dinners together and one person shopped," Annie said.

"Then everyone paid her back," asked Stephanie.

"Yep," Annie replied, "then we all did our own breakfasts and lunches."

"We could share those things two," Amy suggested, "cheaper for everyone."

"I'm in," Annie said.

"Let's try it for a few weeks and see," replied Stephanie.

Amy replied, "I guess we make a grocery list?"

"Sure," Annie replied, "do we have any food?"

"Not yet," Stephanie said, "first thing on the list wine."

"I guess i'm not doing the grocery shopping then," Annie said.

"You don't drink," asked Amy.

"I drink," Annie said, "but I'm not 21 until October. Drinking age is 19 in BC."

"You're only 20," Amy shouted.

"Yes," Annie replied.

Stephine asked, " are you some sort of child prodigy?"

"No, instead of taking summers off I took a few courses and I took 7 courses at a time to graduate early," Annie replied, "just a workaholic."

"I've heard premed can be done in three years," Amy replied, "I didn't know anyone actually did it."

"Mama tried to talk me out of it," Annie said, "how old are you?"

Stephanie replied, "24."

Amy answered, "23."

Annie looked anxious, "sorry if you were expecting someone older."

"Don't worry Annie," Stephanie replied, "when I go shopping what type of wine do you want?"

"I usually like whites," Annie said, "I haven't had a lot of wine."

"What do you normally drink," asked Amy.

"Cider, vodka, tequila," Annie replied.

Stephanie laughed, "vodka and tequila we're going to be good friends Annie."

Amy suggested, "why don't Annie and I go grocery shopping and you go to the liquor store Stephanie?"

"Works for me," replied Stephanie.

The three girls went their separate ways and met back for dinner. After spending all day organizing the apartment and shopping for the things they needed they decided to order pizza and open a couple bottles of wine.