Four weeks later…

He was going to be hurt when he did this to him but he could see no other way to get past his grief. Since the funeral, he has been in a total fog. He was now a single parent and he had no idea how to facilitate that and keep a household afloat. He wanted to ask Alexis what she thought about his idea, but he could not add to her grief and sorrow. She was only 9 and he did not want to have her deciding something this serious at her age. Her thoughts would be enough.

"Alexis, can you come down here? I need to talk to you for a second."

"Dad is something wrong?"

"No sweetie there is nothing wrong. I just want to ask you a couple of questions that's all."

"Okay, I'm coming dad."

Alexis put her diary back. It's something that she has been keeping for about a year now. Her mom gave it to her for her eighth birthday and she puts her thoughts in it when she thinks about a funny moment or what a friend said to her at school or even something about her mom that she remembers. It is all she has to remember her by.

"What do you need dad?" She asked.

"Come over here and sit down next to me."

Alexis did. She looked into his eyes and must have guessed that what he wanted to ask her was serious so she waited for him to talk.

"Listen pumpkin, we've been through a lot in the last four weeks without mom. We will never forget what she was to us, but I can't stay here in San Francisco any longer."

"Dad what about Gary and the restaurant. You love cooking. Why would you leave especially since Gary has been so understanding about Mom passing away? He has given you so much time off."

"Honey, it's not that I don't like Gary or the restaurant its quite the opposite. It's the fact that I just can't be here in this city. This city where your mother died not far from where we live. We need a fresh start somewhere where we can put down roots and start over."

"Dad what about my friends?" Alexis asked.

"You can make new friends."

"But I like my school."

"Honey, you'll be at a new school. Listen I know that this will upset your life and for that, I am so sorry. But baby, our life as we know it has changed. The way things were are no longer the same. Everything is different now. We need a new start somewhere away from here.

"What will you do?"

"I'm going to do what I always do. I just think that maybe until I get on my feet I will find some place to work at first. Once I get my feet wet again I'm thinking about opening up my own place."

"Dad I'm not too sure about that. Doesn't take a lot of money to start your own restaurant?"

His daughter. If he was not the adult here, she would be the one to worry about every single thing.

"Alexis, you are right it will take a lot of money to get a new restaurant off the ground. But even though you are young there are ways to get money that can get a restaurant up off the ground. Investors who want to see the restaurant do well will invest their money into what I can offer. I just don't know where to do that yet. As I told you San Francisco is not a place I'd like to stay at anymore. It's just too painful to be here where your mother died."

"I guess I can see why you wouldn't want to stay here any more Daddy. But do you have an idea of where you might want to go?"

"What do you think about Seattle? It's not that far from San Francisco."

Alexis made a scrunched up face as she looked at her dad.

"Daddy, it's raining there like all the time who wants to live there? Does the sun ever come out?"

"Well you're right about it raining a lot but the sun does come out but by the look on your face, maybe Seattle is not such a great place to go to. Alright I will do some research and we will talk again but I am sorry about you losing your friends Alexis. I'm sure that you will make new ones wherever we end up next.

"I know Daddy I'll be sad for a little bit but then I'll make new friends."

Rick felt sorry for his daughter. She was always so full of life and could see the bright side to any negative situation. But he thought she might not make it through the loss of her mother. This is why he wants to move away from here. Sure, she was a child and bouncing back would be easier for her but he was just devastated that he lost his best friend and lover.

Knowing that Seattle was out of the question he went back to the drawing board to do more research. It's then when he heard his little girl telling him she had homework to do and after that was going to sleep.

"Dad I just have one assignment I have to take care of for school and after that, I'm going to go to bed," Alexis told him.

"Okay pumpkin. I'll be down here for a little bit longer but I promise to go to bed soon."

"Dad I know you. You'll stay up for hours. So, set the timer on your phone for one hour to remind yourself to go to bed."

"I will baby. Good night."

"Night dad."

He watched her as she walked to her bedroom and closed the door. He felt sad for her because he knew that mothers and daughters have a stronger bond than daughters and their fathers did.

He swipes at it for the third time silencing the annoying device. Yes, he set it for an hour but it's actually 3 hours later. It's a little after 3 a.m. and he thinks he's found a location that might work once he tells Alexis what it is. He really wants her to be a part of this decision. He totally gave up on the East Coast. New York was to hustle and bustle and the people aren't that friendly there. He struck out Chicago because the food there is comparable to what New York offers and he's done that before. No, what he wants is something fresh, something that is hopefully close to the water so seafood is in abundance and he has it narrowed down to two cities in Texas. Houston, or Dallas. He has to start really going through each city's housing rental availability before he commits to anything. He has decided that with Emily's life insurance policy, some of which he used to bury her with he will sell the house here pay off the mortgage and hopefully have $100 to $150,000.00 left over from the sale of his house and the balance of the life insurance policy. So tomorrow he will need to search for real estate.

He hears her as she walks up to the side of his bed. He didn't get to bed until 3:15 this morning and as he opens his eyes that don't want to cooperate he sees that it's 7:22. He can't imagine why his daughter would be waking him up so early.

"Dad come on you need to get out of bed. I need breakfast something to eat you know?"

"Alexis it's a Saturday honey why are you in my bedroom waking me up?"

"Dad you really need to get a grip. Today is Thursday and I have to be at school in less than 40 minutes so can you please get out of bed and bring me to school. I have a test second period that I can't miss."

God, it's too early in the morning for this. And on top of that, his daughter is already planning her day out way too far in advance for his liking.

"Alexis give me three minutes and I'll be ready to make you some breakfast. And then I will drive you to school." He said as he yawns.

He wants to tell her about the two cities he looked into last night in Texas. But he can tell that later because she will want to have a longer conversation about it so he will wait until she gets home from school. Maybe by then, he can find a place to live temporarily. He quickly makes her pancakes and adds chocolate chips in the shape of a smiley face. She, in turn, smiles back at him when he places it in front of her.

"Thanks, Daddy."

"Anything for you pumpkin."

Since she's already dressed for school Rick runs back to his bedroom, throws on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and drives her to school. By the time he gets back home he showers and starts his search on the laptop for properties in both Dallas and Houston. He hasn't made up his mind yet but he wants to get a solid idea on which one they could possibly live in.