He knew that Gary would be upset when he told him of his decision to leave San Francisco. He also knows that he'd need to find a head chef quickly to replace him. Manny would be a temporary fix at best. But it seems that in the last 30 days Gary has made it his mission to pile everything onto him that has nothing to do with cooking food. He made him follow the fire inspector around for 2 hours checking out the kitchen when he should have been at the fish market picking up the fresh fish and seafood for dinner that night. And when he was late returning from the market he was also late making the first order for the demanding customer Gary was friends with. Gary was not pleased. Rick was caught in a catch 22. No matter what he did he still couldn't keep up with the orders due to the fact that he had nothing to cook. Seeing Gary walking into the kitchen Rick decided to confront him right here and now.

"Gary you need to stop this childish bullshit. Let me do my job and COOK! It's what you pay me to do!"

"Don't you dare raise your voice to me, Rick. I gave you everything. You had a kitchen that was outfitted with the best of everything a chef could ever want. I spared no expense to make sure that you'd be happy had everything."

"And I was happy here Gary. But now it's time to move on. It happens, you know, when people aren't happy where they currently are so they try to make their lives better by moving to a different city. And I'm sorry that you think I can just forget about Emily and keep working for you, but I can't. She was a part of my soul just like your wife is to you. Alexis and I both need a fresh start, Gary. I'm sorry that it's going to cause you problems with your business but I don't see any another way."

"There's no way I can change your mind, Rick? Your name is synonymous with the food that comes out of this kitchen. People flock to this restaurant to taste what you create. When people find out that you've left business will drop off." Gary pleaded.

"That's true Gary it will drop off to start with. But the person you get in here next will create his own dishes and add his own touch to them and that will put you back on the map again. And it's not really like you've never left the map you're just changing up how the food is prepared and by who. Now, are we still on for the next interviewee?" Rick asked.

"Yes, we are. She should be here in 2 hours. I just hope that she is as competent and creative as you are."

"Don't worry Gary I'll make sure that she has the skills needed to be at the level I am or better I hope."

Xx

Rick had done research into where they were going to move. And every time he came up with a new city that would interest Alexis, he asked her to do her own research on the city to see if it was a city that interested her. So far, he's batting zero. Even though his daughter was 9 going on 10 she kept him on his toes.

"Dad why are we limited to everything West of the Mississippi? What's wrong with either New York or Boston? They both have great seafood, right?"

"Alexis, have you ever seen snow? It's a great thing to look at, but being cold and driving in it are two different things that we really don't need to deal with. It's not that I don't like New York or Boston for that matter, but I just can't wrap my head around dealing with all the weather-related issues that will keep us from living our lives the way we want to."

"Okay, Dad so far you've given me Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and a whole bunch of other cities in between that I really didn't like. What do you have now?"

"Alright, pumpkin I have two more for you to look up. The first one is Houston which is not that bad but I'm not really that hopeful about. And the second one is Dallas. Of the two Dallas shows us or I should say shows me the city with the most promise. You would have to research it and tell me what you think when you do."

"Okay, Dad."

A full minute had gone by and Alexis was still sitting at the table across from him just watching him.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" He asked her

"Dad, what you mean what am I waiting for?"

"Alexis, you need to do research in order to see this is where you want to move right?"

"Yeah but I'm not going to do it right now dad. I was going to do it over the course of a couple of days."

He really thought Alexis would be jumping at the chance to find out what Dallas and Houston have to offer. It's not that he didn't want to be here any longer but he really didn't. Maybe she would have an answer for him in a couple of days but in his mind, he had his heart set on Dallas. He thinks that the people are friendlier, there is a lot more to do there socially and he knows that real estate is pretty affordable there.

"All right Dad I'll look into the both of them. But don't be surprised if I don't like either of them." Alexis said in a huff.

As she got up from the table her father had never thought that she had already researched the major cities in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas but she had. She knew that he was going to select somewhere in the state of Texas she just didn't know where. So, she took the five major cities and researched all of them. She researched Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Austin. She had settled on either San Antonio or Dallas as her pick for the city and she would want to live in. She would drag it out for maybe a day or two and then tell him what she had decided on making him sweat it out a little.

Xx

Life sometimes sends you signs that you never really expected. The realtor who had sold them this house 9 years ago was the one who listed it at the beginning of the month. He had a prospective customer come in and take a look around on the third day it was listed on the realtor's site. The people who were interested in the house were a young couple. In a way, it almost reminded him of himself and Emily at that age thinking that they could take on the world. The couple had made an offer the next day for only $5,000 less than the asking price. He didn't take long to give them an answer and agreed to sell the house to them at their offer and not to counter offer them. With the sale of the house and after the banknote was paid in full and Emily's life insurance policy check had arrived, Rick would have no problem purchasing a house in whatever city they move to next. It's a little easier knowing that you have one less thing to worry about when you move.

Rick gets up early enough to make Alexis breakfast. On the way down the stairs after his shower, he wonders if she has done any research for the city she wants to live in. He could be a strict father and demand that they moved to the city that he selects, but he wants her to have a choice where she moved to. It's only fair but he just hopes that she picks Dallas.

Xx

The last walk-through inspection of their home in San Francisco is done 5 days after Alexis gave him her choice of the two cities she would want to live in. Without any coaxing from him, she had selected Dallas. The Ryder truck is loaded almost to capacity. It's a large truck, one that they can both ride in and in two and a half days if everything goes all right they'll be pulling into Dallas. He has a hotel for a week before he nails down a place to stay permanently. If he plans it right he can get Alexis into school during her two-week break from school in San Francisco. This way she can accompany him to look for houses that they might want to buy. The drive is long and tedious they almost ran out of gas once near Arispe Texas, but were able to get to the gas station before they actually ran out of gas. Dallas is everything they expected it would be. The people are friendly, there are plenty of places where he can work as a chef. But his priority is getting Alexis into school and finding a place to live. He has 2 days once he's in Dallas to return the Ryder truck. He was smart enough to pull his car behind the truck and the only thing he needs now is a ride back from the Ryder rental location to the hotel. And then he can start looking for a place to live. The job market looks to be bountiful so he concentrates on housing in an area north of Dallas first, and enrolling Alexis in a school second.