We awaken along with the sun, which is probably a good thing. I imagine Gabe coming home to find us passed out naked and being traumatized for life or at least until he can come up with a good punchline. Zach looks so at peace, with a clever smile. We gather our clothes and the walkie-talkie and head upstairs to enjoy more sleep behind a closed door.

A couple hours later, a familiar static sound erupts from the walkie-talkie next to me. "Cody to Shaun, come in Shaun!"

"Hey buddy," I exclaim as Zach rouses awake. "How are you doing?"

"Good! Tori and I made cupcakes and watched Happy Feet!" he announces over the airwaves.

"Awesome, dude, here's your Uncle Zach." I transfer the radio to his uncle who is stretching and yawning.

"Hey Codes, sounds like you're having fun. Ask Tori what time we should expect you, okay?" We hear a disconnect for a minute or so before the boy reaches back out.

"She says she'll text you after breakfast. And that will be when she wakes up better in an hour or so."

"Perfect. Love you Codes."

"Love you too Uncle Zach, love you Uncle Shaun!"

"We love you too!" we exclaim in unison.

Zach lets the walkie-talkie slide along the duvet to the floor, where it makes a satisfying thud as he turns toward me. He has a big grin on his face and it's clear he's awake now.

"So, we're gonna finish packing up my place, and it looks like your stuff is still pretty good to go. That should be done by this afternoon."

"That sounds about right," I consider for a bit. "I will schedule a moving company to come collect the stuff there and here we wanna move. It may be a day or two depending on when they have availability," I conclude.

"Dude, are you sure? We can load up my Jimmy and your Volvo has a ton of room too. I'd guess we can do it all in three or four trips," he estimates. I smile and remind myself he is 22.

"Babe, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret you learn as you get a bit older than the point where moving involves bribing your friends to help you with pizza and beer. Paying professionals is worth it and you'll never ever ever go back to doing it yourself. I learned this valuable lesson when I was 28. Never going back. Ever. We will hire muscles and I will not even be jealous if you drool over them because I will probably be right next to you doing the same. Watching other people schlep your stuff for you is a transcendent experience that I want you to have."

"I mean, I'm not gonna argue with you over it," he laughs, drawing his fingers from one new hickey on my hip to another under my nipple to one on my shoulder and back again. "Then we finish packing and head there this afternoon?" he asks. This seems reasonable and I nod. We can assess what we will need to buy and stay here as a homebase until the movers can be scheduled and whatever furniture we decide we need is ordered." Zach agrees with my assessment.

"And we'll need to get Cody enrolled in classes and I gotta figure out my school schedule."

"It's gonna be a hectic few weeks as we get settled, Zach," I sigh. "But I honestly can't think of anything better."

Suddenly a door slams. Instead of jumping up to hide Zach, we simply throw the blanket over our waists as we hear my brother bound up the stairs. "Oh, Shauny-Poo! I come bearing gifts!" A quick rap on the door happens, and I can see that Gabe checks the handle to see if it's locked. "Are you decent?" his muffled voice asks from behind the door.

Zach and I look at each other and smile. "Yeah, you can come in," I invite. My brother busts in with a pink box I immediately recognize. "I've got fresh donuts, fellas!" he offers, swinging the box around holding it up atop his fingers like a waiter in a fancy restaurant. "The long Johns are mine, but you can have your pick from the rest," he entices, lifting up the lid to show us the delicious options inside.

"God bless you and Elisabeth," Zach moans, taking a bite from a pink frosted one. I grab one glazed in chocolate and am not proud as I shove it in my mouth like I have never eaten before. As we polish off a second donut (I swear, this one I ate in a more dignified manner), Zach tells Gabe our plans for the day.

"Sweet — maybe we can schedule a surf sesh before you officially move tomorrow or something?" He inquires. His focus is on Zach alone and I am happy that their friendship seems to be alright and want them to be able to do things just the two of them without thinking they need to always include me.

"That would work great for me — I could get some work done while you two paddle out," I interject.

"Sounds like a plan, dude," Zach confirms, and the bump knuckles in agreement.

"Sweet. I gotta take a shower and get some sleep then," Gabe explains, wiggling his eyebrows. "Didn't get much sleep last night, ya know?" Neither me nor Zach show any sign of surprise and it's good to know that an in-love Gabe is just as bawdy as he's always been.

"If you love her, wear a cover!" Zach calls out to his friend's retreating back.

"You know it, dude!" Gabe's back replies, lifting up his fist in triumph like Judd Nelson's character John Bender at the end of The Breakfast Club. We both shake our heads at his loveable, jerk-like antics. He starts humming "Don't You Forget About Me," as he shuts the door, and I am pleased to see Elisabeth's influence on his '80s movies watching is progressing along quite nicely.

Eventually, we get out of bed and make ourselves presentable enough to go out in public. We keep hold of the walkie-talkie (as promised) and I drive us back over the bridge to San Pedro.

We soon pull up to the nearly empty house to finish packing up. I start mopping what I can and wiping down everything as Zach finishes up in his room. As I am on the phone scheduling movers, Zach gets a text from Tori saying she'd be by with our little fella after lunch. I feel excited to see him again because I genuinely missed his presence, though I am eternally grateful that Tori took him last night because last night meant everything.

The movers can come the day after tomorrow, so we can go check out our duplex later this afternoon, and do some furniture shopping tomorrow after the guys finish surfing. I am sure we will be ordering lots of incidentals online to be delivered and it feels like everything is winding down as we rapidly approach the next chapter of our lives.