Day 16: 2050 (28170 book, 145,255 total)

Glad they can rest through NaNo!

We are still uncertain what is going to happen next. Really. They made Russ and offer in Omaha, but it's for only 20 hours a week. They think there will be more hours soon -- but for now, that's it. Can we make it on that much plus the few hundred I bring in each month? Probably not. There are some other part time freelance things that Russ might do as well. . . . but it looks as though all it would get us is in more trouble. We're already too far over as it is.

Ugh.

So, at the moment, Russ leaves for New York, probably on Thanksgiving.

And what about me? I'm here in a house with no heat and winter is setting in.

We talked about it a long time tonight, and the plan -- if he goes to New York -- is to move me into the second house. We considered trying to rent it out, but that was too scary, to be honest. The house across the street rented for years, and the people who came and went were not good sometimes. Besides, we don't think it would be enough to make the payment on it. We would try to sell it, but the market here (along with the job market) sucks. It's one of those markets where you can tell the agent what color house, what side of the street and how many bedrooms, and the agent could find it for you. Besides, the house is not fully ours to sell. We are buying it on contract and we only have five more years of payments.

The house I am in now has a broken furnace, little or no insulation, and some other really serious problems that have worried us -- but with Russ here, it was no problem if something went wrong. The other house has central heating and air, a basement (helpful when those tornado warnings go off in the summer). It has a nice porch on the front and a cute little deck on the back, and a fully fenced yard. It's smaller than this house, but we use most of this house to just stack things in boxes anyway.

The good thing is that I won't need to move much to get settled in there -- computer, desk, bed, food, some clothing and cats. The rest can stay here (next door) and I can get what I need in pieces. I would miss my lovely little office, but there is another part of me that thinks changing location would be kind of nice, too.

If Russ goes to New York.

This is no easy decision. Russ isn't thrilled about going out and living in some one room apartment either, of course. Since the job is 70% on the road, he thinks it won't be too horrible. If he takes the job in Omaha, the work days have to be at least three in a row -- and he'll get a place down there to save on gas and to keep from having to drive home when the weather turns really bad. But he'll only be an hour and a half from home as opposed to a full day (if flying) from home.

Right now, the gas is not turned on in the other house and there may be some trouble paying any outstanding bills before they do it. We'd have to get all that done in the next few days. Thursday is a holiday. Russ will leave that day or the next.

Gah.

As you can imagine, this is just driving me nuts. And that's why the word count is dropping. Once it's settled. . . . I don't know. I'll be depressed if Russ moves away. On the other hand, I won't have much else to do, and writing has always been my retreat from troubled times.

It is all, truly, insane. I'll go crazy before the end of next week. The only good thing I can say is that we're stocking up on cans of soup and rice dishes -- things that won't go bad so I can have food in the house, no matter which one I end up in.

Snippet. Let's just get to the snippet and I can go pound my head against the wall for a while.

****

They went back to Royce's office. Kenzie, he was glad to see, was no where around. For the next several hours they worked at going over vids and records, both from the Compound and the hotel. He hoped to find anything that might match up.

Cailin sent them reports through the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. Zerod found himself feeling relief every time they got something from her, if only because he knew that meant she was still all right. It was a difficult new feeling for him to experience, and though he would not actually admit that he'd fallen in love, he did know that this was a bad time for anything of that sort.

There would never be a good time for him. He would do this job and go back to his windowless suite in the Guild House. At least he wouldn't be reminded of Cailin every time he saw a tree.

Damn.

The medtech brought them food and ordered them both to eat. Zerod started to argue and changed his mind again. He hadn't eaten much since he came to this world, and going much longer wasn't wise.

And sitting aside the work for a few minutes was also wise. He needed time to let his mind digest what he'd seen.

"There are a couple glitches in the vids that I suspect cover what our man did," he said between bites of superb potato soup. The Felisa's ate well. "They are both well within the time frame for here and at the hotel."

"And both during the middle of the day, though," Royce said with a shake of his head. "I don't get that part. Why risk being seen? Why not late at night when we're mostly closed down?"

"Because someone moving around at that time is bound to draw attention. Someone during the day does not."

He nodded. "Good point. We have the glitches at the point where he went to work. If he was wandering around, the other vidcams should have picked him up. I'll have people start going over them."

"Good plan. If we chance upon a face, we have a better hope of catching him."

Royce nodded agreement. He ate a few more bites of soup and then some of the sandwich -- and then tilted his head when he looked at Zerod again.

"Yes?" Zerod said.

"We should invite Cailin for lunch. She tends to forget meals, too, when she's working."

He looked up and met Royce's eyes. "Yes, that would be nice."

He nodded, keyed a call into her, and asked her to come over. Zerod thought she agreed a little too quickly. And Royce was looking at him again.

"I like Cailin," he said. "But I will be leaving when this job is done. I have no choice, Royce. I'm a Guild Assassin."

He nodded, but he didn't look happy. He did order in more food.