Another Chance Book I of III

Book III-Chapter 23, Us Time

Us Time

Bella's POV

The few days before their getaway had flown by. They needed to not only prepare for the trip, which didn't take that much doing, but they also needed to be ready to hit the rehearsal hall as soon as they came back on Wednesday, August 14 and Thursday August 15, deal with the Album dropping on the 16th and be ready to fly to New Orleans that morning for the soundcheck and first concert that evening...August 16. They would fly again at 1:00 AM on August 17 to Atlanta, sleep a few hours and then soundcheck at 5:00 PM and perform at 7:00 PM. They would then head back home on Sunday, August 18 flying at 1:00 PM and then start the mad travel again on August 22. Just thinking about it all was enough to make Bella dizzy. So, she decided to have all of her costumes packed and hung in hanging bags in her closet and other needed things already packed. That way she didn't have to do anything but enjoy their time away. She did the same thing for Prince's clothing.

When Elaine saw what she was doing, she decided to follow suit. Anything that they could do to promote a calm environment as much as possible would be very helpful to Prince and Carlos. With everything ready, they got into the BMW Air car with their bodyguards, Frank and Larry using Bella's Altima Air Car since there were only two of them and took off for the ride up the coast. They took to the air until they got out of the city and then landed in a grocery store parking lot, picked up some juices and healthy snacks, dropped the top on the BMW and then began to actually drive the beautiful coastal drive up Highway 101. The 101 was one of the older freeways in California connecting the Southern half of the state to the Northern half. A rocky coastline with lovely beaches interspersed between the stretches of craggy rock bluffs made for both an interesting and arresting view on the way north. The drive would take them through some of the most breathtaking scenery in the state and through some of the most expensive real estate areas like Santa Barbara and its suburbs. Since they were taking the scenic route they would drive about 10 hours. They drove most of the morning and then as they got into the Morrow Bay area and decided to stop for lunch. It was the half way point and they decided they would drive until it started getting dark and then would fly the rest of the distance after they had their lunch. They found a lovely seafood restaurant near the Morrow Bay Embarcadero and going in found it to be both quaint and relaxing. They all decided to start with a white chowder and then ordered to their individual tastes thereafter. They enjoyed a leisurely meal and then hit the road again. They took to the air for the last part of the journey arriving at the hotel at 7:00 PM. They had cut 2 hours of drive time by flying the last leg of their way.

They entered the lobby and checked in asking the desk to bring their bags up directly, Their body guards checked their rooms and then went to their own to shower and relax. They reminded their charges not to leave their rooms without letting them know. They were all a little tired from the travel and decided to enjoy room service and relax and agreed to meet in the morning for breakfast. Bella and Prince decided to shower and then putting on pajamas ordered a bottle of Riesling to go with their dinner and each had a Fruit salad with sherbet. The meal came and was lovely in presentation and tasted even better. The fruit salad hit the spot and was perfect with the warmed wheat dinner rolls and the wine. Prince called room service to come pick up the cart after they finished.

They turned on the Cloud Stream and became immediately focused as the news came on. The peace in Southern California had reached 6 days as of today with not one murder or assault or drug fueled crime being reported. Churches in the City of Los Angeles and surrounding cities were seeing huge growth in the number of congregants attending both mid-week services and expected even larger turnouts on the coming Sunday. Gang activity specifically was down significantly. Again no explanations of the phenomenon were known but most of the people experiencing it were very grateful!