The Presidents Daughter

Country Style

Patrick

"If we were to guys a house, hypothetically, how many rooms would you want" I ask Aaliyah while she lets me sit my head in her lap as we lounge on the couch. She plays with my hair as I look on my laptop in my lap.

"I don't know, like four" she claims as she munches on some fresh peppers and watches her baking shows.

"Okay. How many bathrooms" I wonder and she starts to laugh.

"What are you trying to accomplish here" she counters.

"I'm finding us a house" I claim and she stops. She turns to me and sees what I'm doing in my laptop before muting the tv.

"Patrick... are you really trying to buy a house right now" she questions.

"I'm just looking! But if I find one we want I'm getting it" I insist. Don't want to wait and not have the chance to get the home we want.

"Don't you think we should talk about this first" she questions.

"We did talk about it" I defend.

"No... you said that we would get a house and eventually get married then have kids. We never talked about getting a house" she reminds me.

"Can't eventually just be now" I ask.

"I mean, if you want it to be" she claims.

"I want it to be" I insist. "I know now's not a good time to be doing this but is there ever truly a good time? Is there going to be a point in our lives that feels right in order to make a change as big as this one? I mean once MAC opens moving is going to be so hard to do. With hockey having no end in sight and wanting a home to come home to when it does end, why not now? Why not take that chance and see what could happen" I ask.

"Because buying a house is a big deal" she claims.

"And so is this relationship" I insist.

"You've really thought this through huh" she asks and I nod.

"Well the buying a house part. Not what goes in the house, I was hoping you knew what you wanted so I can figure the rest out" I admit.

"I don't know. I haven't really thought about it a lot. Where do we see ourselves in ten years and what are we going to need by then" she wonders.

"In ten years? I want at least three kids by then. If we're lucky even more than that. We will have a million animals because you can't say no to helping even if it's a critter. MAC will be the biggest thing in this country and they'll start popping up in cities everywhere. I'll still be playing hockey but in more of a veteran roll, who knows, maybe I'll have a letter by then too. But I'm not giving up on hockey just yet.

But we're gonna he happy, really happy. We'll be married and your family will be back in Chicago to help you out with the kids and the organizations. Well still tell each other that we love each other every chance we get. And we'll never miss a chance. Some things, like that, won't change" I insist.

"Alright, you sold me. Lets find us our house" she claims and I chuckle.

"Now that's what I like to hear" I admit.

So we spend the whole day looking at houses. It's hard to find one that's private and family friendly and has space here in Chicago. We weren't picky, it's just with being who we are and wanting to do big things getting stuck with a house that won't fit our dreams would suck. Pricing wasn't a concern for me, besides golf I didn't have many hobbies outside of hockey that I spend money on and every time we want a vacation I know we can just go to Hawaii. So I make sure this house is everything we want it to be. And I keep my word and make sure it's fully furnished to save Aaliyah the headache of making another place from the ground up.

"Ohhh. I like that one" she says pointing to the only old country house on the page. I laugh because of course she likes that one.

"Is it the fact that it's blue with white windows or that there's a swing on the front porch" I tease.

"It's the circle drive for sure" she giggles.

"Alright, lets see what we're dealing with here" I say as I click on it.

It shows us some pictures of the inside which had the same country style feel to it as the outside did. The walls were that cool blue and white and light grey. The kitchen was huge and there was plenty of space to entertain. With how involved our families are in our lives and how involved we are in this community it was good to have a area like that to entertain people. The dining room was open and connected to the kitchen. Then there was the living room, the laundry room and a bedroom with a bathroom on the first floor. There was a basement but it was just there for storage and there wasn't anything in it. Who knows, we might turn it into something else may we need, but for right now we're still figuring things out. Then the third floor was three bedrooms and two bathrooms and a entertainment room. Plus the master bedroom looked out over the backyard and had a walk in closet and a full bathroom. In every way this house was everything we wanted and a little more. We could have as many animals as we wanted and we could raise a family here. I can see it now.

"Did we just find our house" Aaliyah gasps and I smile.

"I think we did" I admit.

"I thought this was supposed to be hard" she teases and I smile.

"Nothings hard when I do it with you. You could have picked out a RV and I would have said move in. But I have to admit I really like this house. It's very... American" I joke making he giggle.

"It is. And I think both of us have no problem with that" she claims.

"Not in the least" I assure her.

"So now what" she asks. "Do we just buy it" she asks.

"I think we set up a plan. Message the owner and let them know we want it. Then when we put a payment down as sign some things we can move in" I explain.

"Ohh this is so exciting. I've never got to plan out my future like this. I can't wait" she claims making me smile.

"That makes two of us" I assure her.