I spent about two hours making phone calls to local shelters, gathering statistics, and talking with the director of a local animal rescue called Pet Protectors. I hadn't realized when I'd picked "animal rights" how much research I would end up doing for the article. I made an appointment with Maggie, the director, to tour the rescue on Tuesday morning. In the meantime, I would continue my research online.

My work day was cut short when Selena poked her head in my doorway and more or less demanded that I accompany her to go meet up with a realtor on the hunt for an apartment. While I was thinking about it, I made it a point to call up Kacey's sister, Lindsey, who was a realtor in Phillipsburg, and inform her that I would be needing to sell my house soon. Selena's move would be easier since she only rented her home. She wouldn't have to go through the selling process. I kind of envied her for that.

Lindsey agreed to draw up the paperwork with me at the end of the day. It occurred to me after the fact that I would be in a time crunch between filling out the paperwork and cooking dinner before Alex arrived. This Monday just kept going and going.

Selena and I met up with Angie, a Coldwell Banker realtor, in Jersey City around two o'clock. Angie was a nice woman in her early forties with very short brownish red hair and a nice sense of style when it came to pantsuits. She closely resembled Jamie Lee Curtis in Freaky Friday.

"To start, I want to hear what you all are looking for," Angie said when we all sat down in her office.

I glanced around the room. There were several small plants and an abundance of framed family photos on practically every shelf. She had a degree from Syracuse and a few real estate awards dating back to 1996.

"We have to have three bedrooms since there's three of us," Selena began her long wish list. "Four would be ideal for when we have guests over. Two bathrooms would be great. Preferably a laundry room in the apartment so we don't have to lug our laundry back and forth. I like big kitchens and Kate likes to cook, so the kitchen would have to be big. An island in the kitchen would be awesome, too. And-"

"Let me stop you there," Angie said, jotting down Selena's wishes and holding up a finger. "What does your budget look like? Because what you're describing to me is racking up the dollar signs."

I agreed. "Yeah, and you're talking about a more luxury-type apartment. That'd be pretty expensive."

Selena looked like a kid who had just been told she couldn't have cake on her birthday. Clearly, she hadn't thought this part through.

"Between the three of us, I think we'd prefer to not pay more than twenty-two-hundred maximum for a luxury apartment," I told Angie. "Personally, I'd rather be closer to fifteen-hundred."

Angie nodded and wrote down the numbers. "Let me make a suggestion. I'm happy to go show you apartments if your heart's set on that, but would you be willing to consider looking at houses, too? Because the features you're looking for, you're more likely to find in a home, and a home would be more cost efficient."

I had to agree with Angie again. Looking for a house sounded like the better option. I didn't see any sense in overpaying for an apartment when I could get everything I wanted in a house with a lot more square footage for the same monthly price.

"I think I'd like to just go ahead and look at houses," I said.

Selena looked less confident. I knew she'd chosen to rent a house because she didn't want to commit to owning a property yet. She was waiting to take that step until she got married someday. Having already experienced homeownership, however, I wasn't fazed by the idea. I knew Kacey and Selena were both only used to renting, though, and I didn't want either of them to jump into such a big decision if they weren't totally comfortable.

I specified my answer. "Let's look at rent properties for now."

Selena seemed to relax at the mention of the word "rent" and nodded in agreement.

We added a few more things to our wish list with Kacey on speaker phone to give her two cents. Kacey was busy putting in her two weeks' notice and running errands. She was unable to tag along, but trusted us to pick the perfect place without her. We decided once we found a place we really liked, Kacey would go see it with us and we'd make the final decision.

While Angie gathered a list of potential properties for us, Selena and I went down the street for a late lunch at a small sandwich shop.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," she chirped, biting into a grilled ham and cheddar.

I cocked an eyebrow. "We should've done this a long time ago, Sel. I can't fucking wait to not have to commute anymore."

"And you get to be closer to Jesse," she teased in a singsong voice, wiggling her brows in a suggestive manner.

There was a good point I hadn't yet thought of. I would be a lot closer to Jesse. That meant I'd probably get to see him more often, which sounded absolutely fantastic. I momentarily considered asking him to help me with my stuff once we moved. I really didn't need any help. I'd moved on my own more than once. But it sounded like a good excuse just to get to spend some time with him – and watch his muscles flex when he lifted my boxes.

But then there was Alex. I would be further away from where he lived. Would that cut down on the amount of time I got to spend with him? I supposed I wouldn't have to worry about that too much, seeing as we worked together. I'd see him every day anyway. But it still didn't change the fact that a tiny part of me was sad at the idea of living a little farther from him.

Speaking of Jesse and Alex, I hadn't even mentioned to them that I was going to be moving. Jesse, I was sure, would be excited about the move when I told him where I'd be moving to. Alex, on the other hand... I didn't know how he'd feel.

"And you get to be closer to Daren." I changed the subject to focus on her love life.

Selena's eyes lit up and she giggled in mid-bite, nearly choking on the last of her sandwich.

I just knew living with her was going to involve a lot of sleepless nights. I could imagine her headboard knocking against the wall, keeping Kacey and I awake.

"When are you going to tell the guys about the move?" Selena asked.

I shook my head, sipping the last of my Coke. "I don't know. I was thinking I might wait until we find a place."

Selena nodded and gulped down her Sprite. "I already talked to Joseph about it. He's going to help us move our stuff."

"Okay," was all I could say. My mind was too focused elsewhere.

After lunch, we met up with Angie again at the first house on the list she'd come up with. It was a French colonial in a neighborhood where all the homes were built way too close together. I had to expect that for living in the city, though. The closer you got, the less space you had.

We toured the house in less than twenty minutes. Although we both liked the look of the home from the outside, and the interior paint colors were nice, we quickly checked it off the list when we discovered how small the bedrooms were. The master was pretty big, but the other three bedrooms were made for small children. We needed more room.

The second and third homes were both bungalow style and we didn't care for either of them. They were both too small and had practically zero backyard and no back patios. I was starting to feel like we were on an episode of House Hunters and the camera crew was hiding in the bushes somewhere.

I stressed to Angie that I was used to the quiet, spread out life in Phillipsburg, and it was going to be hard to talk me into a house that didn't have a decent sized yard and a couple mature trees. I didn't want to be crammed up next to another house, and though I was moving to the city, I still wanted to have some of that suburban-country feel. Selena ended up echoing my opinion and we both thought Kacey would agree, too. Angie assured us that the fourth house was more like what we'd described to her.

We drove a little way out of the perimeter that we'd initially given Angie. The house we were going to see next wasn't in Jersey City. It was in a small community called Belleville, just northwest. I could already see where there would be a bit of a commute since Newark International Airport was in between Jersey City and Belleville. The traffic would be somewhat frustrating, but at least it wouldn't take as long as driving from Phillipsburg.

I was surprised when we pulled up in front of a mid-century modern with large windows, double front doors, and a three-car garage. The lot was considerably larger than the last three and there were two mature maple trees in the front and back yards. This was definitely more like it.

Walking up the driveway, I crossed my fingers that the inside would be as impressive as the outside. I didn't want to be house hunting for a long time. I wanted this process to be as quick and easy as possible.

"What do you think so far?" Angie asked us, referring to the exterior.

She looked proud of her choice with a broad smile on her face. Her eyes scanned over the front yard and the neighborhood. She looked sure of herself.

"You're speaking my language with the lot size now," I commented and Selena nodded, anxiously waiting to enter the house.

I liked the look of the neighborhood. It looked like all the neighbors kept up their homes very well. There weren't any cars parked in front yards or trash lying about. Every yard was well manicured and none of the homes looked dilapidated.

When we walked inside, I was pleasantly surprised to see beautiful hardwood floors and an open concept floorplan. The living room and kitchen were completely open to each other. In the kitchen were a large island and a nook with bay windows, which I especially liked, and there were plenty of cabinets for all our cookware.

"The house is twenty-five-hundred square feet," Angie started listing the specs as we wandered through the home. "Four bedrooms, three full baths, walk-in closets, and you already noticed the three-car garage."

She continued on, telling us what year the house was built and which rooms had recently been renovated. Selena and I were happy with the size of the bedrooms. There were a master and mother-in-law's suite that were the same size, and the other two bedrooms were just slightly smaller.

We went out back to find a fairly large backyard. The lot was roughly a third of an acre and the back patio was a good size for us to set up a table and chairs and still have space for a grill. Selena was already planning out where she would plant a big garden and have a vast array of flowers. My only complaint with the house was that the pantry was rather small, but that was a miniscule detail.

Once we'd finished exploring the property, we met back on the front porch to discuss the listing.

"Well, what do you think?" Angie asked with a smile. "The property manager is asking two-thousand a month with utilities included."

Selena and I looked at each other and she said she was pretty sure this house was the one.

"We'll have to get Kacey out here to give the final vote," I said. "But yeah, I'm going to have to agree with Selena. I think this will definitely work."

"Fantastic!" Angie grinned, pulling up her schedule on her phone. "When can I put you down for another showing?"

I sent a quick text to Kacey and we agreed on one o'clock the next day.

Selena and I bid Angie farewell and headed back to the office to pick up some files and call it a day.

When I walked in the building, Alex was just finishing up his work and getting ready to head out.

"Hey," I smiled, leaning against the wall of his cubicle.

He jumped a little and gave a nervous laugh. He'd been so caught up in his work that he hadn't even noticed me walk up.

"Hey," he breathed and chuckled. "You startled me."

I raised my eyebrows. "Obviously. What are you working on so intently, Mr. Stephens?"

Alex groaned and leaned back in his chair, stretching and running his hands through his hair. He folded his arms behind his head and looked tiredly at the computer screen.

"This article that's due Friday... It's hard to put it on paper the way I'm seeing it in my head," he explained. "My main concern is that I might not use the perfect choice of words and offend someone. This is a really important subject to me and I don't want to fuck it up."

"Alex, one thing I've learned from being a writer: you can never, ever please everyone," I told him. "There will always be someone somewhere who is offended. It doesn't matter what they think. Just do it how you think is best. What's the subject, anyway?"

"Honestly?" His voice was monotone. "I chose to write about mental health and suicide. I thought this would be a great platform to help bring awareness to the world. Now I'm starting to second guess myself. I'm just worried I won't do it justice, if that makes any sense."

I was both surprised and impressed with his subject choice. I understood why he was so worried about writing the article perfectly. It was a very uncomfortable subject for many people and he didn't want to downplay the severity of it in any way, or leave anything out that needed to be noted. It was a brilliant way to try to bring awareness. Satisfaction's audience was predominately young adult and I knew the article would resonate well with them. At the same time, because it was such a delicate topic, there would undoubtedly be that usual handful of people nitpicking Alex's every word.

"That's amazing," I said sincerely, glancing at his screen. "I'm glad you have the guts to start the discussion with our readers. The more awareness we can bring, the better. That's really admirable, Alex. And I'm sure Mandy will be very impressed, too."

He managed a small smile and sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Any chance I could get you to proofread it for me before I submit it?"

I nodded, more than happy to. "I'd love to."

Alex's smile broadened and he reached out to me, wrapping an arm around my hips and awkwardly hugging me while I stood and he sat.

"Thank you," he said, and I craned down to kiss his cheek.

"I'll see you at seven?" I confirmed.

"You sure will."