I made it to Peoria, picked up my tux & met up with DP & his girl, Casey at Hooters, where we were drinking green beers & catching up. My flip phone kept buzzing. It was Kate each time, so I answered.
"I looked at a couple different storefronts in OB," she said. I walked outside so I could hear better. "There's a small place on Voltaire Street for $1500 a month but it used to a be an insurance agency, so we'd have to build it out."
"Voltaire? I want a place on Newport. That's where all the action's at," I said.
"Definitely, but there's nothing open right now," Kate said. "I've been talking with this guy, Robert, who works for this guy Eli who owns like a ton of places in OB. He's like everybody's landlord. Anyway, Robert said he'll let me know if he finds anything under $2000 a month that's at least 300 square feet."
"Damn, nice work babe. I gotta go though, DP's here. Happy St. Patrick's Day," I said.
I was busy partying back home, while Kate was making moves.
Later that day, I caught a lift from Borsch to the rehearsal dinner at Alexander's Steakhouse (one the best places to eat in Peoria, where you cook your own steaks).
"So, I'm gonna propose to Kate," I said.
"Nice. That's awesome." Borsch was a man of few words.
"I still gotta get a ring, though. Where did you buy Emily's ring?" I asked.
"I just went to the jewelry store, you know the one in the mall."
"How much did you spend?"
"I don't even remember. Two grand maybe," he said.
"Well, I got like five hundo, so..." I said.
"Dude, you should check out the pawn shop," he said. "I'm sure you got those out there in Cali, right?"
"Oh, yeah. Good call, Borsch."
"Down here at the pawn shop, it's the only place to shop," Borsch sang.
"Man we used to listen to that Sublime album all the time," I said.
