Annika stared openly at the apartment as she stepped inside.
"Julie?" she called.
Julie head appeared from the direction of the kitchen.
"Hey! It's about time you came over! I've been trying to contact you since yesterday."
"Brett and I were spending some quality time together. And by time I got back and checked my messages it was too late to call. What happened? You look terrible?"
"Oh, I've been up all night. So, no, it wasn't too late to call. Ha!"
"Up all night? Doing what exactly?"
"Packing," Julie nodded. "Do you have boxes at your place from the merch shipments?"
"Some. Why? What's going on?"
"Bobby's selling the apartment."
"He's kicking you out?" Annika exclaimed.
"No. I'm leaving. He's leaving, so I'm leaving. I can't... I can't stay here in this place knowing that he's probably never going to come back."
"Oh... Julie, I'm so sorry."
"So, I'm moving in with Zac."
"Zac?"
"Yes."
"Does he know about this?"
"Absolutely. I told him last night that I was going to take him up on his offer."
"What offer?"
"When I was pregnant with B'E and Tom, he offered to let me move in with him if I needed to."
"Things have changed since them, I imagine."
"Yes. I have six kids, he has a dozen and he also has a magical house that's bigger on the inside than on the outside. He has loads of room for me and mine."
"I see. What about the servers?"
Julie paused.
"I'll have to take them with me. We could move them in with you, but..."
"I have no technical expertise so yeah."
"Exactly," Julie tapped her fingers on the counter. "I'm thinking I should get the kids and stuff to Zac's, and organise where I'm putting them, then come back for them. I should inform everyone that they're going down on the specific date, blah blah. They'll get mad, but what else can I do? It'll only be for a few hours."
"Upload the next patch?" Annika suggested.
"It's not quite done yet..." Julie considered. "Eh, we'll see how things go."
The girls were silent for a time.
"So, you're moving to Tulsa."
"It's all a circle," Julie replied with a nod. "That's where I grew up."
Annika chuckled wryly.
"You could get to meet Cliff and Binar, and Corinne in person."
"I could," Julie considered. "You could come with?"
"Maybe. I'll think about it. What about Olivia?"
"She's going to stay in New York. I don't blame her - this is her home after all," Julie shrugged. "Zac has his own nanny. If Elle needs a second pair of hands I'll hire someone through the same agency."
"Fair enough," Annika grinned at her. "Try not to let Zac give B'E, Tom and Brett any more siblings."
Julie grinned back.
"That's right. The IGP2ZH Club will have an insider!"
"You can share all the good Zac-goss with us."
They giggled.