by Carrie Elks
Well, hello!
“Hi.” He gave her an awkward smile. Damn, had she said that out loud? He sat down on the edge of the pool next to her, his face blanching as he dipped his toes in. “You’d think they’d heat this up until the sun does the trick. I swear it’s warmer in the ocean than it is in here.” He cocked his head, his eyes dipping to her body before rising quickly up. “I keep meaning to knock on your door and say thanks for the cookies. They were delicious.”
“You’re welcome.” She looked across the pool, checking on Isla. She’d grabbed the ball and was using it as a float, treading water to stay in the same place. Over her shoulder, Raeanne had lifted her sunglasses to her head and was staring unashamedly at Meghan’s neighbor. When she caught Meghan’s eye, she gave her a thumbs up.
Meghan quickly pulled her attention back to Rich. Thank goodness she didn’t have to stare at his thighs and groin anymore. It was much easier looking at his face. And yeah, she could spend hours looking at that face. Thick eyebrows framing piercing blue eyes, a strong straight nose that led to a top lip that was thinner than the bottom. He hadn’t shaved and the dark shadow on his jaw defined their sharpness.
“Aren’t you working today?” she asked him.
“I have the weekend off.” He lifted a brow. “Thought I’d come for a swim before I headed out to do all the things I never get to do when I’m on shift. How about you?”
“I’m working this afternoon.” Isla was looking over at her. Meghan lifted her hand in a wave.
“Is that your daughter?”
“That’s Isla, yeah.” Meghan nodded. “She’s giving me some grace before I freeze to death in this pool.”
“Good thing I know how to do CPR.” He really did have the most delicious grin.
“I thought it might be useful having a doctor as a neighbor,” she told him. “Though I promise not to take advantage.”
“What do you do again?” he asked. “So I know not to take advantage of that, either.”
“I run the ice cream shop on the boardwalk.” She was amused that he’d forgotten their conversation from the other night.
“Angel Ices? Ah, that explains the cookies. You made those?” His head tipped to the side. “In that case, you can take advantage of my medical skills whenever you like, as long as you pay me in cookies and ice cream.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“You do that. Now, I need to go swim. I figure this way I get to exercise without annoying my neighbors with loud music.” The sparkle in his eyes told her he was teasing.
“Good idea. You can warm it up for me.”
He grinned and jumped to his feet, then dove into the water, cutting through the surface like a swan. By the time he emerged from the deep, he’d swum almost to the other side, grabbing onto the edge as he shook the water from his hair, the droplets flying everywhere. It was the first time she’d seen his back muscles, and they were as impressive as the rest of him. Rippling beneath his smooth, tan skin as he pushed himself off and turned back into the water, his arms pushing through the surface in an easy, elegant crawl.
Meghan was definitely ready to cool down. Not just because her new neighbor was as fine as anything, but because he actually appeared to be a nice guy, too. She felt like she’d lucked out, moving into an apartment where all of her neighbors were lovely. Gloria and her kind, warm welcome, Kevin and Grant and their thoughtful gift, even though they were thousands of miles away.
And then there was Rich. The hot doc who’d just offered her medical advice in return for cookies. A quid pro quo she felt was pretty one sided.
Thank goodness he was out of her league. Too old, too handsome, and way too eligible to be interested in a single mom with an eight year old kid.
She was hoping this place would be home for her and Isla for a long time. She wasn’t planning on letting her attraction to one of her neighbors get in the way of that.
It was almost eleven by the time Rich had showered and dressed, taking the ten flights of stairs down to the basement lot, where his Toyota was parked in his allocated spot.
The sun was warmer now, and as he pulled up the ramp and onto the road he could see the apartment pool area was swarming with people. He knew Meghan wasn’t one of them, because he’d heard her come back up to her apartment with Isla about half an hour before he left.
He hadn’t stuck his head out to say hello. He’d done his bit – thanked her for the cookies and been friendly at the pool. She was his neighbor, and it was the right thing to do. But he didn’t need to be her best friend. Not even if she had the prettiest smile he’d seen in a long, long time. Not to mention that deep auburn hair that caught the sun as she sat with her lithe legs dangling in the communal pool.
Not that he was checking her out. The last thing he needed was another Carlyn, but this time living next door. When she’d knocked on his door the other night he’d been taken by surprise, and had been naturally reticent toward her. He’d learned from experience that to be too friendly only opened him up to later problems.
Full of yourself much? He bit down a smile and shook his head, turning his car onto the main road out of Angel Sands. Weird how much that little voice in his head sounded exactly like his sister, whose house he was headed to. And no, he wasn’t full of himself. He just knew where to draw the boundaries. He didn’t want to give people the wrong idea.
His sister lived in a bungalow on the edge of Angel Sands. He pulled into the driveway, behind her adapted Honda Element, and climbed out of the car, pressing the doorbell to let her know he was here.
“You can come around the back.” Her voice echoed through the speaker beneath the bell. “You know the code by now.”
“I was just being polite.” He smiled at her sassiness.
“There’s a first time for everything I guess.”
He had to bend down to open the gate. Everything in the bungalow had been adapted for Belle, including the keypads, door handles, and in this case – the gate latch. He punched in the code and it unlocked, before he walked into the backyard, fastening the gate behind him.
Belle was in her studio at the bottom of the yard, a paintbrush in her hand as she mixed colors on the wooden palate she held in the other. Her face lit up when she saw him.
She had paraplegia since an accident seventeen years ago, when Belle was twelve, and Rich nineteen. The same accident that had ended their parents’ lives. For the first ten years, she’d lived with their aunt, with regular visits from Rich. But after she turned twenty-one and inherited half their parents’ estate, she’d chosen to live alone in her specially adapted bungalow, with support from hired caregivers.
Her strength and optimism never failed to amaze him. And make him feel guilty, too. Because she was the one who paid the big price for their parents’ death. He was already grown up, and in his second year of college when they passed. She wasn’t even a teenager, and on top of losing her parents she had to learn how to live life without legs that worked.
“That’s looking good,” he said, pointing at her painting. Belle was in the final year of her art degree at community college. She’d been doing it part-time for a while now, and her talent shone through her work. This painting was of the ocean, but in a Belle Martin-style – waves tipped with glittering jewels, red-headed mermaids dancing among them. She liked to paint whimsically, and somehow it really worked.
“So how’s your week been?” he asked ten minutes later in Belle’s house. He’d made them both coffee, and they were sitting looking out at her yard. He always felt like a giant when he did anything in her kitchen, having to stoop down to reach the specially adapted work surfaces and appliances.
“It’s been good. We’re working on our final shows.” Belle smiled. “We can either have them at the college, or arrange them privately ourselves. I’ve put a call in to a couple of local galleries to see if they’d be interested. The lighting at the college isn’t always the best.”
“Have you heard back from them?”
>
“One of them.” She smiled. “And I’ll chase the other one down next week.”
His sister was never afraid to push herself forward. He loved that about her.
“How about you? Have you been working too hard again?” Belle asked him, taking a sip of her latte.
“It’s been busy,” he admitted. “And I didn’t get to return your call on Wednesday. I’m sorry.”
Her expression was soft. “You don’t need to be sorry. I was only calling to say hi. And you always come to see me. Stop beating yourself up. It makes your pretty face look weird.”
“My face isn’t pretty.” His frown deepened.
“Tell that to all my friends. Do you know how many of them keep asking for your number? I could get you a date for every night this year and they’d still be hassling me.”
Rich shook his head. “Your friends are too young for me.”
“You’re not exactly ancient,” Belle pointed out.
“I’m thirty-six. That’s pretty old.”
“Yep. And by now you should be settled down with my sister-in-law and a few nieces and nephews.”
“Sorry, kid. I don’t have time for that.” He put his coffee cup on the counter and stretched his arms out. His muscles felt tight from his swim earlier.
“Yes you do. You just don’t want to. Anyway, I was teasing you about having kids. I’ll have some of my own and then you won’t have to worry.”
“Is there something you want to tell me?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“No.” She started laughing. “Oh god, you look so big-brotherish right now. I’m not pregnant, if that’s what you’re asking. Though I did go on a date last night.”
“Who with?” Rich asked, his voice low.
“I’m not telling you.” Her smile widened. “Though I can tell you I’ll be seeing him again. That man was good.”
“Belle!”
“What? I’m in my sexual prime. And stop wrinkling your nose up like that. God knows I’ve had to hear about your sex life enough.”
“When have you had to hear about my sex life?” He folded his arms in front of him.
“Every time you brought a girl home when you lived with us in the summer. And don’t screw your face up at me again, because it’s a natural act. I can do it if I want to.”
“Yes you can. I just don’t want to hear about it.” He swallowed down some coffee to try to wash the thought away.
Her lips twitched. “Okay then.”
“And you need to be safe,” he told her. “Not just using contraception, but you need to think about your physical safety, too. I worry about you.”
Her blue eyes met his. “And I worry about you, too,” she said softly. “Not about your safety but about your happiness. You work too hard.”
He winked. “I know.” They were back on safe ground. “But if it makes you feel any better, I’m going out later.”
“Where?”
“To James and Harper’s.” James Tanner was his best friend, and a spinal surgeon at St. Vincent’s.
“Will there be any girls there?” Belle’s eyes sparkled.
“Only Alyssa.” He grinned because he knew what she’d say next.
“She’s two years old.” Belle shook her head. “What are we going to do with you?”
“Speaking of kids, I have a new neighbor. A mom and her little girl. She’s eight.” He steered the conversation far away from his dating life. It wasn’t something he planned on talking with his sister about.
“You do? Is she pretty?”
“She’s eight.” His voice was deadpan.
Belle wrinkled her nose. “You’re getting boring, you know that? We need to find a way to spice up your life.”
4
Meghan wiped an invisible dust mote off the table, and looked around her apartment. She’d spent two hours cleaning every surface, even though there wasn’t much dirt to begin with. Isla had happily put away her books and helped Meghan hang up her clean clothes, and was sitting reading a book, her legs swinging against the sofa.
The buzzer to her door blasted out at exactly four o’clock.
“Come on up,” she said through the intercom, pressing the button to unlatch the door that led from the lobby to the bank of elevators. “We’re on floor ten.”
“You didn’t ask who I was.” Her dad sounded annoyed through the speaker.
“You’re the only people I was expecting.” She kept her voice light, because she had to endure an hour of this.
“You should still ask your visitors to identify themselves, Meghan. We could have been anybody.”
She rolled her eyes to get it out of her system, then walked over to the apartment door, pulling it open as she waited for the elevator to arrive. When it did, her parents walked out, her mom carrying an insulated bag full of what looked like home cooking, and her dad carrying his toolbox.
“Hi.” She stepped back to let them in. “Isla, Granny and Gramps are here.”
“Where’s my girl?” Meghan’s mom said, her eyes sparkling at the mention of Isla. “Come here and give Granny a huge hug.”
Isla flew into her arms, and Meghan’s mom hugged her tight. “Oh, I’ve missed you.” She kissed her head, then released her. “Look at you, I swear you’ve grown six inches.”
Isla flushed with happiness. “I just saw you two weeks ago, Granny.”
“Have you got a hug for your old Gramps, too?” Her dad put his toolbox down and held out his arms, and Isla laughed as he gave her a bear hug. “How do you like your new home?”
“It’s great.” Isla grinned. “We have a pool. Did you see it?”
Megan noticed her parents exchange a glance. “Yes we did,” her dad said. “I’ll take a closer look at it later. It was very noisy and full of young people when we arrived.”
“I saw somebody drinking beer there,” her mom added.
“Can I get you a drink?” Meghan asked them. “Or would you like the tour first?”
“I brought some homemade lemonade,” her mom said, passing the insulated bag to Meghan. “Why don’t you pour us all a glass and Isla can take us on a tour?”
“Yay! Can we start with my bedroom?” Isla asked, looking hopefully at Meghan.
Meghan nodded. “Sure. Go ahead, sweetie.”
Taking four glasses from the cupboard, she exhaled heavily, only half listening as Isla took them into each room, giving them a running commentary on her week at school. She could get through this. Her parents being here made Isla happy, and that should make her happy, too.
“I’ve brought some extra locks to install on your front door.” Her dad’s voice behind her made her jump. At least that explained the tool box.
Meghan passed him a glass of lemonade. “I don’t think you can do that. My lease doesn’t allow any changes to the security.”
Her dad frowned. “Do you have the landlord’s number? I’ll call him and explain.”
“It’s Sunday. And it’s fine, Dad. There’s no crime here, and my neighbors are very friendly. You don’t have to worry.”
“Your mother hasn’t been able to sleep worrying about Isla’s safety. I just want to put her mind at rest.”
Meghan swallowed down a sigh. “Why don’t you leave the lock here? I’ll talk to the landlord and if he says it’s okay, I’ll install it myself.”
Her dad pressed his lips together, and gave her a tight nod. “Let me show you where it should go.”
Meghan followed him to the door, where he pointed out the best location. “You want to put it here. It’s easily released in an emergency, in case of fire or anything else.” He opened the door, and was about to point out something on the other side when the elevator pinged.
Rich walked out, his eyebrows lifting in surprise as he saw the two of them standing in her doorway. “Hey.” He rubbed his thumb along his jaw.
“Hi.” Meghan smiled. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a black polo shirt, the sleeves tight on his defined biceps. “This is my dad. Dad,
this is my neighbor, Rich Martin.”
Her dad eyed Rich suspiciously. “Hello.”
“He’s a doctor at the local hospital,” Meghan added. She wanted to roll her eyes again when her dad relaxed next to her, and he gave Rich a big smile.
“You are? What do you do there?”
“I’m an attending physician in the Emergency Room.” Rich caught her eye, and she widened her own, hoping he knew she was sorry. Because her dad was almost fawning now that he knew her neighbor was a doctor.
As if that mattered.
“Jennifer,” her dad called over his shoulder. “Come meet Meghan’s new neighbor. He’s a doctor.”
Her mom rushed over, her lips curling into a smile. “Hello. It’s a pleasure.” She reached out a hand and Rich shook it. He looked so confused. She couldn’t blame him. “So you’re a doctor? How lovely. And what does your wife do?”
Rich’s gaze met Meghan’s again. She could feel her face flush. “I’m not married,” he told them.
“Oh.” There were a thousand syllables in her mom’s response. Meghan could feel every single one of them.
“Have you lived here long?” her dad asked him. Were they seriously doing this?
“About five years.” Rich’s smile was polite but closed.
“And is it safe here?” her mom asked, leaning forward. “We worry about Meghan and Isla all on their own.”
This time she couldn’t help the eye roll. It came before she could even anticipate it and hold it in. Rich’s lips twitched as his eyes met hers.
“It’s the safest place I’ve ever lived, ma’am.” Rich nodded. “You don’t have to worry about them here.”
“At least the neighbors are respectable,” her mom said to her dad. “You can’t get much better than a doctor.”
“Yes.” Her dad nodded. “That’s good to know.”
“Well, I should get inside. It was nice to meet you.” Rich lifted a hand in farewell.
“And you,” her mom said. “Hopefully we’ll see you around a lot. Whenever we visit.”