by Ellie Hall
“Um, I’ll come back and pay for the sprinklers,” I said. “You rang up the hose, though, right?”
The clerk nodded. “Sorry about your grass seed.”
No offer to swap it out, I noted. That was sixty dollars only the birds would get to enjoy. And all so I wouldn’t run into my stupid neighbor.
I turned my cart around, and stopped to flip the bag over, careful not to put it down on top of the sprinkler heads this time. It wouldn’t save all of it, but better to keep what I could.
“I have some duct tape,” the clerk offered with a shrug.
I followed her back to the counter where several other customers watched me run my card and tape up my grass seed bag. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar profile duck around, grab something from behind the counter, and dart out again.
“Was that—?” Granny began to ask.
“Don’t say it. I don’t want to know.”
“Okay. I won’t say it was your handsome but useless neighbor.”
“Thanks, Granny.”
“Are you going to make him plant this grass seed for you?”
“Nope. My mom is coming over tomorrow to help. We’ll be fine.”
Granny sighed, clearly disappointed in my lack of enthusiasm for confrontation.
We left with everything paid for this time, but outside I stopped short at the sight of Connor bent over my grass seed trails with a little dustpan and broom he’d swiped from behind the sales counter. He was sweeping it all up into a clear plastic bag.
“He’s stealing your seed,” Granny hissed. “He wants it for himself, the cheapo.”
I didn’t agree, but I also didn’t want to stay there watching and speculating with the most suspicious woman I knew. So I pushed onward to my car, loaded up my purchases, and drove off with my nerves feeling like they’d been tossed in a blender.
When I got home after dropping Granny off, there was a clear plastic bag full of grass seed on my porch, another bag in a brand-new package, a seed spreader I’d forgotten to buy, and a bag of mulch.
Why had he done all that? Connor was supposed to be my terrible neighbor, and I was supposed to hate him. Or at least find him annoying and despicable. But I wasn’t feeling any of those things at the moment, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I’d have to thank him later, when I wasn’t tempted to give him a big hug. Hugging him would be super gross. Because…. reasons. I’d come up with some. I would not think about his strong arms or my fingers running over them, pretending to look for a spider I knew had scampered off. Nope. I wasn’t thinking about any of that.
10
Connor
I peered through the blinds again, craning my neck to confirm that Melissa hadn’t left for work. Yep, her car was still there. As tired as I was of waiting in here, knowing the morning would only get hotter, I didn’t dare step outside and start on the yard yet.
It was better if Melissa came home from work this afternoon and thought some yard fairy had descended. I’d have plausible deniability. Both of us could pretend I didn’t enjoy swooping in to help her like I had last night. Denial had been working pretty well for me so far. For example, right now I wasn’t thinking about what her reaction might be to seeing a seeded yard, or the gravel all cleaned up, or the flower beds planted. I wasn’t considering how happy it would make her.
Nope. I was doing this all for me. Because I was a selfish and terrible person who wanted a nice yard just for me.
My roommate, Rob, stumbled into the front room and peered at me through his squinty eyes. “What day is it?”
“Tuesday.”
“Are you sure? You’re never here on Tuesdays.”
“I am today.” I turned back to the window, listening to Rob rummage around in the kitchen. As little time as we spent together, I knew his routine. He’d shove handfuls of cereal in his mouth straight from the box, take a long drink of water from any cup on the counter, and then stumble back to bed until noon. He did have a job at a used bookstore, but it was more of a hobby for him, kind of like his new bongo album. His real money came from a lawsuit he’d won against one of those medical testing facilities. Whether or not they did anything to him worth suing over was a question I asked myself a lot. Sometimes I thought nobody could be that weird without medical intervention.
Hurry, Melissa. What was going on? She always left by seven-thirty. My brother and sister would be coming to help me any minute, and if they didn’t have something to do, they’d be bickering in here with me. I was edgy enough as it was.
This no-school and no-work thing was so foreign to me. Even before dental school, I’d always worked. My dad owned a heavy equipment rental business, and from the time I could hold a wrench I’d been tinkering on machines with him. Now for the first time ever, I had nothing to study for and nowhere to go. Sure, I had interviews lined up, but those were for next week.
Today, I was as free as a kid on his first day of summer. Well, except that I was stuck waiting on Melissa to leave for work.
A sedan pulled up to the curb and I watched a woman get out and adjust the purple visor on her head and straighten her oversized T-shirt. Even with the big sunglasses covering half her face, I knew who it was. Melissa’s mother was dressed like someone ready to do some yard work. Not good. This was not good for my morning plans at all.
She walked purposefully up to Melissa’s door and out of my view, leaving me with a decision to make. That decision deadline got more urgent after Melissa and her mom stepped out into the yard together trailed by Melissa’s two dogs. The two women began raking gravel out of the way. Over time, the gravel had meandered into the dead grass sections until everything everywhere was dead and patchy rock. Facing the hideousness of it would’ve been a lot easier without their judging eyes. My plan to become a yard fairy had just disintegrated.
Pacing in front of the window made my indecision worse, but I couldn’t stop myself. I had plants that needed to come out of their plastic pots and get water and sun. I hadn’t bought Melissa extra seed and a spreader so I could watch her work all day, but I also hadn’t planned to go out of my way to spend time with her or her mother. I had walls that needed to remain intact. Neighborly walls that didn’t allow for friendship, or courtship, or making out in her reading chair. Okay, reel it in, thoughts.
My siblings pulled up to the curb in Parker’s truck, and my destiny was cemented. They had Parker’s best friend, Clay, with them. At least I’d have plenty of help.
I jogged outside and met up with my brother before he could ask what Melissa and her mom were doing in the yard. Parker wasn’t known for his subtlety. The kid was scrappy. The shortest of the Harwood siblings, with the most to prove to the world, at least in his own mind.
“Your neighbors are helping us?” Parker asked, nodding at them. “Are they new? I thought nobody lived on the other side of the duplex.”
I turned to look at Melissa and gave her an awkward smile to match the one she had aimed at me. She couldn’t hear us, but she obviously could tell we were talking about her.
“Yeah, they’re new. We’re all going to work together.”
“Cool.” My sister, Lauren, breezed passed me and knelt down to say hello to the dogs. They wagged their tails and ate up the attention. Soon, Lauren was clearing out rock with Melissa and talking up a storm. Probably telling stories about me. My only solace was that Lauren didn’t have much dirt. She was twelve years younger than me. All my annoying stages were too far back for her to remember.
I assigned Parker to rip out the dead cottonwood tree and gave Clay the task of prepping the flower beds. I went and got my own rake and hoe from the small shed in the back and hurried around the side of the house, almost running into Melissa. She had a small smudge of dirt on her cheek and I resisted the urge to wipe it away for her. Not that I could have with my hands full of tools.
“Did you ditch work for this?” I asked. Telling her I would have done it all myself was on the tip of my tongue, but I held it back.
“I took a personal day. I had a bunch stored up.”
“It was nice of your mom to come help.”
“Yeah. My dad had to work today, but he said he’d come by tomorrow and do anything we didn’t get done.”
“Great.” I’d make sure there was nothing left.
“What about you? No studying today?” she asked.
“Nope. I’m officially graduated from dental school.”
“Dental school? That’s awesome. And now I’m realizing how little I know about you.” She smiled, and her eyes sparkled like they held a secret. “Well, I do know a few things, thanks to your sister. Is it true you asked Felicia Rae Gomez to Prom in a YouTube video?”
“That was… a bet. Actually, ‘dare’ is a better word.” I was going to kill Lauren.
“I think it’s sweet. I loved her in Haunted High School back in the day. I even had a HSH bumper sticker on my car.”
My face, already hot from the sun, burned even more. “It wasn’t the Haunted High School thing for me. She was the voice of Tez Dreamstore in Aliens and Convenience Stores.” My explanation was making me sound even more like a nerd, but I couldn’t seem to stop. “Not that you’d know what that is.”
“It was a video game, right?”
“Yeah.”
Melissa nodded. “So, um, did she ever respond?”
“I got a letter.” Probably one written by her team, but it had been nice all the same. I knew exactly where it was in my box of memorabilia, but it wasn’t about to see the light of day anytime soon. “And no, I didn’t take Felicia Rae Gomez to Prom. Should I check with your mom and see if she has any fun stories about you?”
Melissa lifted her chin. “Go right ahead, tough guy.”
I stepped closer. “You sound a little nervous. Why is that?”
“No reason.”
“No fun stories about you she could share?”
“Not any good ones.” Lies. All lies. Her face was telling me there were a lot of juicy stories her mom would be happy to share. What had Melissa been like back in high school?
I got lost in her big brown eyes for a moment. Realizing our little staring contest was getting a bit too charged for me, I ducked around her with my tools and got to work. I was letting down my guard again. She was all wrong for me, and I wouldn’t let my instincts be fooled into thinking otherwise.
11
Melissa
I tugged at the dead tree in the middle of the yard, but it wouldn’t budge. We’d have to dig deeper. Stinking dead roots.
I stepped back and let Parker shovel out more dirt. “Connor has never mentioned you,” he huffed out between shovelfuls. “Which is weird because you’re really good-looking.”
I blinked at him, trying to figure out if he was teasing me. But just like when he asked if my mom and I were sisters, it was impulse coming out of his mouth, and not flattery. Good thing his impulses happened to be flattering. Sort of.
“Does Connor always mention when women are good-looking?” I asked, trying not to laugh.
“Well, yeah. All guys do.” Parker and Clay exchanged fist bumps.
Lauren, raking rock nearby, gave me a look of long-suffering, but I had a feeling she purposely chose the kind of torture that allowed her to hang out with her older brother and his cute friend.
I glanced over at Connor, who had kept himself extremely busy ever since our side of the house interaction. He wouldn’t work within ten feet of me, or even look at me. I had embarrassed him, and enjoyed it thoroughly, and if he knew what else his siblings had revealed about him, he might actually die of humiliation. Apparently, he’d been quite the geek in high school, despite his strong build and his success on the football field. I lapped up every story they had to tell.
But maybe it wasn’t embarrassment keeping Connor away from me. Maybe it was the way our interactions always turned a bit flirty. With Natalya as my best friend, he probably preferred to keep his distance from us both.
Parker and I tried tugging the tree out, and this time it gave way with a mighty snap of dead tree roots and a spray of dirt. Unfortunately, summer wasn’t a good time to plant trees. We’d have to wait until fall to replace the thing. But I could be content with grass and flowers for now.
Working as a team, we accomplished more than I’d ever imagined. By the time we broke for lunch, the lawn was seeded and watered, the flower bed was all planted, and the gravel had been tamed into its own section behind the cement curbing.
Parker gathered up the plant containers and seed bags and took them to the trash can by the curb. “We’re gonna bail, Connor. Glad you’re not the eyesore of the neighborhood anymore.”
“Yes, it all looks nice,” my mom said, smoothing over Parker’s dig. “I’m going home, too. Well, unless you still need me.” She glanced between me and Connor and smiled. “But I’m sure you two can take it from here.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I pleaded with my eyes for her to not insinuate anything further, which only made her smile bigger. “He’s a cute one,” she whispered when I hugged her goodbye.
“Not happening,” I whispered back.
My words couldn’t have been truer. Connor escaped inside his door the second she pulled away from the curb. No wave, no words. Nothing.
I called for Sarge and Buster, who were happily sniffing the new yard and trying to drink from the sprinklers without getting sprayed in the face. They needed their water bowls and some air conditioning.
“Come on, guys.” I stalked into my side of the duplex and took care of them before heading into the shower, feeling broody. Connor’s avoidance today bothered me. Yeah, he was embarrassed about the yard. And he didn’t want to spend time with the best friend of his ex-girlfriend. Both of those things were understandable, and yet I was still ticked off.
I had the rest of the day ahead of me, and Connor knew it. He’d bailed faster than a man in a sinking boat, afraid I’d try to take more of his time and space without anyone else there as a buffer. The thought of spending time with me was abhorrent.
I should invite Natalya over just to tick him off.
Instead, I dressed, teased my curls, put on a cute sundress, and dodged the sprinklers that were hitting the porch as I walked over to his door. I had no plan. I was just fueled by a lot of dumb stubbornness and free time.
Connor’s blond roommate answered after two knocks, wearing sweats and a Beatles T-shirt. “Oh, it’s you,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I’m not going to stop practicing so you can just…” He made a sweeping motion with his hand. “Go back to your place.”
“Stop practicing what?”
“The drums?” He moved aside so I could see his bongos in the corner of their living room. Right. Without the microphone trained on them, the noise didn’t carry through the wall. While we were working on the yard all morning, he must have been in here banging on those. How nice of him.
“I’m not here about the bongos.”
“Oh.” He seemed to take in my appearance for the first time. “You’re actually quite attractive. I don’t know what Connor was talking about.”
“What now?”
He scratched the back of his head and looked behind him, like he was hoping for backup that wasn’t there. “I just thought… you know what? Never mind. Would you like to come in? Are you hungry? I was about to make a smoothie.”
“Where’s Connor?” He’d told his roommate I wasn’t attractive? Maybe I did need to invest in a spider farm. Jerk. Worst neighbor ever. Girl-avoiding loser.
“He’s in the shower. I’ll let him know you stopped by.”
A door clicked open down the hall, and seconds later, Connor walked into the front room, towel drying his dark hair and whistling. He had on a fresh T-shirt and basketball shorts.
The second he saw me at the door, the whistling stopped and he froze. “Melissa.”
“Connor.” My voice was not friendly, and he eyed me cautiously as he slid his feet into a pair of Nike slides. Tossing the towel he’d be
en holding on the arm of his couch, he came to the door and stepped out. “Let’s go to lunch. Bye, Rob.”
“Where are you two—?”
Connor shut the door firmly, cutting off the rest of Rob’s question.
“We’re going to lunch?” I asked.
“I’d like to.” Connor touched his back pocket. “One moment. Stay here, please.” As if I might try to follow him back inside or something. Whatever. He returned a moment later with his wallet and motioned to his truck. “Ready?”
I folded my arms and stared him down. “Where are we going?”
“Are you picky or something?”
“No. I’m confused.”
“Are you confused because you’re not sure if you’re hungry or not?”
“I’m confused because I don’t know why we’re going somewhere together. You told Rob I was not attractive.”
He opened his mouth to rebut, but I cut him off. “Don’t.”
“But, I—”
“Nope. I’m good. It’s not an ego thing. It’s just rude to rate your neighbor on a hotness scale. And I don’t want your pity lunch after you took off the second everyone left today. I get it. We’re not going to be friends.”
Connor looked at the ground. “So, I’m not allowed to defend myself?” He mumbled something right after it that sounded a lot like, “Not that I should.”
“Why do you do that?”
“Do what?” He looked up at me, and I could see the fear. He knew exactly what I was asking about.
“Why don’t you want me to like you?”
He put his hands up in a plea. “Lunch first?”
“You must be really hungry. Hang on a second.” I went into my place and grabbed my purse. There was no way I’d be letting Connor pay for me. This was not a date, just a fact-finding mission with food.