Page 10 of Beg, Borrow, or Steal

“Dammit.You’re my neighbor?”

“Like hell. Just cancel the sale.” She gestures toward the paper Carol is holding, which she clutches tightly in her fingers and pulls protectively to her chest looking for all the world like she’s already spent the cash offer I used to buy the house. “Just rip up the papers and find a new house.”

There she goes again—barking orders at me as if she owns me.

I sip my coffee. “No—that’s not how it works, and you know it. Also this was the only place available in town.” I’ve lived on the fringes long enough. I’m ready tobehere.

“Okay! Well…it was nice seeing y’all but I’ve got to—” Carol is backing away but Emily’s hand juts out and stops her, eyeballs still pasted to my face.

“No, no, no. This really can’t be happening. I can’t live next to him and work next to him every day of my life too.” Her eyes finally slide up to Carol. “Surely the house is unsellable anyway! I mean…it’s practically falling down. There must be a loophole to cancel the deal.”

It’s not that I would have expected Emily to be happy to live next to me, but I didn’t expect her to look like she just stepped out of a haunted house either. Living in Nebraska for the past few months and constantly expecting to see Emily around every corner, simply because life has repeatedly brought us unexpectedly together, must have caused some irreversible damage. Becausesuddenly, I don’t want her face to look like that when she thinks of me as her neighbor.

Carol waves off Emily’s words like she did mine. “The house isn’t too bad, really. Darrell is going to fix it up. A few weeks of renovation and it’ll be gorgeous!”

I don’t miss the moment Emily’s eyes sharpen on Carol. “Wait. Darrell’s company is going to do the reno?”

“Sure is. I talked to him this morning on the phone and he said although he’s slammed, he’d be willing to make it work. And since Jack is able to pay out of p—”

“Your house is the white one with the obsessive-looking flower garden?” I know where Carol was going with her sentence, and I don’t care to have her finish it in front of Emily. She hasalwaysbeen suspicious of my lifestyle. She’s made more than one pointed comment about my “nice things.” I don’t need her sniffing around this too.

Emily narrows her eyes. “You could have just said the house with thebeautifulflower garden. But yes—that’s mine. Jealous?”

Of course it is.Of course it is.When I went by to look at the crapshoot that is now my home, I all but drooled over her house. I even asked Carol if the owner would be willing to relocate if I offered them double the estimated value. She said there was no way that particular homeowner would be open to selling. Now I know why. Emily will live in this town until her last breath. I’ve never known anyone to love a place or its people more.

“Emily…” Carol says carefully, her eyes dropping to the hand keeping her from moving. “If you don’t mind, I’ve gotta get going.”

With a defeated sigh, Emily lets go and I see the moment she doesn’t want Carol to feel bad, because she plasters a soft smile on her mouth and aims it up at her. “Sure thing, Carol. Tell Billy I said hi and I’ll see y’all at Hank’s next Friday.”

“Will do, hon! Bye, Jack! Oh—and you’ll get keys for move-in by next weekend.” And with those parting words she’s off, rushing out of the coffee shop as quickly as she entered.

I expect Emily to immediately pounce on me, suggesting that if I don’t cancel the sale of the house, I should lie in front of a moving bus instead. Which is why I’m surprised to find her completely silent and staring off in the distance at nothing in particular. One soft little frown between her brows.Shit.I’ve known her long enough to recognize that the line between her brows is not good. Last time I saw that frown it preceded her going after the same editorial job as me for our college paper junior year after my friend Harris frustratingly asked about my interview while Emily was nearby. I wanted that job so bad, and she knew it. And then she went and interviewed for it too—and beat me. (I got her back, though, when I talked to our professor and snagged the student teaching placement I knew she wanted at Rome Elementary.Jeez, are we cruel people?)

Bottom line,thatis an Emily Walker scheming frown.

And when she suddenly looks back at me and her lips curl into a devious smirk, I know I’m about to have some sort of hell to pay.

“I’ve gotta go,” she says quickly, shoving her laptop back into her tote bag and standing.

“What happened to needing this table so badly?” I don’t trust whatever is going on in that head of hers but I’m excited for it all the same.

“Something more important just came up.” She smiles another smile that tingles up my spine. “Enjoy your coffee, neighbor,” Emily says before walking away and leaving me with an eerie feeling. One that instinctively has me throwing this coffee out and ordering a new one.

FROM: Emily Walker

TO: Jack Bennett

DATE: Mon, May 27 9:00 AM

SUBJECT: Word to the wise…

I saw you got your keys to the house early. If I were you…I wouldn’t unpack yet. You never know when something might go wrong and you’ll have to climb back up that beanstalk.

FROM: Jack Bennett

TO: Emily Walker

DATE: Mon, May 27 9:30 AM

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