Page 135 of Love Me Fierce

“Nothing, just…” I thought he would be on shift today. “He’s home.”

“Who?”

“My neighbor.”

She lifts her shades to peer at me. “The firefighter? The one you can’t stand?”

“Yep.” I turn down my driveway, which parallels past his A-frame then descends to mine. The row of A-frames used to be summer cabins for the wealthy ranch families who founded Finn River. There are six in all, each within steps of Bear Lake. Apparently, the style is better for withstanding the heavy snowfall this area of Idaho gets every winter, a fact I didn’t fully consider until January and all that sloughed off snowpiled up.

I love snow, but shoveling for hours, especially after trips when I have to fly with David, sucks.

“I hope you brought earplugs.” I park in front of my house and glance over Quinn’s head to where my neighbor’s expansive deck reno is underway. He’s thankfully not outside, so he’s either taking a break, or maybe his daughter, Greta is with him. How someone so irritating and grouchy could make such a spunky and delightful kid is totally beyond me.

We grab our black suitcases from my trunk and wheel them over the bumpy gravel to my porch.

“It’s adorable,” Quinn says while taking in my covered deck and the view of the lake visible from the right side, down a narrow strip of deck that connects to the one at the front of the house. With the sun gleaming off the calm water and the pretty aspen and cottonwoods shimmering in the soft summer breeze, it looks like a slice of heaven.

If only my neighbor would stop being so annoying, it would be perfect.

“Just wait until the sunset.” I unlock the door and we step inside the narrow entryway.

Quinn gasps. “Oh wow.” She gazes up, taking in the warm wood beams and the light pouring in from the giant windows at the front of the house.

A flash of dark fur zips from the kitchen, and I reach down to scoop him up. “Hey, sweet boy,” I coo, and nuzzle his face. He smells of earth and peanuts and his fur is warm, like he’s been napping in his sunny spot in the living room.

“Missed me, huh?” I ask him as he purrs loudly.

“Hey, you little stud,” Quinn says, giving my cat a scratch behind the ears. “Long time no see.”

I set Kodiak on his feet and kick off my work pumps. “Your room is there,” I say, pointing at the guest room to the left, across from the bathroom.

Quinn pulls her suitcase into the space. “Oh my stars, this issimply lovely.” She tugs her neckerchief loose, her eyes bright. “Show me the rest, then let’s go jump in that lake.”

I float on my back, gazing up at the cornflower-blue sky deepening one hue at a time.

Next to me, Quinn rises to the surface, her dark brown hair slicked off her forehead. “So where is this mystery man?”

“Don’t jinx it,” I warn.

“Is he at least hot?”

My chilled skin tightens everywhere at once. “Kind of hard to get past his scowl, so how would I know?”

“Hmm.”

“His kid is cute,” I say to move the conversation along. “Well…’cute’ isn’t probably the right word since she just turned sixteen.”

“She seems to have taken good care of Kody,” Quinn says, pursing her lips.

“She’s super responsible,” I say. “Kind of impressive, actually.”

“Hmm,” Quinn says again. “Has he retaliated since you filled his yard with those yard flamingos?”

“He put my address on Craig’s List with an offer for free sausages. I had so many people knocking on my door I barricaded my driveway and put up a giant sign.”

Quinn laughs, then presses her lips together. “Sorry. Why does he need to play basketball at eleven o’clock at night anyways?”

“Exactly!”

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