Page 2 of Never Kiss Your Neighbors

“You’re not wearing shirts. Are your shirts all dirty?” the girl asks.

Immediately, I reach for my discarded shirt, but Cam says, “Yes, we do need to do laundry.”

“You’d better tell your mom you’re out of shirts,” the girl says matter-of-factly.

“That’d go over real well,” I mumble under my breath. My mom hasn’t done my laundry since I was ten, and I’m pretty sure Cam was raised the same way, or he’d likely be a messy housemate.

“We’ll do that for sure.” Cam resumes his juggling, tossing one of the marshmallows high in the air, and abandoning the others as he maneuvers to catch it in his mouth.

“What did you just eat?” she asks.

“A marshmallow,” he says after he swallows. “Do you like marshmallows?”

She’s quiet for several seconds before she responds. “I’m not allowed to talk to strangers.”

Cam nods, looking solemn. “That’s a smart rule.”

A moment later, she disappears.

I give him a look to indicate my surprise at the conversation and the girl’s presence in general. I hope she’s not going to make a habit of watching us when we’re out here filming.

Cam shrugs and tosses another marshmallow my way, but I step to the side and let it pass by. I already ate too many while I was loading the blasters.

There’s only one white blob left in the jumbo-sized bag, actually, and Cam plucks it out. “We’re gonna need more marshmallows.”

CHAPTER2

STELLA

“We should have gotten here earlier, Mommy.”

“I agree,” I tell my daughter as we inch forward in the long drop-off line at her new elementary school. “Sleep and breakfast are very important, so in order to get here earlier, you’ll need to go to bed earlier at night, or wear the clothing we set out the night before, rather than trying on new outfits in the morning.”

“But I didn’t feel like wearing blue today.”

“Hmm.” My mind is half on this conversation and half on calculating whether I’ll still have time to stop for groceries this morning.

Her feet softly kick the back of the passenger seat. “I don’t know what I’m going to feel like wearing until I wake up.”

“Please don’t kick, Jessie. How about … tonight we lay out three different outfits, and in the morning, you can choose among those three?”

Her face is thoughtful in the rearview mirror as we continue our glacial parade. I’d rather park and walk her to the door like I did when she was in kindergarten, but this school wants all the kids dropped off at the curb. We definitely need to arrive earlier, because it seems like everyone gets here at the last minute.

“I guess we could try that,” Jessie says when we’re a few cars away from the waiting line of staff.

“Great. Sounds like a plan. Got your bag ready?” Glancing over my shoulder, I confirm that she’s ready to go. “Have a fun day! I love you!”

“Love you too, Mommy!”

“I’ll see you this afternoon.” I pull to a stop, a young woman opens the back door, and Jessie unbuckles from her carseat and exits the car.

A familiar sensation tugs at my chest, though it’s not as painful as when we first moved here. It helps knowing that she’s made a couple of friends in her class.

The backseat now empty, I continue with the parade, stealing a couple of quick glances backward to try to catch sight of Jessie before she goes inside.

Once I’m out on the road, I check the time. I should be able to pick up a few groceries and still make it home before nine. We’re out of milk and running low on several staple items, and it’s usually much quicker to get in and out of the store now than it will be in the afternoon.

As I’d hoped, the parking lot at the market is mostly empty. Inside, I’m greeted by the fresh scent of the produce department, where I put a bunch of bananas in my basket before making a beeline to the bread section.

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