Page 74 of Act of Brotherhood
The air was thick with humidity; the temperature was on the cooler side for the time of year. A cold front was pushing through ahead of a line of severe weather. The radio and television had been abuzz about it all, wanting everyone aware of the expected rainfall and chance of heavy storms.
Clara groaned. “You cannot blame me for that other guy. He ran into my car. Not the other way around. Let that be a lesson. Running and checking your fancy smartwatch at the same time is actually very dangerous. You’d think there would be a warning on the watch. I mean, come on, they put a warning on hemorrhoid cream. Who ate that to start with? Someone had to, right?”
Nicolette ignored Clara’s ramblings as she continued to watch the darkness. As the feeling of being watched intensified, she lifted the spoon, though she wasn’t sure why.
“Go inside and wait for me so I worry less,” said Clara.
Nicolette strained to see into the darkened area but couldn’t. “Okay. I’m back in. All is well. I lived.”
The lie fell from her lips with ease.
“Bullshit,” snapped Clara. “You’re still standing out there, looking around. I know you. You have some freakish Nancy Drew complex. You can’t leave well enough alone. It’s against your very nature.”
Clara wasn’t wrong.
Nicolette took one small step backwards as she considered giving up and heading back inside.
Something that sounded like someone taking a deep breath reached her. As it did, her blood ran cold.
Was the weather getting to her too? Was it making her imagination run wild? Or was someone standing in the darkness, watching her, breathing heavy.
Her lip curled at the idea of such a thing. “I really hope no one is back here being a perv.”
Clara grunted. “You better hope no one is back there at all. Perv or not. No one should be back there. For crying out loud, the entire back area is surrounded by six-foot brick walls. There is no way in and out other than the house. Well, someone could climb over the wall I guess.”
Nicolette swallowed hard. “Yep. Still not helping.”
“I found a parking spot. I’ll be there in a second.” Clara snarled. “Dammit. That one lady with the red car is hogging more space than she needs. Would it be wrong for me to bump her car with mine just enough to push it backwards?”
“Yes. It would be wrong.”
“You used to be fun until you started adulting,” said Clara with a slight laugh.
Nicolette didn’t budge from her spot, her attention still locked on the back of the yard. It was freakishly dark. They had back lights, but they never seemed to work very long. They would make sure new bulbs were in the fixtures often, but they’d either burn out quickly or simply go missing. Why anyone would bother to steal the lightbulbs and nothing else was beyond her. Not only that, whoever took the bulbs had to scale over the brick walls. That was a lot of effort for something they could pick up for a few bucks at the store.
“Nicolette, breathe heavy or something so I know you’re alive and well,” said Clara, startling Nicolette.
“I’m alive, and I’m not going to pant in your ear. That will just turn you on,” she joked. “I heard all about your fetish for accents. I don’t want to find out you have one for heavy breathing too.”
Clara laughed. “You’re not my type.”
“Everyone is your type.”
Her friend’s laughter echoed through the phone and from the house. Nicolette turned to see Clara moving through the kitchen, her phone still to her ear. Clara’s long hair was piled high on her head in a twist of some sort. She wore an A-line blue skirt with a white blouse. Her heels matched her skirt.
The women shared a look and hung up the call.
Clara eyed the spoon Nicolette was holding. “What do you plan to do with that?”
“It was all I had on hand,” confessed Nicolette. “It was this or the pint of ice cream that I was making my bitch inside, that I needed the spoon for to start with.”
Clara snorted. “I can’t believe I’m going to talk anyone out of eating junk food, but how about I make us some grilled chicken and veggies for dinner and you stop obsessing over the nothingness that is out here? Then you can tell me all about the Viking-Cupcake Dude.”
“I really hate that your job has you traveling so much lately. What is so important that they need you flying all over the place?” asked Nicolette.
Clara’s gaze flickered a moment, but she pressed a smile to her face. “We’re training on new systems. Total waste of time but it’s mandatory. Let’s talk about you. How was the celebration? Were the kids okay without the cupcakes?”
“Actually, they did end up with cupcakes after all. We had fun and sang songs. It worked out in the end.”
