Page 22 of The Ruse of Romancing
Mason
WasIproudofthe fact that I was currently hiding in my front room with the lights off doing my best not to be visible through any of the open windows in my home? Absolutely not. But at this point, it was a matter of survival.
After meeting my new neighbor the second time, I was hopeful, counting down until the moment when I’d see her again and get her number. Short of women who were married or in a committed relationship, I’d found very few straight women who could resist my charms, with the exception of Dani the first night we met, of course. Having officially met her today, I could clearly see where I’d gone wrong that first night, and now I could course correct.
I just needed to play my cards right and I’d have Danielle Baldwin eating out of the palm of my hand, begging me to become her cover designer.
Figuring I could help my case in a roundabout way by putting her in a better mood by fixing her internet issue, I’d comehome following the meeting with Spencer determined to get to the bottom of the problem. The wifi was working on my side of the duplex, making it clear there was something wrong on Dani’s side. Thinking quickly, I’d pulled on a hoodie and a scarf, overkill for the weather to be sure, but necessary to keep up my ruse, and knocked on her door. When she hadn’t answered, I’d let myself in, knowing my grandma would have communicated to her that I’d be stopping by to check out the problem and would let myself in if she wasn’t there to answer. When it was clear the router was plugged in and should be working, I’d wandered outside and quickly identified the problem: Scooter had cut the cable for internet on her side. Again.
This was only the second time it had happened, but I’d thought this was the kind of mistake a landscaper only made once. Given that our landscaper was Scooter, I should have known better.
I’d headed back to my side of the duplex and quickly called the internet provider, knowing they wouldn’t answer this late on a Sunday, but leaving a message. Last time, they’d been able to make the repair fairly quickly. Fingers crossed it would be the case this time too.
Guessing Dani would be headed back to the duplex soon and wouldn’t be able to check her email without internet, I’d been searching the living room for the sticky notes I’d used the night before to communicate with my neighbor when I’d spotted an unwelcome visitor through my open window: Tiffany.
As soon as I spotted her, I ducked to the side of my window where I could watch her but hopefully she couldn’t see me.
The woman had been one of my biggest mistakes since I’d moved to Oregon, and it looked like she was back to make my life miserable.
Tiffany had come here last summer on a bachelorette trip to celebrate one of her friend’s upcoming nuptials, and the Texas beauty had immediately caught my eye. It hadn’t taken much toconvince her to come back to my place for a bit of modeling. Unfortunately, I’d spent the rest of her stay in Cascade Harbor fighting off the woman’s advances because the word “no” apparently wasn’t in her vocabulary. I’d finally had to spend a couple of days at my grandparents’ house on a “business trip” to get her to take the hint and leave me alone. Even then, I’d been worried every time there was a knock on the door that I’d open my grandparents’ door to find her standing on the other side with bleached waves and her unnaturally white smile telling me she’d just happened to be in the area.
Now it looked like she was back, and I had no idea how I was going to avoid her. Maybe it was time to go visit my mom and brother in Utah. That would put a damper on my plans to woo Dani, but I wasn’t sure I would survive another summer visit from Tiffany.
I’d hoped she would have forgotten about my existence by now. Clearly, my luck had its limits.
After knocking on my door, Tiffany walked down the front porch steps, and I held my breath, watching to see if she climbed back into her car. Instead, she moved past her car and turned toward the front door on the other side of the duplex. While I couldn’t see or hear anything, I could guess what she was up to. The woman was persistent, I’d give her that much.
With Tiffany out of sight, I quickly grabbed my phone, which contained notes from my meeting with Spencer, and sprinted down the hall to my bedroom, regretting the necessity of leaving my blinds open for Tiffany to come back and peer in if she desired. If I closed them, she’d be well aware I was home and I couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t try to do something crazy like let herself in. Tiffany wasn’t exactly the kind of woman who accepted rejection, a quality I’d initially found attractive until it came back to bite me. Repeatedly.
Settling onto the floor by my bed, I snagged my tablet and pulled up my design program. If I was trapped at home, I might as well make the most of the time. Usually, I worked in my studio with music playing, but the blinds in that room were also open and I wouldn’t put it past Tiffany to walk around the house, peeking in all the windows just to be certain I wasn’t home. Thankfully, I typically kept the blinds in my bedroom closed, though to be safe, I stayed on the floor and made sure to keep my bed between me and the window on the off chance she could see the glow of my screen through any of the gaps in the blinds.
While my bedroom, with its white walls, poor lighting, and aged carpet wasn’t my preferred workspace, I quickly lost myself in my work as I sketched out design concepts for Spencer’s art piece. It had taken some coaxing, but I’d convinced him to still meet with me to discuss the commission. After repeatedly assuring him my interest in Dani was purely professional and promising him I’d help him impress a different woman this summer, he’d lost himself in describing the commission.
He was redoing the children’s section of the bookstore and wanted several prints to add to the space. He wanted a triptych series of images focused on books and reading. He’d said he’d leave it up to me to decide what direction to take things, but he’d talked me through a few ideas he’d had based on popular book series. He wanted whatever I drew to be bright and inviting, illustrating the magic of reading for children of all ages in the same style as my first commission.
Sketches of superheroes, princesses, mermaids, and dragons bursting from the pages of books quickly filled my tablet. I particularly loved the rough sketch I’d done of a little girl reading on a toadstool, surrounded by mythical creatures reading over her shoulder and a castle in the background.
Sometime later, the grumbles of my stomach convinced me to set down my work to make food. I hadn’t dared turn on anylights for fear of Tiffany noticing and I attempted to rub away the strain from my eyes after staring at the blue light of my tablet for so long.
Standing and stretching, I cautiously made my way down the hall to the front room, confirming Tiffany’s car was gone before closing the blinds and flipping on the lights. Realizing I needed to put out the trashcans for pick up tomorrow morning, I slipped on my jacket and cautiously opened the front door, pausing when I spotted a series of bright orange sticky notes covered in feminine handwriting stuck to my door.
At first, I thought they must be from Tiffany, though she didn’t strike me as the kind of woman to carry sticky notes in her purse. Upon closer inspection, I realized the notes were from my temporary neighbor.
I bit back a chuckle as I read:
Mason –
I did not come to Oregon to play secretary. Please keep your lady friends to yourself.
Also, in case you were unaware, my internet still isn’t working. If it’s not fixed soon, I may need to vacate the premises for a vacation rental with reception, internet, and a helpful caretaker. In which case, I will expect a refund for the remainder of my stay.
Dani
It appeared I had ruffled my neighbor’s feathers even more than I’d realized. I could just picture her, her eyebrows pinched in concentration as she tried to fit all of her frustrations onto the tiny pieces of paper.
Looked like it was time for me to do a bit of damage control, even if I found surprising humor in her frustration. If she only knew the amount of power she currently held over my actions. If it would improve my chances of an introduction with her publisher, I’d offer to switch duplex sides with her until her internet was fixed.
I stepped back inside and grabbed my pad of green sticky notes and a pen. I jotted down a quick note and stopped to place it on her door before taking care of the trash cans. Hopefully, my note would appease her. It would do me no good if she moved to a different rental before I could secure her phone number. There were no other available rentals in Cascade Harbor, so her moving would spell disaster for me and any chances of breaking into the publishing world with Dani’s help.
