Page 68 of The Man Next Door
“I guess I am,” said Zona. “Although they might have plans.”
“Oh, I’m sure they’ll be going to watch fireworks somewhere,” Louise said. “But that all happens later. We can do this in the afternoon. I do wish we’d put in a pool when we first bought this house. It would have been so much fun to have a pool party.” She frowned. “The Livingstons always used to let us use their pool.”
The Livingstons had been good neighbors. As a child, Zona had spent a lot of time next door, playing in that pool with Lotus Livingston and her sister, Ginger. And tolerating their pesky little brother. The Livingston kids had grown up and scattered across the country, and the last Zona had seen of Lotus was when she’d come back to help her mother get the house ready to sell before moving Mrs. Livingston to live with her in Texas.
“I hope your mom will become good friends with whoever buys the place,” she’d said to Zona. “It’s always been a happy house.”
It hadn’t been a happy house since the Livingstons moved, and it still wasn’t.
Zona pulled her mind back to the topic of party prep.“What makes you think Gilda’s going to want to go shopping with you?”
“She’s getting invited to the party. Of course she’ll want to help,” Louise reasoned. “Maybe we’ll get Martin to go with us. He can carry the heavier items.” Martin the pack mule.
And so, by the third of July Gilda, Martin, and Louise had stocked up on party food and decorations, and Zona came home from work to find both women seated at the kitchen table, cutting up fruit and dropping it into one of Louise’s giant Tupperware bowls.
“That’s a lot of fruit,” Zona said, and kissed her mother’s cheek.
“It’s a lot of hungry stomachs. Gracie’s two boys could probably single-handedly down this entire bowl.”
Two teenage boys were the equivalent of locusts for sure, but Zona was willing to bet they’d spend more time working their way through the meat, the chips, and the vat of potato salad Louise had purchased.
They proved her right the following day, inhaling almost everything. Not as much of the fruit salad, but leftovers would work great in smoothies. Bree had called dibs on the bag of Cheetos and was existing on that. Darling was enjoying the party, scrounging tidbits of chicken wherever and whenever possible. Louise’s friend Carol was the biggest soft touch, and he only left her side when the boys began to play on the old Slip ’N Slide Zona and Bree had brought out.
“This is the life,” said Martin as he enjoyed a second bottle of beer.
“We should have put in a pool,” said Louise, watching as Bree joined the boys.
“I don’t hear anyone complaining,” said Zona as her daughter made a running leap for the wet strip of plastic.
“I’m surprised nobody’s in the pool next door,” said Louise’s other friend Susan.
It was certainly hot enough. Even under the shade of the pergola it was toasty, and everyone was consuming the various beverages like camels stocking up for a long journey.
“Nobody’s doing anything over there now,” said Louise. “Somebody has gone missing,” she added, and Zona made a face at her.
Carol leaned forward. “Yeah?”
“The woman moved out,” Zona said. “That’s all.”
“She left all her things behind, including a designer purse,” Louise said. “I saw him ditching them in the middle of the night. No woman leaves behind a designer purse.”
“You know what that means.Rear Window,” said Gilda, and Carol’s big baby blues got bigger.
Alec James’s truck was parked in his driveway. Who knew if he was out on his back patio, drinking a beer or getting ready for a swim? Thank God the boys and Darling were all noisily enjoying themselves. Their laughter and barking masked the conversation taking place in the land of the nosy.
“Anyone want ice cream?” Zona asked, hoping to distract them. “I made no-churn cherry chocolate chip last night.”
The topic of food turned the conversation, and the Hitchcock obsession with life gone wrong was abandoned. Soon even the food was abandoned and then the Slip ’N Slide, and Darling vanished around the corner of the house to flop in the shade. The younger generation started playing Cards Against Humanity and the adults chatted idly. Afternoon edged toward evening. Finally early evening began to bleed into the day, slowly stealing its light.
Gracie’s husband suggested they get moving and get a spot for the fireworks show in nearby Monrovia and they were sent on their way with a bag of chips.
Bree had another party to attend, and she was next to leave, and that left Zona and the sixty-pluses to sit around and wait to watch the fireworks on TV.
“You should be out partying,” Carol said to her.
“I am partying,” Zona said.
“I mean with your own kind. Not us oldies,” Carol said.
