Page 96 of The Man Next Door
It was a good thing she had scored, because once she got to the auto parts store, she experienced sticker shock. That much for a stupid air filter for her car? Holy moly! She left the store wearing a frown.
But what she saw when she pulled back into her mom’s driveway instantly dissolved it. Bree was half in, half out of her car. A bucket of sudsy water sat on the parking strip.
She got out and walked over. “What’s this?”
Bree kept scouring away at carpet on the floor. “I owe you.”
Not as much as I owe you, Zona thought. “Thanks.”
Bree straightened, opened the front passenger door, and pulled out a small gift bag, then handed it over. “Happy birthday early.”
Zona’s birthday wasn’t until November. “You are getting an early start,” she joked. She looked inside and found a collection of tree-shaped air fresheners nestled inside the colored tissue paper. “Just what I always wanted,” she cracked.
“Just what you need,” Bree said. She dropped her scrub brush in the bucket and took off the rubber gloves she’d been wearing. “It’s not your fault Gary messed you over and I shouldn’t be blaming you.”
The words were such balm to her wounded spirit, Zona wanted to cry. She kept the tears at bay, slipped an arm around her daughter’s shoulders, and hugged her. “Thanks. And thanks for this.”
“I owed you after puking everywhere.”
“I didn’t mean about that,” Zona said.
Her daughter nodded, didn’t look her in the eye. “I know,” she said, and bent to pick up the bucket.
They started toward the front walk just as Alec James was coming down his. Zona was careful not to look his way. They hadn’t indulged in any neighborly chats since their awkward conversation on the front porch.
She could hardly blame him. He’d probably had more than enough of her mother and her. Which was for the best.
Under everything she still felt a sense of unease, and every time they started to patch up their neighborly relations, something went awry and tore at the patch. There was so much they didn’t know about the man. Other than the fact that he hadn’t buried someone’s bones in his yard.
Who was that woman who’d been with him? Why had she left? Alec James was a man who walked in shadow. And Zona was determined to stay on the sunny side of the street.
But darn, that smile of his, when he chose to show it, drew her, even though he made her feel edgy. He was like some kind of emotional vampire, opening his cape and beckoning her to come on over and snuggle up next to him. It was hard to ignore the pull of that power.
She shook off the vision of herself pressed against him with him going for her neck. There was nothing sexy about a man sucking you dry. She’d been there, done that.
Bree picked up on her averted gaze. “Good idea, Mom. Don’t even look.”
“Good advice,” said Zona.
“It’s not that I don’t want you to be happy,” Bree added. “It’s just that I don’t want us both to be miserable.”
Her daughter’s reference to the future was so inaccurate. Bree was still miserable. Her well-laid plans had been knocked over like so many building blocks and her trust had been flattened. Bree was still on Zona’s health insurance. Maybe sheshould broach the idea of therapy again. Bree had shot her down when she’d mentioned it a year earlier. Considering their latest tense interaction, the time probably wasn’t right.
Still, she couldn’t resist. “You know, if you need to talk to a professional,” she began.
Bree cut her off. “I’m okay.” She opened the door, striding quickly inside. End of conversation.
Zona sighed inwardly and followed her in. Her daughter shouldn’t have to feel the way she did. She shouldn’t have had to postpone starting her nursing program. And Zona shouldn’t have had to move in with her mother. Why was it that life never went the way you planned?
Oh, well. What could you do but make new plans? Like start collecting side hustles.
She handed over the air filter to Martin, who took it and went out to make her car all better. “I hope that’s all it needs,” she said to her mother.
“I’m sure it is. Martin knows what he’s doing,” Louise said confidently. She turned to Bree. “How’s the car smelling?”
Bree’s cheeks turned a little rosy. The question was an unpleasant reminder of why she’d been cleaning the car in the first place.
“Better,” she said.
