Page 114 of The Man Next Door
Excited to see her girl’s reaction, Zona hurried upstairs to where the two checks and the card were lying on her dresser. She and Louise had both signed it the day before when Zona brought it home. She stuffed the checks in the card and returned.
“Here,” she said, handing it over.
Bree looked at her, puzzled. “It’s not my birthday.”
“Happy birthday early,” Zona said.
Bree opened the card, took out the checks, looked at themboth, and then began to cry. Zona sat down next to her on the couch and Bree threw her arms around her and continued to sob.
“This will get you started. We’ve got your first year covered,” Zona promised.
Bree kissed her, then hugged her grandma. “Thanks, you guys. I...” She bit her lip and studied her knees, swiped tears from her cheeks.
“Our girl at a loss for words, there’s a switch,” Louise joked.
“I don’t deserve you being this nice to me.”
“Of course you do,” said Zona.
“Oh, my gosh, I can finally start!” Bree squealed and hugged them both again.
“I promised way back I’d make it up to you for what Gary did and I meant it,” Zona told her.
Bree’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I hate him.”
That made two of them. “He’s history. We’re moving on,” Zona said.
Bree’s expression regained its intensity. “Mom, don’t move on with that man. Don’t move on with any man. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“I don’t want to see me hurt, either. And I don’t want you to have to deal with the fallout. Don’t worry,” said Zona. She was going to keep things purely platonic with Alec. She had to, for both her sake and her daughter’s.
The appearance of the red PT Cruiser had been a sign. She needed to step away.
It would be hard to step away. Alec’s contact info had found its way into her phone. And, worse, he was in her mind and knocking on the door of her heart.
You still don’t really know the man, she reminded herself. Which made right then and there the perfect time to pull back. She ignored the text that came in from him when she was at work the next day.Ignore the problem and it will go away.
Another came in a couple hours later.You ghosting me?
Yes.
But it wasn’t that easy to ghost someone who lived right next door. She and Louise had finished dinner when he knocked on the front door.
“Okay, what’s up?” he asked as she stepped out onto the porch, shutting the door behind her.
“We can’t keep hanging out.”
He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “Yeah? Why?”
As if on cue, the red PT Cruiser crawled past. Zona nodded at it.
Alec swore under his breath, turned, and started across the lawn. The car sped away.
“That’s why,” she said when he returned.
“I’m getting a restraining order,” he said.
“Good luck making it stick.”
