Page 35 of The Man Next Door
“Yes, he might have lured me into his house and Svengalied me.”
Louise didn’t laugh. “Like I said earlier, people can be good at hiding who they are. Take that man in LA, the one who murdered his wife and chopped her up and stuck her in the freezer. Everyone thought he was so nice.”
“I don’t think our neighbor is planning to chop up his girlfriend and stick her in the freezer.”
“Who knows? Let’s not be getting neighborly with him.”
“No worries there,” said Zona. She already had two love strikes against her. She wasn’t about to go for a third.
“I’M GETTING SQUIRMY,”Louise complained. “I hate all this sitting around.”
“Maybe you need to start writing your book, Gram,” suggested Bree, who’d stopped by to visit. “Have you started working on it yet?” The book Louise kept talking about writing but kept postponing.
“I’m not in a good place right now,” she said.
“But isn’t that a good thing? You probably have all kinds of negativity swirling around in you that will make a great murder mystery,” Bree said.
“There’s nothing swirling here. We are a hotbed of boredom,” Louise complained.
“Spy on the neighbor,” Bree joked. “You might get inspired.”
“Oh, there’s a good idea. Everyone should spy on their neighbor,” Zona said in disgust. She’d already come a little too close for comfort to doing that herself.
“People spy on each other all the time,” said Bree.
“Yeah? Who’s spying on you?” Zona retorted.
“You. You’re always wanting to know what’s going on with me and Fen. Which is nothing, by the way.”
“Well, that’s boring,” said Louise.
“You’ve got the neighbor. You don’t need me,” Bree joked.
ANDI’M ABOUTas exciting as a slug, Bree thought on Friday afternoon as she let herself into her shared apartment. No one was there when she arrived and that was mildly depressing. She should have gone to the mall with Gaylyn and Monique. Not that she would have bought anything. Recreational spending was so far gone it wasn’t even in the rearview mirror. Well, except for Mrs. Fields. She’d have splurged on a cookie.
Bree hated living in a social void. Which was what her weekend was going to be if she didn’t make some plans. She needed to come up with something fun to do.
Fen. He’d be up for a good time. Just as friends, of course. He knew the rules.
She texted him.
Hey what U doing 2nite
Wedding rehearsal Need a date Sat Want 2 come
Weddings.When she was little, she’d thought weddings were better than Disneyland—the bride in her gorgeous gown, themusic, the beautiful cake, and the big party where she never got to stay long because her mom was always informing her that she was tired and it was time for bed. After running around the reception and trying to imitate the grown-ups dancing, she usually was tired by the time Mom took her home. She’d been eight when Mom married Gary and had been her mom’s flower girl. Mom had let her help choose the wedding colors and decide on the cake. Gary had danced with her and told her she looked like a princess. She’d felt like a princess in her fancy dress. It had all seemed so perfect, especially when her own dad wasn’t much in the picture.
But then as she’d moved through grade school and middle school, she’d started seeing the wedding fairy tales go bad all around her, her friends’ parents splitting up, the fighting and having to get shuttled back and forth between houses. One of her friends’ dads had cheated just like Bree’s dad had done, another’s dad was balking at paying child support and the mom was mad and telling everyone about it. Happily-ever-after gone sour. She told herself it wouldn’t ever happen in her family. Dad was a mess, but Gary was solid. He loved her mom and her. They were golden.
And then they weren’t. And it was just Mom and her, reeling from the shock of having their lives turned upside down.
Weddings were a joke.
No thanx, she texted back.Byeee
She’d find something to do. She’d text Gaylyn and meet up with her and Monique. Then Saturday she’d talk Gaylyn into going to Lost Worlds with her. She’d play laser tag and find some cute snack of a guy to hang out with. Much smarter than going to a wedding and drinking the happily-ever-after Kool-Aid.
A stupid thought stole into her mind. What if there really was such a thing as happily-ever-after, like what Auntie Gracie had? What if you could get it right?
