Page 34 of The One Next Door

“That’s fine. I’ll just… figure it out.”

She knelt down and poured the paint from the trays back into the bucket, sloshing a little over the edge. She seethed and muttered some choice words to herself as she cleaned it up.

“You can go,” she told me, bluntly. “Thanks for everything, Carter. But I’ve got it from here.”

She looked up at me waiting for me to leave so she could break down in private. But I couldn’t make myself walk out that door. She reached up to tighten her ponytail, but I stopped her, taking her hand in mine, feeling a jolt of electricity run through me.

“Um… you have paint on your hands,” I stammered.

“Right.”

“Let me help you with this, Zoe. You’re upset.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Look, I’m sorry that I brought up all that shit about marriage and divorce. I know you’re still in the thick of it all and the pain is really fresh,” I started. “I just… you deserve better than… all of this.”

I looked down, realizing that I still had her hand in mine. I knew I should let it go, apologize again, and leave. But I didn’t. I squeezed her hand and moved in closer. I smoothed that lock of hair behind her ear myself and met her eyes. They were a beautiful, deep blue, despite being ringed in red.

My heart thundered.

She blinked a few times before asking, “Why are you even here, Carter?”

“Huh?”

She sniffled. “Why are you doing this? You’re here with your old, divorced neighbor lady painting her kid’s bedroom on a Saturday afternoon. And that’s after we crashed your boys’ night with your brother and you let him play pinball with you. You don’t have to do all this.”

“I know.”

“You should be out doing the things you really want to do.”

“Yeah?”

She swallowed hard and nodded slowly. I still hadn’t let go of her hand. There was something that I really wanted to do. Something I’d been thinking about since that night in the bar. Something that I’d been trying to stop myself from doing for days now, but I wasn’t going to hold back anymore.

I leaned in and kissed her.

Eleven

Zoe

I gasped as Carter’s lips met mine, but quickly surrendered to his kiss. It was a gentle kiss, lips barely parted. He kept one hand wrapped around mine and the other rested on my shoulder.

It wasn’t a deep kiss. It wasn’t demanding or desperate for more.

But I still felt it course through my body. I felt that kiss in my bones.

When it broke, I held my breath. He blinked. We stared at each other in silence for a moment, until we heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

“Mom, what’s going on?” Rex asked.

Carter stood up first, shaking some sense into himself. “Nothing, Rex. We’re going to take a little break from the painting for now, but I’ll come back and help your mom finish it… sometime.”

With that, Carter was out of the condo like a bat out of hell. My lips tingled. My body was still in shock. But when I looked at the half-finished walls, I knew I’d be doing the rest of this paint job on my own.

I met my son’s eyes. He was still looking for his answer.

“Nothing, honey. I stumbled and Carter was helping me up,” I said, as coolly as possible. “How about we change clothes and go to the park?” I forced myself to sound peppy and cheerful and Rex smiled.

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