Page 10 of The Neighbor
The women walk into the tent, and suddenly, the space feels entirely too small, even though it’s only seven of us. Jared steps forward to introduce himself to the newcomer, but I hang back, preferring to observe for the moment.
“Welcome to our corner of the world,” he says to Caroline as he shakes her hand.
She smiles, appearing to be genuine in her happiness at meeting him. “Thanks. I appreciate that. I wasn’t sure I was going to come out today since I’m sure you all know one another for ages and I’m the new kid on the block, so to speak. But Kimmy and Marilyn have made me feel so welcome, and now you have too.”
Jared nods and then turns to look at me as she finishes speaking. “Not all of us. Adam here hasn’t been around us for that long. Just a few months more than you, actually.”
Suddenly, all eyes turn toward me, making this the most uncomfortable moment in a long time. I force a smile and nod toagree with his statement, even as I wish I was back at my house and not surrounded by my neighbors.
Kimmy speaks up when I don’t say anything, unable to let the pregnant pause grow any bigger. “Oh, yes! Adam is sort of new to the cul-de-sac too, Caroline. He was just saying to me the other day that he had never been introduced to you, so let me do the honors.”
She takes a step toward me, pulling Caroline along with her as she says, “Caroline Townsend, this is Adam Prentiss. He lives in the house at the end of the road. Adam, this is Caroline.”
I quickly force myself to push down the awkwardness I feel at this moment to pay attention to how Caroline reacts toward me. After the other day when she looked downright unhappy to see me in the window, I wonder if she’ll feel any better about meeting me today.
Her smile spreads across her face as she sticks out her hand to shake mine. “Nice to meet you! I’m glad I’m not the only newbie here.”
I watch her expression for any hint of her true feelings about me, but she seems genuinely happy to meet me. Maybe the way she looked the other day was something entirely unrelated to me.
“Nice to meet you too.”
Then, as if something frightens her, she yanks her hand away from mine and says, “Oh, my God! I forgot my potluck. I’ll be right back.”
Everyone around me laughs and tells her it’s fine as she hurries out from under the tent and runs down the street to her house. I notice she’s got very toned legs as she’s trotting down the sidewalk. Maybe she’s a runner. I’m sure that would make Jared happy.
I see him watch her as I am and wonder if he plans to make her mistress number two. This guy should move to Utah and take up polygamy.
“Damn, Caroline should come running with me some morning. From what I see, she could definitely keep up.”
Marilyn and Kimmy give each other sideways glances full of disapproval, but their husbands laugh and slap Jared on the back like he’s done something worthy of praise. For my part, I can’t help but wish his wife would show up right now so I could see him scramble to come up with a reason why he’s ogling the new neighbor.
Caroline returns a minute later with a tray of lemon bars that smell delightful. The fresh scent of citrus fills my nose, making my mouth water. Not normally a man with a sweet tooth, I practically drool over the dessert as she sets it down on the table near Harold.
“That looks delicious.”
My compliment surprises her, and she turns to look at me wide-eyed. “Thank you. It was my mother’s favorite dessert. It seemed perfect for a beautiful, sunny summer day like today.”
A memory about someone whose mother made lemon bars one time flashes through my mind, but it’s gone a second later. I don’t know anyone who ever made them, though. I must be confused. Probably something from a TV show I once watched. That’s the problem with having such a great memory. Every tiny detail, no matter how insignificant, stays in my brain.
That must be it.
After four hoursof interacting with my neighbors, I feel like I could sleep for a week. It could be the heat, but more likely, the issue is having to smile so much at so many things I don’t givea damn about and pretending to care about conversations more than cataloging details about people.
No one else seems as wrung out by all this forced friendliness, though. Somehow, even though the temperature has climbed into the nineties, all those around me are happy and laughing. They could be pretending, but if they are, I have to applaud them for incredible performances.
All this time, I’ve tried to slyly focus on Caroline in the hopes of learning something more about her. What I’ve found out is next to nothing, and I’m starting to get frustrated. How can someone spend an afternoon around people and not give away a single useful detail about themselves? All I’ve learned is she loves citrus fruits, which is why she adores those lemon bars.
I have to give her credit. No one I’ve ever come across in all my time studying people says so little while talking so much. If I wasn’t so frustrated, I’d be impressed.
What I am at the moment is bored as I’m forced to listen to Jared extoll the virtues of running as if he’s discussing it like it’s a religion or philosophy. No one else seems to be listening, except for Caroline, who I now know is a runner but hasn’t been very good about getting back into it since she moved here.
God, if something doesn’t happen to make this little neighborhood get-together worth my time today, I’m going to be pissed.
As if the big man himself heard my silent plea, out of the corner of my eye I see Jared’s morning running partner walk up to the tent dressed in a pair of tiny black shorts and a tank top with Atlantic City written across the chest in blue and pink glitter. She seems like an odd fit next to the older Marilyn in her pink pedal pushers and oversized white T-shirt and Kimmy, who even with her white sundress with its flirty purple flowers looks like she always does. Matronly. And when compared to Caroline, this woman seems downright trashy.
“Everyone, this is Sara. Sara, this is the cul-de-sac,” Jared says with a broad smile, far too pleased with himself for something or another.
Sara waves like a timid small child, keeping her hand close to her face so there’s no choice but to notice her appearance. She’s not bad looking, per se. She has nice brown eyes and long eyelashes. But the rest of her face looks like each feature belonged to someone else before they ended up on her head. The result gives her a slightly mishappen and out of place look like some of those super skinny supermodels who seem to have giant heads and tiny little bodies.