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Assuming the voice was talking to me, I looked up toward the street to see the neighbor directly across from us walking toward me with a plastic recycling bin in his hands. That must be the notorious Mr. Henderson himself.
He wore a faded navy cardigan with a pair of sensible orthopedic sneakers, his hair shot through with silver but his eyes still intelligent and alert. When he reached our side of the street, he set his recycling bin down on the curb and crossed his arms, looking me up and down in a way that made it feel like he was taking my measure.
“So, you’re the new husband I’ve been hearing about.”
“Holden,” I said, stepping forward and extending a hand toward him. “I’ve been hearing a lot about you, too. Apparently, you’re our greatest competition for the Halloween contest next weekend.”
He shook with me, barking out a short laugh as he glanced up at the boxes of decorations littering our porch. “I was wondering what all that was about, but I should warn you that you’re fighting an uphill battle, son. I’ve been planning my display for months.”
“I don’t need months.” I pumped my eyebrows at him before letting go of his hand. “We’ll be ready. This year, it’s our turn to get that gift card.”
“We’ll see about that.” He chuckled. “I might be old, but I won’t relinquish the title that easily.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.”
As he reached for his recycling bin again, he paused and looked up at the brownstone behind me, his expression softening before he flicked his gaze back to mine. “You know, Alicia’s father used to go all out for the block party too. Before the accident, Arthur would spend three full weekends rigging up custom pulleys just to make a ghost fly between our chimneys. It’ll be good to see some life back on that porch.”
With that, he gave me a friendly wave goodbye, then picked up his recycling bin and walked away. While it had just become perfectly clear that Mr. Henderson and I would be frenemies during every major holiday, the realization didn’t annoy me as much as it might’ve in the past. It felt more like a welcome to the neighborhood sort of thing.
From now on, I was picking up where Alicia’s dad had left off, and while I hadn’t planned on losing anyway, taking over Arthur’s porch was a responsibility I would take seriously. It felt like the least I could do, to carry on with the tradition he’d evidently begun. The knowledge also motivated me to clean up the lawn properly, and in no time at all, I’d raked the leaves into neat piles. Then I stuffed them into bags before heading back inside.
As soon as I opened the front door, I caught the bitter, earthy scent of fresh coffee grounds and I smiled, walking directly to the kitchen. Like I’d thought, Alicia was in there, dressed in a pale pink, pleated skirt with a white cardigan and her golden hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail.
She looked so innocent and sweet that at least a dozen dirty ideas hit my mind at once, but instead of lifting her onto the counter or pressing her back against the pantry door, I waited for her to look up and kept a respectful few feet of distance between us.
“Good morning,” I said as soon as her gaze met mine, trying not to groan out loud at the pretty pink flush that spread across her cheeks when she saw me. “I wasn’t sure what time you had to be at work, so I didn’t want to wake you too early.”
“Morning,” she murmured, her voice soft but warm. “Thanks for letting me sleep, but next time, just nudge me. I could’ve helped you in the yard.”
“Nah.” I noticed the way her hand moved up on the strap of her purse and realized she was probably about to leave. “Hey, I don’t have class for another couple hours. How about I drive you to work?”
I half expected her to argue, but instead, she shot me a grateful smile and nodded. “Thank you. That’d be amazing.”
Waving for her to precede me to the door, I did my best not to check out her ass in that skirt, but my gaze drifted down anyway. Now that I’d had a taste of my wife, keeping my hands to myself was going to be a challenge.
That’s for sure.
“What time will you be done?” I asked, clearing my throat when my voice came out a little husky. “I should be finished with class before you end your shift, but it might run over. We—”
“Oh, that’s not a problem,” she said quickly. “Tasha wants to talk, so we’re going to catch an early movie and have dinner after that. We might get back pretty late.”
My eyes narrowed, but when she glanced at me as she reached the door, I just smiled and pulled it open for her. Shit, she isn’t a toy, Holden. You’re going to have to learn how to play nice with her friends.
Still, I didn’t really want to share her time right now. We were newlyweds, for God’s sake. Tasha already lived with us, but to be fair, she had given us a decent amount of time alone together recently.
I shook my head at myself, still fighting against this strange possessiveness I’d never had before by the time I got back home after dropping her off. It was ridiculous, but while I got ready and gathered my stuff, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was actually jealous.
Of her friend. For getting to go out with her when I hadn’t done it yet myself.
Standing in the kitchen with my car keys clutched in my hand, I suddenly got this weird urge to talk to my father, but rather than following through on it, I did what I always did when that urge hit. I scrolled down my contacts to Alex’s name and called him instead.
CHAPTER 32
ALICIA
“I’m never letting you pick the movie again,” I said as I pulled open the restaurant door. “I won’t be sleeping for at least a week after that. I’ll be too busy checking the crawl spaces to make sure we don’t have any demons living in them.”
“It wasn’t that bad.” Tasha laughed, following me into the little Italian place on the corner and heading directly for our preferred booth overlooking the street. “Besides, you have a big, strong husband now to protect you. I’m sure Holden will be more than happy to make sure the crawl spaces are demon-free. As long as he gets to kiss you after.”
