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I didn’t know where her husband was, but I buried the thought before it could permeate any further.
“Mailman left that on my doorstep,” I said.
“Thanks,” she said as she stooped down.
She grunted trying to pick up the package, and I thought about helping her. But I swallowed the sentiment and kept my hard demeanor.
No one liked an asshole.
That’s how it had to be.
“Sorry for the mix-up. I’ll talk to the mailman tomorrow when he comes by,” she said.
“No need. I’ll leave a sign on my door pointing to your home. I don’t get packages.”
She bit down on the inside of her cheek. She certainly wasn’t thrilled to see me, and I was ready to end this awkward interaction. I turned to walk off her porch when my eyes hit her car, and that desire to ask her to fix it was still there.
I walked off her porch and strode back across the lawn. I resisted the urge to look back as I made my way back to my garage. I heard her door shut, muffling the laughter of her daughter as I got back to work on my truck.
God, I hope she’s married.
CHAPTER 5
CINDY
“Mommy! Watch!”
I looked after my daughter as she rode her bike up and down the street in front of the house. Her hair was blowing in the wind, and there was a bright smile on her face. Every day that passed by, she looked more and more like her father with his broad smile, his twinkling eyes and his strong jawline. She even had his build, strong shoulders and long legs. She was going to be a tall one, beautiful and strong.
Two of the many things that drew me to her father when we’d first met.
The day was beautiful. The sun was out, and the birds were chirping. I was trying to enjoy it as Lily giggled on her bike but pushing thoughts of my late husband away was hard sometimes. Every day brought a new experience with Lily that I wished he was there to see. Her first day of kindergarten, riding her bike, learning how to read, and writing her name for the first time by herself.
“Mommy! Are you watching?”
“I’m watching, booger. You look awesome,” I said.
I heard a door open, and I whipped my head around. Lily stopped on her bike as the two of us watched my neighbor come out of his home. His hard demeanor kept his shoulders taut and his stance rigid. His entire body emanated tension. His hands were in fists at his sides, and his face was sunken with displeasure.
He was picking up his mail, and Lily couldn’t stop staring at him.
He was the one everyone was talking about, and the more I heard him mentioned, the more skewed the rumors became. New ones seemed to pop up every single day about him, and his silent and cold attitude wasn’t helping things. But I had seen something in his eyes that told a different story than the one the set of his jaw did.
It made me hold my breath when he’d dropped that package off on my porch the other day. There was so much more behind those eyes than a cold, hard man. He definitely had a wall up, but it wasn’t because he was angry.
It was because he had been utterly devastated. I knew that look firsthand.
I waved at him, trying to be as friendly as possible. He stopped in the middle of his driveway, his hand clenching his mail in his fist. His eyes connected with mine, and for a moment, I felt let in again. I caught the slightest glimpse of pain before his eyes hardened again, and he continued up his driveway.
He didn’t bother to wave back, and I didn’t hold that against him.
I watched him all the way back to his house. Lily was back to riding her bike up and down the road, but my attention wasn’t on her. I studied my neighbor’s rigid stance as he made his way back into his house, slamming the door behind him on the way in.
He did put up a good act, but he wasn’t fooling me.
“Cindy!”
I whipped my head around at the sound of my name as a car made its way into my driveway.
