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“No, no. What I mean is I am renting the place from my sister and brother-in-law for the next few months before they sell it. The landscapers are supposed to be coming through over the next few days to get started.”
“Oh, thank heavens!” Louise exclaimed. “I couldn’t for the life of me let this wildness go any further. We are already dealing with Crazy Joy Jones next door with her unkempt property. If I had the chance, I’d buy that house right out from under her, the weirdo.”
She said weirdo like it was a bad thing. I’d personally found myself more attracted to the weirdos of the world. They seemed far less judgmental.
I looked next door at the property that was the saving grace in keeping me from being direct neighbors with Louise. The house was exactly as she’d described it—rather unkempt—but still, it was somehow perfect. Wildflowers bloomed as if they’d been planted to be free. There was no true rhyme or reason to the way they grew, but it looked like a piece of artwork.
The ladies would’ve probably hated me if I told them I loved the property. The freedom of it all sang to the caged part of my soul. I wanted to move the way those flowers danced.
Free. Uncaged. Like the wind.
“Her husband died years ago, and Crazy Joy hasn’t left her house since then,” Louise explained. “You ever seeHey Arnold!, that cartoon from the nineties? There was that one character, Stoop Kid, who was too afraid to leave his stoop? Well, that’s Crazy Joy in a nutshell. She’s too afraid to leave her front yard since her husband died.”
“If he hadn’t left Joy money and their house wasn’t paid off, I’m sure she would be homeless. I’m not one to gossip, Lord help me, but that woman is a nutjob,” Kate added in. “Rumor has it she believes aliens are going to take over the world someday soon. All those letters she writes each morning on her front porch are letters to Area 51. Total wacko.”
The more they talked, the more I wanted to meet this neighbor.
“Whatever you do with your landscaping, don’t make the same mistakes Joy made with her property,” Kate warned. “Especially with that,” she urged, pointing over at Joy’s yard.
I arched an eyebrow. “With what?”
Her eyes widened with confusion. “Don’t you see it??”
“See…what?”
“Those blue flowers!” she whisper-shouted, gesturing like a crazed woman. “She planted blue flowers front and center!”
I waited a few moments for Kate to continue her thought, but her lips shut as if that was the conclusion.
Louise must’ve caught on to my confusion. “Blue flowers! It’s just not natural.”
Oh my gosh.If Yoana and Nathan had known who my neighbors were, I was almost certain they’d have reconsidered having me stay in that home.
I smiled at the two crazy ladies. “I will keep that in mind. Now, I better get back to—”
“I hate to pry, sweetheart, but were you sleeping in your car when we arrived? Don’t you have beds in the house?” Louise asked.
Don’t you have manners?
This woman was out to make up the most absurd stories about anything and everything. I had a history of seeing the best in people—which, yes, came with its struggles—but Louise and her sister obviously had a tendency to see the worst.
I bit my tongue. The last thing I wanted to do was make enemies out of the neighbors. These two women seemed the type to raise hell if they felt they had a reason to do so.
“I like sleeping under the stars sometimes. Plus, my furniture isn’t being delivered until next week. Thanks again for the pies, ladies. It was nice meeting you.”
Their stares moved across me once more, and then they smiled creepily at the same time.
Stephen King would’ve had a field day with this pair.
“We’ll be seeing you around, I’m sure. Welcome to Havenbarrow. If you don’t want to be seen around town driving that, err, family heirloom, I’m pretty sure you can get yourself the Cuber app,” Louise said with that evil smile.
“You mean Uber?” I asked.
Louise chuckled and waved a hand in my direction. “No, honey, I mean the Cuber app. We don’t have none of that Uber or Lyft stuff in town, but Connor Roe created his own app called Cuber. He’s seventeen, but the boy is swift. Plus, his car is more…stable than yours appears.”
Oh, if only she knew how much more her comment made me want to drive Mama and Daddy’s car around town. I’d dealt with enough bullies in my past. I had little room left in my heart for their nasty tones.
Still, I hadn’t driven since the accident. The truth was, I didn’t know if I’d be able to do so any time soon.
