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“It’s been a while since I’ve come over for dinner, hasn’t it?” I reasoned. “Alright. I’ll be there. Do you want me to bring anything along? A bottle?”
“Sounds good,” she said with a grin. “Be there any time after six; dinner will be at seven.”
“I’ll be there,” I assured her. “See you then.”
She gave me a last warm smile, then she headed back out of my yard and climbed onto the seat of her ATV. She gave me a final wave before starting the engine and driving away, though I lingered at my door after I closed it to see if she was going to stop at my neighbor’s house and invite her to dinner as well.
I should have asked before agreeing to go, basing my decision on whether the neighbor was going. It might not be the most mature thing I had ever done, and I might have had to tell Kim just why I didn’t want to go to dinner if the neighbor was invited. Either way, however, Kim kept driving right on by her bungalow, and she didn’t even acknowledge the place as she did.
“Hmph,” I grunted to myself as I walked back into my living room. I grabbed my guitar and headed out the back door, ready to just settle in for the day and hope to God nothing happened that got under my skin with the girl next door. I hadn’t heard anything so far, but that could change in an instant, and I wasn’t in the mood to put up with any of her nonsense.
Then again, I was also annoyed with myself for having her on my mind. After the dream last night and the morning in the shower, I hoped I wouldn’t be giving her another thought. But she was still just as much on my mind now as she had been all week.
And I was getting tired of it.
By the next night, I had a better grip on my thoughts as I barely dwelled on my neighbor at all that day. In fact, I’d forced myself to think about the dinner party and only the dinner as much as possible.
I’d selected a nice red wine to bring with me, and I headed to the clubhouse.
But, as soon as I walked through the door and handed Kim the bottle, I realized I’d made a critical mistake by not asking who else would be joining us before agreeing to come.
There, at the large table, was none other than my next-door neighbor.
And it took all the self-control I had in me not to turn around and walk back out.
Chapter Seven
Krissy
“Well, now that everyone is here, why don’t you bring in the ribs?” Kim asked her husband with a warm smile.
“Excellent idea,” Andrew replied. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll get some glasses for the wine,” Kim said, heading to one of the cabinets that lined the walls.
An incredibly awkward silence hung between Gavin and me. The way he looked at me when he walked in told me he didn’t know I was here, and it didn’t surprise me Kim hadn’t told him in advance. She’d told me she was going to invite him, and when I arrived that night, she merely said she hoped he’d come.
But, as far as I knew, there wasn’t anything set in stone until he was standing there, looking at me as though he had just seen a ghost.
“Have a seat! You’re not a stranger here, you know that,” Kim said, beckoning for Gavin to join us at the table once she’d returned with the glasses. He walked forward with the wine bottle, putting it on the table so Kim could take it. She was already chatting away as though we were all the best of friends.
I hoped I didn’t look as uncomfortable as Gavin did, though I was pretty sure my face mirrored his.
“So, Krissy, you’re from Tennessee, you said?” Kim asked when Andrew returned with a large rack of ribs.
“North Carolina originally,” I corrected her. “But I wanted to get into the music industry, and I figured the best way to do that was to move to the music capital of the world, as they say.”
“Too many people in Nashville,” Andrew said with a shake of his head. “Too much noise, not enough elbow room.”
“I don’t know how you could stand living there with all those people,” Kim agreed. “I’m pretty sure Gavin agrees with us when we say that’s just too much. Too much going on. How do you get any sleep at night?”
“Well, like everywhere else, there is night and day,” I said with a small laugh. “You don’t have all the same noise going on throughout the night that you do during the day. And I didn’t live downtown, either.”
“Thank God for that,” Kim said.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I almost think I would have had more luck with my goal if I had.”
“What makes you think so?” Andrew asked me.
