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I’d carried my laptop with me out to the personal patio I had around the back of my house. I was still close enough to use my personal Wi-Fi, so I had a good enough connection to video chat with my best friend.
I’d caught her before she had to go pick Libby up from school, and she wanted to hear how my latest project at work was going. Her little boy always liked listening to music, so it felt like a good time to bring out the guitar and strum a few chords for her.
“I don’t have a name for it yet,” I replied. “I’ve just been working on it a little here and there, you know? Just kind of letting it develop as it does without putting a lot of pressure on myself over it. So far, I think it’s coming together nicely, but it’s missing something.”
“Your beautiful voice,” Erin told me.
I laughed. “You’re sweet. I don’t think that’s it.”
“What do you think?” Erin asked her son as he sat on her lap. He was holding a baby toy, and he gurgled and threw it around as he did. I laughed.
“See? Even Connor thinks it’s not the singing. He’s clearly telling you it’s the music that’s the issue,” I said.
“I don’t know about that,” Erin replied. “He loves to sing. Don’t you buddy? Don’t you?”
“He gets that from you, I’m sure,” I said. “You were the one who always did the singing while I did the playing. Maybe you need to get out of the publishing business and get into singing. Then I can make it big in the music industry.”
Erin laughed. “You want me to come sing for you to get famous?”
“Sure, it’s not that far-fetched,” I told her. “We can even work it so you do your part down there in your own studio and just send the file to me. I’ll weave it in with my music. We can be the band that never meets. I’m sure that’s got to be a genre.”
“It would be unique,” she said. “I don’t know how we’d go on tour, though.”
“Like this,” I said as I motioned to the video chat. “We’d just have to coincide a video call to some movie theater or something so we could perform together in the comfort of our own homes.”
“If that was the case, you might as well have stayed up in Nashville,” Erin told me, but I shook my head.
“Fuck that. There were a lot of things I was over in that place. Even if I don’t manage to make it big with music here, I can tell it was a good move for me,” I assured her. “Shit, I don’t even care if I wind up working at some grocery store or something. Just keep the roof over my head so I can continue to enjoy this view of the ocean. Who needs to be famous when I’ve got that?”
“True,” Erin said. “I’m sure glad you came down here. I keep thinking about how I have to see you, even if I get Neils to watch the kids for a few hours this weekend so I can come up there and at least help you get settled into your new place. I know you were just down a few months ago, but I got so used to you being around again, it really sucks that you’re not here anymore.”
“Oh, you’re going to make me cry,” I told her as I felt the emotion gripping in the back of my throat. “I miss you, too. And even if you can’t make it this weekend, we’ll make it happen soon. I’m dying to see you!”
“Good,” she said. “You know my schedule is pretty flexible these days. I know you have to figure out what you’re doing for work and everything, so if you don’t mind me coming to you, that’s fine with me.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I said, a little hesitant to have someone over so soon after my neighbor had freaked out on me. I wasn’t sure what his issue was, but if he was willing to be difficult the very first day I moved in, I could only imagine what he would do if he saw me having people over just days after I got here.
Not that I was going to let him dictate what I did in my own space, but after Kim told me I had to get used to him, the last thing I wanted was for Erin to come up and have him be rude to her. I didn’t want her to think I moved in next to someone who would make my life miserable. Though I also felt it was only a matter of time before I opened up to her about the asshole next door.
“Well, I better get Connor ready to go,” Erin told me. “Thank you for playing for us; we really enjoyed that.”
“Anytime,” I said. “Tell Libby I said hi when you pick her up.”
“I will,” Erin promised. “She talks about missing you, too.”
“And I miss her,” I said. “Give her a hug for me, too.”
My best friend promised she would, and we wrapped up the rest of our conversation. After the conversation, I shut down my laptop and closed the screen so it didn’t get damaged while I was still outside. It was so nice outside I decided I would play a few more tunes before I went back inside.
I hadn’t seen my neighbor all day, so I figured he wouldn’t be bothered by the music. I had halfway thought he would yell at me to stop it when I got on the phone with Erin, but he hadn’t appeared anywhere, so I decided I must be in the clear.
I turned my attention back to the guitar, losing myself in the music as I strummed a few chords. I didn’t have any real direction for the music. I just let myself get lost in thought as I continued to strum, enjoying the sound of the pick across the strings, plucking each one slowly, then sliding across the group and creating a melody.
I started to get the sneaking feeling there was someone watching me. It was just a small feeling in the back of my mind at first, but it grew from there, and I glanced around to see if I could pinpoint where that feeling was coming from.
There were sixteen bungalows in the complex. Kim and her husband lived in the big one right up front, and as far as I knew, the rest all had occupants as well, but I hadn’t seen any of my other neighbors besides the one who had yelled at me the day before. I was naturally curious to know who else lived around here.
And if any of the others were as uptight as the guy next door.
