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“Davis?”
“Cole, what the hell are you doing over there?” I held my hand out, and he took it in a friendly shake.
“Shit, man I haven’t seen you in forever.”
Shaking my head, I eyed his yard, seeing how dark it was. He had a few solar lights around his garden, but nothing as obnoxious as Nora’s bright lights. The contrast nearly made me wince.
“So, you live next door, huh?” I gestured toward the back yard.
From what I could remember of Cole, or Colson, was that he played ball but was fascinated with books. He was always reading, doing research and different study projects. I hadn’t kept up with him after everything happened with my brother, so I didn’t know what he ended up doing.
“Yeah, just moved in about a year ago. She doing some sort of dinner party thing?” His tone was a little terse, which made me curious about his relationship with Nora.
“Yeah, Nora is hosting it, but uh…well, what are you doing tonight? Want to come?”
He laughed, full bellied, tossing his head back. In the shadows it was hard to see him, but he still had blond hair, a hard jaw, and the build of a football player.
“Nah man, she hates me.”
I shrugged. “She seems friendly enough to me. Two of her dinner guests canceled, and she’s pretty bummed about it. I think if you bring a bottle of wine or something, she’d be grateful to have you.”
He seemed to mull it over for a second, then asked, “Her boyfriend going?”
That led to a slew of other assumptions about their relationship, but again, wasn’t my place, and I didn’t really care that much.
“Doesn’t have one that I know of. It’s just my girlfriend, and a few other women. I think I’ll be a little outnumbered… You’d be doing me a favor if you came.”
“Wouldn’t want you to be outnumbered…and I do have a brand-new bottle of wine, and a few other things I could bring over.”
“Then it’s settled. Dinner starts in about fifteen minutes.”
“Yeah, see you in a few.”
Walking back to the house, I heard Rae laughing with Nora, and the sound of it seemed to warm the whole house. Nora was pretty cool, and only gave me a thumbs up when she saw me for the first time after her little pep talk. We’d never spoken about Rae again after that, but she seemed like a good friend, and for that I was grateful. But now, I was worried that maybe I should have asked her before inviting Colson over. I mean, they were neighbors, they had to be friendly, right?
“Okay, everything is ready!” Nora called out, right as the doorbell rang and two more women came in, bearing some sort of cracker and cheese tray and a bottle of wine. Nora greeted them, Rae went in for hugs next, and then everyone started finding spots around the table.
“I’m so bummed about Chelsea and Brad not coming,” Nora complained, while pulling her chair out. “It just feels a little uneven or something.”
Right as she said it, the doorbell rang again.
“Who’s that?”
“Uh…actually, Nora—” I started, pushing in Rae’s chair as she took her seat then trailing behind Nora as she headed to the front door. “There’s something I need to tell you. I have this buddy, and—”
She swung the door open, cutting off my explanation. Colson stood there, wearing dark denim, a nice button down, and he had a bundle of flowers in his hand, along with a glass bottle of cold brew coffee.
“Uh…” Colson waited for Nora to say something, but she just stood there frozen.
Clearing my throat, I moved next to her, “Nora, I hope it’s okay that I invited Colson, he’s an old friend of mine. Turns out he’s your neighbor!”
She seemed to snap out of it, moving to the side to let him in, her eyes wild and her jaw tight as she replied, “No, totally fine. Welcome.”
Colson clenched his jaw and hesitated before taking a step inside.
The murmurs at the table died down as we returned to the dining room, until Rae saw us and let out a loud gasp, followed by a horrific coughing spell.
“Shit, are you choking?” I moved to her side. Her face was turning purple.
