So that’s who her guest is!
“It’s no problem at all,” Jill smiled back, handing the dish off to her.
Elena took a slow, deep breath in, savoring the smell of the biscuits and gravy casserole. “It smells so good!”
“Well, I hope you two enjoy it.” Jill took a step back, not wanting to stay, adding, “I’d stay a while if I could, but my friend is waiting for me. It’s girl’s night tonight.”
“Oh, that’s okay, dear! Do you at least have time to quick meet him?”
“Meet who? Your son? Umm –”
Before Jill could say anything further, Elena called out, “Brian! Brian, can you come to the door, please? There’s someone I want you to meet!”
Jill took out her cell phone to quick check the time, knowing full well that Amanda was eyeing the time as well, probably a little frustrated that it was taking longer than it should to bring a meal to a neighbor’s house.
“Well, well, well,” Brian said teasingly when he saw his mom’s neighbor at the door.
Gasp!
Jill froze at the sound of his voice. She knew once she looked up that she would see the very man she hoped to have never seen again.
Putting her cell phone back in her pocket, she looked up and smiled as best as she could. “Uh, hi,” Jill said sheepishly. She then reached out her hand to formally introduce herself. “I’m Jill Stevens, your mom’s next door neighbor.”
“I’m Brian. Brian Montgomery.”
Jill was very impressed with Brian’s handshake. It was firm, but not crushing. His hands strong, but gentle all at the same time. As if his good looks weren’t enough, Jill got butterflies in her just from his touch. “It’s nice to officially meet you, Brian. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about you. Sorry about earlier by the way.”
“Earlier?” Elena piped up, bemused.
She looked at Jill, then at Brian and then back at Jill, waiting for someone to pass along some information as to what was going on.
“It’s okay, Jill. Really! Stop apologizing for it.”
The two of them held each other’s gazes until Elena spoke up again, this time a little more loudly. “Earlier?” She was getting a little impatient that no one was divulging any details.
“Oh, sorry, mom,” Brian chuckled. “Jill and I ran into each other at the store earlier today.” He made sure to emphasize the ‘ran into’ part.
“Had to say it that way, huh?” Jill tried to say it in a teasing way, but felt more embarrassed than anything.
“So you guys already met then,” Elena stated more than questioned. She went on to add, “Well, you two will probably start seeing a lot of each other.”
Looking directly at Jill, Elena explained to her that she had asked her son to come stay with her for a while since she was having a lot of pain and needed extra help taking care of some things.
Shifting her focus to Brian, Elena reminded him that Jill stopped by quite frequently, and that she was, after all, her next door neighbor. More importantly, she was the dear, dear friend she had told him about on numerous occasions.
“Sounds good, Elena,” Jill replied.
Looking at the both of them, Brian so tall and toned, and Elena so short and pudgy, Jill said, “I hate to cut this short, but my friend is waiting for me so I should probably get going.”
Smiling up at Brian, she told him again that it was nice to finally meet him, and then she gave him a small wave goodbye.
“It was nice to meet you, too.”
Turning to his mom, he said, “Here, mom, let me
take this from you.”
He grabbed the hot supper and headed back inside, the last thing Jill seeing was the sparkle in his eye. She turned to leave herself until Elena stopped her. “Oh, Jill?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t let my son being here stop you from coming over. I’d miss you terribly if you stopped coming by. Just pretend he’s not even here,” Elena suggested with a small giggle.
“Oh, I won’t stay away. I promise,” Jill assured her.
“Good. You go have fun tonight, and thanks again for the dinner.”
“You bet.”
Jill was finally free to go back home where Amanda would no doubt be annoyed and upset that Jill had taken a really long time.
---------------
When Jill got back inside her own home, she caught her best friend in the living room spying out the side window through the blinds. “What are you doing?”
Amanda jumped from being taken off guard. “Well, I was wondering where you were so I thought I’d peak out this window to see if I could see anything.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry.”
Jill went into the bathroom to quick check her face in the mirror to make sure she was presentable enough for the movie theater. As she went, she started giving the details as to why it took longer than it should have for her meal drop off. “It seriously wouldn’t have taken that long if it weren’t for the fact she wanted me to meet her son!”
“Couldn’t you have said no?”
Jill rolled her eyes at her friend’s somewhat rude remark. “Well, I tried to get around it, but before I could say anything she called him over!”
“Ohmygoodness, ohmygoodness! Is that him?”
Jill came out of the bathroom, finding Amanda still looking out the window through the blinds. “Where?”
“Come over here,” Amanda beckoned with both her words and hand motions.
She seemed a little too excited for Jill’s taste, having no clue as to why she would be.
Jill carefully peaked out the window herself, knowing full well that if she was careless she would be caught in a heartbeat. Elena’s driveway was right next to this window, and odds were that Brian’s car was probably directly in front of them.
Her eye spotted him right away, and she took a moment to watch his every move. She enjoyed the way his muscles slightly bulged as he took one piece of luggage after another from his car. His well-toned body was so defined, and Jill again began to experience butterflies as she thought of him touching her.
Amanda ruined her moment by pointing out all the obvious. “He sure is a nice piece of eye candy.”
“Amanda!”
“What?”
“You’re married remember?”
Jill seriously couldn’t believe what her friend had just said.
“I know, but a girl can look, can’t she?” Amanda replied.
Jill didn’t know what to say to that. She personally felt that being married meant keeping your eyes only on your spouse, but as life would turn out, she wasn’t an expert in that department. Not wanting to dwell too long on all of this, Jill looked at the clock on the wall and reminded her friend that they needed to go. “If you stare too long you won’t get to see your previews.”
“Oh, all right.”
Jill was relieved that she enticed Amanda to move on.
Both girls grabbed their respective purse and headed out the side door.
“You’re driving, right?” Jill asked.
“Of course! I am parked in the way, aren’t I?”
Jill lightly laughed off the apparent stupid question.
I so need to relax!
---------------
As Amanda backed out of Jill’s driveway, she purposely went far enough down the road so that both girls could get one final glance at Brian unloading his car. Naturally, Amanda pretended not to notice too much. She kept her focus mostly on the road as she maneuvered her car, watching to make sure she didn’t back up into anything. Jill, on the other hand, tried to watch him through her peripheral vision one last time, hoping she wasn’t being too obvious.
Except Brian happened to look up from his task just as Amanda had stopped the car to shift it into drive. He politely waved.
“Um, he’s waving, Jill,” Amanda said, acting as if her friend was clueless. “You don’t think he saw us looking do you?”
Jill turned her head to see if what Amanda had said
was true. Sure enough, Brian stood by his car, left hand in his pocket and right hand waving. Jill thought she saw a smile, but she didn’t look long enough to know for sure. She did wave back so that she at least didn’t come across as rude. Then as the car continued forward, she slowly sank in her seat, wishing the events of the day had never happened.
“So is he staying a while?” Amanda wondered with a raised eyebrow.
“I don’t know. All Elena told me was that she asked him to come up here to help her take care of some things.”
“You know, Jill,” Amanda started.
Ugh, here we go!
“You should try to see if he’s married or dating anyone. You know, maybe you could go out with him?”
“Amanda, you of all people know that I’m not even going to go back down that road again.”
“I saw the way you were looking at him, though,” Amanda pushed. She didn’t know when to leave well enough alone.
“You looked at him the same way!” Jill blurted in exasperation.
Amanda gave a small laugh. “I’m just saying, Jill. That’s all.”
“Well, no thanks.”
“Okay. Okay.”
The girls sat in silence for a while, leaving Jill to her thoughts of possibly being interested in Brian. Any thought or feeling that did arise, however, she quickly dismissed. She had learned her lesson already, and never intended to travel down that road again.
As they got closer to the movie theater, Jill decided to speak up. “So what movie are we going to see?”
“Let’s just say you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll feel all good and tingly inside,” Amanda bubbled.
Jill let out a sigh. “Another love story. I should have guessed.”
Back in the day Jill wouldn’t have minded a good romance movie. It wasn’t her favorite genre, but she didn’t despise it either. Now though? Jill’s eyes were opened, and all she saw in such movies was a false sense of hope and a romance nowhere near grounded in reality.
Oh, well, it is her turn to choose.
On the plus side, it was also Amanda’s turn to buy refreshments. She intended to make her friend pay for making her sit through another one of those “love is awesome” movies.
Both girls got their tickets and refreshments, and went on their way to find which screening room they needed to sit down in. Getting the correct room, both girls went to sit in their favorite area: a section in the middle of the room directly behind the walkway. There was a row of bars they could easily rest their feet on as they leaned back in the comfortable chairs.
“Looks like we made it in time for your previews,” Jill pointed out.
Amanda let out an evil laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Jill gave Amanda a glare, waiting for her friend to explain.
“That’s because the movie doesn’t actually start for another fifteen minutes.”
“Amanda!” Jill said through clenched teeth as loud as she dared to get in the almost crowded room.
“What? I didn’t want to be late, and we technically would have if the movie really started right now.”
Ugh! Breathe, Jill. Breathe.
Even though she loved Amanda, there were times she felt like she could strangle her. As frustrated as she was that she had to hurry all evening long for no reason, Jill tried to push past her friend’s tactics. All that mattered now was that she could finally relax for the night.
And hopefully keep her mind off her new, temporary next door neighbor.
3
Brian Montgomery had no such luck. Ever since Jill had run into him a couple of days ago, all he could do was think about her. No matter what project his mom, Elena, had asked him to work on next, he found himself daydreaming of her seductive bluish-green eyes and brown hair that flowed nicely down the sides of her face, stopping just below the shoulders. He couldn’t stop picturing her womanly curves that he knew would satisfy his every desire.
Then there was her smile. Her lips looked supple and smooth. Something about those lips made Brian want to brush them against his own.
And he couldn’t get over how she blushed so easily. As odd as Brian thought it was, he always was attracted to a woman who grew a little red in the cheeks on occasion. Maybe it was because it gave him a sense of the woman’s own attraction to him as well. Whatever the case may be, Brian was certainly drawn to Jill and was eager to get to know her better.
Putting the finishing touches on the gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches that his mother requested, he snatched up the plates and brought them over to the dining room where Elena had already been sitting, anticipating the meal she had craved for quite some time. These sandwiches were the same thing that her grandma taught her mom how to make and then her mom taught her how to make. Having no daughter of her own, she still made sure to pass on the family secret to her one and only son.
“Here you go, mom.” Brian gently placed the plate before her, a look of delight on her face.
“It looks fabulous! Thank you so much. I’ve been craving one of these for a long time, but just never had the energy to make one.”
“Shoot, I can’t remember when the last time was that I made one of these for myself,” Brian mentioned. He then tried to think back to when the last time was, but was coming up blank.
Both family members took a bite at the same time, a moan of satisfaction escaping both of their lips.
“I can’t believe I forgot how good these were!” Brian exclaimed.
“Oh, I know!” Elena agreed.
Occasional small talk was made at the table as the two of them finished their meal; mostly Elena going over a few things that she wanted to get done. With each item she pointed out, Brian made a mental note to himself. Remembering every detail wasn’t necessary because more than likely his mom would repeat most of it another time or two. His mom’s memory was getting foggier by the day it seemed.
He felt like the list included a lot of little things, but knew it would still take a while. That just meant he’d be with his mom longer, as well as in the house next door to the most beautiful creature that he’s seen in quite some time.
Brian finished up his sandwich first and brought his plate back over to the kitchen. He saw the large stack of dishes that needed to get done and right away knew what his next chore would be. He rinsed out a dish rag and cleaned up some counters that he had used to make lunch, and then little by little he started organizing the dishes on one side of the sink so he could begin washing. Towards the bottom of the sink he saw Jill’s nine by thirteen inch pan that she had brought the biscuits and gravy casserole in the other night.
I should get this back to her and let her know how great it was!
Excited that he finally figured out a reason to actually go and seek Jill, he began to whistle while doing his work. Elena interrupted his train of thought when she came up beside him to place her plate next to all the dirty ones. However, just as she went to set it down, an intense pain shot through her wrist and traveled up her arm, causing her to drop the plate. Upon impact, it shattered into several pieces on the floor.
“Mom! Are you okay?”
Brian quickly dried his hands and looked over his mom to make sure she didn’t get cut or anything.
“Yes, I’m okay. I just felt a shooting pain. It’s all part of the disease.”
Even though she did her best to sound fine, Brian could hear in her voice that she was distraught. He knew that her suffering from fibromyalgia definitely changed her way of life, and that it was something that she was having a hard time accepting.
Brian gently grabbed his mom’s hand and started leading her to the living room. He suggested, “How about you go sit down. I’ll take care of everything here.”
“You’re so good to me. I’m so glad you came up here.” Elena let go and made her way to her favorite chair where she picked up the book she was reading.
Brian sighed and started cleaning up the mess so that he could get back to the dishes. He felt uneasy about his mom
, knowing full well that perhaps she shouldn’t be living on her own anymore. But then again, just yesterday his mom acted like her normal self and even babied him a little, happy that he was home. Fibromyalgia was definitely something he didn’t understand.
As the last piece of the broken plate got thrown into the trash, Brian reminisced about them. His mom was using the same dishes he grew up with. That was just like his mom to do that; keep everything until it’s gone or broken. She was never into buying new things or having the latest style. He admired his mom for her Plain Jane, and even frugal, way of living.
Brian let out a quick sigh when something caught his eye. He glanced out the window in front of him and saw the object of his affection. Jill had just gone into her garage to gather a few tools, coming out with all the supplies needed to do some gardening.
I should probably hurry up so I can bring this dish back to her!
Again, the whistling began. He found that it helped him to wash the dishes faster, and it definitely put his mind on other things than his mom and her condition. In fact, ever since Jill was spotted from the corner of his eye, all he thought about was her.
---------------
“Mom, I’m going to go bring this dish back to Jill next door. I’ll be right back!” Brian called out so his mom could hear from the living room.
“Okay!”
Brian stepped out the back door and took a deep breath of fresh air. It was a gorgeous day in May; the sun was shining down on him and there was no cloud in sight. The temperature wasn’t as warm as he was used to down in the south, but warm enough where a t-shirt was all he needed. He took a moment to enjoy his surroundings and contemplate on how he exactly wanted to approach Jill. She was clearly occupied and he didn’t want to startle her.
Looking in her direction, he studied her every move. From the looks of everything, she had just finished digging some holes and was now planting seeds. He enjoyed how her hands moved effortlessly, a clue that gardening must have been second nature to her.
Next Door Neighbors Page 2
