The curtain-less windows facing the modest front yard revealed that the sun was out. Odd not just for the time of year – mid-November - but also for the area. It wasn’t for nothing that Scotland had the reputation of being cloudy and wet most of the year. Some stereotypes were true. But today was a perfectly bright, icy day.
Leah felt chills run down her spine and remembered that she should probably switch on the central heating. The house had sat empty for a while the rental agent had told her. Although everything looked in good condition, you could never be certain that everything would work as expected.
Luckily, everything seemed to switch on as it should, and soon she could hear the hot water stream into the large radiator below the living room window.
Leah halfheartedly told the movers where to put all her belongings, though they had pretty much done everything on auto pilot based solely on the meticulous labeling system Leah had stuck to while packing. Kitchen boxes in the kitchen and so on. Obviously.
Though she did do a few spot checks to make sure the contents were all intact, she couldn’t find anything amiss. Soon after, the older one of the two movers presented her with a clipboard containing a form for her to sign. Then they were off, and she was left alone in her newly rented bungalow, surrounded by boxes and wrapped up furniture.
Unpacking would be a thankless task. One Leah didn’t have the energy for just yet. Anyway, it wasn’t like she had a job to go to come nightfall; she’d quit her night shift position at the call center a month ago.
And so the only two boxes she did open up properly were the ones containing the electric kettle and mugs, and of course, her bedding so that she could catch some rest later. Thanks to the groceries she’d picked up on her way, she soon had a steamy cup of tea in her hands as she sat down on her still wrapped up sofa.
Made it.
It was hard not to feel just a little bit nervous about the big step Leah had taken today. She’d been ready for a change. Ready to slow down and live life somewhere quieter, on her own terms. But was this the right decision? Or the right time?
Her homemade bath supply company was just starting to pick up steam, and the internet was a fickle place to do business. What if her orders dried up suddenly? What if her savings ran out before she was able to make things work?
She took a deep breath, and then a big sip of her hot drink and tried to suppress all those doubts and worries that were attempting to claw their way to the surface.
Everything will be fine.
She closed her eyes and forced her nerves to calm, when the doorbell rang and made her spring into action yet again.
“Yes?” Leah asked, while opening the light wood front door.
“Hi!” a woman sporting a wide smile and larger than life platinum blond curls greeted her on the other side. “I’m Caroline-but everyone calls me Carrie. I noticed you moving in and thought I’d say hello and welcome you to the neighborhood!”
Leah reluctantly met the woman’s outstretched hand, who warmly shook it while continuing to flash her teeth at her.
“Thank you so much. I’m Leah.”
“It’s nice seeing this old house in use again. It’s been empty for so long…” Carrie’s voice trailed off towards the end of the sentence, as if there was something she was thinking that she didn’t want to share.
“It seems to be a nice area. I’ve been meaning to get out of the city for some time,” Leah responded.
“Mhmm. It certainly is. Very good for families. Do you have children?”
Leah shook her head.
“Oh well. Maybe later, aye?”
“Right.”
Carrie hadn’t taken her eyes off Leah throughout the short exchange, except to inspect the as yet barren hallway behind her. She was clearly curious what this house looked like on the inside, but Leah was in no mood to invite her in. Nobody was going to come in until everything was set just how Leah wanted it.
“Anyway, I live just next door. If you ever need anything.” Carrie pointed to the neatly kept house towards the right of Leah’s bungalow. “I’m sure you’ll meet the rest of the neighborhood shortly.”
“I’m sure.” Leah smiled. “So, who lives there?” Leah pointed at the other house next door to her towards the left. Its exterior was equally polished, but the windows were dark almost as if they were boarded up from the inside.
“Oh… I suppose him you probably won’t meet. Matthew Argyle,” Carrie’s voice suddenly didn’t seem so upbeat anymore. “He doesn’t tend to mingle.”
“Oh yeah? How come?” Leah tried not to sound too suspicious but was having a hard time to disguise the concern that she’d been tricked into putting down a rather sizable deposit on a house right next door to a difficult neighbor. Or worse, a pervert.
“It’s not that he’s not a nice guy; he’s fine enough. Grew up with him. He just doesn’t really socialize. Not sure what happened to him, but ever since old Mrs. Argyle passed and left him the house, he’s been really withdrawn. It’s a shame.”
“I suppose the death of a parent can do that to a person.” Although Leah was still a little suspicious, she did feel bad to have judged her new neighbor so harshly before even finding out the first thing about him. She’d had a difficult time when she’d just lost her dad years ago, so she could sympathize.
Eight years in a bad part of the city had clearly taken their toll and hardened her up. That was part of why she’d moved here, to get out of the hustle and bustle and allow herself to smell the roses more. If there was one thing she didn’t want - despite herself - it was to start off on the wrong foot with her new neighbors.
“Well, thanks anyway and lovely to meet you. I’m sure we’ll see each other around,” Leah said her goodbyes to Carrie, who shot her one last bright smile before turning on her heel and heading back home.
Leah glanced to the left once more at the dark windows of Matthew Argyle’s house before wrapping herself up tighter in her sweater in an attempt to ward off the persistent chill in the air. Perhaps she ought to make the first move. It must be a lonely existence, living all on your own in your mother’s house after she had passed away.
Yes, that was exactly what she should do: go over there and introduce herself. In time. Perhaps in the morning.
The first night in her new home was oddly surreal.
After unpacking only the bare essentials, Leah had ordered a pizza and soon after crept into bed. She’d been tired, exhausted actually, but sleep still didn’t find her.
Leah lay awake, staring at the ceiling for hours when a faraway noise had attracted her attention. Her flat in the city was right next to a railway line on one side and a busy road on the other, so silence was a luxury she had not been able to afford before.
This new place was exactly the opposite. The silence was deafening, making Leah take notice of every little creak and rustle that did manage to infiltrate her bedroom.
In the end, it was a click and squeak that roused her. The sound hadn’t come from inside the house, but it was still too close to ignore. Leah grabbed a throw from the foot end of the bed and wrapped around herself and crept up to the window to see what was going on.
Next door, the light in the back yard was on, and she could make out a shadowy movement through the gaps in the wooden fence separating her garden from Matthew Argyle’s. As night had set in, it had apparently brought a mild fog with it, giving the entire scene a mysterious glow.
Why the hell would anyone be out in their garden at crazy o’clock at night? And in the freezing cold too!
Leah held her breath as she opened the window as quietly as she possibly could. The previously muffled sounds became clearer, and she could hear not just his footsteps, but also the occasional thump of heavy objects being set down on the soil, as well as metallic scratches. Is he digging a hole?
She remembered her earlier suspicions about the man, and simply couldn’t stand not knowing what he was up to, barely ten feet away from her on the other side of that fence.
I can’t sleep anyway; perhaps the fresh air will do me good…
Leah slipped on a pair of sneakers and exited through the back door. She again tried her best to be stealthy, walking on the grass instead of the pathway to dampen her steps. Within moments, she reached the same bit of fence visible from her bedroom window.
The activity on the other side had moved further away, but she could still hear Matthew pacing about.
Just a little peek…
Leah stepped up to the fence, her shoes sinking into the soft soil of the flower bed and looked through one of the many gaps between the wooden slats.
Although he had his back towards her, Leah felt validated in her nosiness already. As soon as she’d found out about her reclusive neighbor, a mental image had started to form. Her assumptions couldn’t have been more wrong.
His broad shoulders, as well as deliberate movements with which he lifted one of the heavy paving slabs and carried it across his lawn didn’t fit her expectations at all. He was strong to the extent that he made the hard labor look effortless.
In the dim light, as well as disguised by fog, Leah couldn’t properly judge his wardrobe, but at least she could tell he wasn’t wearing rags. His hair was closely cropped and thus looked neat enough. So he wasn’t the unkempt spend-the-day-in-a-bathrobe type recluse at least.
And then he turned around.
Leah forgot to breathe and stumbled backward onto the lawn.
His strong jaw matched the rest of his physique. Handsome didn’t quite describe him. And those eyes… A warm almost fiery amber, kind and yet infinitely sad.
Those were the reason she’d stumbled in the first place. He seemed to be able to peek right into her soul, even though there was no reasonable way for him to even see her behind the fence. Was there?
As soon as she’d regained her composure, a confusing few seconds later, she was back at the fence, but her new neighbor was nowhere to be seen anymore.
Shame… Leah would have loved to catch another glimpse of him before heading back inside.
Despite everything, especially the mystery of why Matthew Argyle thought it appropriate to do a bit of landscaping in the middle of the night, her decision was final now. She was definitely going to make the first move and introduce herself the first chance she got.
Chapter Three
The next day, Matt’s doorbell rang, but he ignored it, instead keeping his head down and eyes locked onto the laptop screen. He never bothered with callers, unless he was expecting a delivery, so this wasn’t unusual.
What was unusual was that for a change he knew exactly who stood there at the other side of his front door. It was the woman. He could feel her presence, just like last night. And that simple fact still didn’t make any sense to him.
But then again, a lot of things in Matt’s world didn’t make sense. Like why the majority of the people on the discussion forum he’d posted on at night thought he should just be honest with her. What did they know?
He rubbed his eyes, but the alphabets on his screen continued to dance around in front of him. There was no way he could concentrate.
“I’m sorry to disturb. I’m new in the neighborhood and just wanted to say hello,” she said. He could just about hear her muffled voice even though he was as far back inside the house as he possibly could be.
That was nice of her, but he couldn’t risk it. Just the sound of her was putting him on edge. The hairs on his arms and legs were already standing up straight, readying themselves to grow.
“Anyway, perhaps you’re busy, so I’m just going to leave this here,” she continued.
Wait, leave what where ? He got up and walked out of his office heading towards the entrance hall, then stopped in his tracks. What was he doing? If he got any closer, she’d see him and know he was avoiding her!
He waited, holding his breath until finally he heard footsteps move away from the door and down the steps of his porch. Another five minutes later, he finally dared to open the curtain of the porch window just enough to see outside. There was a basket on his foot mat. Of course, he couldn’t tell what was inside from here.
It was still light out, and he had no way of knowing whether he was being watched, so he closed the curtain again and turned around to get back to work. But knowing that there was something out there, something she was trying to give him… He had to know what it was.
Barely an hour later, he’d again tried and failed to finish the article he’d begun writing that morning. Instead, he’d been reading and re-reading the reactions to his post on the discussion forum.
‘If she’s worthy, she’ll accept you.’ Rubbish.
‘Wouldn’t it be worse to always wonder what if?’ Ugh!
The worst part was they were probably right in their own way. And he couldn’t ignore that basket any longer without losing his mind completely, so he gave in to temptation. He returned to the front door, making sure through the curtain that nobody was around, and retrieved it.
A sweet sort of scent hung about it, and it wasn’t just from the food he knew to be inside. Inside, he found a piece of heavy paper the size of a business card, a bar of soap that smelled of Christmas and a stack of carefully wrapped butter shortbread with a red ribbon tied around it.
‘Hello.’
Matt turned the card over in his hand, hoping for something more, but that’s all it said. Weird.
Seriously? You’re the one who didn’t even open the door for her, and you think this is weird?
It was still nice of her, though. Matt untied the ribbon holding the shortbread together and took a bite. Amazing.
Only then did he take a closer look at the rustically shaped soap. It didn’t seem shop bought and along with the cinnamon and hints of orange peel, there was a strong scent of something else in there as well. Her. No, it can’t be, can it?
The material of the label was identical to the very concise card, which should have been the first thing for him to notice if he hadn’t been so distracted.
On the sticker on the back, there was a website and a phone number.
When he pulled up the website on his laptop, he had to smile. This was actually quite clever. On the face of it, she’d just packed together a couple of things, little gifts. But between the lines, there was so much to learn. He couldn’t help but assume that she’d done it this way deliberately.
As the site loaded, her picture greeted him from the right-hand column. She looked even more beautiful in it than he could have guessed from the short glimpse he’d caught of her yesterday. So she made soaps. That explained a lot.
He’d always had a keen sense of smell, as well as a whole other host of instincts that often overwhelmed. One of them was a tendency to see mysteries and secrets everywhere. Why had she even tried to make contact? Why give him anything in the first place?
Last night had been fairly easy to explain away: he was out making noise in the middle of the night, and she came to the fence to investigate. Simple. But this was something entirely different. Perhaps his strange night time activities had made her curious to find out more. She must be wondering what sort of a person she’s ended up living next to; that was only natural.
Still…
Matt’s brain wouldn’t stop speculating.
He pushed the basket and its contents to the side and focused on his laptop once more. What if these people were right? Maybe he should just get over himself already.
Her website was still open in the background. Her smile was radiant and inviting. He hovered over the speech bubble labeled ‘get in touch’ underneath her picture for a moment and found that he’d clicked it without consciously deciding so.
What to write? Seeing as she’d kept things very simple, he ought to do the same.
‘Hello & Thanks.’
A rush of excitement passed through him as he hit ‘send.’ What if she doesn’t realize who it was from? Again, a stupid thought… If it reached her, she would know.
That last thou
ght was what allowed him to go back to his original plan for the day: the articles he was supposed to submit the next day. It was just as well that a reply wasn’t forthcoming.
Ever since Leah saw the short message in her inbox from a certain “M. A.”, she couldn’t help feeling some sense of accomplishment. She didn’t know the man, obviously, but somehow she could tell that simply sending her a ‘hello’ back was a big step. She wasn’t even sure why she cared, considering she had moved there in search for a simpler life, not a more complicated one.
Trying to strike up a conversation with a reclusive, yet rather attractive neighbor definitely counted as complicated.
Still, she couldn’t help feeling pleased. He had responded, so the lines were now open, sort of. Unless he was just trying to be polite…
Despite thinking about what to do or say next for most of the day, there was plenty of work to be getting on with. An engineer turned up to connect her TV, phone and broadband which took up the better part of the morning.
She was glad to no longer to have to rely on the rather patchy mobile signal. There was no network in her bedroom, bathroom, or most of the lounge; she’d learned that pretty quickly. Only along the front windows and in her kitchen did her mobile work properly.
Once the telecoms guy had gone, she had to start working through a couple of orders, necessitating a trip to the nearby post office. And then there were the boxes… the never-ending boxes that needed to be unpacked.
Only by the evening did she have the time as well as peace of mind to reply.
‘I’m Leah. Nice to “meet’ you.’
Send.
She was about to put her phone down on the coffee table and settle into the freshly fluffed up cushions on her couch to watch some TV when it dinged. That was fast! Almost as if he’d been waiting…
‘Matt, likewise. I saw you move in.’
Scottish Werebear: A New Beginning: A BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Scottish Werebears Book 4) Page 2
