More than Neighbors

by Shannon Stacey

  He had the staff and the money to make it all go away without any more effort on his part than delegating the tasks. But the lawyer had included her obituary and the photo had punched him in the gut. Even though the image was black-and-white, he could tell he had her eyes. And unlike his own, which probably gave away nothing but emotionless determination to care about his father’s business enough to keep showing up, hers shone with warmth and humor. The woman in the photograph would have loved him with her whole heart, he thought.

  Cam lied to his parents about joining a prospective wife at her family’s summer home and, after assuring them he could work remotely, packed the necessities into his car and drove to Blackberry Bay.

  Air left his body with a hard whoosh when a mass of black fur landed solidly on his stomach with no warning. Elinor knit his shirt and underlying skin for a few seconds—and he suffered the light claw pricks because he’d learned the hard way reacting made it so much more painful—before she settled on his chest, staring at him.

  “Hi, cat.” She blinked. “Okay, I’m not very good at this. I’ve never had a pet, but I’m trying my best. So maybe you could do me a favor and not pick on the little dog next door, okay?”

  She seemed disinterested and he chuckled, which was rewarded with her claws pricking at his skin again for a few seconds. He never would have imagined himself talking to an animal, never having had one around, but they were surprisingly good listeners. Sure, he had a feeling Elinor could be a little judgmental, but at least she couldn’t verbalize it.

  “Mr. Maguire?”

  The little voice was close and it startled Cam. His jerky movement, as small as it was, startled Elinor, and it took everything he had not to curse in front of the little girl as the cat launched herself off his chest.

  “Hi, Sophie,” he said once the chaos subsided and he was on his feet.

  “Can I ask you a question?” She was standing right around where the property line was and her anxiety was clear on her face.

  “Of course you can.”

  “Can you tell me where you bought that?” She nodded toward the hammock. “I want to ask my mom to buy me one, but I don’t know where they come from.”

  “Unfortunately, it was here when I got here, so I don’t know.” He frowned at the hammock on the stand, with the sunshade attached over it. “I don’t think my grandmother was much of an online shopper, so it probably came from a local store.”

  “Okay, thank you.” She started to walk away.

  “Hey, Sophie. If you tell your mom you want one, I’m sure she’ll be able to find one. And they probably make smaller ones, too, so it would be easier to get in and out of.”

  “I need a big one because it’s for me and Oscar and my books.”

  “Ah. That makes sense. I’ll tell you what. If I’m not using my hammock, you and Oscar and your books can use it if it’s okay with your mom and she shows you how to get in and out of it without hurting yourself.”

  Once she’d gone back in the house, he took a few minutes to adjust the metal stand, lowering the hammock as close to the ground as it would go. He might have to adjust it again when he used it so his butt didn’t rest on the ground, but he’d leave it this way when he wasn’t using it so Sophie wouldn’t get hurt.

  Twenty minutes later, just as he was opening his laptop to get some work done, there was a knock on the door and he saw Meredith on the other side of the screen slider. His pulse quickened for a few seconds and he tried to tell himself it was just annoyance at being interrupted again. With a sigh, he closed the computer and walked over to open it.

  “Good morning, neighbor,” he said, leaning against the jamb.

  “Good morning. Sophie told me you offered her the use of your hammock and I just wanted to make sure it was really okay with you and not a misunderstanding.”

  “It’s okay with me, but did she also tell you the part where you have to teach her how to get in and out of the thing without hurting herself or the dog?”

  She smiled and brushed her hair away from her face. “She did. I’ll make sure she knows how to use it. And thank you. She loves to curl up with Oscar and read, and a hammock is more fun than a deck chair. I’m going to buy her one of her own as soon as I find one.”

  “You should get matching ones so you have one for yourself. They’re surprisingly relaxing. You do know how to get in a hammock, right?”

  She put her hand on her hip and arched a brow at him, which made him chuckle. “You forget, I’m the one from here. Of course I’ve used a hammock.”

  “As an adult?” He laughed when she looked away, clearly not wanting to answer. He wasn’t much of a hammock expert since he’d owned one for only a couple of weeks—and thank goodness he hadn’t had an audience for his first few tries—but he suspected they were less intimidating to children.

  “I’ll let you get back to what you were doing,” she said, taking a step back.

  For some reason, he didn’t really want her to leave. “I wasn’t doing anything important.”

  “I have to take Sophie into town. My parents are coming to visit tomorrow and I have so many errands to run today. And we desperately need food. But thanks again for the use of your hammock. Maybe I’ll show her how to use it later today, if you’re sure you don’t mind.”

  “I’m sure.” As a matter of fact, he was looking forward to watching this woman practice her rusty hammock skills in his backyard. Maybe he’d even pour himself a drink and sit on his deck.

  It wasn’t until Meredith was gone and he’d turned back to the chaotic clutter Carolina had surrounded herself with that the realization Meredith had grown up in Blackberry Bay really sunk in. And her parents were visiting tomorrow.

  They might have all known his grandmother. Her parents might even have known his biological father. Feeling a bit shaky all of a sudden, he sat on the edge of the floral love seat and stared at his closed laptop.

  Maybe watching his sexy neighbor wrestle with the hammock wouldn’t be the only benefit of her moving in next door.

  Chapter Three

  Blackberry Bay had hardly changed at all since Meredith left for college in California, and yet it felt as strange to her as a location she’d never visited.

  She wasn’t sure if it was because she was walking down the street holding her little girl’s hand or maybe it was the life experiences she’d had since leaving. The last time this town had been her actual home, she’d been eighteen and looking forward to college. She couldn’t have known then that she’d meet Devin, have a daughter and build a joyful life on the other side of the country. Or that it would all come crashing down thanks to a second of thoughtlessness by one reckless driver.

  No, she definitely wasn’t the same person. Now she was a widow raising a daughter alone, and the weight of that had been pressing down on her for two years. It wasn’t as crushing as it had been in the beginning—she’d barely been able to breathe for the first few months—but it was always there. The pressure and the loneliness.

  But here, amid the early-summer bustle of Blackberry Bay, she felt lighter than she had since that awful night. The sun was warm, flowers were blooming and her daughter held her hand as they explored the historically preserved downtown.

  “Do you know where the library is?”

  Meredith smiled down at Sophie. “Of course I do. I spent a lot of time there when I was a little girl like you.”

  “Do they have a lot of books for kids?”

  Compared with the library system they’d left behind, it probably wouldn’t seem so. “I don’t know, but we’ll go there now. And remember, if there’s a book you want to read that they don’t have, they might be able to borrow it from another library in the state.”

  The small worry line between Sophie’s eyes appeared again. “But if they don’t have a book, how will I know I want to read it?”

  Meredith la
ughed and stopped at the base of the granite steps leading to the library. “That’s a very good point. How about we worry about that after we see if they have a lot of books you haven’t read?”

  Sophie’s eyes brightened when she saw the library looming on the small knoll. It was in one of the oldest buildings in Blackberry Bay, and rather small and plain, but the well-maintained white clapboards gleamed in the sunshine. Glass sidelights framed a wooden door painted a deep dark green, and a small sign on the lawn was the only hint it was the Spurr Memorial Library.

  She didn’t recognize the librarian, who was substantially younger than the woman who had watched over the stacks with a stern eye when Meredith was a child. This woman—who invited them to call her Lisa—was quiet but enthusiastic, and before long she and Sophie were exploring the substantial children’s section together. Sophie was a precocious reader, and picking books for her could be a challenge. She’d outgrown basic picture books a long time ago, and choosing chapter books that challenged her while being appropriate for her age wasn’t easy, so Meredith was happy to leave it to a professional.

  Free to roam, she chose a couple of novels from the new-release shelves, even though she had a big enough backlog of ebooks on her tablet to ensure she had reading material for years to come.

  Luckily, the librarian was willing to accept her real estate documents as proof of residency, and Sophie beamed as she was handed her first library card from her new town. And she talked Meredith into buying one of the Spurr Memorial Library canvas tote bags they were selling as a fund-raiser to carry their books home in.

  But the highlight of Sophie’s day was definitely signing up for the summer reading program, and it made Meredith happy, as well. While Sophie was in it for the charts and stickers, Meredith saw enough fun social events on the calendar to ensure her daughter would already know quite a few of the kids in town before school started.

  “Let’s put the books in the car, and then we can buy some groceries,” she said when they finally left the library. They’d spent more time there than Meredith had anticipated, but she shouldn’t have been surprised. There was little Sophie liked more than libraries and bookstores.

  “I’m tired,” Sophie said, with a hint of a whine creeping into her voice.

  “We did the fun errand first because it’s too hot to leave groceries in the car, but we have to do the not-fun errand, too.”

  “I want to read one of my new books in the hammock with Oscar.”

  Meredith hit the button to unlock her SUV’s doors and set the tote bag on the back seat, where Sophie would be able to reach it during the ride home. But then she very firmly closed the door and locked it again.

  “We’ll see if we have time for the hammock later, Sophie. But we’re out of food and we can’t put off grocery shopping.” She gave her daughter a pointed look. “And if you’re too tired for shopping, then you’re too tired to learn how to get in the hammock.”

  Sophie sighed and stuck her bottom lip out a bit, but she didn’t argue as Meredith took her hand and led her toward the market. In the future she’d probably make a master list and make the trip into the city, with its big-box stores, for nonperishables once a month, but she didn’t have the time or the energy right now.

  They managed to make it through the entire list without Sophie having a meltdown, but Meredith wasn’t surprised when she fell asleep within minutes of the car starting. It wasn’t a very long drive back to the house, but she knew her daughter needed the nap, so she surrendered to driving around Blackberry Bay, refamiliarizing herself with the streets and enjoying the memories that surfaced as she explored.

  The historic look and feel of the town had hardly changed at all, which wasn’t surprising since the historical society and planning board worked hard to preserve the history of the town. They didn’t even allow vinyl siding within a certain radius of the downtown district, so the buildings were all brick, cedar shakes or clapboards diligently painted in town-approved colors. The larger chain stores that had grown to be a necessary part of almost every town’s economy were all on the outskirts, out of view of the tourists.

  Most of the stores along the waterfront stretch of Main Street catered to the tourists, with everything from boutiques offering overpriced swimwear to scuba equipment. Ice-cream shops and gourmet coffee bars. There were shops offering skiing equipment along with gear for other winter endeavors, since they were close to the ski area.

  On Cedar Street, she passed the café, which she remembered as having great food, and a new bookstore with a fun summer window display. There was a consignment shop, and she saw that a hair salon had gone in where the television-repair shop used to be.

  The original Blackberry Bay schoolhouse had been turned into the historical society’s headquarters, and there were larger schools on the outskirts of town, including the three-story brick high school she’d graduated from. If Sophie hadn’t been sleeping, she would have shown her the elementary school she’d be attending, with the brightly colored garden mural painted on the brick front wall.

  She wondered, as she turned around in the school parking lot, how many of the people she’d graduated with still lived in Blackberry Bay. It was a beautiful town, but its primary industry was tourism, and a lot of the kids who went off to college didn’t move back. But some of them still had to be around, and she was looking forward to renewing some old acquaintances.

  Twenty minutes would be enough to recharge Sophie’s batteries without throwing off her sleep schedule, so Meredith finally drove home and pulled into the driveway.

  Her new neighbor’s sleek, dark sedan—which she knew from her California social circle was not cheap—was parked in his driveway, but she tried to ignore it as she killed her engine and got out.

  She couldn’t help wondering what he did, though, that enabled him to work remotely, if that was actually what he meant when he said he’d be reading over spreadsheets. It didn’t seem like the kind of thing a person did for fun, so she assumed it had to do with his job. She knew several of the people who worked for Devin had done so from home, traveling to the offices only for important meetings.

  When she got out of her car, leaving the door open so it didn’t get warm for Sophie, she was surprised to see Cam walk around from her backyard with the cat in his arms.

  He paused when he saw her, and then met her near her front door. “Hi again. Sorry to trespass, but I was looking for Elinor. Again.”

  “I hope Oscar didn’t bark the whole time we were gone,” she said, since her dog was currently barking rather enthusiastically.

  “Like you said, it’s more of a high-pitched yip.” Before she could apologize, he grinned. “And only when I used a tree branch to scratch at the windows.”

  She laughed, telling herself he had to be joking. She hoped. And considering the mischievous gleam in his eyes, he’d probably been joking about the muzzle, too.

  “Actually he’s barking because Queen Elinor here was pacing back and forth in front of your slider, taunting him. That’s why I came to get her.”

  The cat looked unimpressed by the accusation, and lifted her chin when Meredith reached out to give her a little scratch. “You’re a little troublemaker, huh?”

  “A massive troublemaker is more like it. I didn’t know cats grew this big, to be honest. Where’s Sophie?”

  “She fell asleep in the car, which was a blessing. That child definitely needed a nap.”

  “All this fresh lake air,” he said with a chuckle. “Do you want me to carry her into the house for you?”

  Meredith felt sucker punched by an image of this man carrying her sleeping daughter, and she hoped it didn’t show on her face. Devin had often carried Sophie up to bed when she was little, and then he’d tuck her in and kiss her forehead. Those were the little moments she missed the most, and it hurt to imagine another man filling that role.

  Someday, she though
t. She wanted Sophie to have a father figure, and Meredith certainly didn’t want to live the rest of her life alone, but she hadn’t thought about what that future might look like yet.

  “Meredith?”

  “Oh.” She shook her head and focused her attention back on the now. “Thank you for the offer, but I’m going to wake her up. If she sleeps too long, I’ll never get her to bed tonight. She’s reached that fun age where she’s outgrown regular naps, but still needs one now and then.”

  He nodded, his expression making it clear he had no idea what she was talking about. “Okay. Well, I should get this monster in the house and get some work done. Hopefully your dog will settle down now that she’s not flipping her tail at him through the glass.”

  Once she’d gotten a groggy Sophie into the house and taken Oscar into the backyard—where he was a lot more focused on the scent of Elinor than doing his business—she made multiple trips to carry all the groceries in.

  There were a lot fewer cabinets than their old house had, but Meredith turned putting the groceries away into a game. Sophie, who was in a good mood after her nap, enjoyed sorting the cans, even though she liked them arranged by color, with no regard to what was actually in each can.

  Meredith went through the motions, but her mind kept straying back to the idea of having a man around again. Not Cam, of course, because he wasn’t her type and he was only around for the summer, but somebody. She poked at the idea, as if she was probing a sore tooth with the tip of her tongue to see if it still hurt.

  And it did. But it was more like a chronic ache than acute pain, and she wasn’t sure what to make of that. Maybe a fresh start would do her as much good as it hopefully would her daughter.

  * * *

  I’ve been summoned by the town selectmen again. They think if they complain about my cottage enough and with big legal-sounding words, I’ll do what they want. You’d think people smart enough to use words like heretofore in a sentence would know better than that.