The Good Neighbors

by Kiersten Modglin

  He laughed. “See, things people don’t notice.”

  She nodded, wiping off her knees again. She was completely covered in dirt. “It’s Fuller, by the way,” he told her. “My—our—last name.”

  “Well, nice to officially meet you, Jason Fuller,” she replied, suddenly remembering hearing it at the gym the other day.

  “I’m going to go grab a drink. Do you want one?” he offered.

  “Oh, no, I really think I should get home. I need a shower, and Bryant should be home any minute.”

  “You could always go for a swim instead,” he told her, making her face warm again. What was it with these people and swimming?

  “No, really, that’s okay. He’ll be waiting for me.”

  “Are you sure about that?” he asked, stepping closer toward her.

  She looked down and then back up again. “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t he be?”

  He reached out, touching her arm where her dirty handprint was. “It’s just…it’s like I said, I notice things.”

  “Meaning what, Jason? What have you noticed?” Her heart was pounding in her chest. He knew something. She could see it in his eyes. But what was it? What did he know? He looked down as if he didn’t want to tell her, but she stepped even closer. “Tell me,” she dared him.

  They were dangerously close now, their torsos practically touching as she begged him to speak. When he looked up, his eyes held a sorrow she hadn’t been expecting. “I just—”

  “Harper?” She spun around, staring at Bryant. He stood behind the white gate, a stunned look on his face. “What’s going on?”

  She practically jumped away from Jason, looking guilty as sin. “Hey,” she squeaked. “Did you get my text?”

  He nodded, his eyes squaring with Jason’s as he walked through the gate. “What’s going on?” he repeated.

  Harper stepped in front of him. “We were doing some gardening. I was hoping you’d get back in time to help.” She patted his chest. “Where were you, anyway? You’ve been gone for, like, three hours.”

  He shook his head. “I told you I had to run to town.”

  “You guys are welcome to stay for lunch, if you’d like,” Jason said politely. “I’m assuming Tori will be back anytime also.”

  Something in his words caused Harper’s stomach to lurch, but before she could dwell on it, Bryant grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. “No, we should get home.” It was obviously not up for discussion at that point. “Come on, Harper.”

  “Thank you for all of your help, Harper,” Jason called after them. “I’ll see you around.”

  She waved a hand in his direction, though she wasn’t completely listening, because Tori’s SUV was pulling into the garage at that exact moment, and Jason’s words were echoing in her head: I notice things.

  Nineteen

  Harper

  When they got back to the house, Bryant released her hand almost instantly.

  “I’m going to take a shower,” she said, slipping off her shoes and laying them on the mat.

  “What were you doing with him?” he demanded, swirling around to face her with a heated rage.

  “Excuse me?” she asked. “What do you mean what was I doing with him?”

  “Why were you over there, Harper? Why were you over there alone with the man next door?”

  She scoffed. “Uh, probably because he came over to ask you for help, and you weren’t here—God only knows why—and so I offered. Where were you, anyway?”

  “Don’t turn this around on me,” he said hatefully.

  “No, I am turning it around on you,” she said, as the thought occurred to her. “You were supposed to be going out to get me a surprise. So, where is it?” She held out her hand.

  He clenched his fists to his sides. “You don’t get to just change the subject like this. I want to know why you were there.”

  “I told you why I was there. He needed help with his garden.”

  “Yeah, I’ll bet he did.” He scoffed, looking away.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” she fumed, her whole body shaking with anger. How dare he accuse her of doing anything. How dare he assume she was with him for any reason other than the one she’d provided. He was wrong. She’d done what she said. She’d helped a neighbor. Someone he should’ve been here to help.

  “It’s supposed to mean that I don’t trust him.”

  “You don’t have to trust him, Bryant. What matters is that you trust me.” She froze, trying to read his angry expression. “You do trust me, don’t you?”

  He frowned. “I don’t know what to believe anymore, Harper. You’re running around all the time, I come home to find you gone, you’re kissing women in a gym pool.”

  She felt cool tears stinging her eyes. “That’s what this is about? Me and Tori? Bryant, I told you about that. I told you about that as soon as it happened. You said it wasn’t a big deal. You know I’m not interested in women. Tori is…I don’t know what she is. A friend, maybe? But I haven’t spoken to her since. You have nothing to worry about. Certainly not with her.”

  “And what about him? Huh? What about Jason?”

  “What about Jason?” She shook her head, wiping away the tears from her cheeks. “Do you honestly believe I would cheat on you? I love you, Bryant. I married you. I meant what I said at that church. I would never,” she took a step toward him, begging him to look her way, “never do anything to hurt you.”

  He finally looked up at her, his eyes losing themselves in hers. “I just never want to lose you.”

  “You won’t,” she promised, touching his chest.

  “I want you to stay away from him. From both of them.”

  “They haven’t done anything wrong,” she argued. “They’re nice people.” Honestly, she wasn’t sure why she was fighting so hard to keep the Fullers in her life. It wasn’t like she really considered them friends, but it was nice to have neighbors you could turn to if you really needed it. Besides, Jason seemed to have information she may need, and being ordered not to see him would make learning said information much more difficult.

  “I just don’t trust them,” he said. “We can be cordial, but I think they’re trouble. Look at what they’re already doing to us.”

  “They haven’t done anything, Bryant. What’s going on with you? Where have you really been today?”

  He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “I went to town to try to find you a necklace for our six-month anniversary.”

  She wrinkled her nose, trying to think. He was right. Tomorrow would be exactly six months since they’d gotten married. She’d completely forgotten. “I’m so sorry,” she said with a gasp. “Things have been so crazy, I must’ve completely forgotten.”

  He nodded. “I thought you had. I was at the jewelry store trying to find the perfect one when I got your text. I came home right after. But, look, I still want to do something nice for you. What if we go out of town for the weekend?”

  She smiled. “Like a mini-vacation?”

  “Yes. Exactly like a mini-vacation,” he agreed. “We could use some alone time away from all of the chaos.”

  She leapt into his arms, kissing him softly through a laugh. “That sounds perfect.” He kissed her back.

  “It’s settled, then,” he said. “Now, we both need a bath, and then we can start packing.”

  She jumped down, hurrying toward the bathroom with his hand in hers. For a moment, the fight was forgotten. As were his instructions to stay away from the one person she suddenly found herself completely drawn to.

  Twenty

  Bryant

  He’d almost ruined everything. Everything. His marriage. His happiness. His life. All for a girl that, at the end of the day, was nothing more than a fling. His attraction to her was purely physical. On the way to Myrtle Beach, he repeated those things over and over in his mind. He needed to focus on his marriage now. Fix what he’d broken with Harper, even if she didn’t
realize what he was doing.

  He’d cut Tori out of his life and asked Harper to do the same. He couldn’t let the two of them get around each other…who knows what secrets may be spilled.

  More than that, he couldn’t get the way Jason had been looking at Harper out of his mind. The guy was obviously attracted to her. If he hadn’t come up at the exact moment he did, if he hadn’t interrupted, who knows what could’ve happened?

  He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the thoughts, and reached for Harper’s hand. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” she mused, smiling back at him. “I can’t believe it’s already been six months.”

  “Me either. Six amazing months. I think back to how we met…you were just this girl who dropped her laundry basket on the quad.”

  “And you were just a boy who held my panties before we’d even said hello,” she said with a loud laugh. “Very forward of you.”

  “I think you mean very ‘gentlemanly’ of me,” he said. “If it wasn’t for me, you would’ve lost all of your clothes that day. I saved you from having to be naked.”

  “Well, the way I remember it, after we met, I was naked a lot more than I’d been before.” She winked at him, and he let out a soft growl from deep in his throat. He released her fingers, letting his hand dance across her bare thigh, his fingers toying with the edge of her shorts.

  “I really missed you.”

  She ran her fingers across his arm. “What are you talking about? I’ve been right here.”

  “I know,” he said, “but it doesn’t feel that way. I feel like we’ve lost touch.”

  “Why?” she asked, seeming upset.

  “I don’t know. But we’re going to fix that this weekend.” He kissed her knuckles. “We’re going to get back to where we were.”

  She looked down, obviously upset. “I hadn’t realized we’d gotten so far from there.”

  He nudged her with his elbow, trying to coax a smile. “Hey, I didn’t say there was anything wrong with us. Especially not you. I just…I haven’t been doing the right things.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, and he realized the sentence had slipped from his mouth before he was ready.

  “I just haven’t been paying enough attention, I think.” He tried to cover his tracks. “With our schedules so out of whack, it’s been hard. But, I’m here now. We’re here…and this is right where I want to be.”

  He swallowed, fighting back the tears that were stinging his eyes as he realized how true that was, and just how close he was to losing it all.

  Twenty-One

  Harper

  That night, the couple lay in the hotel bed, cuddling in their quiet room. It had been a long day filled with amusement rides on the boardwalk, pigging out on funnel cakes and lemon shake ups, and coming back to the hotel to make love until they were both worn out.

  “I’m glad we decided to come,” Harper told her husband. “Today has been just what I needed.” He nodded, his chin rubbing against her head, but didn’t speak. “Bryant? Are you okay?” she asked, sitting up. He’d been strangely quiet since arriving back at the hotel, even seeming somewhat out of it during sex. Something was going on with him, that much she knew, but she just couldn’t seem to pinpoint what it was.

  “Yeah,” he said calmly, letting out a sigh. “I’m fine, baby. Why?”

  “You just seem off.”

  He kissed her forehead. “You know I love you, right?”

  “I do.” She propped herself up on her elbows. “Why do I feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming?”

  He shook his head. “No ‘but.’ It’s just something I should let you know more often.”

  She smiled. “So, how’s school going? We haven’t talked about it much lately. Are your students still giving you a hard time?”

  “Nah, not too bad. I mean, they’re teenagers who generally suck by default, but it’s getting better. Now that they know I won’t put up with their shit.”

  “That’s right,” she teased, patting his chest. “Hey, about earlier today with Jason, I still feel really bad about everything—”

  He pressed his lips into hers, ending her sentence. “You have nothing to feel bad about. I trust you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “More than anything. Look, I really just want to forget about them this weekend.” And the rest of my life, if I’m being honest. “I’d rather it just be about us.”

  “You’ve got it,” she said. “No more talking about them. Only us.”

  She paused slightly, knowing she must’ve been wrong, but before she put her head down on his chest again, she could’ve sworn she saw him wipe a tear from his eye.

  Twenty-Two

  Harper

  When the couple arrived back to their house on Sunday evening, sun-kissed and waterlogged, they were both aching to make their way into a familiar space. When they pulled into the drive, every hair on Harper’s arms stood up. “Bryant,” she whispered, her heart seizing in her chest.

  His eyes followed her gaze, his jaw hanging open. “I see it.”

  The front door to their house stood wide open, freeing up passage to anyone who wanted to enter. Anyone who already had. “Should we call the police?”

  He nodded, already pulling out his phone and dialing. “Do not get out of the car,” he instructed, though he was stating the obvious. There was no way Harper was moving, not now, possibly not ever. Lancaster Mills was starting to feel anything but the small, safe town they’d believed it to be.

  When he hung up the phone, letting her know that the police would be there in just a few minutes, he reached over and squeezed her hand. “It’s probably just the wind,” he assured her. “I’ll bet when we shut the door, it didn’t latch all the way.”

  “You didn’t check it?” she demanded.

  “Weren’t you the last one out?” he asked, furrowing his brow.

  Truth was, she couldn’t remember, and at that point it didn’t matter. “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe we should go check with Tori and Jason. They could’ve seen something.”

  “No,” he said. “Let’s just stay in the car. The police will be here soon.” He nodded his head toward the end of the road. “We should be here waiting when they arrive.”

  She nodded, feeling less than safe. What if someone was still in their house? What if they’d robbed them? As young newlyweds just starting out, it wasn’t like they had many things of value, but the thought that their home had been invaded was terrifying. She sat, contemplating what could’ve been taken and waiting for the police car that eventually came.

  She felt a bit safer as she watched the officers stepping from their car. Bryant climbed from his side, nodding at her to let her know it was okay to do the same. She did, meeting the officers in the middle.

  “I’m Officer Casey,” the first man greeted them. “This is my partner, Officer Glendale. So, you think you’ve been robbed?”

  “We don’t know,” Jason said. “We just arrived home from a vacation. We were only gone over the weekend, but when we got here, well…” He gestured toward the open front door to explain.

  “You haven’t gone inside yet, correct?”

  “No we haven’t,” Bryant said. “We didn’t know who could be in there.”

  The officers nodded in unison, reaching for their weapons. “You two get back into your car until we give you the all clear. We’re going to do a quick perimeter check and go into the house. If we don’t find anyone, we’ll let you know it’s safe to enter.”

  The couple did as instructed, watching as the cops radioed dispatch to let them know what was happening before heading toward the house. They sat in agonizing silence, watching one disappear into the house while the other went around the back, both guns raised. After a few moments, Officer Glendale came back around, waving for them to come in with a quick nod. Harper let out a sigh of relief she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Oh, thank God.” She felt cool tears filling her eyes as she walke
d around the car, taking Bryant’s hand and preparing herself for the absolute worst.

  This was why they had house insurance, after all. Things could be replaced. They walked up the front porch steps and into the living room, and she stared around in shock.

  Not a single thing seemed out of place. Their flat screen television was still sitting on the entertainment center. The laptop was lying where she’d left it on the couch cushion. Nothing was ransacked or destroyed. Aside from a bit of dust and debris from the door being open, the house looked untouched.

  “No one’s here. Far as I can tell, it looks like the place is fine. You’ll want to go check upstairs and make sure nothing’s missing,” Officer Casey told them. She could feel his frustration already. They’d wasted their time. She walked upstairs slowly, her husband close behind her, neither of them speaking. They walked through each room. Her jewelry, what little she owned, was still there. The desktop still remained on the office desk. Everything was the same. Nothing had been touched.

  They walked back downstairs, Harper unable to hide her embarrassment for not actually being robbed, though she knew that was ridiculous. The officers must think they were crazy, and could she blame them? They’d acted so impulsively.

  “We’re so sorry,” she offered as soon as she saw them.

  “Everything’s in place, then?” Officer Glendale asked, his arms folded across his chest.

  “It seems to be,” Bryant answered.

  “Right,” Officer Casey said. “Well, looks like maybe the door just didn’t get latched all the way, then.”

  “I feel so stupid,” Harper confessed. “I hate that we wasted your time.”

  “No,” Casey said, “don’t. That’s what we’re here for. Better safe than sorry. These old doors can be tricky, just try to jiggle the handle a little next time before you leave to be safe. You’re lucky you guys didn’t get animals in here.”