Neighbors

by Danielle Steel

  “I wouldn’t exactly call your life ‘puttering.’ ” She smiled. His security business was a solid success with important clients, and he kept busy doing other things, like the OES. “I’m happy I’m not a recluse anymore,” she whispered to him, and they made love again before they got up and showered together and dressed. She was still surprised by how comfortable they were with each other, as though they had been together for a long time.

  “Did you do nude scenes in your movies?” he asked her while they were getting out of the shower. She seemed so at ease with her body and with him. She laughed at his question. It seemed so long ago.

  “I had a body double for that. I never did my own nude scenes. Scott did, which is probably how he wound up with Silvana. She did her own nudity too. I didn’t want to embarrass my kids if they saw the films later when they were older, so I always had a body double in my contracts. Maybe I should have one now for you,” she teased, but her body was still beautiful, and a lifetime of exercise and careful eating had paid off. Charles had stayed trim and athletic after his military career too.

  “You don’t need a body double, you’re gorgeous, Meredith.”

  She put up a gentle hand and kissed him. “If you start again, we won’t make it to dinner,” she warned him. He laughed and made a quick decision, they went back to bed and canceled dinner. It was a beautiful, romantic night, and they drove back to the city under a harvest moon, which hung in the sky like a movie set. He was beginning to forget who she was, and she was slowly becoming his, a woman he loved, not a movie star, or a legend.

  They got back to the city at one-thirty in the morning. There had been no traffic, and he followed her into the house. She let him in with her key, and she knew that the night security man was watching them on one of the screens.

  “Do you want to sleep here tonight?” she asked him, and he nodded. She took him up to her bedroom, and they piled into her enormous canopied bed, and they snuggled like two children and fell asleep within minutes.

  They woke up early, and she took him down to the kitchen to make him breakfast. Jack and Debbie were off on Sundays, so she knew they’d be alone. She handed him The New York Times that the night man had left on the kitchen table. He read it while she made him fried eggs and bacon, and poured him a mug of steaming coffee, and then she sat across from him with a mug of her own.

  “This is perfect, isn’t it?” she said as he glanced over at her and thanked her for breakfast.

  “Yes, it is.” He looked as peaceful as she did.

  They went for a walk on the beach after breakfast, bundled up in the wind, and came back at noon for something to eat, and wound up in bed again.

  He hated to leave her that night, but he had an early meeting the next morning, and he didn’t want to deal with Jack and Debbie snarling at him the next day.

  “Are you keeping an eye on them?” he asked her when the subject came up, and she smiled.

  “I don’t need to. They’re as honest as I am.”

  “I hope you’re right,” he said, but it was obvious he didn’t believe her, and she didn’t argue the point with him. The two days she had spent with him had been perfect, and she didn’t want anything to spoil it. Nothing could have. They felt made for each other, and he was right, the eight years between them didn’t matter at all.

  * * *

  —

  “Son of a bitch!” Debbie exploded when she walked into their living room, where Jack was watching Sunday Night Football on TV. He looked up in surprise at the vehemence of her comment. “I talked to Harvey the night guy, and the colonel spent the night here last night. They came in at one-thirty in the morning, and he just left. Shit, we’ll never get rid of him now.”

  “I can’t believe it.” Jack looked shocked. “She hasn’t gotten laid since Scott left her.”

  “Yeah, now she’s friends with half the neighborhood, and gives block parties, and she has a boyfriend. What are we supposed to do with that?”

  He thought about it for a minute and shrugged. “What we’ve always done I guess. A little here, a little there, some kickbacks. We’re there for her whenever she needs us, and one day she gratefully leaves us a nice fat pot of gold in her will.”

  “It’s not as simple as that,” Debbie said, pouring the last of a bottle of Chateau Margaux into a glass in front of her. They’d been drinking all day. “If he sticks around, he’ll be watching us. He has some kind of a security business and she won’t be lonely the way she was before. And she’s not that old. It could be a long wait.”

  “He may not stick around for long. She’s older than he is, and her life is pretty dull.”

  “She’s Meredith White,” Debbie reminded her husband. “What guy wouldn’t want to show off with that? And what if she marries him?”

  “At her age, she won’t. What does she need to get married for? Sooner or later he’ll find someone his own age to play with. The star factor doesn’t last forever.” He dismissed it out of hand.

  “I don’t like the guy. I’ve got a bad feeling about him,” Debbie said somberly.

  “I don’t like him either, but he’s too busy to pay attention to us. We just stay below the radar for a while,” Jack said. But Debbie didn’t like the way things were going. It had all been so much easier when Meredith had no friends, no man, no kids, no family. But Debbie knew she was loyal, and wouldn’t forget the time she had spent with them. They had enormous influence on her, and she frequently asked Debbie’s advice. But it still made Debbie uneasy that Meredith was broadening her life. She could slip right through their fingers now and everything they’d built by careful, deliberate, constant, steady theft could come to an end. What a terrible thought, Debbie said to herself.

  * * *

  —

  Ava was having dinner with Peter and Arthur that night. They had ordered food in from a nearby Vietnamese restaurant and were eating in the kitchen. Arthur was adept with chopsticks. He had just made a suggestion that stunned Peter and Ava.

  Peter told him that Ava had broken up with Joel, and was looking for an apartment. Arthur approved of what she’d done. She couldn’t ride two horses forever. She had done the right thing in a relatively short time and won his respect.

  “Do you want her to live here with you?” he asked Peter when they were alone. “I’d be willing to try it, if she lives by the same rules you do. It makes more sense than her getting an apartment she can’t afford, and then spending nights with you anyway.” Arthur was willing to go to great lengths not to lose Peter, and he liked the girl from his few discussions with her while they were all at Meredith’s. He knew Peter was crazy about her. They were the right age, Peter thought they were well suited, and she seemed like a bright girl. Now that she’d gotten rid of her narcissistic boyfriend, Arthur was willing to lend a hand.

  Ava and Peter were both ecstatic with his offer that sounded like a dream to them. “You can move in here if you want,” he’d said to Ava, as Peter grinned and hugged Arthur. She already knew that there were rules. They couldn’t intrude on his space, practice or creative time, or make noise when he was playing the piano. Peter stayed upstairs most of the time, and his room was small. And he would have to be available for Arthur when he needed him. It sounded more than reasonable to them.

  Arthur made the second part of his offer after dinner and surprised them both. In fact, they were stunned. They had just finished the meal when Arthur looked in Ava’s direction and addressed her.

  “I’ve been thinking, Ava. I need someone to arrange my travel, and I get a lot of correspondence that isn’t in Braille. I need someone to handle it, answer the phones, so I have time to practice. I’ve been thinking of hiring an assistant. I was going to offer it to Peter, but he needs time to finish his novel, and he has a day job. You need a job now. Would you be interested in a job as my assistant?” He told her what he could pay her, and
it was slightly more than she’d been making when Joel asked her to quit her job at the time. She was speechless and nodded. He had solved all her problems. It was like a reward for doing the right thing with Joel.

  “You’re not answering,” Arthur said after a minute of silence at the table. “Does that mean you’re not interested?”

  “She’s nodding,” Peter answered for her, “and she looks like she’s going to faint.”

  “Fainting is not allowed, and she needs to speak so I can hear her,” he said, and both young people laughed.

  “I don’t know what to say, Mr. Harriman. I would love it. And I can learn Braille, so I can answer all your correspondence.”

  “That might be a good idea.” He looked pleased. He liked helping them. He was all in favor of young love. He was a romantic at heart, and had never had children, he had taken Peter under his wing, and he was willing to give Ava a chance and let her prove herself, to Peter, and to him. “When can you start?” he asked her as he got up from the table and reached for his cane, and she handed it to him.

  “Tomorrow,” she said without hesitating. It was perfect, just what they needed. She had a job and a place to stay, with Peter, and he didn’t have to leave Arthur to be with her. If it turned out well, it could be a blessing for all three of them, and if it didn’t, at least they would know they tried.

  They cleaned up the kitchen after dinner, Peter and Ava went up to his room to talk, and make plans. She was going to move out when Joel left for Europe, but that was in a few days. She could spend the nights with Peter until then, and then pack her things once Joel was gone. It would be less awkward that way. She knew that Joel didn’t like melodramatic farewells either. When it was over, he moved on, and she suspected that within a short time, she’d be replaced.

  Peter and Ava were talking about how generous Arthur was to have offered her a job, and let her stay there with Peter. She was sitting on the small couch in his attic bedroom, when he came to sit next to her with a smile.

  “You know, there’s one thing we haven’t worked out yet. We have all the practicalities arranged, your job, your salary, moving out of Joel’s house, Braille lessons.” She looked puzzled as he went down the list, it sounded like everything to her. In a sense, she was leaping from one man’s bed to another, which made her somewhat uncomfortable, but they had spent a month living under one roof together, or three weeks. It had been long enough for them to fall in love.

  “What have I missed?”

  “Us,” he said simply, with a boyish look.

  “What do you mean us?” He kissed her in answer to her question, and slipped his hand gently under her sweater, and she smiled when she realized what he meant. “Oh…that…” They had something to celebrate, and nothing to stand between them or hold them back. Joel had ended it simply and cleanly, and she was stunned that she and Peter had rearranged their lives entirely without ever making love. He pulled her gently onto his bed, and undressed her in the simple attic room where she was going to live with him, and almost like a bride, he made love to her for the first time, first gently and then passionately, and she gave herself to him as though there had never been any man before him. It was simple and sweet and innocent and honest. It was everything she and Joel never had.

  She spent the night with Peter, and texted Joel that she wasn’t coming home, so he wouldn’t worry. He didn’t answer, and she didn’t expect him to. A door had closed behind her. Joel was the past now, and Peter the future.

  She stayed with Peter until Joel left town, and then she packed her things. Peter helped her move them to Arthur’s house. She left Joel’s home impeccable. She had spent two years there. She was alone when she closed the door for the last time, with a last look around. She didn’t think she’d miss it. Her life with him had never been real. It had been a strange interlude in her life.

  She walked to Arthur’s house then, with her last suitcase, and walked the steps to the future. Peter was waiting for her. He took the bag from her, and they walked the rest of the way to his garret together. It felt like Heaven to her.

  Chapter 9

  The morning after Charles and Meredith’s first weekend together, she told Debbie at breakfast that she was having the earthquake group to dinner on Saturday. It was a reunion of everyone who had stayed at the house. They all missed one another, and were eager to catch up on news, discuss the progress of their repairs, and just share a meal again.

  Charles had to go out of town for three days to see an important client in Seattle before that, but he’d be back by Friday. Meredith and Tyla spoke almost every day, and she and Andrew were coming, with the children. Arthur and Peter accepted immediately, and Ava. She said that Joel would be in London. She was going to explain the situation to her later. It was too awkward to put in a text, and she said she’d come with Peter and Arthur. Meredith told Debbie there would be nine of them, and asked Debbie if she’d mind doing it. They could eat in the kitchen, which was easier for her.

  Debbie reported it to Jack on her break at lunchtime.

  “Christ, she’s giving a dinner party for all of them. We’re never going to get rid of these people, especially now if she’s sleeping with the colonel. They’re like the guests who stayed forever. We’ve lost her, Jack,” she said miserably.

  “Relax. Be patient. I told you. They’ll get bored with each other. They’re not that interesting. And the colonel will get tired of her.”

  “At least I don’t have to babysit for those brats anymore. But they’re coming to the dinner.”

  From Meredith’s perspective, Jack and Debbie seemed in better humor since the houseguests had moved out. They didn’t have more work to do, beds to make, meals to serve, and weren’t worried about theft around the house. They seemed faintly chilly whenever she mentioned her former houseguests, but Debbie made an extra effort to be pleasant that week, made her all her favorite foods, and was secretly delighted there was no sign of the colonel. They had Meredith to themselves, just like old times. They didn’t know Charles was in Seattle. Debbie was just grateful that he wasn’t around, and hoped he was already bored, and none of the neighbors had dropped in to see her. Meredith and Debbie had several long chats in the morning at breakfast, and she said she was doing a research project, but didn’t explain what it was. It had been gnawing at her since she spoke to Kendall. She hadn’t heard from her since, although Kendall had promised to call again. But as usual, she didn’t.

  Debbie had the illusion that they were closer again. The Fabergé box hadn’t turned up after the others left, but Meredith was sure it would, and that it had been put away for safekeeping. The aftershocks had been strong, and a few more paintings had fallen. Jack had taken them to the framers and they were getting a sizeable commission on all the repairs.

  He had also found a structural engineer to check all the chandeliers. One had been slightly loose, and all the others were solid. Considering the force of the earthquake, they had suffered very little damage, unlike so many others. Bodies were still being found under collapsed houses, but no survivors now.

  Unfortunately the repairs took time. Repair services were backed up for months, including the framers. Everyone was dealing with similar requests. The walls looked bare at the house in the meantime, with so many paintings missing. It couldn’t be helped. Debbie and Jack had glued a vast number of small fragile objects back together, with meticulous, loving care. Meredith thanked them for doing it. They knew how much the small treasures meant to her.

  For several days, and every night, Meredith combed the Internet, and even found the agent listed. She pretended to be a casting director for an independent film. She wanted to see all the examples of her granddaughter’s work that were available. She had them digitally transferred whenever possible, and FedExed. Finally on Thursday, she had several hours of viewing material. Auditions Julia’s agent had sent, two commercials she’d done in New Yo
rk, one in L.A. for a blue jeans company, and a shampoo ad plus a number of bit parts in series and TV movies.

  She watched them all diligently, and ran some of them again. Her conclusion at the end of it was that Julia had talent. She used her grandfather’s last name, and mother’s maiden name, as a stage name, Julia Price, not her grandmother’s. Her real name was Julia Holbrook, Kendall’s married name, which Meredith would have liked better than Scott’s name.

  Her audition tapes were excellent, and so were her small parts in the two series she’d appeared in. Meredith had a few of the tapes on her desk. She told Charles about it on Friday night, and showed him some of them. He said his trip to Seattle had gone well, and he was fascinated by the video material Meredith showed him. Her granddaughter was tall, like Scott, and beautiful like her grandmother, with long wavy red hair. She was only nineteen and had played both teenagers and sophisticated women. One thing shone through every example. She was a born actress, like her grandmother.

  “What are you going to do with all this?” Charles asked her, curious, after he’d watched it with her.

  “Nothing. I just wanted to get an idea of whether she has talent, or is wasting her time in L.A. She’s good. Could be great one day, if she works hard at it, and hones her skills. What I really want is to meet her. Maybe I can encourage her, or introduce her to some people. Kendall said that Scott is helping her, but I’d like to put my two cents in too, if she’ll see me. She hardly knows me. I haven’t seen her since she was ten, and she might not want to meet me again now.”

  “Are you going to invite her up here?” Charles asked her.

  “Eventually. But I’d like to go to L.A. to see her. I have no idea if she’ll even respond to a call or email from me. I think Kendall poisoned her against me for years.”

  “Try it. The worst she can do is refuse.” He wasn’t sure how hurtful that would be to her grandmother, but he thought it worth a shot and said so. He was excited that Meredith was reaching out instead of hiding. She had gotten braver and braver. “I’ll go with you if you like,” he offered. “I have several clients down there I can meet with while you see her. And we can have a little fun ourselves.” He wanted to do things with her, and get her back out in the world she had abandoned. He was encouraging her gently, but didn’t want to push her.