Chapter 3
SEATON
Seaton didn't know what to expect when she heard her doorbell ring.
She was an inch from the end of a seam so she stayed at the sewing machine a moment longer.
So close.
Almost there... and-
Done!
She left the foot down on the bag in the sewing machine and got up from her seat.
Moving around the table, she made her way to the front door, taking a quick look at herself in the hall mirror.
She was working in her PJs, but she wasn't expecting anyone.
Then she caught sight of her purse on the hall table and smiled.
Was it too much to hope for some out-of-season Girl Scouts with Thin Mints?
Or maybe those kids with the boxes of chocolates for a fundraiser.
Either one would be an easy win at the moment.
She'd worked right through lunch and all she had in the kitchen was a mismatch of random ingredients that even Chopped wouldn't give its contestants to work with.
Seaton unlocked the front door and opened it only to see her neighbor on her porch.
Sam Wister.
"Uh, hi."
"Seaton?"
She nodded and he looked away for a moment.
"I just got home from my shift a few minutes ago."
He lifted his hands and she saw that he was holding a bunch of flowers.
She smiled at the sight. "Daisies and carnations."
He looked a little uncomfortable.
She saw him swallow and then he lifted the flowers. "They're for you."
"Oh."
She knew she sounded a few IQ points south of stupid, but her mind wasn't connected to her mouth at the moment.
"For me?"
He lowered his chin and she saw him smile.
A moment later, he looked back up and his smile was still in place.
"It's a thank you for the cookies." He looked a little unsettled.
"I had meant to bring you back your container but I haven't had a chance to move the cookies to another container in my kitchen.
I'll bring it by another day, unless..."
Unless?
She lifted a curious brow at his words.
"You want me to bring it back today. I parked my truck and came straight here."
She didn't like how uncomfortable he seemed. She didn't bring him the cookies to leave him feeling off kilter around her.
Seaton just wanted to get to know her neighbors.
The entire time that she'd been married to Daryl, she'd only had a few glimpses of her neighbors and didn't even know them by name. The isolation that had created left her feeling empty and incomplete.
Now that she'd separated from Daryl and moved out on her own, she wanted to fix the things that had been wrong during her time with him.
She didn't want to be isolated anymore.
"You don't have to bring it back." She stepped back, creating space for him to walk past her. "Do you want to come inside?"
She wasn't looking directly at him. Eye contact was something she was working on. But even with her gaze slightly off to the side, she saw him smile and nod. "Thank you."
When Sam walked past her, Seaton thought she smelled a cologne.
"You smell good."
The words were out before she registered them in her head.
Seaton knew she was blushing and lowered her head so he wouldn't see. "I didn't mean it like that."
He nodded, but she didn't see his expression.
Which, she reasoned, was a good thing.
She was already feeling embarrassed, she didn't need to see how awkward she'd made him feel.
She turned and closed her door, bracing herself for the moment she turned around.
Stop acting like an idiot, Seaton, she chastised herself. This is a neighborly visit. One that you started.
She nodded and turned back around with what she hoped was a smile that looked like nothing was amiss.
He wasn't even looking at her which was a win in her book.
Sam was standing in the kitchen, looking around.
That's when she realized that he was still holding the flowers he'd brought. "Oh, sorry."
She walked passed him and opened the cabinet under the sink.
She had a vase stored there. A vase that she'd picked up at the second hand store when she'd picked up a few decorations for the house she was renting.
She'd intended to grow some flowers in the yard and use them to fill the vase when they'd grown, but this?
This was better.
Standing, she lifted up the vase and smiled. "This will work, I think."
When she looked at Sam she found him looking back with a smile on his face, too.
"Looks good."
She turned on the water in the sink and washed out the vase before putting water in it. When she shut off the water she turned to look at him and found that he was standing beside her. He had a little plastic packet in between his fingers.
"They said this will help keep the flowers fresh."
Seaton nodded and took it from him. "Thank you." She started to rip the packet open, but paused to look up at him again. "Thank you for the flowers, too. I was hoping you'd like the cookies, but I had no idea you'd like them this much."
She laughed, but instead of coming out as a full throated laugh, it was more of a nervous titter. To cover her awkward feelings, she quickly tore the corner off of the packet and poured it into the water, swirling the vase around to dissolve the powder.
"Actually..."
She turned to take the flowers from him and stopped short.
He was smiling at her, his eyes bright in the mid-morning sunlight.
She was fairly sure she'd been hit upside her head with something.
Anticipation.
That's the only word that she could think of to fit the situation.
She had already determined that she would stay away from dating forever, but thinking back to her time with her ex-husband, she'd never felt any kind of a thrill from just talking to him. She'd always been tense around Daryl, her emotions tight as a bowstring.
This... feeling was so very different that she wasn't sure if she was imagining it.
Sam looked a little chagrined. "I haven't even tried the cookies yet."
"What?" She pressed her lips together to keep herself from saying more.
He looked down at the flowers, untying the ribbon that was wrapped around the bouquet. "I got out of my truck and... I came here first."
They fell into silence as they teamed up to take the flowers out of the wrapping and put them in water.
"That's why you left the container behind?"
"Yeah," he handed her his pocket knife and she cut the rubber band that she'd been wrestling with, "I picked these up on the way here and I guess, I just thought I'd come here first."
"I'm not complaining." She wanted to say that. To let him know.
"I think it's because I've been thinking about our talk." He let out a laugh that sounded almost like a cough. "If you can call it that."
She set the flowers in the vase and then took her hand away to see how they settled without her support.
"Well, we did talk. I just didn't see you while we were doing it."
He nodded slowly and then turned to look at her, leaning his side against the counter. "How did you know it was me at the door? I could see you through the Ring camera app, but you wouldn't have seen me."
Seaton wondered how much she should say.
She had to answer his question, but she wasn't sure how much she should admit. She didn't want him to think she was a busybody.
Seaton fiddled with a few of the flowers to spread them out in the vase. "I've seen you a few times," she explained, "and I'm currently working from home, such as it is. So I knew what you looked like after seeing you coming and going."
He didn't question it and she relaxed a little more.
"Were you sewing when I knocked?"
"Sewing?"
She rolled her eyes at herself.
The sewing machine was on the kitchen table. The light was still on.
"Yeah, sorry. I haven't found a job outside the house yet, but while I'm looking for one, I thought I'd use my skills to make some money.
" She smiled at the thought of her grandmother sitting at the same machine.
They really knew how to make sewing machines back then.
"My grandmother was handicapped. Before she was confined to a wheelchair, she had a walker and she wanted to carry things with her.
So, we figured out these little pockets of sorts.
People can use the ties on the top to attach it to the bar on the front of walkers or on the back handles of a wheelchair. "
She walked back to the table and held up one of the finished items.
“There are smaller pockets for things like glasses, remotes, and then bigger pockets for paperback books or word search books. Some people roll up their newspapers to take them around with them. Right now, I sell them on Facebook Marketplace, Instagram, oh, and Etsy is my go to. But I’m trying to get accepted into a local craft fair.
So I’m building up a stockpile to take. Hoping people will want to get something cute and functional for the seniors in their lives… ”
She grimaced and shook her head as she lifted the vase onto the counter.
"You didn't ask me all of that. You just asked if I was sewing."
Her rush of energy suddenly bottomed out and she started to crash.
"Hey," Sam touched her hand for a second, catching her attention, "don't stop telling me about what you're making. I want to know."
She narrowed her gaze at him. Curious.
His tone of voice was engaged. His expression was interested.
It was easy to tell because she'd had years and years of the opposite.
Daryl didn't let her ramble.
He barely let her talk at all.
Unless there was a purpose for her to speak, he frowned on it.
Literally.
He barely looked at her unless he was taking her to task for some kind of wrongdoing. Or if he was glaring her into submission.
It was a gross understatement to say that it was nice to have someone interested in hearing her talk.
She was practically craving it, like dry soil soaking up water.
"I guess," she drew in a breath and let it out, "I don't know what to say or when, staying at home most of the time, I guess I don't really get those social cues."
That was one way to explain it. It was easier to say that than to admit that her husband liked her to stay at home and take care of his needs.
"Well," Sam turned, leaning his back against the counter, "how about we get out in the world for a little while?"
"Out? Like, how? Where?"
"Have you had breakfast? Lunch?"
"No? Not yet."
She answered him before she'd really thought about it, but even if she'd eaten both meals, she still would have answered with No.
Just to hear him continue to talk.
"How about I take you out to eat?"
She almost barked out a laugh. "Yes. I mean, Sure."
Her heart was suddenly pounding against her ribs like a hummingbird.
"There's a diner near here that I think you'd like."
She nodded and then asked him what she felt was more important to know. "Do you like it?"
His smile set her at ease. "Absolutely. I wouldn't take you somewhere I didn't like, unless it was somewhere that you wanted to try. I'd be happy to take you there."
He was nice.
She could hear it in his voice and see it in his smile.
He was genuine.
He meant what he said. She didn't hear a single note of artifice in his voice.
She felt like she could breathe.
Smiling, she gave in to what she was already planning to agree to. "Sounds good. I'd like to see what this place is like."
She turned and gestured to the table just inside the door. "I'll just get my keys and-"
Sam touched her arm and she stopped short, looking up at him.
"You... you don't want to go?"
Sam smiled at her.
"I just wanted to make sure that you wanted to go out in what you're wearing."
She frowned for a moment and then she looked down at her clothes.
Seaton realized she was still in her PJs.
She wanted to disappear into the floor, but she was well beyond those kinds of childish behaviors.
She knew she could imagine it all she liked, but do it?
Well, that was physically impossible, but she could still disappear into her bedroom and lock the door behind her.
Instead, she squared her shoulders and looked right back at him.
"I'm going to change. Can you wait a few minutes?"
Sam held his hands up in a kind of surrender. "The rest of my day is yours."
She felt her breath catch in her chest.
Seaton told herself not to overthink his words.
So many times in her life she'd been pushed down by her thoughts on top of the treatment she received from the people who were supposed to love her.
This was her new life, she reminded herself.
And she was going to make the most of it.
With a smile, she took a few steps back and then turned to duck into her bedroom, excitement rushing through her veins.