Chapter 7
Vienna
Fence Conversations & A Shower Attack
All I can hear is the sound of crickets chirping and the slight breeze moving through the trees as I sit on my back patio, savoring the cabernet I picked up at Hart Winery last night.
Roscoe is prancing around the backyard chasing fireflies, and for the first time in years, I feel grounded, even though there are definitely details of this new version of my life I wasn’t anticipating.
My eyes drift over to my neighbor’s backyard, and suddenly my heart rate picks up speed. I knew after this past week that seeing Rhonan wouldn’t be easy and that avoiding him wouldn’t be possible, but I didn’t expect our interactions to be so cold.
When he dropped off Ellis at school, his face remained so stoic that it was hard to read. And then last night, when I walked into the tasting room at Hart Winery and saw him with his friends and family, I could tell he didn’t want me there.
I wish I could go back to that fateful night and choose differently.
No, you don’t, Vienna. Don’t lie to yourself.
Sighing, I relent to my subconscious thoughts. I don’t regret that night, not one bit. I just wish the aftermath of it had turned out differently. I let my fear win, and now I’m dealing with the consequences of my actions.
Scratching from the wooden fence catches my attention. Roscoe’s digging in the dirt, trying to get to the other side.
“Roscoe! No!”
He looks back at me, we make eye contact, and then he turns right back to his task.
I stand from my chair on the back patio and hurry toward him. “Roscoe!” But then a loud bang on the other side of the fence startles us both.
Rhonan’s head pops up on the other side, locking eyes with me as he kicks the fence again. Roscoe jumps back, peers up at Rhonan, and begins to bark.
“What are you doing?” I call over the fence.
“Trying to traumatize your dog so he stops digging under my fence,” Rhonan says flatly.
A spike of irritation cuts through my surprise. “Excuse me?”
“It’s better than getting electrical wire that will shock him,” he retorts, crossing his arms over his chest.
My stomach drops. “You would do that?”
“I’d prefer not to,” he says, unbothered. “But I don’t want him thinking he can just go between our yards.”
“I’ll add that to the list of things to include in his training.” We stand there, staring at each other before I relent and give in to the need to get away from him. “Come on, Roscoe.” Snapping my fingers, I get Roscoe’s attention and prepare to leave, but Rhonan’s voice stops me.
“How’s the wine?”
Pausing, I glance down at my glass and then back to him. “It’s wonderful.”
“Is that the cabernet?”
“Yes.”
“Good. That’s usually where I steer people if they want a red that’s not too heavy.”
“I like it all, actually. I used to go wine tasting all the time with…” Suddenly, it becomes very clear that I’m sharing too much, especially with this man who’s made it very clear that we are not friends.
“Was there an end to that sentence?”
I sigh. “Look, you’ve made it pretty clear you want nothing to do with me, so we don’t need to do this.” I turn back toward the house.
“I was just asking about the wine,” he says.
“Why?” I twist back to face him.
“Because it’s from my family’s winery. I’ve helped harvest those grapes and run events on those grounds. I take pride in that place, Vienna.”
“Oh.” Hearing him speak about his family’s legacy hits me square in the chest, and seeing the sincerity in his eyes just makes me want to know more about this man.
There’s a pain lurking in his eyes too, though. A pain you don’t recognize unless you’ve carried something similar.
Rhonan brushes his hand through his hair. “Look, I’m sorry about last night. Seeing you at the winery just caught me off guard, and my sister—”
“You know, she’s the one who called me over to your table. She seems nice.”
“My sister is one of the best people on the planet, but she doesn’t know how to keep her nose out of other people’s business.”
“You’re lucky to have her. Trust me.”
“Only child?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“Do you ever feel like you missed out on something because it was only you?”
His question catches me by surprise, but I answer it. “Sometimes… But my friends felt like the siblings I never had.”
Until they weren’t there anymore.
“Why do you ask?” My question slips out before I can stop it.
He smirks. “I thought we weren’t going to interact.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Then don’t ask me questions.”
He exhales slowly. “I worry about Ellis,” he says, making my stomach twist. “She wants a sibling, but…” His voice trails off. He straightens, shoulders pulling tight. “Look, if you want any more wine recommendations, you know where to find me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.”
“And just so you know, in a few weeks, our spring events will start back up at the winery too if you’re looking for something to do around town.”
“That sounds nice.”
Rhonan huffs out a laugh. “It’s something my mom started, and just like Laney said, the two of us along with our dad have kept the traditions alive. We have concerts, movie nights, poker tournaments, cooking classes, and yoga.” He rolls his eyes. “I still haven’t done that one.”
“What? Why?”
“Yoga is not exercise.”
I cross my arms over my chest as I study him. “Have you ever tried it?”
“Nope, and I don’t plan to.”
“Then, respectfully, your opinion means nothing. I can confirm it’s tough.”
“You do yoga?” he asks, dipping his eyes up and down my body in a slow pass that reminds me that he’s seen me wearing a lot less clothing.
My skin breaks out in goosebumps, but I try to focus on our conversation. “I do. And I lift weights.”
“Weightlifting is exercise. That I’ll agree with.”
“Yoga is important for flexibility, posture, and circulation. It may not be the vigorous type of exercise most people think of, but I assure you, it definitely challenges your body.”
He shrugs. “I’ll take your word for it, but just know that you won’t ever find me at yoga night.”
Laughing, I lift my wine glass to my lips. “Stubborn man.”
Rhonan takes a step back from the fence, but keeps his gaze locked on mine. “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”
“You too.”
For a second, neither of us moves. The air feels oddly charged, like something unfinished humming between us. Then Roscoe lets out an impatient huff behind me, reminding me he’s waiting for me to go inside.
“Come on, Roscoe.”
I head back into my house, ready for a shower and to get some rest. But I’m left with an ever-growing desire to know more about the man who lives next door.
***
Standing in the bathroom, waiting for the shower to warm up, I take a moment to look at my body in the mirror.
My hand falls over my stomach, the emptiness still present even after all these years.
Part of me wants to believe that everything happens for a reason, but another part of me wonders why some things happen to certain people and not others.
Eager to change my thoughts, I turn back to the shower and stick my hand inside, testing the temperature of the water. Once I deem it hot enough to almost burn me, I step inside and let the scalding water cascade down my body.
But then a loud clank makes me jolt.
When I turn around to see if I can find the source of the noise, water is spewing from a hole in the wall where the showerhead used to be.
“Oh my God!” My voice ricochets off the tiled shower walls as chaos erupts, water spraying in every direction. I try to find an angle where the water can’t reach me, but it’s no use. The force is so strong, it feels like a belt lashing at my skin.
“Help!” I shout to no one, panic overtaking.
Reaching down for the handle to turn the shower off, I try with all of my might to turn it back to its original position, but it won’t budge.
“Oh my God! It won’t stop!” Holding my hands in front of my face in an attempt to block the water so I can see, I lean down and pick up the showerhead, wondering if I should try to shove it back in the hole in the wall.
But I can’t open my eyes enough to tell and the piece of metal slips from my grasp, falling to the floor with a loud bang, sparking Roscoe to bark from outside. “Oh my God! This can’t be happening!”
With my eyes still closed, I reach for the handle on the shower door, desperate to figure this out before my house floods. But as I step onto the bathmat, I collide with a brick wall—or, at least that’s what it feels like.
“Fuck.”
“Ahhhh!” I scream, panic flaring again as I start swinging blindly. I will not die like this. I will not be murdered in the nude in my bathroom with a shower that has been possessed by demons with my dog left to wonder what happened to me.
“Vienna!” A familiar voice cuts through the noise of the water and my screams. “Vienna, it’s Rhonan.”
I crack one eye open, and when I reach up to wipe the water from my face, I’m finally able to make out Rhonan standing in my bathroom, his white T-shirt now completely soaked and plastered to his chest.
“What the hell?” I choke out.
His eyes are dancing all over my body. “What happened?”
“What are you doing here?” I ask instead, frozen even though chaos is still going on around me. The shower door is still open, so now the water is flowing freely onto the floor, flooding the small room. My hair is matted against my face and shoulders, and water is continuing to drip into my eyes.
It’s at that moment that I realize I’m still completely naked.
“Oh my God!” My hands instantly fall to my body, attempting to cover up the important parts, but Rhonan is apparently intent on just standing there. “Get out!”
“I heard you screaming and then there was a loud bang, so…”
“So you broke into my house?” I shout, hunched over as I try to hide my nakedness. I flick my chin toward the counter. “Can you at least hand me my towel, please?”
Something must have finally registered for him because his eyes quickly leave my body and he grabs my towel, handing it to me before turning around. “Sorry, but your back door was unlocked and I just…when I hear someone screaming, my instincts kick in to help, I guess.”
“I appreciate the knight-in-shining-armor routine yet again, but I’m not dying. My shower just exploded.”
He glances at me over his shoulder to make sure I’m covered up, and then directs his eyes back to the shower, sliding the door closed to help prevent more water from coming out. “I can see that now.”
I wrap my towel tighter around my body. “I tried to turn it off with the handle, but it’s stuck.”
Rhonan just nods and walks out of the room.
“Wait. Where are you going?”
“To turn the water off from the main line.” He disappears down my hallway, and after a few moments, the water shuts completely off.
Breathing heavily, I take a minute to gather my composure, surveying the room that is now covered in water on many surfaces, before walking out to the main part of the house.
My rental house isn’t large by any means. There are only two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living area, and kitchen. It’s perfect for one person, but right now I’m realizing that my bathroom is out of commission, and I have no other options to finish my shower.
Rhonan returns to the living area, finding me standing there still wrapped in my towel, but much calmer than before.
“Thank you,” I say, still clutching onto the towel like a lifeline while trying not to focus on the fact that I probably look like a wet dog.
“You’re welcome, but you won’t be able to turn your water back on until that’s fixed.”
A sigh of defeat leaves my lips. “Just great.”
Rhonan’s eyes dip down my body again, and even though I’m covered, he already knows what’s underneath this towel now.
“Did you get to finish your shower, or…”
“Nope. I had barely gotten started.”
He lets out a low growl of sorts as he thinks, closing his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose. “Well, if you want, you can finish showering over at my place.”
My heart instantly races. “What?”
“It’s the neighborly thing to do, Vienna,” he says with a shrug.
“Oh, so now we’re being neighborly?”
“Uh, I ran over here when I thought you were being murdered. I think that earns me some good neighbor points.”
“Rhonan…”
“Vienna,” he fires back, crossing his arms over his chest. “Just come over and take a shower at my house, and then tomorrow, I can take a better look at your shower and see if it’s an easy fix, or if we need to call a professional.”
“You would do that?”
He tilts his head to the side, studying me, as if he’s confused by my question.
But then he stands up tall, drops his arms, and crosses the room to close the space between us, tipping my chin up with his fingers.
When he speaks, his voice is low but steady, forcing me to give him my attention, even though he already had it the second I saw him.
“I know this thing between us is complicated, but I am not about to let you go without running water when I could potentially solve that problem. I know I can seem like an ass, but I don’t let others go without.
You’re my neighbor, and you need help. Let’s leave it at that, all right? ”
I nod, unsure of any words I could say in response because the command he just delivered in combination with his touch is making me clench my thighs together to fight off the burn between my legs. “Okay.”
His eyes dip down to the towel around my chest and then slowly make their way back up to my eyes.
“And just so we’re clear, you should never be shy about what’s beneath this towel, Vienna Lewis.
Trust me, I’ll never forget what you look like underneath.
” His thumb toys with my bottom lip before he releases my chin.
With an arch of his brow, he turns on his feet and heads for the door.
“Grab your stuff and come over. Ellis is still up, and I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.
” And then he opens my front door and leaves me standing there, not sure if the dripping sound around me is from the water leaving my hair, or the flood this man just caused between my legs.