Chapter 12
I lean over the playpen, lowering Juliet to the mattress before I cover her up with her favorite thin pink blanket. Relieved as I watch her as she peacefully snores. I’ve been rocking this baby for the last thirty minutes, while simultaneously working, and Juliet just finally drifted off to sleep. Luckily, my job is all about customer service through chat and email. I may not type as quickly with a baby balanced in my lap, but I could still get quite a bit accomplished. Just as my arm fell asleep, so did she. I back away from the sleeping child, feeling victorious, but not for long. Suddenly the room fills with the sounds of loud steel guitars, shaking the windows. It’s almost as though there is a concert happening right outside the guest bedroom where Juliet lays.
My eyes widen in fear as I look down at the sweet sleeping face. “Please don’t wake up,” I beg her in a whisper. For whatever reason, the babysitting gods are smiling down on me today and she continues snoozing away quietly, as though nothing else in the world is going on. She looks so sweet with her arms outstretched over her head, and a tiny bit of drool escaping from her lips. Thank goodness.
I tiptoe through the doorway and let out an exasperated sigh when I reach the living room. Flinging open the front door, I step into my yard, my eyes surveying the surroundings. There’s no one to be found, only the familiar sound of Rob Zombie’s Dragula. I rush to the side of the house, in search of the music source. The only thing I find, though, is a Bluetooth speaker next to an abandoned pile of tools. The speaker is up on top of a tree stump between my house and the one next door as though someone had just put it there and ran away. I speed walk to the device and smash the power button. Instantly, the music dies, and silence is restored to the neighborhood once again.
I glare at the brick house next door, and immediately march towards it to find the owner of the speaker. I step onto the porch and loudly knock. The door must not be latched all the way, because it flies open as soon as my fist makes contact. I cautiously lean into the doorway. “Hello?!” I call down the hallway into the dimly lit space. A figure emerges in the darkness at the end of the hall, causing me to jolt.
“Can I help you?” A deep voice booms out as the figure moves closer to me. As he walks into the light, I can’t help but think that the man looks familiar, but I’m not sure from where. He’s wearing blue jeans with a baseball cap on backwards. His t-shirt is hanging from the back pocket of his jeans and his tanned, chiseled abs are on display. He’s nothing short of gorgeous, and I can’t help but stare at his exposed muscles for a little longer than necessary.
“Can I help you?” He asks again. His face is hard to read. I can’t decide if he’s annoyed by my presence or concerned that I pushed myself into his house. That’s when it hits me and I remember where I’ve seen him before. Drip. It’s the Asshole of Fawn Creek, once again. Suddenly, the anger I was feeling when I left my house is back with a vengeance and I’m reminded of why I’m here.
“Um, yeah, you can help me. You could start by being mindful of your neighbors.” I say, pointing to my house. “There’s a sick baby in there trying to take a nap. I spent half an hour rocking her and had just got her to sleep when suddenly you thought it was a good time to have a heavy metal concert right outside my window. I really need her to rest so that I can work. You know, you aren’t the only person on the planet, right?” I glare at him with my hands resting on my hips.
“Okay.” He holds his hands up. “First off, I didn’t know anyone was there. That house was empty the last I knew. Second, Rob Zombie is rock, not metal.”
I huff. “Honestly, I don’t care what genre he is. No one should be subjected to it without their consent. Especially a nine-month-old baby.” My lips form a line and I stare at him with crossed arms.
“Calm down, Karen. It was an honest mistake.” He shrugs. “I was just getting ready to work on the privacy fence when I came back in to grab my phone. I was opening Spotify when the washing machine had just finished. So, I stopped to put clothes in the dryer. I guess my Bluetooth automatically connected, and it played through the speaker.”
“Did you seriously just call me a Karen?” I fume. What a jerk.
“It fits, doesn’t it?” He asks with a shrug. “You’re the one coming up to my door to scream at me over a mistake.”
Now, I’m fuming. “Like you should talk! I accidentally bumped into you at the coffee shop and you acted like I ruined your life. You don’t have to walk around being a jerk.”
“Well, if you weren’t walking around with your nose in the air, you might be able to see people that are walking around behind you. You aren’t the only person on the planet, you know.” He snarls, turning my words back on me.
I shake my head. “I don’t have time for this.” I turn on my heel to stomp back to my house and then spin my body back towards him once more. “Keep your shitty music down. I’ll just call the police next time.”
The Asshole of Fawn Creek strikes again.
I walk back into my house, absolutely fuming. How dare that asshole call me a Karen? And where the hell does he get off saying that I think I’m better than anyone? I am the last person that would look down on other people, especially when it’s for no good reason. If that jerk is my neighbor, there is no way I’m going to make it through the summer here. I’d almost rather live with my parents than deal with that jackass on a daily basis.
I spend the rest of Juliet’s nap replaying the scene in my head repeatedly. I carry the laptop to my bedroom to work on decluttering my closet while I wait for customer correspondence to come through, and luckily it’s a slow day. If nothing else, my goal is to get my clothes off the living room floor and on hangers before I go to bed tonight. No matter how far I get into the task at hand, I just can’t get over what just happened. Sure, yes. I came out of the gate swinging so his attitude wasn’t completely unwarranted, but what he said kind of hurt my feelings.
I’ve never thought of myself as a person who looks down on anyone else. My mother, on the other hand? That is her exact M.O., which is why I strive constantly to not be that person. I rack my brain, trying to remember our initial meeting at Drip. What could I have possibly done to come off as a snob? Nothing immediately sticks out to me, but again I was distracted because of Hazel’s funeral.
The anger in my body is the exact fuel I need to get to work on cleaning. Hazel was a collector of many things, including her extensive wardrobe. She had an outfit or costume for every occasion. Her closet and dressers are crammed full of those pieces. I begin by making piles on the bed of different clothes. Before long, I have the floral quilt covered in piles of dresses, tops, pants and skirts.
I stand back and shake my head at the sheer amount of polyester before my eyes. I have no clue what I’m going to do with all this stuff, and just the thought of hauling it all to the thrift store downtown feels overwhelming. How do you just discard all the pieces of your favorite person?
“Knock, knock.”
I jump as Avery interrupts my thought process and enters the bedroom.
I narrow my brows at my friend. “Hey, how’d you get in here?”
“The door was unlocked. I figured you did that so I wouldn’t wake Juliet when I came in.” Avery answers with a shrug before plopping amongst the piles of clothes on the bed.
I shake my head. “No, I definitely locked it after I got into it with the asshole next door this morning.” I make a mental note to run to the hardware store for a doorknob after work.
Avery scrunches her nose. “The asshole next door? Are you talking about Andrew?”
I frown. “I was too busy listening to him tell me what a terrible person I am to ask for his name.”
“Beard, dark hair, chiseled abs?” She asks.
“That’s the one.” I roll my eyes. Although I won’t admit it to her, I definitely noticed his abs and the v at his waist running down the front of his jeans. He may be hot as hell, but the fact that he’s an asshole doesn’t do much to help him. I quickly run through the recap with Avery over what happened today.
She shakes her head, taking in every detail. “So weird. I’ve never known Andrew to be anything but kind to everyone. I wonder what you did to get his boxers in a wad.”
I shrug. “Beats me. All I know is, now I have a reason to get this house done as fast as possible so I can get the hell out of here. A jerk neighbor is the last thing I need to savor in Fawn Creek.”
“He’ll be gone soon enough.” She winks. “That was his grandpa’s house. He’s been coming up from Texas from time to time to get it cleaned up and updated to go on the market. Surely he’s about done by now.”
I feel a wave of relief come over me. It’s not like I have anywhere else to run to anytime soon. Honestly, I have no clue where I’m going next. I have no reason to go back to Oklahoma City. I had no friends, family or really anything else that I’m missing. Elliott was it. For years, my only identity was working remotely and waiting for him to get home each day. My friends were really just the partners of his friends. The house belongs to his parents and never really felt like mine. Hell, that’s even more obvious now that I was able to pack everything I owned into the back of my four-door sedan and drive it back to Kansas in one trip. As much as I hate to admit it, the longer I spend away from him, the more I realize that I have no actual idea who I am anymore. My entire persona was “Elliott’s girlfriend.” and I was just standing by waiting to be upgraded to “Elliott’s Wife.” Now, I’m none of those things and I’m honestly not sure who I’m supposed to be next.
“What do we have going on here?” Avery asks, eyeing the clothes piled around her, breaking my concentration on my existential crisis and bringing me back to reality. “New wardrobe for your new house?”
I roll my eyes. “Calm down, these are Hazel’s old clothes. I just need to figure out what to do with them. Do you think I’ll completely overwhelm the thrift store if I show up with 18 trash bags full of old lady clothes in tow?”
The horrified look on Avery’s face tells me my plan isn’t going to work. “Please don’t.”
I frown. “Avery, I know you are sentimental, but I am not. There is no way I’m going to hang on to all of this stuff.”
“You don’t have to keep it all, but definitely look through it first before you just toss it out. Hazel had some cute stuff for an old lady and I bet there are at least some things you can hang on to and add to your wardrobe.” She pauses. “And when you’re done, I’ll go through what’s left. I love vintage clothes.”
“Don’t lie, you love all clothes.” I interrupt.
“True.” She shrugs. “Then we can have a big yard sale.”
I frown. The idea of setting up tables full of Hazel’s belongings so that people can haggle over the price just doesn’t sit right with me. Avery reads my mind, as usual.
“You can either do that and make a little bit of cash, or you can give it all to the thrift store and who knows what will be done with it.” When I don’t agree quickly enough, Avery sticks out her lower lip into a pout. “Please? I need a reason to go through my house too, and this will be the best motivation to get it done.”
I huff. “Fine, but only for one weekend. Whatever is left over is being donated, and I’m moving on with my life.”
“Don’t be bitter.” Avery side eyes me. “Some of this stuff around here will bring in some money. Money you’ll need to buy the building downtown and open your bookstore.” She winks. “I saw you peering in the windows this morning.”
I frown. I was hoping she would have forgotten all about that after the chaos of today. “Avery, I told you I’m not staying in Fawn Creek. And I can’t afford to open a bookstore. It’ll never make it in a town this size.”
Down the hall, Juliet coos.
“Great, now you woke my baby.” I add with an eye roll.
Avery sighs. “That was a nice little break while it lasted. Duty calls.” She says before climbing off the bed and moving to the next room to retrieve the now screaming infant.
“Just so you know, she didn’t do that when you were gone.” I call after her.
“They’re always worse for their mothers.” She jokes back. “I’m going to take her home so you can get back to work. Just try to play nice with the neighbor, okay? You never know when you might need some allies around here.”
I raise a brow at Avery as we move towards the house. “Allies? You make it sound like Fawn Creek is a war zone, not a tiny town in the middle of nowhere.”
She turns back to look at me before heading out the door. “All I’m saying is, Fawn Creek is a much different place when you look at it as an adult, instead of somewhere you wouldn’t wait to escape from as a kid. I bet it won’t be long before you see how strong this community is, but you have to embrace it by playing nice.”