Chapter 28
Mowing the lawn has several health benefits. Great cardiovascular exercise, reduces stress, improves mental clarity. I had looked it up as motivation for getting the chore done, but I’d realized quickly back in May that I actually enjoyed mowing. The mindless task and exertion was quite soothing.
Pushing the mower across the last strip, I surveyed my manicured yard, proud of the straight lines.
I wished I had more lawn. I checked Henry’s yard.
It was just as shaggy as it had been most of the summer.
Needing more mowing therapy, I started in on his lawn too.
I liked the burn along my shoulders, the grittiness on my skin, the instant gratification of completing the task.
As with my yard, Henry’s was small and I finished in no time. Removing the key, I began rolling the mower toward the garage. A silver Porsche drove by slowly. Deaton waved but kept going.
Since my conversation with Deaton, we’d run into each other more often than I cared for. On the beach, at the park, walking down the sidewalk . . . He never approached me, nor did he try to engage in conversation, only offering a lift of his chin or a small wave.
I put away the mower and trucked it inside. My phone chimed. Distracted, I checked the notification, finding Bekah’s name.
I sold the last pair of your earrings today. Can you bring more tomorrow?
“Now this is a problem I could get used to.” That’s great. I’ll drop some off in the morning.
See you then.
Once I got myself cleaned up, I inventoried what I already had complete, figuring I could knock out a few more pairs this afternoon.
I gathered the supplies and moved out to the back deck.
Gilbert kept on me about isolation and getting out of the house, so this was me taking his advice.
Normally, Henry would be next door typing away and I counted that as interaction with others, but as I spread the supplies on the patio table there was no sign of Henry.
I got busy anyway and worked on a pair of faux cowhide earrings, accented with round wooden discs.
The gritty slide of patio doors cut through the relatively quiet evening and I willed myself not to look over, to just keep threading the beads together and act like I wasn’t aware of my neighbor moving around his patio.
I heard a chair scrape against the concrete, then another. Did he have company?
Shaking my head, I mumbled to myself, “None of your business.”
More scraping sounds and annoyed huffs, then bare feet slapping against the concrete finally won over my curiosity.
I looked over and found Henry’s firm backside in the air as he yanked beach towels out of the wicker trunk and tossed them aside like a clown pulling out an endless rainbow of handkerchiefs.
With towels littering the ground around him, Henry straightened, placed his hands on his hips, and growled.
Seriously, he growled. Then he slammed the lid and stepped over his mess, apparently with no thought of cleaning it up.
My eyes followed him as he stormed over to the pool and crouched down beside it, peering into the water as if it held the answer to something. I got up and carried my nosy self over there to see what was going on.
I stood behind him for a few beats watching him scan the pool. “What the heck are you doing?”
Yelping, Henry jumped, righting himself just in time before tumbling into the water.
He turned around and I noticed he had a different pair of glasses on.
His others reminded me of Clark Kent’s black frames, but these were more like Harry Potter’s round frames.
Darned if he didn’t pull these off too. “I lost my glasses.”
I smiled, unable to help myself, considering my thoughts were about said glasses. “And you think they’re in the pool?”
He gave the water a sideways glance and scratched the back of his head. “I may or may not have found them there a time or two.”
“Okay, I need details on that.”
He shrugged sheepishly. “I’ll forget they’re on my face and dive in and they fall off and I forget to retrieve them.”
Absentminded Professor. That’s what I should start calling him.
“Good thing you have this pair.” I pointed toward his face.
He grimaced. “They’re my old pair so the prescription is weaker. I’ll get a headache if I have to wear them for too long.”
Biting my lip, I stepped to the edge of the pool to help with the search. “Have you looked in your bathroom, maybe the nightstand?”
“Yeah. There and the front porch, in my Jeep, the fridge, the dish rack . . .” He motioned around the patio. “Out here.”
I wondered how many times he’d found his glasses or whatever else he’d misplaced in the fridge or dish rack.
The guy was unaware of just how charming he was, absentmindedness and all.
I stopped staring at him and returned my attention to the bottom of the pool.
Sure enough, I caught sight of a dark object in the deep end. “How deep is this pool?”
“Eight feet.”
No wonder it was difficult to see the glasses in the rippling water. I pointed near the white drain. “Found them.”
“Yeah?” Henry reached a hand behind his back and ripped off his shirt. Tossing it to the side, he dove in. In a blink, he reemerged holding up his black glasses like a prize, a giant relieved smile on his face. He swam effortlessly to the side and lifted himself out in one smooth motion. “Thanks!”
I snickered, unable to hold it in. “You’re welcome. But now you may want to go ahead and get the other pair before you forget them too.”
Henry looked confused but then it dawned on him.
“Shoot. I forgot to take the others off too.” He turned to dive in but this time I grabbed his arm and held out my hand for his other glasses.
Laughing, he handed them over and dove in and I tried really hard not to admire his form.
Straight-up, this man should have been an Olympian.
This time, when he emerged, the Harry Potter glasses were on his smiling face. He did that impressive lift out of the pool again.
I handed him the black frames and he switched them.
“Maybe you should get one of those grandma chains to put on the legs of your glasses, that way you won’t lose them so easily.
” I teased him, and the next thing I knew, I had been tossed into the pool!
I breached the water and found Henry roaring in laughter.
Not cool with that, I began choking on the water.
“Help! Help!” Flailing, my body sunk under.
In a blink, strong, sure arms wrapped around my thrashing body and rocketed me to the surface. “Junie! You okay?”
The panic in his voice was the exact reaction I had wanted. “Sucker!” Now, I roared in laughter.
“That wasn’t funny!” Glowering, Henry used his hold on me to dunk me back under.
Grinning like a doofus, I came up sputtering and splashed him.
A water fight ensued, one trying to up the other in dunks and splashes.
That all came to a halt when his long arms wrapped around me, probably in an attempt to toss me, but my raucous laughter shut off quicker than a kinked water hose as reality came back into focus.
“Let go.” I shoved out of his hold and started swimming toward the steps. Not an easy task while wearing a sopping wet shirt and jeans.
“Junie,” Henry called out, close behind me.
I swiped one of the discarded towels near the wicker trunk and dried my face.
“What did I do wrong?”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just . . .” I lowered the towel and gave him a passing glance. “I can’t do this.”
“What do you mean?”
“That!” I jabbed a finger at the rippling pool, still showing the aftermath of our frolicking. “I don’t deserve that.”
Brow furrowed, his head tilted to the side. “What don’t you deserve?”
“The fun. The laughter.” I sniffed.
Hands on his hips, dripping water, Henry regarded me with a deep frown. “Why not?”
“This isn’t a vacation stay. I’m here to get my act together so I can get my daughter back.” Turning on my wet heels, I hightailed it, away from Henry and my embarrassment, and back to my solitary confinement next door. It had been stupid of me to even come over here in the first place.