5. Calista
C alista~
Though today hadn’t been that bad, I did have to remind the dickhead in charge at Quinten Make that my state credentials were enough to shut his plant down, making today turn out a little more eventful than I would have normally liked.
Nonetheless, my day was officially over, and I could feel that familiar sense of relief as I pulled up to my house.
Now, while I had my own personal vehicle, it was secured safely in my garage as I left my work truck parked in my driveway, my car being more important to me than any work vehicle.
The only problem with that was that, instead of entering my house through the garage, I had to get out of the truck, then use the front door to get inside, and that invited chitchat if any of my neighbors were out and about around the time that I got home.
Still, I preferred idle bullshit to someone breaking into my car and stealing it.
Grabbing my purse and tote from the passenger side of the truck, I got out, clicked the key fob, then made my way to my mailbox before heading towards the front door, ready to greet Harvey and see how his day had gone.
Granted, I had already visited him during my lunch hour, but that didn’t mean that I still didn’t care about the rest of his day.
However, as I approached my front door, the familiar sight and smell of rotting fruit and buzzing flies hit my eyeballs, and it took everything in me not to let out a frustrated scream, yelling the neighborhood down like a certified lunatic.
Instead, I just stared at the basket, wondering at what point did this become harassment.
Honestly, how could she not see all the damn flies?
I wasn’t sure how long I was standing in my walkway when I heard a voice speak to me from behind. “Are you okay?”
I turned to look at the newcomer, and when I did, I nearly swallowed my tongue.
It was my new neighbor, and his face definitely matched his body.
The man had to be an entire foot taller than me, and in addition to being tall, muscular, and having black hair, he also had a pair of green eyes that were nestled safely between his dark lashes, and his strong jaw, sharp cheekbones, and straight nose had him looking symmetrically perfect. In fact, he looked too perfect.
“I’m...I’m sorry?” I stammered when I finally found my voice.
“Well, I just happened to pull into my driveway, and I noticed that you seemed a bit frozen,” he said. “You’ve been kind of just standing here.”
It took me a second to get past his beauty to process what he’d said. “Oh, no...I just...” I let out a deep sigh. “It’s just the fruit again.”
His brows shot upwards at that. “The fruit?”
I gestured towards the basket. “Yeah, the fruit.”
“God in Heaven, what is that?” he asked as his head leaned forward to get a better look.
“It’s a fruit basket,” I answered as I looked back at the basket of rot, wondering if Louise was watching me right now.
“A fruit basket?” he echoed. “Like...for you to eat?”
“I assume so,” I sighed again. “Though I’ve never eaten any, so I can’t be sure.”
“But...uh, you can kind of smell the...uh, ripeness from over here,” he stated carefully. “And...uh, the flies aren’t a good look, either.”
“No, they’re not,” I agreed.
“I’m so confused right now,” he remarked. “Why would anyone leave this here for you?”
“Well, when your parents are farmers, I imagine that they must have a lot of extra fruit lying around,” I told him, guessing the best that I could right now.
“But that’s not fruit,” he pointed out. “That’s...that’s an ER visit waiting to happen.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Letting out another heavy sigh, I said, “Well, I guess I better get rid of it.”
“Yeah, no,” he quickly replied. “You aren’t touching that...that case of food poisoning.”
I looked back up at him. “Well, I can’t very well leave it sitting on my doorstep.”
He jerked his head towards his house. “I have some gloves that I can use to get rid of it.”
My eyes widened at that. “You can’t just take it and toss it in the trash.”
His brows immediately furrowed. “Why not?”
“Because then she might see, and that might bring her over here to ask why we threw away the fruit basket,” I explained. “Are you prepared to deal with that? Because I’m not.”
“She who?”
“Louise.”
“Who in the hell is Louise?” he asked. “And if she did come over, then I’d simply tell her that the fruit was rotten.”
“God does not provide that which is unsafe,” I told him pointedly, that crazy conversation forever etched into my brain.
“What?” he asked, staring down at me like I probably looked at Louise.
“Just...I need to get it into the house first, then I can throw it away,” I said. “The flies stay trapped in the city garbage bin, so she never suspects.”
“Who? Louise?”
I shot him an exasperated look. “Who else?”
“I’m still having trouble understanding why we can’t just throw it away,” he replied, looking genuinely perplexed.
“God, remember?”
Deciding to pick his battles, the man said, “Well, no matter what we do with it, we can’t touch it with our bare hands.”
“Oh, on that I agree,” I snorted. “Luckily, I have some disposable gloves in my tote.”
“Are they big enough to fit my hands?” he asked, making me automatically glance at them, noting how very capable and big they looked. They were also missing a wedding ring, though I was certain that the man had a girlfriend. Nobody with a face and body like his was single.
“No,” I answered, trying to get rid of the image of what his hands were all capable of. “But it’s fine. I’ve done this before. A few times, actually.”
“I am not letting you pick that thing up,” he said again.
“Here,” I said, shoving my purse and tote into his chest. “You can hold these while I grab the basket.”
Though he took the items in his hands and held them as I began digging around in my tote for some gloves, he still protested. “I really don’t like this. You should not be handling...handling whatever that is.”
“Oh, on that I agree,” I snorted. “But it has to be done.”
“Because of Louise?”
“And God.”
“Yeah, and God,” he muttered.
Once I donned the gloves, I looked up at him to explain the game plan. “Okay, so...I’m going to grab the basket, then after you unlock my door, I’ll race over to the garbage can-”
“No,” he said, stopping my grand plan. “If your floorplan is anything like mine, you are not going to traipse through your living room and kitchen with that thing.” He gave me back my purse and tote as he added, “You go inside, grab a trash bag, then wait for me right inside the door. As soon as I walk in, we’ll dump it, tie the bag, then throw it away in the bin outside.
You might still get stuck with a couple of flies, but at least they won’t take over your entire home. ”
“What about your gloves?” I asked pointedly.
“I’ll risk it,” he drawled out. “Besides, I’m sure that you have hand soap or something in your house, yeah?”
I nodded. “Of course.”
His gorgeous green gaze narrowed a bit. “Then after we’re done disposing of that environmental hazard, you’re going to explain to me who Louise is, what’s with the damn basket, and how God is involved in all this.”
“Deal.”
After grabbing my keys from my purse, I hooked both bags over my left shoulder, then raced my way past the offending fruit basket.
As quickly as I could, I opened the door, then shut it just as fast. Dumping my stuff on the couch, I hurried to the kitchen, grabbed a trash bag, then made my way back to the front door, all the while thinking about how much I didn’t need this nonsense in my life.
I thought I’d been done with the damn baskets four months ago.
As soon as I was back at the door, I called out, “Okay, I’m going to open the door.”
“Please do,” he called back.
I opened the door, and then it was nothing but chaos after that.