His big nose nudges me to the side as he peeks inside.
“I can’t invite you in, big guy,” I say sadly, rubbing the spot between his eyes. “Mrs. Jenkins will sniff you out a mile away.”
He snorts and beats his hoof, annoyed.
A loud knock from the other side of the house makes us both freeze. “You have a friend with you?” I quirk a brow, knowing how absurd I sound. Actually, scratch that. Me talking to a moose in my kitchen sounds pretty absurd, so I wouldn’t be surprised with anything at this point. “I’ll be back, Frankie,” I say and walk to check the door.
This time, I peep through the side window and only then I open the door just enough to peek my head through. Mark is on the other side, wearing the same unbuttoned jean jacket he wore the last time he was here. His hands are in his front pockets.
“Yes?” My voice is reserved, and his face changes instantly from concerned to confused.
“Is everything okay?” As he asks, his eyes dart behind me, and Ghost tries to sneak inside. I put my foot between the door and the frame, preventing him from entering. I feel horrible for not letting this good boy in, but Frank is notorious for not liking domestic animals, and I don’t want either of them to get hurt. Mark notices my movement, and his brows draw together. His eyes dart behind my back once again before returning to my face. “You are not alone?”
“I have a friend over.” I glance back, hoping Frank isn’t causing a ruckus. I’m well aware that it sounds like I have a dude on my couch, but after realizing he has a girlfriend, I want to protect myself and save face. Or what’s left of it. Plus, I’m mad at him for sending me mixed signals and those heated glances while having a girlfriend all this time.
“I see.”
Frank chooses this moment to barrel in through the back door and loudly knock something down. The sound of shattering glass makes me roll my eyes, and I yell, “Frank! Wait for me outside!” There’s commotion in the kitchen, as it’s clearly being dusted to nothing, and the door clicks shut loudly. I turn toward Mark. “Sorry, I gotta go.”
The last thing I see before I shut the door is his bewildered face.
* * *
It pretty much went downhill from there. The house has rioted on me. Every single day something breaks. If it’s not plumbing, it’s electricity. If it’s not electricity, it’s something else. How I manage to deal with it all without my family figuring it out is still a mystery to me.
My new neighbor and I entered a cold war.
Every time Ghost sees me outside and makes a run for me, Mark barks (ha-ha) at him to come back, and Ghost trots back to his human, sending me sad looks. Every time he drives by and sees me on my porch, he circles back around the street, waiting for me to disappear inside. I could be sitting here forever with a cup of hot tea, but the man is tired, maybe after a long shift, so when I see him avoiding me, I slip inside.
I’ve seen the same woman stop at his place once more—not like I was checking super thoroughly. She came in and left twenty-five minutes later. They can have a quickie if that’s their thing. Twenty-five minutes is more than I have anyway. I do feel a little jealous—maybe a lot—which is probably why I let him think Frank was a person. Petty, I know, but I had to save face the only way I could.
Frank came again to visit because he loves me, and I gave him carrots like the good host I am. Maybe I left carrots in the backyard, so he could come get then whenever he wanted. No one would ever know.
As I sit here on the front porch, peeping at the neighbors—one of them—who all have interesting lives while I have none, I think about how bored I am.
I need some excitement in my life, and I might just have an idea.
ChapterNine
MARK
“Hey, how is your new neighbor doing? Burned down any houses lately?” Austin laughs next to me as we get ready to leave the station. It’s late, and there are only two of us left. He was finishing dreadful paperwork, and I had to take Ghost for a walk. We’ve been dealing with a flu outbreak, leading to our shifts being completely messed up and not following any real order. There are only a few of us still standing at this point.
“Not yet, but the night is still young,” I answer with a shake of my head. That woman is a mess. Almost every day, she manages to get into some sort of trouble she needs saving from. A freaking princess. I feel bad for her boyfriend. Or husband. Whoever this Frank guy is. Besides him, I haven’t seen anyone over, but again, I spend most of my time here at the station. And to be fair, I haven’t seen him either, so who knows who the fucker is.
All I know is he’s an asshole. When she was in need of a place to stay, she didn’t call him. He clearly isn’t reliable, or maybe he’s very much disposable. Neither sits well with me.
Maybe he’s just a friend and not a boyfriend. Regardless, I haven’t seen much of her, just glimpses here and there. Ghost has whined a few times, trying to go to her porch, but I didn’t let him, keeping him with me the whole time. Today he is hanging out with me through my shift because we’re pulling one and a half.
Suddenly, I’m thinking about her again. I might have missed someone coming over. It’s not like I was looking really. Only went to the window a time or two when I heard a car engine, and so far, it was only her coming and going. No other visitors. That is, when I’ve been home.
A knot tightens in the pit of my stomach, and I figure I might be hungry.
“Austin, want to grab a bite?” I don’t want to go home yet, but my stomach has growled one too many times, and I don’t feel like cooking. At first, I thought the growling was coming from Ghost.
“Nah, man. Wifey’s in a good mood, so I promised to take her out for dinner.” He looks at his wristwatch and whistles. “Actually, she was expecting me four hours ago, so she probably isn’t in such a good mood after all.” He laughs, imagining his wife. I chuckle too. I’ve seen them bickering; it’s like an old, black-and-white comedy. “I’d take you too, but you know.” He waggles his greying eyebrows, “I don’t share.”
“Shut up. You just can’t take any competition.”
