“Yesterday,” said Louise. “Darling got loose.”
“That was my fault,” Gilda added.
“I’m afraid he might have left a little something on Alec’s lawn again,” Louise admitted.
“That can make people upset,” Martin said in Alec James’s defense.
“That man’s thermostat is set to anger all the time. You can tell,” Louise insisted.
“I agree,” said Gilda.
“We hardly know him. Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Martin cautioned.
Jumping? It only took a baby step to conclude that Alec James was not a nice man. Who knew what he was capable of?
“He bears watching,” she said.
And she was.
Chapter13
ZONA CAME HOME FROM WORK THEsame time as Alec James. Neighborly people called a friendly hello to each other from their driveways when that happened, but she didn’t want to be neighborly.
He did though. “Did you find a fence barrier?” he called.
“I did,” she replied, her voice frosty.
“Good.” It wasn’t said in the warmest of voices, but she could have cut him some slack and decided he wasn’t as bad as she and her mother were making him out to be if he hadn’t added, “Now I won’t have to kick him off my lawn.”
Seriously? This is how he chose to respond? “Anyone ever tell you that you have a sick way of expressing yourself?”
“No, but thanks for pointing that out,” he responded.
Did she see a glimmer of a smile? She must have because there came that tingle she’d felt when she first talked with him. It was completely misplaced.Stop it!she scolded herself.No tingles.
He told her to have a nice night, then disappeared into his house, and that left her scowling as she walked into hers.
Louise and Gilda were sitting at the dining room table, playing cards. “Hi, dear. How was your day?” Louise greeted her.
“Fine, until I talked to our neighbor,” Zona replied.
“That is a bad man,” Gilda said as Zona came over to give Louise a kiss.
“Anyone who doesn’t like dogs is not to be trusted,” added Louise. “You shouldn’t be talking to him.”
“We’re watching him,” Gilda added.
“Watching him?” What on earth did that mean? “Like spying on him?”
“No, just... keeping an eye out. There could be big trouble over there at some point,” Louise explained.
“There already is, but it’s none of our business,” Zona said firmly.
“Gin,” said Gilda, laying down her cards.
Louise groaned. “There’s no point in even writing down the score. You smoked me.”
“I just got good cards,” Gilda said, gathering them up. That done, she stood and said, “I’ll be going now. I hope you two have a good night.”
