I dried myself off, slung on some yoga pants and a slouchy tee and began to towel dry my hair as I sat on the edge of the bed facing the window. Next door, a car was parked in the driveway. It had that squashed look of a fancy, expensive sports car. Seemed kinda strange for a family car, but maybe they’d brought two?
I’d left them a welcome package with my number if they had a problem. I didn’t usually tell guests I lived right next door. After the first few renters, I’d learned that if I did, I’d have a constant stream of “What’s the Wi-Fi code again?” or “Where’s good for dinner?”
I discarded my towel and started brushing through my tangles.
The light was on in the kitchen next door; someone’s silhouette displayed like a shadow puppet through the white voile blinds. It looked like someone was dancing. A guy. The dad, maybe? Except that it didn’t look like dad dancing. He could move. I laughed, then covered my mouth. I shouldn’t be laughing. He was paying rent. And I certainly shouldn’t be staring.
The blind rippled and two hands dipped beneath the voile and began to fiddle with the catch. I shuffled down my bed. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to see me. I was away from the window and my lights weren’t switched on, but I didn’t want to take any chances. The blind lifted, revealing a perfect torso—golden skin with clearly defined muscles. This guy was built. The voile was only partially up, so I couldn’t see if the face matched the body but, boy, if it did? My new neighbor just might be the most handsome man I’d ever come across.
The abs tensed and relaxed as his large hands found the catch on the window and he pushed it open. I froze. Somehow, the lack of that pane of glass between us brought me up short. I needed to stop staring.
His wife was one lucky woman.
My cell rang on my nightstand. I grabbed it and answered.
“Hey, Ruby,” I said, as I held the phone between my ear and shoulder and drew my curtains. That would stop me from being a voyeur. “How’s the Big Apple?” We’d both dreamed of leaving Worthington for the city since we’d been old enough to understand there was a world outside Maine. Together, we’d gone to college in New York. She’d never left. I’d never expected to come back. But here I was.
And I was happy.
“Good, though it would be better if you were here. How’s the new collection going?”
I designed all the jewelry in my shop, but I sent it to a manufacturer in Massachusetts for production. It kept costs down and meant I could keep up with orders coming in online. There was no way I could make it all by hand and anyway it would mean it would be too expensive for the tourist market. In fact, I’d not handcrafted anything since college. The new designs I was working on would probably never get made. “The collar I’m designing is really lovely. I’ll take a picture and send it to you.” The chunky necklace was my favorite of the collection so far. It was designed to be made of gold and took its inspiration from ancient Egypt. I’d drawn it in the shape of a crescent moon, with ribbons of gold filigree layered in an asymmetrical pattern across it. I fingered my collarbone as I spoke.
“You’ve been working on it for months. You’re not done yet?”
Ruby and I had this conversation every time we talked about my designs. I was always designing new stuff, but my Bastet collection, named after the Egyptian goddess of protection, wasn’t something I’d just hand off to be manufactured in Massachusetts. These pieces were special and needed to be handcrafted.
“It’s almost there. But there’s no rush.”
Silence reigned on the other end of the phone. Ruby had always encouraged me to get back to making jewelry again. But I’d been too busy setting up the shop, designing the stock, finding the manufacturer. There were a thousand things to think about. There had been a time that one-off, exclusive pieces were what I thought I wanted to do, but it was more difficult to do that in Worthington when all the buyers and fashion houses were in New York. So I’d abandoned that ambition when I left the city, and now I was content with my little shop. I was still in the jewelry business and that’s what mattered. It had been my dream since my dad gave me my mom’s jewelry box when I was five years old just after she died.
The jewelry I designed and sold in the shop wasn’t cheap, but it wasn’t so exclusive that a tourist wouldn’t buy a necklace, ring or pair of earrings on impulse. Things were working out pretty well.
“I just think it would be good for you to get back into the workshop. I remember how much you’ve always loved it.”
“I did, but life’s busy. The shop takes a lot of my time and then there’s the property next door. Speaking of, do you know how old the kids are in this family?” The body on the dad would suggest they were little, but I hadn’t heard any yelling or screaming.
“I don’t know. Why?”
“No reason, just wondering.” I peeked through the edge of the curtain as I finished brushing my hair. The silver sports car still stood alone on the drive.
“I have the email right here. It’s a family?” she asked.
“Uh-huh.” The kitchen window was still open, but the abs were gone and the floorshow had ended. I released the curtain and headed to my home office.
“Says here on the form it’s a corporate booking—Lakeside Limited,” Ruby said.
I paused in the doorway. “I thought you said it was a family?”
“There’s the family from Boston who’re coming later in the season. Anyway, is there a problem? Their payment went through just fine.”
“No problem. I must have gotten confused is all.” I’d put gummy bears in their welcome basket. I liked to customize each one so it felt more personal. I guess some corporate guest was getting their sugar fill.
“I have no idea. The booking details don’t even say how many guests. As long as it’s not a bunch of frat boys, right?”
Perhaps it was just a couple, then? That would explain the sports car. Maybe they were gay. Surely someone with a body as hot as the one I’d seen could never be straight.
“So how’s Chas?” I asked as I stood over my desk, laying out the line drawings I’d done of the Bastet collection.
“We had an argument,” she replied with an exhale. Ruby fighting with Chas wasn’t unusual. I wasn’t quite sure why she put up with him. They seemed to fight constantly.
“Surely the good sex isn’t worth what he puts you through?”
Ruby paused before she said, “The problem is I don’t want anything serious—I just want to be seriously casual.”
I chuckled. “You know you make no sense whatsoever, right?” I moved the drawings around, trying to put them in the order I wanted to paint them in watercolor. I’d already started on the collar.
“I do make sense. I don’t want a guy I have to see all the time—twice a week works for me. And he doesn’t need to declare his undying love or buy me flowers, he just needs to turn up if I’ve cooked dinner.”
I winced. “He didn’t show last night?” I’d talked her through my recipe for my shrimp marinade, so I knew she’d put in some effort.