I huff out a breath. “You’re not old.”
“I’m seventy-something or another.”
I laugh because my grandma will never admit her own age. She’s always been like that. When she took me in twenty-two years ago after my mother died in a car accident and my father rejected me, she was fifty-something, then sixty-something, now she’s seventy-something. I shake my head in exasperation.
“Fine, I’ll move into this house you insanely bought me. Which, by the way, is the most ridiculous birthday present ever.”
“Nothing is ridiculous when it comes to you,” she says excitedly. “Now let’s go see the house. You’re going to love it!”
She’s not wrong. The house is perfect. It’s a little bungalow that is painted bright white with gray shutters and a bright red door. There are window boxes for flowers in the front windows and flower beds on both sides of the sidewalk and the front of the house.
“I knew you’d want the flower beds, but I also know you’ll want to plant them yourself, so we just prepped them for you to get your hands dirty.”
Tears well in my eyes at the thoughtfulness. “It’s perfect,” I say, pulling her into a fierce hug. “I can’t believe you did this.”
She pulled every detail from my Pinterest board. Everything down to the mailbox is the exact thing I put on my wish list. I can only imagine the inside is just as perfect. When she leads me through the house, it’s exactly as I thought it would be—perfect. A bubble of excitement grows in my stomach at the idea of living here.
“I don’t even have words for how amazing this is, gram. How did you pull it off without me knowing?”
That sly smile of hers spreads across her face. “A magician never reveals her secrets.”
I pull her into a fierce hug. “Thank you.”
“Anything for you, my little bird. I just want you happy, and I think this house is exactly what you need for all your dreams to come true… even the ones you don’t realize are there for the taking,” she says vaguely.
It takes no time at all for me to get moved in. I really only had my clothes and a few other personal things in my childhood home. I didn’t want to empty it of all the familiar stuff. I have this image of me coming home and staying in a room full of memories. It’s silly, I know, but it’s what I’ve always wanted.
I brush my hands off, leaning back on my knees to admire my handiwork. The gardens are coming along nicely. The bright flowers of spring will have to wait, but fall isn’t without its beauty. The chrysanthemums, black-eyed susans, aster, and dianthus I planted will be gorgeous for weeks to come.
The quiet of my new neighborhood is broken by the low growl of a motorcycle driving down the street. I turn to see the matte black Harley and the rider who is the bane of my existence.
What is Carson doing here? Can’t he just be satisfied with torturing me at the diner? Of course not. I swear his only goal is to make my life miserable. I can’t keep from scowling at him with disgust when he pulls up to my neighbor’s house. I know someone lives there but have yet to meet them. They’ve been away on some kind of business trip from what my other neighbors have said. Apparently, he travels for work fairly often.
Maybe Carson is housesitting? Watering plants?
I nearly choke on my tongue when the garage door opens, and his truck comes into view. He carefully backs his bike beside the truck, then throws his leg over the seat and stands to his full height.
Oh no. No, no, no. Carson Moore is not my neighbor. There has to be some other reason for why he’s parking his bike in the garage. I’m trying to figure out a reasonable excuse for his truck to be parked there too, but I can’t come up with a single reason. Leaving me with the horrible truth: Carson is my new neighbor.
2 Carson
My house comes into view, and my shoulders instantly relax. It’s been a long week. I pull into my driveway and take in the new neighbor and her familiar curves. Ana is sitting back on her knees, looking at me in absolute horror as she realizes I’m her new neighbor. I smirk to myself, knowing she’s about to be spitting mad at her grandmother, who bought the house from me.
Whether she believes it or not, this wasn’t any kind of set up. It just happens that her grandma was on the hunt for a house, and my rental was empty after my tenant moved to the city. Her grandma made me an offer I couldn’t refuse to sell it—mainly that her lovely granddaughter would become my new neighbor.
That lady is smarter than anyone gives her credit for, devious too. She knows exactly how I feel about Ana, and it’s no secret that Ana hates me. She told me not to fuck up this opportunity and that if things go her way, the house will be up for rent in a blink. Ruth is one hundred percent on board with me claiming her granddaughter. She knows what I do… that Ana is as perfect for me as I am for her.
Now to convince her.
“Hello, neighbor.” I give her a welcoming smile as I cross the yard to her.
She shakes her head. “Nope. We aren’t doing this. You’re going to go back to your house, and I’m going to go inside mine, and we will just pretend that we don’t live side by side.”
“You can fight it all you want, but that doesn’t change the fact
