"Well, Carol, I guess it depends on what's most important to you. A shorter commute or a safer neighborhood."
A collective gasp swept through the gazebo as though I'd asked if they preferred to be shot or beheaded. The now-retiring president of the HOA looked at me. "Welcome, Mr. Fox. We know you're new to the neighborhood, but we're always interested to learn a different point of view. What harm could a through traffic road cause?"
I pulled at the collar of my shirt, wishing I'd simply kept my mouth shut, or better yet, raised my hand with everyone else. I didn’t want to stand out. I wanted to be as forgettable as possible.
Unfortunately, I was on the spot now. "Adding a through traffic road will increase both car and foot traffic. It opens the neighborhood up to both speeding and possible break-ins. In the short time I've been here, I've seen that several of you have children. If Willow Loop were to connect with Redwood Way, commuters from Burnside to Riverly would start using it to save time on their commutes, making it less safe for your children to be biking and rollerblading down the street. The ability to maintain your property values will crash down. The HOA would become obsolete."
A few gasps sounded at such ominous words, but several heads were nodding by the time I finished speaking.
"What do you do, Mr. Fox?" Jan asked.
I cleared my throat before I answered her. "I'm a realtor."
"Oh, how marvelous! Then you understand the ins and outs of property values." Jan clapped her hands together. "You all, I think I'm going to have to reconsider my vote for a connecting road. A five-minute commute isn't that bad compared to the safety of the children and maintaining the property values in the neighborhood. Thank you to Mr. Fox for bringing it to our attention. What a marvelous addition you are to the neighborhood!"
Jan smiled at me, but I didn’t like the calculating look in her eye. Carol happily patted my arm and loudly explained to everyone that she lived next to "this smart man."
They spent another fifteen minutes chatting about keeping their property values up. The younger man, who’d teased me earlier, leaned forward and patted me on the back.
"You've done it now," he said with a wink and a smile.
I turned around to talk with him, and on a closer look, I realized it was the man I saw the first day I drove through the Willow Loop neighborhood. He was the man being dragged around by the big white dog.
"I didn't mean to cause problems at my first meeting."
"Nothing wrong with it. Except a possible civil war." His smile took the sting out of his words. He reached out a hand. I grasped it, and he gave mine a firm shake. "I’m Ian."
"Bane. You lived here long?" I asked.
"A couple years."
"Family?"
"Wife. You've probably seen her walking our dog in the neighborhood."
"I don't think I've seen her. I'm usually at work during the day though."
"Well, we'll have to do dinner sometime. You and your wife are the only other young couple in the neighborhood without children."
Me and my wife. Why did it sound so scary and right at the same time?
"But now you're probably going to be busier than ever." He motioned to the podium.
"What do—" I didn't have a chance to ask him to explain.
Jan tapped the picnic table. "This will be the last time I participate in these meetings as President of the HOA. You'll have to have your votes ready by the block party on Thursday. So, make sure you make a wise decision. As for me, I know who I'll be voting for. Now, on to the noise complaints..."
I groaned and turned around as Ian chuckled quietly behind me. I hadn't heard how the voting process worked. Hopefully, we’d have a new place to live and would be gone from the Willow Loop neighborhood by the next HOA meeting.
CHAPTER NINE
Homeowners Association Rule #33:
Gluten-free options must be available at every neighborhood block party.
The door creaked open, and Bane walked into the front entryway.
He looked...tired.
"Was it bad?" I sat up and pulled my reading glasses off of my face. Grace had sent me home with the script for Beauty and the Beast. She'd made me promise to read it so that I could help her learn her lines since she'd been selected to play the part of Belle. She told me I had to since it was her birthday.
Going to an HOA meeting sounded like the most boring thing in the world. Reading a script out loud to myself in alternating voices? Much more entertaining.
"Worse." He yanked the tie from his neck, slipped his coat off, and flopped into the overstuffed recliner in the living room. The tied dangled from his fingers. He sighed and leaned back. "Is it too early to sleep?"
"No, you haven’t slept in a bed in a week. Of course you're tired." I pulled the throw blanket off the couch and tossed it at him. "Why don't you go jump in that big king bed? Everything will seem better in the morning."
He sighed and rubbed a thumb up the bridge of his nose. "You really think we should live here? You can’t even talk to the owners, and that concerns me."
I sat up and looked at him. He looked weary. Not just tired but worn out. What he needed was to get rid of some of the stress in his life. "I promise you the owners would be ecstatic to know we’re living here. I’m proposing we use the opportunity in front of us and simplify things by pretending we own the house. Besides, it’s not that much of a lie."
"So, are we married?"
"We could be..." I waggled my eyebrows up and down.
He shook his head. "No, that’s not what I mean. How are we going to get
