nod, she continues. “I think you’re a nice guy, but…well, you’re not really my type.”
My entire body relaxes. “Suzie, I have to say I agree with you. You seem like a great woman, but I don’t really see this going anywhere. I’ve enjoyed visiting with you this afternoon,” I tell her, honestly.
She grins a pretty smile with straight white teeth. “I’ve enjoyed it as well. Maybe we’ll see each other around sometime?”
I nod. “I’m sure we will. Stewart Grove isn’t that big of a town.”
She giggles. “I’m learning that. Someone told me it’s named after two old men who got into a fight?” Her eyes light up with excitement as I tell her the story I’ve been told since I was a young boy.
“The legend goes, Gerald Stewart and John Grove both claimed the land where the town was built. They worked for the railroad, building the main system across Ohio. When they arrived at the particular building site, both men supposedly purchased the land, claiming the town as theirs. Hence, Stewart Grove. Both men declared the other stole it from him until the day they died. Actually, they passed away two days apart. Grove went first and then Stewart right after. They say he died of a broken heart because he had no one to fight with anymore.”
Suzie laughs. “That’s a wild story. Did they ever find out who really owned the land?”
I nod. “They both did, legally. The large parcel was divided into two sections, and neither man realized it. A north half and a south half, with the railroad being the divider.”
She shakes her head. “That’s funny.”
“Their descendants are still here and argue over whose land it was.”
“Wow, what amazing history. They probably thought they were bitter enemies but were really friends all along. God works in mysterious ways, doesn’t he?”
“That He does, Suzie. That He does. Wanna go inside and grab some pecan pie before Bernice swipes it all?”
She jumps up, flattens out her skirt, and says, “I’d love to.”
“After you,” I reply, leading her back to the house. My feet are a lot lighter now that I know we’re on the same page. She isn’t any more interested in me than I am of her. Suzie’s a nice girl, who will no doubt make someone very happy someday.
That someone just isn’t me.
Now I get to deal with my meddling pain in the ass aunt.
Chapter Eight
Mallory
I swear I just start to doze off when I hear the first door slam. I don’t have to wait very long before the arguing starts, easily filtering through the thin walls. Some of the words are clear as day, while others are muffled, but I can tell right away it’s going to be a long night.
Quietly, I get up off the couch and go peek in on Lizzie. She’s a heavy sleeper and hasn’t woken up yet from the noise coming from the apartment next door. When I spy her sleeping soundly in her toddler bed, I carefully pull the door closed to keep the extra sound out.
The shouting grows louder as I make my way into the kitchen for a drink. The man on the other side of the wall appears to be screaming about the remote control, while the woman is denying having lost it. It seems silly, really, to be having an argument over something as trivial as a TV remote, but nothing surprises me anymore. Last night it was because she adjusted the thermostat a single degree warmer.
It reminds me of Devon and how quickly he would fly off the handle there at the end. He wasn’t always like that. Not in the beginning and not for the first few years of our relationship. Yet, I can’t help but question how well I really knew him, even back then.
The last six months we were together, he seemed to grow increasingly more agitated, his fuse shorter by the day. They tell me drugs will do that to a person, but I wouldn’t know. I’ve never done them.
A door slams, followed by the pounding of a fist and demands to open up. Sighing, I head back to the living room and try to get comfortable on the couch. These are the times I wish I had headphones or something to play music. Instead, I turn the television on low to try to drown out the commotion on the other side of the wall.
The first night it happened, I was afraid. For Lizzie and myself, as well as the