of weird grass?
She glanced quizzically at her neighbor’s house, but Carrie knew he’d already left for work. She had no idea what he did for a living, but assumed it had something to do with the military since the Army base was so close by.
Picking up one of the stalks, she examined it, smelled it, and gingerly tasted it. The bitterness twisted her tongue. “What is this?”
Scooping up the whole bag, she brought it into her kitchen. Taking one of the strawberries, she rinsed it off, and took a bite. “Oh my!” This was the best strawberry she’d ever tasted! “You must have an odd relationship with Satan,” she muttered as she stared out the kitchen window at her neighbor’s house, “but you grow amazing fruit!”
With a smile, the first smile she’d experienced in a long time, she grabbed another strawberry and headed into the living room. “Okay, where to start?” she asked the empty room. There were some holes in the walls that needed to be fixed, everything needed to be sanded down and re-painted, and the floors should be sanded and refinished. “Oh boy,” she whispered.
Heading to the family room where she’d stored her tools, she grabbed the power sander. For the rest of the day, she sanded down the walls, the banister, and the woodwork, making everything smooth and even. Carrie patched up the damaged wood with wood filler, and sanded it down again.
She also wrote a note, which she wrapped around one of the red stalks, and went back to her neighbor’s house, being very careful not to step on any of the flowers he’d planted, where she left red stalk and note, then hurried back to her house before her neighbor arrived home.
When his big, black pickup truck pulled into the driveway, Carrie was upstairs in one of the small bedrooms, pretending to read a book. In reality, Carrie was spying on her neighbor, fascinated by the huge brute.
With stealth and caution, Carrie peered out the window, her back against the far wall, all the lights in her house off. She’d learned this trick a long time ago and smiled when her neighbor picked up the red stalk, read the brief note, then glanced over at her house. He stared long and hard, obviously trying to see her. With a smile, she pressed her shoulders back against the wall, knowing he couldn’t. Even with the summer sun setting late these days, he wouldn’t be able to see into her house. She felt safe this way. And safe was a pretty nice feeling.
Derick carried the stalk of rhubarb into the house, chuckling at the note. It wasn’t a note so much as a piece of paper with a question mark on it. “Rhubarb,” he mumbled. “Strawberries and rhubarb.” The combination was one of his favorites, but he was amused that his neighbor didn’t know what it was. The red stalks weren’t something that a lot of people used very often in recipes anymore, but it was a great vegetable.
Going to his computer, he printed out several recipes, then folded them up and put them into an envelope.
Then he waited. Standing back from the windows, he watched and waited.
It took about twenty-five minutes, but Derick had developed patience over the years. In this situation, with this fascinating woman, his patience paid off when he saw movement in one of the upper windows. It was slight, not really a movement, more of an energy or a vibration perhaps. But now he knew where she slept at night. Derick smiled when he realized that she slept in the room that looked out over his garden…and his bedroom.
Good choice, he thought, then waited until about midnight before moving between the houses. He carefully set the rhubarb stalk back on her front porch with the recipes wrapped around it, then slipped silently back to his house.
Chapter 4
Carrie watched the other house as she sipped her coffee the following morning. Then she choked when her neighbor stepped out of the house in just a pair of jeans. No shoes. No shirt.
Carrie didn’t really care about the no shoes thing. But her devil-neighbor without a shirt? Dear heaven!
The cup of coffee almost slipped from her numb fingers as she watched him move about in his garden. Her eyes were burning as she stared and Carrie had to remind herself to blink. She was completely unaware of her mouth hanging open as her gaze took in the muscles packed onto his shoulders and back.