couldn’t see much from here—just glimpses of movement. There were too many trees, too much bush. If I wanted an unimpeded view, I’d have to go upstairs to my room.
From my desk, I could watch the entire neighborhood, see every entry and exit. A few days ago, I’d seen buxom Mellie saunter over to the Dixons’ and emerge two hours later with ruffled hair and a flushed face. Both Paul and Margaret had waved good-bye to her from the doorway.
The day prior to that, I’d watched through my night-vision binoculars as tall and red-haired Veda Fitzpatrick ran across the road in the dark to stuff something inside Mellie and Isaac’s letterbox.
Funny the things you saw when no one knew you could see them.
11
I didn’t move.
Soon, the curtain would fall on the day and end even my current limited visibility. Just another night. But this night would be the darkest of my life. No longer could I protect the little flame of hope that had existed inside me all these years.
“You’re my biggest treasure, Ari beta.” A kiss pressed to my cheek as she tucked me in when I was eight. “Bigger than any diamond your father could ever give me.”
“Ma?”
“Yes, Ari?”
“You won’t leave me if you go away, will you?”
“Kabhi nahi. I’d never leave you.”
A flash of white through the foliage, coming from near the front door of the house just down from ours to the right. I don’t know why but I moved down the drive and directly behind a mass of native bush—from where I could properly see the house. The “luxe log cabin” with lots of natural wood and wide glass windows was home to the Savea-Duncans.
Two mums, one kid, and Grandma.
I didn’t see the older woman outside that often, but Shanti had mentioned that she didn’t speak much English.
“You remember how Alice and Cora brought Alice’s mother over from Samoa to help with their baby?” she’d said, her expression oddly furtive. “Well, with Manaia thirteen now and on that school exchange to France this term, I don’t think Elei has much to do.”
I figured Shanti went over to hang with Grandma Elei while my father was out and my half sister at school. Both of them transplants from distant countries, with little freedom and no local networks. I wouldn’t give her up, least of all to my father, but while Shanti liked me, she had no reason to trust me.
I didn’t hold that against her.
I wouldn’t trust me, either.
Adrian emerged from the doorway, dressed in his customary white shorts and the aqua-blue sleeveless tee that advertised both his biceps and his gym. Sports shoes and socks made up the rest of his outfit. He carried a duffel over his shoulder.
His smile was toothpaste perfect against white skin tanned to light gold as he spoke to the woman who’d just emerged to stand on the porch. Alice Savea-Duncan. On the verge of forty and on the taller side of average, the emergency room nurse could easily pass for a decade younger, her flawless brown skin and taut abdomen giving no indication of the child she’d carried in her womb.
Those abs were clearly visible between her colorful spandex bra top and tight black leggings. No shoes and her ponytailed hair looked freshly brushed.
She cocked her hip and twirled her hair a little as she chatted to Adrian. I wondered what Alice’s wife would think of the interaction, but other people’s relationships weren’t my business and I had other priorities. Still, Alice should be careful. I’d seen Cora park her car partially up Isaac’s steep driveway the other day, out of sight of the main drive, then walk down to stand and peer through the bushes toward her home with Alice.
I could’ve told her it was a waste of time. Adrian didn’t come to the Cul-de-Sac on Wednesdays.
Shifting back from my concealed position, I walked around to the main drive. Alice and Cora were our direct neighbors, but it still took a while for me to reach a spot where she could see me.
Adrian glanced over my way as he turned to leave. A quick nod was all I got.
I wondered if he was still embarrassed about the time I’d met him on the stairs of our family home, freshly showered and emerging from my mother’s bedroom.
Maybe.
More likely, he had another appointment.
I raised a hand in hello to Alice. She wiggled her fingers before sauntering inside. She’d leave in another hour or so if she kept to her usual