The Neighbor - Don't Hate Me

Max grimaced. “She still shouldn’t have been yelling obscenities. I mean, seriously, nothing could be that bad. This used to be a quiet neighborhood.”

There he was. That was the guy I’d talked to earlier.

“Her husband is rather abusive. Mainly verbally. He calls her a fat ass among other awful things. I don’t care what she yells as long as she isn’t with him.” I placed my hands on my hips and shook my head. “Thanks for helping her.”

I turned and did everything I could to hold it together so I didn’t run away from him.

4

Max

Well.

That hadn’t gone well.

Not that I cared. That woman was impossible. It wouldn’t have mattered what I said to her. She would have blown it out of proportion no matter what.

I should have gone after her and apologized. Hell, her friend had just been driven off in an ambulance, and I was complaining about her cursing.

“Hey, dad,” Lily called from the front door. “What happened?”

“Just a friend of the neighbor,” I said over my shoulder.

“Is she going to be okay?”

I waved at her to go back inside. “She’s going to be fine. I’ll be in soon, okay?”

“Okay,” she said. “What’s for dinner? Can we have peanut butter and jam sandwiches?”

“Let me think about it,” I said.

What was my neighbor’s name? Her friend had said it, but I could quite remember.

Heather? Holly? No, Hope. It was Hope.

Not that I cared. As far as I was concerned, she was still a nightmare.

Lily and I had a nice evening together. After dinner – pizza – we sat together and watched a movie.

She was the sweetest daughter, and I was lucky to have her. It didn’t matter how shitty my day was when she snuggled up next to me and told me I was the best dad ever. Of course, letting her have pizza definitely helped.

“Daddy,” she said with a yawn after the movie ended. “I’m tired.”

“You look tired,” I said, smacking my thighs. “It’s late. Time to brush your teeth. I shouldn’t let you stay up so long on a school night.”

“It’s only nine, dad,” she groaned as if she were suddenly thirteen.

She was at a strange age. Half of the time, she was my sweet little girl, and the other half, she was a handful. She was gearing up to be a pre-teen. Something I wasn’t ready for.

“I love you, daddy,” she said as I tucked her in. She closed her eyes when I gave her a kiss on the forehead.

“I love you too, sweetie,” I said as I walked away, turning out the light.

She blinked twice in the direction of her unicorn nightlight. A deep breath puffed her body before she exhaled and settled into place.

I tip-toed away from her room, placing each footstep on the stairs carefully. If the fourth one creaked, she’d call me back to the room. Luckily, I managed to miss the spot.

I grabbed a beer from the fridge, pausing to look out the window. There was only one light on next door instead of the glowing beacon it usually was.

Perhaps with her friends away, it would be a quiet night.

I might have started to drift off when I heard a loud car grumbling in front of the neighbor’s house. Tires squealed, and I got to the window just as cloud puffed out of the exhaust of an old, rusted car.

The two women from earlier today were standing at the end of the driveway. So much for a quiet night.

I peeked out between the curtains, watching them as they walked up to the house. They waited at the door for several minutes before it opened.

Hope was standing there in a tight tank top with her arms crossed. After a quick moment, she stepped to the side and let the woman who’d passed out into the house.

The other gave Hope a quick hug before walking toward her car. In a matter of seconds, she was gone.

The house next door was once again a beacon in the night. I just had to hope that was all it would be.

Unfortunately, hoping for silence was a waste of time. Pop music started blaring from the backyard.

I walked into the kitchen and looked out the back window. I wasn’t entirely sure when I turned into the guy that secretly watched his neighbors, but apparently, it had happened.

There was a light on illuminating the back patio. Lights inside the pool gave it a turquoise glow.

“What are you doing, daddy?” Lily asked from behind me.

“Getting a glass of water,” I replied as I fumbled for a glass and turned on the sink. “What are you doing up?”

Lily yawned. “I can’t sleep.”

“Why not?”

“The music is too loud.”

Shit.

“Go on back to bed. I’ll take care of it,” I said before taking a sip from the glass I wasn’t entirely sure I’d washed. I placed my hand on Lily’s back and turned her around.