before this, dealing with gangs and guns.”
“Wow! Sounds like you were in a war zone before, huh?”
An odd look crossed his face, and he smiled strangely. A forced smile.
“War zone. Yeah, that’s actually a comparable analogy.”
Then, however, as soon as I opened the door and he saw his little girl sleeping peacefully on the bed, a look of joy appeared on his face, and he smiled warmly.
“Ah, there's my lil' sweet pea,” he said. “Sleeping like an angel. Thank you so much for taking care of her tonight, Vivienne.”
“It was no problem. Like I said, she's a sweetie. And she really likes bears.”
“Oh boy, does she ever! It's all I ever hear about: bear this, bear that!” he said with a laugh. “Other kids her age are into puppies and kittens; she's into bears. I have no idea where it came from, but that's my lil' Jane!”
I smiled. “She's a great kid. And any time you need someone to look after her, remember, I'm right across the road.”
“I appreciate that, Vivienne, I really do. Alright, well, I guess I'd better be getting back to my place now. I've got a long day ahead tomorrow, and I’m sure you do, too.”
“I do, yeah, and I've got an early start as well. But it was great meeting you. I'm glad you came over and said hi this afternoon.”
He smiled at me, and as our eyes met, I swear I felt a bolt of energy passing between us.
“I'm glad I came over to say hi as well. Very glad.”
He went over and picked up Jane carefully, making sure he didn't wake her, and then, cradling the sleeping child softly in his arms, he walked to the front door where I let him out.
He turned around and looked at me one more time from the porch.
“Thanks again, Vivienne. I'll see you soon.”
“See you soon, Everett. Have a good night. And welcome to the neighborhood!”
“Good night,” he said with a smile, and with that, he walked on across the street, his footsteps light and careful so that he wouldn't wake Jane up.
Well, this was nice, I thought. I had a new friend in the neighborhood, who just happened to be a single, attractive guy. It wasn't as if I wanted anything to happen, but on the other hand, Kerry was right. I couldn’t avoid men forever. I mean, I had old wounds – wounds that were very, very deep – but I was getting over them, slowly but surely. After all, I couldn't live in a state of fear forever, could I?
As I closed the door, I heard my phone's message tone ring. I half-wondered if it was Everett, and as I took my phone out, I couldn't deny that my heart was starting to beat a little faster. However, when I looked at the screen, I saw that it was Kerry.
“Hey, Viv,” the message said. “Could you go back on Skype really quick? I've got something important to tell you.”
“Alright,” I typed out in a reply. “Give me two minutes.”
I went back into my study and booted up my laptop, wondering what it was that so important that she had to tell me now.
“Hey, girl,” Kerry said as she answered the call. From the expression on her face, I could tell that something was wrong.
“What's going on, Ker?” I asked. “What's so urgent that we need to talk about it right now?”
“Carl just came back from work,” she said. “And he needs to talk to you. Is that alright?”
Now I had an idea of what this was going to be about, and dread stirred its awful brew in the pit of my stomach.
“Uh, yeah, sure. Put him on,” I agreed.
She stood up from her computer, and I heard the sound of shuffling in the background as she and her husband switched places at the desk. He sat down and put the headset on and then looked into the webcam.
“Hi, Viv, how's everything?” Carl asked me.