Off Limits Neighbor

This morning when I woke up to Klara curled against my side, I wanted more than just the amazing sex. I wanted to know how I had missed her the first time around. So, I convinced her to come to our old haunt for a bit and get some fresh air before the both of us went back to work on the impossible project.

I want to know more about that, too.

Currently, I’m sitting on a rock watching Klara wade in the few inches of water that there is. She wiggles her toes. “For some reason I remember this whole place being…more.”

“Everything seems that way when you come back to a place with more experience.”

She sighs. “I suppose that’s true. This was one of the only places that felt safe and free. Makes sense that I would have built it up in my mind.”

“But now that you’ve seen the world a little…”

“Yeah.” She looks down at her feet.

I take a sip of the water bottle that I brought with me. “Where did you go? I’ve been meaning to ask, and I keep getting distracted.”

Klara blushes. “I live in Austin now. I’m an interior designer, so I’m not completely clueless about this stuff. I can hold my own with the tools. But I’ll admit that some of the other stuff I don’t have experience with. Plumbing. Wiring. That kind of thing.”

A pleasant shock of surprise rolls through me. At the very least I feel better about her parents giving her the project. They weren’t completely throwing her to the sharks. “Good to know. And why exactly are you under this kind of clock with this kind of project?”

She sighs. “I knew you were going to ask.”

“Of course, I am. You know why.”

Slowly she picks her way across the little stream and comes to sit next to me on the rock. We’re not touching, but close. “You know my dad’s thing?”

I did.

A few years ago, Klara’s father invented a toy that absolutely went viral. A type of silly putty that changed color with the heat in your hands and also bounced like a superball. It was like flubber, Silly Putty, and a mood ring all wrapped up into one, and everybody had to have it. It was the gift every kid wanted for Christmas, and the Miller’s had their big break. They moved out of the house I’d seen Klara at two days ago and across town.

“Yeah?” I ask.

She clears her throat. “Well, after they moved, my parents still really loved that neighborhood, and they bought all the houses. It’s always been their intention to renovate them for a little vacation community.”

Honestly, it made sense. Affliction Creek is actively trying to rehabilitate its image and create more of a tourism industry. We’re close enough to the major cities to be an option. Though privately, I think that the city leaders are going to have to do a little more to draw people in than proximity. “So, what changed?”

Klara sighs deeply. “My mom got sick. Cancer. She’s been in and out of the hospital for a couple of years now.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I honestly had no idea.

“It is what it is,” she shrugs. “She’s doing okay. On and off. My dad was supposed to keep working on the houses and stuff, but he really wanted to be there for my mom, and there wasn’t much of a hurry.”

She steals a sip from my water bottle, and I let her. “And then everything seemed like it all happened at once. My dad fell and broke his hip, so he can’t do any work until he’s fully recovered from the replacement surgery. The city is giving my parents a deadline, and the money from the WonderSqueeze is almost gone since it was a fad.”

WonderSqueeze. That’s what it’s called. “What did the city say?”

“That if the renovation isn’t done in two weeks, they’re taking the property with eminent domain. I think their plan is to build some kind of shopping complex.”

“So, your parents want to get it done.”

Her voice holds more emotion than she’s letting on. “They want to try. With the money running out, this was the plan. And it will be great if I can make it happen.” Klara stands suddenly. “Which means I can’t just sit here all day. This is fun, but I have to go.”

I stand with her. “Hold on a second. Let’s go back to my house for a minute and let me make some calls. I have some favors I can call in.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.”

She shades her eyes and looks up at me. “Why, Rey?”

“Do I need a reason for wanting to help you?”

“You may not need a reason, but I think that you have one.”

I laugh softly as we start to walk. “I used to live there too, remember? I have a soft spot for the neighborhood, and I also know what it’s like to get out of there. And because I know that, I don’t want anyone to have to go backwards to that kind of life. The city didn’t exactly give them a lot of time.”