More Than Neighbors

He did some marking, chose clamps for his scrap lumber and practiced cuts with various saws. They talked about woods, and Gabe explained what his next stage was for the three separate cabinetry jobs he had going. Mark eventually decided to use cherry for his box; he liked the rich color of a darker stain better than the look of light woods. Truthfully, Gabe did, too, although he especially liked being able to use contrast.

It felt companionable putting sandwiches together with the kid again, with the bonus today that they both ate a couple more cookies. Gabe carefully put the top back on the container. Ciara had sent a couple dozen. That would keep him in cookies for...well, that depended on how greedy he allowed himself to be, didn’t it?

He evaded the boy’s hints that he’d like to learn to ride, too—half the day was already shot—but he did allow Mark to feed a couple of carrots to the horses again before he sent him home.

Gabe pretended he was just giving himself a minute to decompress when he stood outside watching the boy pedal home, but he knew better. He felt some sense of responsibility. The road didn’t have much of a shoulder. It wasn’t ideal for bike riding.

He was disconcerted to find he was smiling when he walked back into his workshop.

* * *

“THAT DOESN’T SMELL very good.”

Ciara turned to see that Mark had appeared in the kitchen.

“Shut the door,” she said hastily—too late.

Watson burst into the kitchen, leaping to put his paws on her chest, his wet tongue catching her chin before she could take evasive maneuvers. She had to fend him off with an elbow. “Mark!”

Eventually, he propelled the reluctant dog out of the kitchen and latched the swinging door. Ciara hoped the young dog would learn enough manners soon so that they didn’t have to exile him from any room where they were cooking or eating, but for now, she was grateful for the door. In their previous house, she wouldn’t have had any way to keep Watson from putting his paws on the dinner table and snatching food off Mark’s plate.

Above the whine that penetrated the closed door, she said, “This is a new recipe. There’s nothing in it you shouldn’t like.” She carried the casserole dish to the table and set it on a hot pad. “Try it.”

“I don’t like it when foods are all mixed together,” he said disconsolately.

“You like raisin-oatmeal cookies. Flour, sugar, oatmeal, raisins and several other ingredients, all mixed together.”

“That’s different.” He sighed loudly and plopped down in his place.

“You like spaghetti,” she pointed out.

“It’s not new!” he burst out.

Ciara only laughed. “Try this casserole. It may surprise you.”

She poured them both milk, dished up the peas she’d chosen because they were a favorite of his and sat down herself. She watched as he used the serving spoon to transfer a minuscule amount of the cheesy hamburger bake onto his plate, but said nothing.

He stared down at his plate. “Dad said he’d call tonight. Do you think he already did and we didn’t hear it?”

Familiar tension felt like wires strung through her body being pulled tight. “I think I’d have heard the phone, but you can check voice mail. After dinner,” she added, reading his mind even before he started to jump to his feet.

“But Mom—”

She took a bite to give herself a minute. “It’s only six-thirty. If he said this evening, it’ll probably be later anyway.”

Mark hunched his shoulders and stabbed at his peas. Several went skittering off his plate. “He’ll forget. He always forgets.”

He was right. Jeff did always forget. She wished he wouldn’t make promises at all, however casual. He knew how literal Mark was. In his world view, if you said you were going to do something, you did it.

“Your dad is pretty busy these days,” she said gently. New wife, new baby, promotion at work. Out with the old.

No, not fair—the new family and promotion at work had absolutely nothing to do with his disengagement from his first son. That happened as soon as he began to suspect Mark wasn’t a chip off the old block. The son he had once described as a “retard” was her fault, he had declared. Jeff was unimpressed with the reality that Mark scored at 95 percent or above on most standardized tests given in school.

“You know what I mean,” he’d growled.

Yes, she did. He meant Mark wasn’t a swaggering, sports-crazy, rough-and-tough boy’s boy. Instead, he was thoughtful, given to intense interests— none of which his father shared—and, at least so far, spectacularly unathletic. Ciara could not understand how any of that made Mark unlovable to a parent.

“How’d things go with Mr. Tennert today?” she asked in an attempt to divert him.

It worked. His face brightened. “He said to call him Gabe, you know.”

“Right.” She was trying to stick to Mr. Tennert, who sounded like a neighbor, versus Gabe, who was a sexy guy she found herself thinking about way more often than was healthy.

“It was good.” He chattered on, explaining how today they’d worked on finding the missing angles in triangles and quadrilaterals.

At one point she leveled a look at his plate, and he took a tiny bite then a larger one before he continued his enthusiastic recitation about complementary, supplementary, vertical and adjacent angles. Ciara pinned an interested smile on her face and tuned him out.

“He remembers everything about geometry,” Mark concluded with satisfaction. “That’s good, because I think it’s cool.”

Panic briefly raised its head. What if Gabe Tennert lost interest in helping Mark with his math?

I can research anything, she reminded herself. I am perfectly capable of staying ahead of a seventh grader.

It was humiliating to know she wasn’t buying her own pep talk.

Gabe had also had Mark sawing assorted pieces of scrap lumber. He’d done some miter cuts today, and Gabe had shown him how to mark intended cuts so as not to make a mistake.

“Mark them.” Her son cackled. “Get it?”

She produced a chuckle.

This was Thursday. She hadn’t encountered their neighbor since their Saturday morning confrontation over Watson chasing his horses. Having seen the bone-deep reluctance on his face, she’d honestly been surprised when he’d let Mark come down to his workshop later that same morning. She was even more surprised that he had scheduled appointments thereafter, meaning Mark had disappeared for up to two hours to the neighbor’s both Tuesday and today.

She was trying to keep her distance, but had expressed her gratitude by sending a loaf of freshly baked bread with Mark on Tuesday and a Bundt cake today. Mark had reported an enthusiastic reception for both the cookies and the bread. She asked now about the cake.

“He said you don’t have to send stuff every time.”

“Oh.” Ciara was disconcerted to feel let down. “Does he not like desserts?”

“He had, like, a humongous piece of cake while he helped me with my math.” Lines appeared between Mark’s eyebrows. “So I don’t know why he said that.”

Her spirits rose. “He was probably being polite.”

He stared at her. “Why is it polite to say he doesn’t want your food if he really likes it?”

Ciara told herself it was just the age, or maybe being dense about the games people played in the name of civility was a boy thing. She explained why people said, “Oh, you didn’t have to,” when that wasn’t really what they meant at all. Mark appeared to be listening earnestly, but his expression never cleared.

Her suspicion was confirmed when he said finally, “People are weird.”

Well, yes, they were, but Mark nonetheless had to learn the art of telling polite lies. Right now, if he’d been required to take a standardized test on this particular art, Ciara was afraid he’d score somewhere in the first percentile. He always said what he was thinking.

It seemed like every time she took the phone after he’d spoken to his dad, the first words out of Jeff’s mouth were, “For God’s sake, do you know what he just said to me?”

Um...the truth?

It was surprising how often the truth came out sounding awfully rude.

“When are you going back to Gabe’s?”

“Saturday. Tomorrow he’s going to a house to make measurements for cabinets. I wanted to go with him, but Gabe says I can’t ’cuz it’s going to take him most of the day and he knows I have to do schoolwork.”

“I don’t suppose he often builds cabinets for houses in Goodwater,” she said thoughtfully. She wondered if anyone in this small town could afford him.

“This house is at someplace called Medical Lake. Gabe says it’s called that ’cuz people used to think the lake water cured them of all kinds of diseases.”

In her initial search, she’d browsed houses online in Medical Lake. As in much of Eastern Washington, real-estate prices were staggeringly low compared to the Seattle area.

“There’s sort of a castle in Medical Lake,” she told him. “It was built by an English lord.”

“Can we go see it?” Mark asked eagerly. “Maybe we could go with Gabe.”

She shook her head. “In the first place, he hasn’t invited us. Plus, I think I remember reading the castle has been turned into an apartment house, and there isn’t much to see anymore.”

“You mean, you can rent an apartment in a castle?”

Mark had enjoyed touring Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, British Columbia, almost as much as he’d liked the natural-history displays in the Provincial Museum there. Craigdarroch, built in the late 1880s, was no more a real castle than the one in Medical Lake—which had probably been built in roughly the same decade, come to think of it.

“I wish he’d let me go with him,” Mark said, sounding sad.

Ciara took a deep breath. “Maybe we should invite Gabe to dinner tomorrow night. Or Saturday, if he’ll be back too late tomorrow.”

“Can we?” He pushed back his chair and jumped to his feet. “Can I call him? Right now?”

She hoped this wasn’t a huge mistake. She was torn between discouraging Mark from forming any deep attachment to a man who might lose interest in him any day—and, okay, keeping her own distance for personal reasons—and bribing said man to keep providing something Mark obviously needed desperately.

Something his father would never give him.

“I think this is one invitation that should come from me,” she said firmly. “He needs to know it comes from me.”

“Then will you call him right now?”

“After dinner. Sit,” she ordered.

He sat. From then on, all he talked about was how cool it would be, having Gabe here. He bet Gabe could show him how to make Watson sit. ’Cuz he knew all about animals. Had he told her...?

Oh, Lord. What if Gabe Tennert politely declined her invitation? Mark would be heartbroken.

The phone rang. Once more, Mark erupted from his seat.

“I bet that’s Dad!”

He returned a moment later with her cell phone, his expression downcast. “It’s that man who came out here about the floors.”

She accepted the phone, saying brightly, “It’s still early,” even though she knew damn well Jeff wouldn’t call.

What was she thinking, letting Mark get attached to a man whose only connection to them was a property line?

Even as she greeted the local contractor who was ready to offer a bid on refinishing floors, all she could think about was their next-door neighbor’s slow, deep voice and a face not quite as expressionless as she suspected he wanted it to be.

* * *

CIARA DID LET him call his grandparents that evening, and took a turn talking to them herself. Dad said hello, there was a Mariner game on and gave the phone to Mom, who laughed.

“He started watching so he could sound intelligent when clients commented on games or players or whatever, and now he won’t miss a game. Bridget, too.”

“Bridget?” Ciara repeated. That, she’d have to see to believe.

“You know, if you gave your dad a chance, he could get Mark interested, too.”

Ciara snorted.

Mom laughed again.

“What about you?”

“I still can’t figure out why I’d want to waste hours watching grown men adjust their balls—and I’m not talking about the stitched leather kind—and stare intently at someone crouching behind the plate holding one finger or two fingers down between his thighs. Or, come to think of it, just below his balls.”

Ciara laughed hard enough to get tears in her eyes. Only her mother. “Have you expressed this opinion to Dad and Bridget?”

“Yes. Bridget said there is only one ball, and what am I talking about. Your dad snorted wine out his nose.”

“I miss you,” Ciara said with complete sincerity.

“We miss you, too, honey. We’re dying to see your place. Just let us know when you’re settled enough to welcome visitors.”

“I will,” she promised, disturbed to find herself torn between an aching need to see her family, and a reluctance to let reality intrude on the new life she and Mark were creating.

* * *

FRIDAY, GABE WAS disconcerted by how much he anticipated having dinner with the Malloys, mother and son. He tried to convince himself it was only that he didn’t get good, home-cooked meals very often. His own repertoire was basic and pretty limited. After the samples of her baking he’d devoured, he was willing to bet Ciara would feed him something mouthwatering.

Usually after a long day like this, he’d have stopped for a burger or even a pizza somewhere on the drive home. There weren’t many places to eat out in Goodwater, and when he did occupy a booth in one of the two cafés, people insisted on pausing to talk.

Not like I won’t have to make conversation tonight, he reminded himself, but was perplexed to realize he didn’t so much mind the idea. He was used to Mark; that had to be it. And Ciara—well, she seemed like a comfortable enough woman, except for her looks, which stirred him into a state that wasn’t comfortable at all.

It felt odd to turn into the driveway before his own. The horses wouldn’t like their dinner being late, but they could live with it. He winced at the dust rising to coat his truck. He’d paved his own driveway to avoid jarring and potentially damaging a finished cabinet or piece of furniture, but he was particular enough about his vehicles, keeping them clean had been a bonus.

Before his pickup even rolled to a stop, the front door sprang open and Mark and Watson burst out. Gabe yanked on the emergency brake, turned off the engine and jumped out before the dog could leap up and scratch the paint on his truck.

“Down!” he ordered, and the surprised mutt aborted his delighted spring.

“No leash?” Gabe asked.

The boy’s gallop down the steps had been only slightly slower but considerably less graceful than the dog’s. “He’s getting better. He comes right away when I call. See? Watson. Hey, boy, come here.”

The dog kept big brown eyes trained on Gabe’s face. His tail swung wildly.

“Watson!”

“It’s okay,” Gabe said. “He’s excited because I’m new, that’s all.” He laid a hand on Mark’s thin shoulder and gently squeezed. “You’re right. He seems a little less excitable.”

“Mom makes me take him out for runs all the time.” His face scrunched. “She says I need the exercise, too.”

Gabe laughed. “She’s right.”

“Mom made one of my favorite dinners. I told her I bet you’d like it, too.”

“So what’s this favorite dinner?”

Watson whirled around them as they walked toward the porch. Gabe noted how many boards on the steps were cracked. Might be an ideal example of good, practical carpentry Mark could help him with.

“Manicotti. Mom makes really great manicotti.”

Gabe’s stomach growled. Lunch seemed like a long time ago.

Daisy was waiting on the porch, her tail wagging. He stopped to give her a good scratch and speak softly to her, even though Watson and Mark were seething with impatience. They all entered the house together.

“Mom won’t let Watson in the kitchen when she’s cooking or when we eat,” Mark confided. “Only tonight we’re eating in the dining room—you know, because you’re a guest—so I have to shut him in my bedroom. He might howl.”

“I suppose you can’t put Daisy in with him.”

“Uh-uh. She can’t climb the stairs.”

“She looks good, though,” Gabe observed. “I think she’s walking a little better.”

“Mom’s giving her some pills the vet suggested. Do you know Dr. Roy?”

“He takes care of my horses. Rides in cutting-horse competitions, too.”

“Really?”

Gabe nodded toward the staircase. “Why don’t you go on and take Watson up? I’ll go say hello to your mom.”

“Okay.” The two raced up the stairs, sounding, as Gabe’s mother would have said, like a herd of elephants.

He pushed through the swinging door into the kitchen then stopped, hit with sensory overload. The manicotti smelled amazing, and Ciara was bent over, removing garlic bread from the oven. The sight of her in tight jeans and a frilly lemon-yellow apron made his mouth water in a different way. She either heard the door or his stomach growling again, because she swung around quickly, her eyes startled.

“Oh! I heard your pickup, but I thought maybe Mark had dragged you upstairs to see his room.”

Gabe ambled forward, hoping he looked unthreatening, although he wasn’t sure why it mattered. It might be best if she did find him intimidating. “No, he’s currently dragging Watson upstairs to lock him in solitary confinement.”

Ciara made a face. “I swear that dog’s last family must have let him help himself to food right off their plates. I refuse to gobble down my meals, ready at every moment to defend my food.”

Gabe found himself smiling at the picture. “Might be good for your reflexes.”

“More likely it would cause indigestion.” She tilted her head. “Was he coming right back down? Dinner is ready to go on the table.”

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