They were an odd family. The children all played with each other on the front lawn, but never with any of the other children in the neighborhood, nor did Denise see any friends outside their block making visits. She was nearly prepared to send one of her daughters into the house to see just what was going on behind closed doors, but her husband told her she couldn't use their children for clandestine missions.
So one morning Denise waited for Luz to come outside to get the newspaper off her front porch and stepped out at the same time, ready to get more answers of her own.
"Oh, good morning, Luz!" Denise said loudly, her voice full of cheer. "I feel like I've hardly seen you since you moved in. How are you?"
Luz's smile was small, but she stepped off her front porch to talk to the nosy neighbor anyway. "I'm well, thank you. Just trying to rest between drop-offs and pick-ups and getting the house in order."
School, Denise thought. That was an easy topic to learn more about the young woman and her family. "Have you found a school for your older girls yet? Getting into a good school around here can be tough with all those pesky waitlists. I'm actually vice president of the PTA at the private school just ten minutes from here. I'm sure I could-"
"Oh, that's so kind of you, Denise, but we got them into a school just fine," Luz said.
Denise looked at Luz with her head tilted to the side in disbelief. "Which school, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Saint Margaret's, I think? I would've been fine with them going to public school, but my husband insisted it was a great school, so," Luz trailed off. She didn't want to tell Denise that the reason her husband insisted on a private school was because Saint Margaret's promised discretion and came with a good security setup. He didn't want any photos or information about the kids leaked out if he could help it.
"That's... That's the school Melanie goes to. It has a three year wait-list," Denise muttered. Luz and her invisible husband were becoming more and more of a mystery by the second.
Ignoring Denise's last statement, she gave her a kind smile. "That's great. We should have her and Ynez get together before the school year starts. I know Ynez would love to know at least one person before starting at a new school."
Denise nodded, smiled, and told Luz what a great idea that was before waving goodbye and heading back inside her own home.
A few weeks later Denise and her family were trying to enjoy dinner, but the noise coming from across the street was making it impossible for her to do so.
Luz and her family were throwing another party. The first one was on the Fourth of July, and the house across the street was up past midnight listening to music and laughing loudly, and setting off their own fireworks, but Denise couldn't actually prove the last one.
She longed for her quiet neighborhood to return to the way it was before her neighbors moved in. What could she possibly be doing anyway? Denise thought sourly as she cut into her chicken. She's at least seven months pregnant. Pregnant or not, Luz and her rowdy family continued to party all throughout dinner.
The rowdy family was also something Denise had grown to dislike since her neighbors moved in. Even when there wasn't a party, it felt like someone was there every weekend in Luz's backyard, talking and laughing well into the night. Denise hadn't filed a noise complaint just yet because it was summer, but if this kept up when the school year started, she wasn't above it.
As dinner finished up, there was a knock on the door. Caroline, her oldest daughter, and Melanie went to get the door while Denise and her husband cleaned up the kitchen. She heard her girls talking to someone on the other side, but couldn't tell what was being said. After a minute, they came back with Ynez in tow.
Strangers Part 2
Start from the beginning
