Love Thy Neighbor

3

    Christian's eyes widened. For more than one reason. The first, she realized, she'd spoken all those words in what felt like two seconds. The second thing, she was wearing a white dress. She wasn't wearing much underneath. The rain had soaked through her clothing, leaving everything she had on display for Christian to ogle.

    After a moment of perusing her body, he seemed to shudder the thoughts away. It seemed she wasn't the only one to have unseemly thoughts about the neighbor. He cleared his throat, that model-like smile returning to his face.

    "I have some tools; I'll be glad to come over and take a look. First," he grabbed a hoodie from just past her view inside his home, handing it to her. "You might want to put this on. I'll explain to Devin if you don't want to."

    She took the hoodie without hesitation, sliding it on despite the humid air. Once she was back in her own home, she'd change into dry clothes that weren't white. She muttered a quick thank you before he retrieved his tools. Why couldn't she have one conversation with this man where she didn't want to dig her heels into his ass?

    A thought occurred to her then. Why didn't she want to do that to her own husband? She was sexually attracted to him without a doubt, and yet, she hadn't had these kinds of thoughts about him. Ever. She tried to now, instead of Devin's face appearing, Christian's appeared.

    This wasn't good. This was a bad thing. As happy as she was to have moved here, would it be too much to ask Devin to move somewhere else so soon? She couldn't. Not after Devin went through all he did to get them the house he did, all the hours he put in at the hospital, the hours he continues to put into the hospital, all for her to be happy. To have this house, in Florida. He did so much for her, she couldn't' rip away his efforts now.

    Christian rejoined her with his tools in one hand, an umbrella in the other. He held it over her head like a gentleman. "Let's fix your house."

    She led him to her home, through the door, and straight to the leak.

    Devin had set a bowl to collect the rain water while she'd been gone. She knew she couldn't have been at Christian's more than ten minutes and yet the large bowl seemed ready to overflow like a waterfall.

    Christian let out a low whistle. "Yeah, that's not a pretty one." He lowered his eyes to her. "Your husband up there?"

    "Should be. I'll let him know you're here while I change." She took off the hoodie and handed it back to him. He took it without a word. "Now we don't have anything to explain to my husband."

    It sounded like such a dirty secret they kept. Like no one should ever know he was courteous enough to give her a hoodie to cover her wet body that revealed everything. A forbidden secret. Was this going to be the first of many?

    As she thought that, a shiver went down her spine. Her eyes fluttered for a moment. They locked eyes once more before she turned and darted up the stairs without looking back.

    At the top of the stairs, she saw Devin kneeling in front of the water closet. "I think I found it." He murmured, hearing her come up. "Christian here with tools?"

    "Yes." She replied. "He's waiting for you downstairs."

    "Okay." He nodded, standing up, taking in her soaking frame. "It's raining harder than I thought."

    "I'm going to put on some warm dry clothes. I'll cook up lunch while you two do your thing, okay?"

    "Sounds good." He placed a kiss to her temple before going down the steps.

    She heard the two of them talking as she walked into her bedroom. Clothes poured out from the closet. Devin wasn't the tidiest of people to live with. Oh well.

    Ten minutes later she rejoined the men wearing a long sleeved sapphire colored sweater and some leggings. She walked past them and into the kitchen. She felt eyes on her as she walked, and when she turned back, she met her neighbor's eyes instead of her husband's. Another shiver down her spine.

    When Melodie brought out a simple lunch of sandwiches and chips, the guys had just finished fixing the leak. They sat on the couch, each taking a sandwich she offered to them.

    "Are we all good now?"

    "Christian is a man that can do it all it seems." Devin says through a bite of his sandwich. "All he did was tighten a screw on the something or other." He shook his head. He never really was a handyman, though he did try, it just wasn't his forte. Saving lives was his forte.

    "Thank you Christian, really." Melodie started. "You probably saved us a fortune. What can we do to repay you?"

    "Nothing." He said immediately. Both Devin and Melodie glared at him. Neither of them liked being in the debt of someone else. "That's what neighbors are for. You two are nice people, why can't I do something nice for nice people and receive nothing in turn. You already gave me lunch, that's enough. Thank you, by the way, it's delicious."

    "There must be something." She tried again.

    Christian wasn't having it. "Nope." He opened his mouth to say something else when a phone began to ring.

    It was Devin's. He groaned before picking it up. "It's the hospital." He answered the phone and walked out of the room, leaving his wife with the neighbor.

    "He's a doctor." Melodie found herself explaining. A sad tone mixed into her voice. "Today was his first day off since we moved in. I just wanted him to have one day to relax without going to the hospital."

    Christian nodded in understanding. "I can't imagine what he does. Kudos to him." He lifted his sandwich in salute. "I couldn't do what he does."

    "Neither could I. It's why I'm a writer who works from home."

    He nearly choked on a laugh. Melodie wasn't amused.

    "What's funny about that?"

    "Not funny." His laughter stopped before it fully started. "I apologize for that. It's coincidence. I'm a writer too. I'm in sports journalism. Get paid to write about the games I watch on television. What about you?"

    "Oh." She sighed, keeping an eye on Devin's pacing in the kitchen. His face was long, she knew they were trying to call him in while he tried to insist on helping over the phone. He wanted this day off too. "I'm a novelist. Or I'm trying to be anyways. I've only done a few blog posts. I'm trying though."

    "You'll get there." His voice was full of a hope that sent her heart fluttering like a butterfly on its first flight. "I'm sure you will."

    "She definitely will." Devin walked back into the room. He gave Melodie a sad smile. "As much as I tried to help over the phone, they need me to go in. I'll try to be back as soon as I can."

    Christian stood then, heading for the door. Devin was right behind him. "See you later, Melodie."

    She gave a wave.

    Devin glanced at her one last time in the doorway. "We'll have our day off together soon, I promise you."

    She wanted more than anything to believe him, yet she couldn't find that feeling within her. It had been so long since they'd slept together. With the move and the new job, Devin just couldn't either find the time or energy, sometimes it was both. It was wearing down on both of them.

    Melodie cleaned up the mess, washing the dishes in the sink when she saw it. A look up revealed a rainbow in the aftermath of the storm. She'd always been one to wish upon the end of a rainbow, see what luck would bring her.

    She followed the rainbow trail and nearly collapsed when she found the end of the rainbow.

    It ended at Christian's house.