Даниэла Стил - Neighbors

“How long have you been working on it?” Ava asked, when he mentioned his book to her. He seemed so intent and passionate about it that it touched her. He had loved writing since he was a boy and was determined to make his family proud of him one day.

“Two years. I have a job in the daytime, and I write at night when Arthur is practicing, or after he goes to bed. He doesn’t need much help from me. I’m hoping to finish it in a few months. Working for Arthur has given me the opportunity to spend time on it and make some headway at night.”

“I used to dream about being in film production, but it never happened,” Ava admitted shyly. “I was freelancing as a tradeshow model, and Joel gave me a job as a receptionist at one of his startups. Eventually, after we started dating, he made me quit so I’d be available to him. I haven’t worked in two years, so I’m taking classes now in graphic design, which I love, so I can get a better job one day, after…” Her voice trailed off and Peter understood. There was no future to her relationship with Joel, and she knew it. He wondered if she was with him only for his lifestyle and the perks, or if she loved him. But he didn’t know her well enough to ask. She seemed like a sincere person, but Joel’s lifestyle would be hard for most people to resist.

“It’s nice that you have dreams,” she said softly, as their eyes met, and Peter felt an electric charge run through him. Everything about her fascinated him, not just her body, but her mind, her drive to do something better with herself. She seemed like a sympathetic person. He liked talking to her. He wondered if Joel ever did. He made it so obvious that he was with her for her stunning body and her looks. It embarrassed Peter for her. He knew he had no right to, but he felt protective of her, although he barely knew her.

“You have dreams too,” Peter reminded her, “or you wouldn’t be taking classes.” She smiled. He understood. She knew that her time with Joel was finite. He never stayed with a woman for more than two years. He had told her that in the beginning, and it had been slightly more than that now. She was on borrowed time. She knew that Joel didn’t love her. He enjoyed her company, but women were interchangeable to him, like cars. And one of these days he would find a newer model, give her a generous gift, or an apartment, and be gone. She’d been thinking about it a lot recently. It made her work even harder on her classes, and she was hoping to graduate soon. She had to get a new computer now, so she could continue her classes and complete her design assignments. Several of her professors had said in their reviews of her work that she had real talent.

“I’d better get to work,” Peter said as he stood up. “Before Arthur wakes up from his nap. I’m not usually with him in the daytime, just at night. He never stops.” He smiled at Ava. It had been nice talking to her.

They walked upstairs together, and they each disappeared into their rooms. Peter had the pages of his book in front of him on the table, and a pen in his hand, and all he could do was stare at it and think of Ava. He’d never been as obsessed with any woman in his life, and there was nothing he could do about it. She belonged to someone else. He was asking himself how could someone like him compete with Joel Fine? He had no money, two uninteresting minor jobs, he was writing a novel, which would probably never get published, and he lived in someone else’s house. He had nothing to offer her, or to dazzle her with. Ava, with all her beauty, brains and youth, was like Joel’s Ferrari, totally beyond his reach, and all he could do was dream. He loved being in the same house with her, but he hoped they moved back to Arthur’s house soon, before he lost his mind, obsessed with her. Just thinking about her made him long for a future that would never be even remotely possible.

Chapter 4

Charles Chapman’s visits to check on them every day were beginning to seem familiar to all of them. He chatted with them, and kept them abreast of the progress around the city, to repair the damage from the earthquake. Three days after it had devastated the city, they were still digging people out. The next time Charles stopped by for coffee in the morning, Peter asked to volunteer for the Office of Emergency Services. He wanted to do something more useful than just keeping Arthur company. And Arthur was managing well with his white cane in Meredith’s safe, comfortable home. And there were plenty of people for him to talk to. He had asked Arthur’s permission, and he thought Peter volunteering was an excellent idea. There were enough people around to assist him if he needed help with some small task until Peter got back.

The others were startled when Peter mentioned it, and Charles was pleased. He told Peter where to report. He said they needed all the help they could get. Two hours later, Peter took off, in work boots and jeans, with a pair of gardening gloves Meredith gave him, and they wished him luck. He knew it would be rigorous work and deeply upsetting at times. Not everyone they pulled out of the rubble would be alive, but there had been amazing stories about infants pulled out of the debris, old people, small children. Many or even most of them had survived.

“We ought to do something like that,” Ava said at lunch after he left, speaking to Meredith and Tyla.

“Digging people out of the rubble? I don’t think I’m strong enough,” Tyla said, worried.

“Not that, but we could serve food at one of the shelters that have been set up, or help at a first aid station. There must be something we can do.” They all felt slightly guilty, living in comfort and safety in Meredith’s palatial home, while others in the city were enduring unimaginable hardships and had lost everything.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Meredith commented. “Why don’t we? Why don’t we just turn up and offer our services?” She turned to Tyla then. “You’re a nurse, at least you know what you’re doing. But I could serve food, or hand out clothes.” Ava nodded agreement.

“I haven’t been a nurse in a long time,” Tyla said shyly, but all three of them liked the idea, and decided to go down to the nearest shelter at a public school in the Marina, to see what there was for them to do. “Who could I leave Will and Daphne with?” Tyla asked Meredith.

“Debbie can keep an eye on them,” Meredith volunteered, and went to explain it to Debbie after lunch. She looked anything but pleased at the idea.

“I don’t know anything about kids. I’m not a nanny,” she said, looking miffed.

“You don’t need to be. They’re not infants. Plant them in front of the TV. They have iPads. They can entertain themselves.” Debbie told Jack about it after everyone left the kitchen.

“We have to get rid of them. These people are all over the house, and taking over her life. I’m watching fifteen years of hard labor and planning go up in smoke.” He nodded agreement. He had been observing the same thing and trying to come up with a plan to scare them off and encourage them to leave.

“I’m working on some ideas.”

“Meanwhile, I’m a babysitter now.”

“Just go along with it. We’ll get them out of here soon,” he said, with a look that would have frightened Meredith if she’d seen it. They were desperate to reclaim their turf and their power over her.

“Not soon enough for me,” she said under her breath with a murderous expression.

Joel was downtown meeting some of his employees at his office, since the police had let them in. They were trying to salvage what they could from the rubble in the office. Andrew was at the hospital, and Peter was volunteering with the OES. Meredith told Arthur that the three women were leaving for a few hours, Jack and Debbie were available to help him, and he said he’d try to entertain the children. Maybe a piano lesson, he suggested, and Tyla smiled.