Даниэла Стил - Neighbors

“I hope you’re right.” He felt concerned for her now, he liked her, and he also realized how alone she was. She had one daughter, whom she wasn’t close to and never saw, three thousand miles away, and no one else, except the couple he didn’t trust.

He walked home from Meredith’s house, and thought about her all the way. He wondered if she’d really go out to dinner with him. He wanted to spend time with her without half a dozen other people around. He wanted to know more about her, and what had driven her behind her walls. He hoped she would stay engaged in life now, for her sake, as well as his.

—

When they went to their room that night, Tyla saw the familiar look in Andrew’s eye. She knew it well. He started to say something to her about going to the shelter again, and she turned on him with a look he’d never seen before. Will and Daphne were brushing their teeth and for a minute they were alone. She hissed at him almost like a snake.

“If you touch me, or hit me again, I’m calling the police, and I’ll tell everyone in this house what you do to me.” He pulled his arm back to hit her, and just as quickly realized that she meant it.

“Who have you been talking to?” he said to her, taking a step toward her menacingly, but he put his arm down.

“I don’t need to talk to anyone. I’m never going to let you hit me again.” She said it coldly and clearly as their children walked back into the room. Andrew didn’t say another word. He got into bed, and turned his back to her, and he didn’t lay a hand on her that night.

Chapter 6

Arthur was the first of them to get his contractor to come to the house, ten days after the earthquake. He had cleverly used his age, the fact that he was blind, and preparing for a concert in two weeks to get the owner of the company to come and assess the damage. There were deep tears in several ceilings, two of which had to be torn out and reinforced. His bathtub was cracked right down the middle, his kitchen cabinets had come loose from the wall, and all his plates were broken. The floors had been torn up, and several light fixtures were hanging by a thread. In the midst of all of it, miraculously, his beautiful piano was untouched. His housekeeper, Frieda, had hired a crew to remove all the broken glass. She had made a list of furniture that had to be repaired or replaced. Frieda was elderly but efficient, and Peter helped with whatever he could in the evenings.

The contractor estimated two to three weeks of work in the house, but once the windows and bathtub were replaced, Arthur could live there while the work continued, which he wanted to do, so he could rehearse for his concert on his own piano. He had invited the entire group to attend his concert, since it was in San Francisco.

The contractor got a glazier there in record time, and installed the bathtub, and two weeks after the earthquake, Arthur told Meredith, regretfully, that he was moving back to his house the next day. The power on their entire street had come on two days before, while three blocks away, the residents still had no electricity. The gas lines had been checked at all their homes and found to be intact, so the gas and electricity were on, and they had lights. Arthur was genuinely sad to leave the group. They had become a family after living through the aftermath of the earthquake together.

Meredith organized a dinner for him the night before he left and planned the menu carefully, since the grocery stores and most businesses were open again. Debbie was still being chilly with Meredith, ever since she had refused to believe that one of them had stolen the Fabergé box that was still missing. Meredith decided not to worry about it. She had more important things to do.

The dinner for Arthur and Peter was a festive affair, and she served her best wines and champagne, which irked Jack immeasurably. He acted as though his personal reserves were being depleted. He and Debbie occasionally drank some of Meredith’s best vintages when they could get away with it, and had become connoisseurs of French Bordeaux. He preferred Lynch-Bages, while Debbie favored Chateau Margaux.

Arthur was very touched by the trouble Meredith went to, and since the power was back on, they ate in the dining room. The dinner was elegant and stately, even though they all dined in jeans and sweatshirts and the rough clothes they’d been wearing for two weeks. And in spite of herself, Debbie prepared a delicious dinner. Meredith knew what everyone liked to eat by then, and went out of her way to pick a dinner Arthur would love. The next day, Meredith, Jack, and Peter helped Arthur move back to his home. There were workmen everywhere, and the repairs were underway. He looked ecstatic the moment he sat down at his beloved concert grand piano.

Ava was heartbroken when Peter moved out, and she went to the house every night, with the excuse of helping Arthur. Five days later, Joel and Ava moved out, and went back to his place. They were tearing the house apart, and putting it back together. All of which left only Tyla and Andrew still with Meredith three weeks after the earthquake. They’d had trouble getting a construction company to come and start working on their house. They finally found a small outfit that agreed to do it, and a month to the day after the earthquake, they were ready to move out and go home.

Meredith helped Tyla get the children settled in, and she felt bereft when she went home to her empty house. She had dinner on a tray in her study that night, and only picked at it. Debbie was offended when she declined to eat with them, but she had lost the habit of sharing her evenings with them. All she could think of were Will and Daphne, and she was worried about Tyla. Andrew was back to his normal office schedule by then, and in a better mood, but alone with Tyla at night, Meredith had no idea what he would do. Daphne’s admission that her father sometimes hit her mother had terrified her, and Tyla still hadn’t admitted it to her.

The only thing that cheered her was Arthur’s concert at the symphony at Davies Hall the day after the Johnsons moved out. They had all agreed to have dinner together afterward. Meredith invited Charles Chapman to join them, and he was delighted. The OES was still swamped, but he said that things were slowing down a little. They were still trying to help people find short- and long-term housing, but the shelters were closing down one by one, schools were open again, some in temporary government locations, and Meredith was back to her quiet life behind her walls. She dropped in on Arthur occasionally, and noticed that Ava was there whenever Joel was busy or out of town. The night of Arthur’s performance, she looked incredible in a short sexy black dress that showed off her breathtaking cleavage and her long legs. Peter looked stunned when he saw her.

Arthur’s performance was superb, and dinner afterward at a Greek restaurant they all loved was a jovial affair. They were the last ones in the place and Charles, Peter, Arthur, Joel, and Ava came for drinks at Meredith’s house afterward. Andrew and Tyla had to go home to let their babysitter leave, and at two A.M. Arthur finally conceded that he was tired. Peter took him home to go to bed, and then went back to Meredith’s to join the others. In the past month, they had become their own little family block party, and Tyla planned to invite Meredith to dinner whenever Andrew allowed it.

The morning after Arthur’s concert, Tyla told him that Meredith was coming to dinner that night, to test the waters.

“Again? Why?”

“We lived with her for almost a month. She’s alone now. The least we can do is have her to dinner occasionally.”

“Haven’t you seen enough of her? Why don’t you just have her move in with us?” Andrew said, and then slammed the door to their bedroom when he went to dress for work. The day was off to a bad start but he didn’t forbid it. Meredith could feel the tension when she arrived, and Tyla looked nervous when she put dinner on the table. Andrew was furious when she burned the rice, and snapped at Will and told him to get his elbows off the table. Daphne was clutching Martha to her, which Meredith knew now she did whenever she felt anxious. She never let go of the doll for an instant the day after her father had hit her mother. It was always the same day Will had one of his bad stomachaches that kept him home from school, so he could be with his mother.