Keep Me Safe (2 page)

I spent a good chunk of my time in the last two months at school and wasn’t used to getting home until close to 9:00 p.m. on weeknights because of the longer commute. 

The boy finally saw me and pulled the ear buds out of his ears. I waved slightly as he cut the lawnmower off and walked to meet him halfway, hoping that I could get the introduction out of the way.

“Tyler, are you done? There’s no way you did the whole yard already. Your dad is going to be pissed,” I heard a woman’s voice say from the other side of the yard.

I leaned to the side and saw a woman walking towards us. “Oh, I didn’t realize someone was here,” the woman said as she got closer to us.

Given the manners my mother taught me, I reached out to shake her hand, “Hi, I’m Sadie, I’m your new neighbor. I’m sorry I didn’t stop by sooner to introduce myself.”

I was trying to gauge the look she was giving me. She was a very pretty woman with thick, shoulder length blonde hair and noticeably long eyelashes. She also looked to be around the same age as me, which seemed like a positive thing for a new neighbor. I hadn’t had friends to hang out with for quite some time and just the thought of having her next door was exciting.

“I’m Beth, and this is my son Tyler... he didn’t damage anything at your house did he?”

“No, not at all. The lawn mower woke me, so I figured I might as well come over and say hi.”
Gee, way to make her feel bad.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. Mr. Ramsey next door is so hard of hearing; he said he doesn’t even notice. Your house had been empty for a while, so we just let him do it early so he could avoid this awful heat. We can have him hold off a little while in the mornings.”

“That’s okay. It isn’t a big deal, but I wouldn’t complain if I got to sleep in.” She looked embarrassed, but it was nice of her to try and accommodate me and the fact that I had been woken up.

“I’m a teacher at Prine and sleeping in on a Saturday now and again would be heavenly! Are you in high school Tyler?”

“No, I’m only thirteen.”

Just as Beth and I started to chitchat, a man came around from the other side of the house. He was really tall and had dark hair that almost hit his shoulders but curled up at the ends.  There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t figure it out. He walked over quickly like he had somewhere to be. I felt my body tense up as it had a habit of doing around men I didn’t know. I quickly made myself ease up, my mind wondering how long that reaction was going to last.

“Matt, this is Sadie. She’s the new neighbor who lives next door,” Beth said to him just as he started to say something.

“Sadie, this is my husband Matt.” He reached out to shake my hand and luckily he didn’t notice my hesitation.

“Sorry Sadie, I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to get going. It was nice meeting you. Babe, I have to go pick up the meat from the butcher’s. It needs to marinate for a few hours before we put it on the grill tonight.” Matt kissed Beth on the cheek and took off towards his car before Beth could even reply.

“We’re having a barbeque tonight with some friends and some of Matt’s coworkers. You should come over.  Maybe meet some new people, take your mind off of your job a little bit?”

Beth sounded like she genuinely wanted me to come over and not because Matt had just mentioned the barbeque in front of me. It sounded fun. I could do this. I could start hanging out with people again. Larger crowds had been an anxiety trigger for me for the last couple months, but it was never going to get better unless I made an attempt to fix it.

“Sure, that sounds great! Are you sure I’m not imposing? I’d hate for you to feel like you had to invite me.”

“Not at all, it’s just a bunch of people from Matt’s work and some of my girlfriends. We’d love to have you! Come over about six?”

“Sounds fun, I’ll see you then! Oh, and sorry for interrupting your mowing Tyler.” I waved and turned back towards my house.

I walked back inside, plugged my iPad into the speaker dock and put on my current favorite, James Morrison. His buttery voice was going to be the only thing to keep me calm enough to sort through all the stuff in the boxes piled up everywhere around the house.

I managed to get the entire mass of kitchen boxes put away and most of the things in my bedroom, thanks to lots of good music and a ton of iced coffee. I had ordered all new bedroom furniture with some of the money I had been secretly saving and was giddy when it got delivered last week.

I needed my own little sanctuary to come home to and the blue and brown hues of my comforter set I had chosen were perfect. It had been sometime since I did anything because I wanted to. As much as it was calming, it also felt pretty freeing. My new life was going to be exactly what I made it and I was going to make up for lost time. Starting with tonight!

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I reached for my phone and realized it was already five o’clock.
Shit!
No wonder I was starving. I had been too busy unpacking that I forgot to eat. I jumped in the shower and hoped the fact that I was running behind would keep my nervousness at bay. I started to blow dry my hair, but realized the blow dryer made my golden brown hair too hot, so I didn’t bother drying it all the way because it was turning frizzy. 

I turned on my flat iron and went to find something to wear. I decided on a chevron patterned hot pink and white maxi skirt and a white sleeveless tank top. I didn’t know if we would be outside, but it was warm out still.

Even though it was the end of October, Florida was still too hot for my liking, but the breeze from the beach always felt amazing. I went back to the bathroom and put on my mandatory freckle covering makeup. I hated my freckles with a passion and always covered them up the best I could. I straightened my hair, swept my bangs off to the side and put a little bit of sheer sparkle lip gloss on. 

I took a moment to look at myself in the mirror, “Come on Sadie, you can do this. It’s just one barbeque.” The mini pep talk gave me the push I needed. I walked downstairs, grabbed my keys and left for Beth’s house.

When I knocked on the front door, Tyler opened it and just stood there staring at me. I figured I better say something or we would stand there in the awkward silence just staring at each other. “Hey Tyler, hope it wasn’t too hot when you finished doing the yard earlier. Is your mom here?”

“She’s in the kitchen,” he said as he pointed inside the house and stepped out of the doorway.

I heard a few female voices laughing in the kitchen as I went around the corner and saw Beth standing behind the kitchen island. They had a gorgeous house. Not necessarily the layout of it; since our houses were pretty similar in structure, but the décor. There were family photos on every flat surface, plenty of handmade artwork, several things that I had pinned on Pinterest to make at some point in life–– if I ever found myself having free time.

“Hey Sadie, I’m glad you came! Come on in. Girls, this is our new neighbor, Sadie. She just moved in a couple weeks ago.” Four women including Beth were standing around the kitchen island with various veggie and fruit trays before them.

“Hi,” I said as I waved to them.

“Sadie, this is Rachel, Christa, and Yolanda.”

“Everyone calls me Yoly,” interrupted the woman sitting the furthest from me.

“We all work together at Starbucks part time to keep us sane with kids at home!” Beth said as they all laughed and waved. All I needed to hear was the word Starbucks and I knew we would all get along fine.

The girls seemed to be around my age roughly; probably between thirty and thirty-five. Aside from hinting at all having families, the girls all seemed pretty different. I didn’t feel the need to be a certain way to fit in. That was definitely for the best because along with all the new changes I’d made, I had hoped to add new friends to the mix.

“I’m a coffee addict, so I think you ladies are my new best friends!” I laughed with them and sat down to snack on the food on the kitchen island.

We had been talking for quite a bit when Matt came in from the backyard. “Beth, are the steaks and burgers ready for the grill? We need some more beer too. Where’s the other cooler?”

Beth opened the door that went to the garage, pointed to the other cooler and put the huge tray of burgers and steaks on top so he could carry it all. “Now hurry! We’re hungry!”

Matt smacked her on the ass and she slapped him playfully. “Thanks Mrs. Stevens, you’d make any guy jealous of me!” He picked up the cooler and tray, kicked the door closed behind him and headed back outside. I could see a handful of guys gathered around the fire pit they had going in the backyard when he opened the door.
Stevens? Officer Stevens. They couldn’t be related, could they?
I thought back to Officer Steven's piercing blue eyes and
that
uniform. What was it about guys in uniform?

The other girls and I grabbed our wine and a plate of food each and headed outside to the backyard. I looked around at all the guys to see if by some chance the hottest police officer I had ever seen was here; no luck. Stevens isn’t an uncommon name. I didn't know why I was getting myself excited anyway.

The last thing I needed right now was a man. It was the very thing I was trying to get away from. I was having a lot of fun though. I was really happy that I decided to come over because it had been a while since I completely relaxed amongst company. No one needed anything from me or was telling me to do something.

After eating a delicious dinner, we finally put all the food away and put on some music to just relax a little bit. I looked down at my watch and realized it was already 8:30. My first night out in a long time was zipping by. I was having such a wonderful time and I didn’t want it to end.

Before heading back outside, I excused myself and made my way to use the bathroom. I stood there looking in the mirror. I finger brushed through my hair a little bit and reapplied my lip gloss.

“You’re doing great. See? No big deal,” I said quietly while looking in the mirror.

As I went to leave the bathroom, I heard Tyler down the hall talking to someone. Instead of opening the door, I decided to not open it and disrupt their conversation.

“Hey Uncle Parker, why are you so late? Did you bring my video game back?”

“Sorry Ty, I had to finish something at work. I left your video game at home. Can I give it to your dad in the morning when he stops by?” I heard a familiar voice talking to Tyler.
Where do I know this voice from?

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Alright, thanks bud. Where are your mom and dad?”

“They’re out back.”

“Cool, I’ll be out there in a minute. I just need to use the bathroom real quick.”

I put my lip gloss back in my pocket and quickly left the bathroom so I wouldn’t have a run in with Tyler’s uncle in the hallway. His voice was deep, dark and familiar. I didn’t know how I’d react to being alone with a man in a darkened hallway. Sometimes my paranoia got the best of me in the most unsuspecting times. A pain in the ass.

I opened the bathroom door and looked down the hallway and didn’t see anyone coming. I walked back towards the kitchen when I heard something hit the floor before I turned the corner. I realized my lip gloss had fallen out of my tiny pocket and onto the hardwood floor.
Damn it
. I bent down to pick it up. When I stood, I ran shoulder to shoulder into a hard body.

It knocked me back a little bit causing my back to brush the hallway wall. I steadied myself and lowered my head down and muttered “sorry”. When my eyes came back up, they met the piercing blue eyes I was fantasizing about earlier, the same ones I had seen last night.
Holy shit.

I’m not sure how long we stood there staring at each other. Seconds seemed like minutes. When I focused, I realized that he had a slight grin on his face and I felt my face flush. I wanted to speak, but I knew that nothing but jumbled words would come out of my mouth. I really wasn't expecting to run into Officer Stevens again.

“Hey, sorry I didn’t see you there; I thought everyone was out back.” He stuck his hand out to shake mine and I managed to reach out and shake it without any hesitation. “I’m Parker, Matt’s brother.”

“Nice to meet you Parker, I’m Sadie…”

“Oh...Montgomery, right? Shit, I pulled you over last night.” He looked a little embarrassed, but the look on his face was utterly adorable.

“Yup, that was me. Thanks for not giving me a ticket...it would’ve made this moment much more awkward,” my voice trailed off and I tried to force a smile to make him feel better. I wasn’t really sure what else to say. 

“I didn’t know you knew Beth and Matt.”

“I just moved in next door. I met Beth and Matt this morning and Beth invited me over for the barbeque.”

“Oh cool, I figured you had to be pretty close to them since you lived on Radcliffe. He put his finger up like he wanted me to wait, “I want to finish this conversation, but if you don’t mind, I really need to hit the head.”

“Oh…uh, yeah–sure. I was going back outside anyway,” We shifted positions in the cramped hallway and I walked back towards the kitchen. For some reason, he rattled me to my core, but not in the scared way that was typical for the last two years.

I headed out back to join everyone. They were all sitting in a circle around the fire pit they’d started after dinner because the night air had turned chillier than normal as the sun set. I poured myself more wine and joined the group.

“So Sadie, the girls and I were talking about going to see a movie next weekend. Something with a hot guy in it. I don’t even remember what the name of it is. Do you want to come with us?” Christa asked as I sat down in my chair. “Adam’s going to watch the kids, so I’m going to make plans before he has a chance to change his mind.”

“I’d love to. My weekends are pretty open now that marching band season is over. Just let me know what time. I still have a lot of unpacking to do, so if you don’t remind me I’ll forget.”