“Mom! Come here!”
Jen left her seat and hustled toward Ashley’s frantic voice. She found the front door open, and Ashley standing on the concrete pathway after she arrived. “What is it?”
Ashley pointed next door.
“Holy shit,” Jen remarked, stunned. “Wow, they actually sold it.”
“Didn’t you say that it would be for sale forever? That it’s way overpriced?”
“I thought it would be,” Jen confessed. “I wonder if they got the asking price?”
Their neighbors put their house up for sale fourteen long months ago. She couldn’t believe how much they asked for it even in this extremely hot seller’s market, and to be completely honest, she didn’t want them to move either. The Tappins were perfect neighbors. The older couple mostly kept to themselves. There was no noise, no disturbances, and the sixty-something-year-old Italian couple was extremely friendly whenever they encountered one another. Part of her dreaded potential screaming kids or some rich kid who constant partied since his parents covered all of his bills. She wasn’t sure about a lot of things these days, but there was no denying that their new neighbors wouldn’t be anywhere near as great as the Tappins.
“Who do you think is moving in?”
“No idea,” answered Jen, still curious if they’d received the asking price.
Ashley had different concerns. “Hopefully it’s someone cute.”
“Is Mike aware of your boy-crazy ways?” she asked, plenty jealous of her daughter. She would kill to be a carefree eighteen-year-old girl again.
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with looking,” Ashley grinned. Her boyfriend couldn’t get mad at her for taking a peak at some sexy stud next door. That wasn’t cheating!
Jen wouldn’t argue against having some eye candy around. There definitely wasn’t anything to look at in her own house. Maybe some cute high school boy wouldn’t be the world’s worst neighbor?
“Oh my God!” Ashley shouted dramatically. “What if Ryan Gosling moved in?”
Jen burst out into laughter. “What?”
“How awesome would that be?” Ashley smiled, staring at their neighbor’s house.
“Why would Ryan Gosling buy a house in Upstate New York?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he likes the mountains and the wilderness? Or maybe he’s in love with me?”
Jen continued to laugh.
“And he needs to be in my presence so he bought the house next door,” Ashley went on with her biggest fantasy. “And we’ll start dating, and fall in love, and get married…”
“Quite the imagination there, kiddo.”
“Hey, a girl can dream,” Ashley said, smirking. “Okay, so I have permission to date Ryan Gosling if he moves in next door, right?”
Jen nodded with a sarcastic smile. “Sure, I think I’ll take my chances with that one…”
“So, who’s your guy?”
Her eyebrows perked up at the sound of Ashley’s question. “What?”
“You have one guy to be able to do anything with if he moves in next door,” her daughter explained. “Who’s it gonna be?”
There was little question of who held the sacred title of being her all-time celebrity crush. “Pierce Brosnan.”
Ashley’s brow swiftly furrowed, confusion replacing her former grin. “Who?”
She questioned if she’d actually given birth to the brunette standing next to her. “What!? Are you serious?”
“Never heard of him,” the teen admitted. “Is he an actor or something?”
“Oh my God…” Jen groaned, reaching into her pocket to retrieve her phone. “He was super popular in the nineties.”
“Jesus,” Ashley chuckled. “What is he like, sixty?”
Jen held out her phone for Ashley to see for herself. “Sixty-eight. Here, take a look.”
Ashley’s eyes lit up the moment that she saw the hunk on the screen. “Whoa! This guy is sixty-eight!? Um…yeah, I’d get some of that.”
“Oh my God!” Jen laughed, positive that she had in fact carried her favorite person in the world in her womb for nine months. No daughter of hers could possibly hate Pierce Bronsan. “You’d get some of that?”
The young brunette was all business. “Absolutely. He was James Bond?”
“Yep, and he was the best one too.”
“Oh yeah, I’m all over that” Ashley whistled as she scrolled through the pictures with her finger. “Oh wait, I’m sorry. I forgot that he’s yours. I get Ryan Gosling and you get Pierce Brosnan. Deal?” she proposed with her hand extended.
Jen accepted her handshake with a smirk. “You got yourself a deal.”
“Alright, I gotta get going,” said Ashley. “I’ll see you at my game later.”
“Have a good day, baby!” she shouted, watching Ashley hustle to her car. She turned back to her neighbor’s house and grinned. Ryan Gosling, Pierce Brosnan, or just someone who put at least a little effort into his personal appearance would be a godsend at this point. She had no intention of cheating, but Ashley was absolutely right.
There wasn’t anything wrong with looking.
Chapter 2 — Meet the New Neighbor
Forty-Two Days Later. October 27th. 5:43 PM.
Jen enjoyed a novel on her Kindle while she relaxed on the swing in the backyard. There was an undeniable urge to savor every second of the remaining fall weather before an early winter storm rolled through next week. The forecasters already called for six to eight inches of snow, and it wasn’t even November!
But there wasn’t any snow in the forecast on this sixty-two degree day. Nope, she was dressed comfortably in a pair of black yoga pants and a purple tank top, and the entire backyard was hers. That wasn’t much of a surprise, though. Tom immediately ran downstairs after work to play a new video game that he’d picked up on his way home, per usual.
Her contempt for her husband grew by the day for the last decade, but it’d become exponentially worse over the past week. Why couldn’t she find any redeeming qualities when she looked at him? Why couldn’t she think of anything that she respected or admired? In fact, she found herself growing jealous of her friends’ relationships.
Yes, some of her girlfriends were with assholes, but at least their men had their shit together. The idea of Tom being a fit jerk with a high sex drive had become a fantasy. She didn’t even need him to be in good shape at this point! She would kill for the sliding glass door that led to the backyard to open, and for Tom to waddle in her direction before he grabbed a handful of her hair and dragged her upstairs to their bedroom for a long overdue pounding.
She didn’t even ask to be seduced or talked to. She just needed to be fucked properly! And as unappealing as he was to her physically, she would be more than willing to let him have his way with her if it resulted in some great sex. She desperately needed it.
The sliding glass door opened, but it certainly wasn’t her dream guy.
It was Ashley.
“Mom!”
“Hey,” Jen acknowledged Ashley with a significantly less enthused than the tone she’d been greeted with.
The teen pointed over at their neighbor’s house. “The movers are here!”
Jen jumped to her feet, visibly excited. This moment had been on her mind for over a month. The mystery of who was moving in next door would be answered in moments!
She followed Ashley into the house, through the kitchen and living room, and out the front door. There, the two of them were met by a moving truck with what appeared to be college-aged boys unloading furniture and boxes.