Chapter 12

12

NIALL

I got home, hating that I’d just watched the spark drain from Tallulah’s eyes. She was all alone in that big house and, worse, all alone in the world.

Maybe I had been too hard on her before because I really missed that teasing, spitfire personality. I just hadn’t seen it at all since Saturday night.

Before the kiss.

It now seemed that everything would be divided into before and after that damn kiss. A kiss I still couldn’t get out of my head but really needed to work on just forgetting about.

I also needed to work on getting back to a place where she and I could talk freely—preferably with that spark in her eyes. I hadn’t meant to scratch where it wasn’t itching earlier. In fact, I hadn’t even really thought she would answer my questions.

Frankly, I’d been expecting her to deflect. When she had answered, my curiosity had gotten the better of me. I’d seen what it had cost her to tell me the truth, though. It certainly hadn’t been easy on her, but I’d also seen the moment she’d made the decision to open up. It had been a beautiful thing.

In that moment, she’d trusted me. Not enough to tell me the whole truth, but enough to give me the basics, which I suspected was more than she’d given most.

I was still skeptical about that college boyfriend of hers. Carter .

There was definitely more to that story. Her tone had changed when she’d spoken about him. For some reason, she’d been guarded about their relationship when she’d been far more matter of fact about the rest.

I wished I could let it go, but I knew the mystery was going to keep eating at me. It might not be any of my business, but I still wanted to know her and something told me that whatever had happened had played a big role in who she was becoming post-Carter.

I simply didn’t want that spark to go out in her eyes when she told me the rest of it, though. I wanted that spitfire to tell me the story, and I desperately wanted to give her back the confidence to find said spitfire within herself once more.

As I thought it over, I strode to my kitchen, happy that she’d agreed to decorate my house for the street fair. It meant she’d be spending some more time here this week. Hopefully, that would allow me the opportunity to right all the many wrongs I’d committed against her in the last couple days.

After pulling a ready-made meal out of my fridge and popping it in the oven, I poured myself a drink and picked up my phone to make a few calls, the first and most important of which was to Jake.

“Hey, dude. You feeling any better yet?”

I groaned. “Would you just quit it with that? I’m fine.”

“Sure, of course, you are,” he said, not sounding like he believed me any more than he had when he’d left my office. “What’s up?”

“Tallulah agreed to help with the party this weekend. I want you on it with her.” As I spoke to him, I took my drink to my front porch with me, hoping for some inspiration for the fair as I looked out at my neighborhood. “We need all hands on deck for this one, Jake. It’s important to the community around here.”

“You got it,” he agreed without hesitation. “Whatever she needs. We’ll make it work. It’s going to be great. I’m even a little bit excited now.”

“I’m glad,” I said dryly. “Hey, did you know?—”

“Hello, Niall,” Miss Jenny, my elderly neighbor, called over to me from across the street, cutting me off.

She was walking her ancient toy poodle, Noodles, and as always, she made a beeline to come talk to me as soon as she spotted me outside the house. She had no qualms about stopping to talk even though I was on the phone, and she usually pretended she didn’t even notice the device in my hand.

This time, I got ahead of it. “I’m going to have to call you back, buddy.”

“Tell Miss Jenny I said hi.” He chuckled before hanging up, knowing the drill well enough by now to know that my conversation with her would last longer than he wanted to hold on for.

I smiled at the woman who’d been living on this street since before I’d even been conceived. Miss Jenny was an institution in our neighborhood, her bohemian style of clothing and vivid blue eyes an inescapable sight to anyone who ventured onto our block.

“Hi, Miss Jenny,” I said as she hobbled across the street and grinned up at me from the sidewalk. Noodles yapped and immediately lifted his leg against my plants, but I ignored the rabid little creature and kept a smile aimed at my neighbor. “How are you?”

“It’s the street fair soon,” she said happily. “One of my favorite times of year, but you already knew that. Why wouldn’t I be wonderful with that right around the corner?”

“I’m sorry I asked,” I said playfully, giving her my full attention.

Miss Jenny was one of less than a handful of people who knew the lighter side of me, but it’d taken her years to get me to reveal that guy.

Tallulah was the only person so far who’d gotten to see him within weeks of just finding out my name. She had a definite way with me, that girl.

“Who is she?” Miss Jenny asked, genuine excitement in her voice as she leaned forward. “Don’t you dare tell me I’m wrong, boy. I saw that little smile on your face a second ago and I know it was put there by a woman. My Nico used to get the same smile when he thought of me. God bless his soul.”

I sighed. “Sorry to disappoint you, ma’am, but I’m as single as I’ve always been. I was just thinking about my plans for the party. That’s what put the smile on my face.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Best you do something about that soon then, child. You living in that big house all by yourself? It’s not right. You need the love of a good woman and to fill that old place with babies. You’re in your thirties. You should’ve been married at least ten years ago.”

“Twenty-two would’ve been a good age to get married?”

“Seven years ago at least,” she amended without skipping a beat. Peering up at me, she frowned, honest worry in her eyes as they held mine. “It’s not normal to go through life alone, child. Humans are social beings. We need good company and great sex to keep us young and healthy.”

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head, but I laughed. Comments like that from her would never stop surprising me, but she was known for saying exactly what was on her mind. “Thanks, Miss Jenny. You’re not telling me anything I don’t get from my mother on a regular basis, so I’ll tell you what I keep telling her. I’m fine with things exactly as they are.”

My mother had never brought up the sex thing, though. I also wasn’t about to tell Miss Jenny that I didn’t need someone to love me to have great sex. I had that regularly enough, although lately it had been getting a bit stale.

“Well, of course, you think you’re fine with the way things are. You don’t know any better yet.” She shook her head. “I’ll get off your back about it. You don’t need me rattling on if you’re already hearing it from your mother. How is she? I haven’t seen her around for years.”

“She’s good,” I said, but I didn’t have the greatest relationship with the woman. We didn’t speak often. The last time I’d heard from her though, she’d been fine. “Still living in upstate New York and not a fan of leaving it, which is why you haven’t seen her around for a while.”

Miss Jenny chortled. “If you ask me, that mother of yours needs to let her hair down just as much as you do. She’s way too uptight.”

“Some people simply call it being a snob, but thanks. I’ll let her know you said so. Speaking of which, Jake says hi.”

She winked at me. “He always does.”

I heard my oven timer beeping from inside and gave her a nod. “I need to get back inside before I burn the house down, but it was good to see you. As always.”

“You too, honey,” she drawled, but then she paused before walking away. “The women in the neighborhood are going to set you up with someone during the block party this weekend. Be prepared for love, child. We’re good matchmakers.”

I groaned. “What happened to getting off my back about it?”

“I meant I would stop lecturing you about things you already know. Heavens, I’m not giving up on helping you find love, Mr. Morrison. What on earth do you take me for? A heathen?”

Gathering Noodles’ leash, she shook her head at me and walked away before I could protest about their supposed help. One thing about living in a neighborhood where everyone had known each other forever and where they nosed into new people’s lives as soon as you moved in was that everyone knew your business.

Try as you might—and I had tried—there was no getting away from the universal truth that nosy neighbors knew all. I’d learned to accept that, but I really wasn’t looking forward to them applying their matchmaking to me. I supposed I was lucky they hadn’t seriously tried it before, though.

Apparently, I’d gotten away with being single in my thirties for as long as any of them could take. Sighing as I walked back inside, I got my food out of the oven and ate alone. Then I went to bed, still thinking about Tallulah and that spark that had died in her eyes.

At my office the next day, Jake popped in, smiling as he shot me a thumbs-up. “I just dropped Tallulah off at your place. She’s already got vendors coming by to start dropping off supplies and she promised she’d be done decorating the first floor by tonight. Told you she could do it.”

Good , I thought as I nodded at him. I wanted her to get this out of the way so we could keep putting our main focus on the Hallow’s Eve Festival. For the rest of the day, I was satisfied that this wouldn’t take up too much of her time while she had more important things to work on, but when I got home that evening, I walked into my house to find it untouched.

I frowned. “Tallulah?”

When she didn’t respond, I moved further into the house, looking around and wondering why nothing had been done. “Tallulah!”

Still no answer.

Dread started churning in my stomach. Is she actually qualified for any of this?

I walked upstairs, thinking about what Jake had said earlier. Apparently, she’d promised the first floor would be done and he’d definitely told me vendors were already coming today. It’d sounded good.

Just like her planning for the festival so far.

Promises and planning were one thing, but ultimately, it all came down to delivery, and from what I could see right now, she hadn’t delivered anything at all. As I walked up the stairs, I called out to her again. When there was still no answer, I pulled my phone out of my pocket, navigated to her number, hit the dial button, and pressed the device to my ear.

“Hi, Niall,” she said when she picked up.

“Where are you?” I asked without any further ado. “I thought you were at my house?”

“No, I’ll be there soon. I have a surprise for you.”

I sighed, about to get gruff with her when a door slammed shut nearby. I jumped, so startled that I dropped my phone. As I fumbled for it, another door creaked open further away and my heart started racing.

What the fuck is going on here?

With my heart pounding and a deep scowl on my face, I set off down the corridor, creeping closer to where the sounds had come from. Just as I turned the corner, something jumped right at me from the shadows. I shouted, my knees going completely weak, and I wondered what the hell I’d been thinking when I’d decided to buy a house that was most definitely haunted after all.