In My Neighbor's Bed

Ch. 7: The Great Outdoors

My heart was racing in my chest. The stupid bitch. Couldn't she keep her cool for two minutes so I could at least pretend to be normal?

I turned towards him, putting on my fakest "cheery neighbor" smile. I was hoping the familiar autopilot would help me stomp down any feelings that might dare try to surface. It worked. Kind of. At least I wasn't blushing like an idiot.

"Oh, hey Mason! Good to see you," I responded cheerfully. "Had any luck unpacking all those boxes?"

I was hoping the "neighborly" question would give him a hint about how we should conduct this conversation. Although I doubted he'd be naive enough to just come out and say what we'd been doing lately, I didn't want to risk that he might let something slip by accident. Neighborhood gossip really was no joke, and the last thing I needed was word getting around to Phil about what I'd been doing behind his back.

Luckily, he seemed to take the hint. If he didn't already have the idea himself. He chuckled and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Don't remind me. Why do you think I'm outside? Gotta procrastinate somehow, right?" he said, shrugging. "Although, if you don't mind, I could use your help to eliminate one more thing from my procrastination checklist."

"Sure, what's up?"

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a letter. An innocent enough gesture, but the look in his eyes as he handed it to me was anything but "boy-next-door."

"Well, I need to mail this letter. I was on the way to do it myself, but then I saw you heading to your car. If you don't mind, do you think you can send it for me?"

I gave a quick glance to the "letter" in question. No stamp, no address, just a blank envelope. Yup, he had definitely meant this for me. Looks like luck was on my side with the timing today. I really didn't need Phil finding something like this. It was probably best to let Mason know that too.

"Sure. Happy to help. It was just going to be a quick trip anyway. Phil's got the day off today," I hinted, "so I have to make sure I'm home in time to get dinner ready for him. Poor thing works so hard all week, but at least I get him to myself on Fridays, right?"

There, that should do the trick. An easy way to explain to Mason what Phil's schedule was while also making sure any busybody in earshot only heard a dutiful wife. And Mason played along perfectly.

"Ah, then I'd better not hold you up anymore. I know better than to stand between a man and his dinner. Anyway, thanks for helping out. Again. You are still available to help me with those damned boxes tomorrow, right?"

He clasped his hands together with a pleading look on his face. I snickered a bit and gave him a small nod.

"Yup, how's after breakfast sound?"

"Like a plan. See you then!" He gave a small wave before walking back to his house.

I headed back to my car slowly, making sure my steps were calm and even. I checked the surrounding out of the corner of my eye.

Yup, just like I thought. There was resident busybody Greta Hillard, peeking her nose over the fence to have a sniff at whatever was going on. I pretended not to see her though. My interaction with Mason would seem a lot more unplanned and innocent if she thought we were clueless about her.

Calm as a clam, I climbed into my car and started it up. I pulled out slowly, taking the extra time to check my mirrors before driving off.

I drove for a while. That plain, white envelope whispering temptations to me the entire way. But I couldn't open it. Not yet. I didn't want to take the risk of doing it someplace someone I knew might see me. I wasn't sure what it said, but I already knew that whatever it was, I was going to have a bitch of a time containing my emotions while reading it, and I'd rather not deal with the hassle.