Love Thy Neighbor Read Online Free Page A

actual words were expressed, possible knives toward Janna's
heart: “I really do appreciate the offer. Sincerely. I actually
just moved here, though, from Michigan, after a very bad break-up.
It's just way too soon for me to see somebody, anybody, so don't
think it's you, okay? It's not. I just came here to... start over, in
a sense.”
    The knives struck, penetrated, wounded.
    Womp-womp-woooooomp!
    A blank, thoughtless look came over Janna's face—a deer caught
in highbeams. “Oh.”
    “ Look, I'm sorry. It's not
you, it's me.” He felt so bad, he wanted to ease her apparent
pain by taking the offer. But life was still too messy for another
relationship.
    “ Tell you what. Let me settle
in for a while. When I feel better, get situated, maybe we'll do
something. As friends. Sound okay?”
    She nodded a zombie's nod.
    Across the street, a Honda pulled up to the curb. The blonde bimbo
behind the wheel put the vehicle in park.
    “ Well, my sister's back. I'll
talk to you later, Janna.”
    He turned and jogged down the three steps. Broken, Janna slammed the
door shut, locked it, and cried, devastated.
    Chapter 4
    The hurt within turned to numbness for a while, then to unquenchable
desperation. She refused, utterly refused, to live the rest of her
life alone. The thought of dying without anyone to hold or comfort
her in her final days, put her in a reckless mood. Nine years without
the love of a good man was too many. Her empty house was a virtual
tomb: no laughter, no passion, no nothing. There was no way she could
stand it any longer. She needed a man, and needed one now.
    Her thoughts shifted to Ben Jillipi, her ex. Was he single? Taken?
Available? There were worse men in the world, surely. Maybe he wasn't
the best, but finding the best took modes of action she didn't have,
like going out into the world, staying busy, meeting people—things
that were far from easy for her. Leaving the house wasn't ever easy,
not with a history of chronic anxiety and panic attacks. Besides, she
didn't really want to go through the long, protracted process of
dating. She had a history with Ben. He was a guy she knew.
    But that was a decade ago...
    He could have changed. He could have grown up. With age came
wisdom—isn't that what all the old geezers claimed?
    I don't know his number! I don't even know if he still lives
around here anymore...
    But she had a way to find out. His parents still lived in town, ten
blocks away up on Chester Avenue. They'd been in the paper
recently... something about domestic abuse allegations. So they still
had to be there. What could it hurt? Janna would get back with her
first love, and live the rest of her life happy.
    ***
    The 2013 Denburg county phone book, which was the thickness of a
magazine, had their number in it: Susan and David Jillipi.
1-401-555-7784. They were a nice couple, always had been. Only
problem was that they couldn't get along with each other.
    She held the phone in her hand for several minutes, wanting to call, wanting to call, but found herself unable to. Her fingers
wouldn't push any buttons, and her body failed to comply with her
yearning will. Fear played the part, held her back.
    I'm so confused, so frustrated.
    Then, a memory, from out of nowhere, exploded in her mind: Janna, at
age nine or ten, danced in her backyard when she lived with her
parents out on Robin's Pike, before they'd died—mom from a
stroke, father from pneumonia. It was a clear, cloudless, sunny day,
and the girl, that precious little girl who would grow into a
damaged, dysfunctional woman—who could not even go to the
grocery store without feeling faint—pretended she was getting
married to a dashing, handsome prince. He slid a beautiful,
glimmering ring onto her finger, kissed her, and said I do. Then he said the four magic words: I love you, Janna.
    If only life came with guarantees, with such effortless destinies,
she wouldn't be stuck in the rut she was in.
    Suddenly she found her thumb pushing eleven