Cautiously, she cracked the window.

The guy, wearing a buffalo plaid flannel shirt, worn jeans, and cowboy boots that had seen better days, leaned down. His eyes narrowed suspiciously, but he didn’t look like he was about to hack them to death. “You Olivia?”

“Yes?” she said, swallowing and praying Chase hadn’t just summoned a killer. One who knew her name. Good Lord.

“Hey, I’m Zeke,” he said.

Zeke? Was she supposed to know who that was? She searched her memory.

“I used to hang out with your sister Marley back when y’all stayed with your grandparents . . .”

This guy was the roly-poly kid who lived down the creek with his grandmother? She remembered him much, much differently. She’d teased Marley mercilessly about her “boyfriend,” which always made Marley screech and throw things at her. “You’re that Zeke?”

“Yeah. I guess it’s been a while since you’ve seen me. Dave Pope told me you were coming, and since I live next door, I’ve been looking out for your arrival.”

“Who’s this guy?” Chase asked, leaning toward her, trying to peek through the window at the torso of their neighbor who had gone from doughy to a solid, bearded hunk with dimples. Yeah, he had green eyes and dimples.

“This is our neighbor,” Olivia said, unclicking her seat belt and shutting off the engine.

“Not mine, because I’m not staying here. Look at this place.” Chase jabbed a finger toward the house.

Zeke stepped back as Olivia climbed from the car. He glanced at the house and then back to her. “Yeah, the place needs a little work. You may want to call someone to, I don’t know, clean up a little? No one has lived out here since your grandfather went into the home. I kept the yard up and checked on the place when I could, but I didn’t have a key. I can find some contractor names for you.”

Olivia hadn’t thought about how the property had been unattended. In her mind it was the same as it had always been. She’d been naive to not think about how the place would have changed.

“No, we’ll take care of cleanup.”

She heard Chase make a noise of disgust. Then the door opened and Chase climbed out. “I’ll take the names, uh, did I hear you say ‘Zeke’?”

Zeke stared at Chase, and Olivia knew he recognized her as a celebrity, but he quickly blinked and looked back at Olivia. “Sure, I can make a list of some guys who might work.”

“We’ll be fine,” Olivia said, closing the car door and walking around to the back of the small SUV. She lifted the back hatch and pulled out her rolling suitcase. “Grab your bag, Chase.”

“Let me give you a hand,” Zeke said, walking toward the back of the car.

“Chase will get her own bag, and while we’re at it, we should address the elephant in the room. Yes, this is Chase London, the actress. I’m her therapist, and we’ll be staying into October or perhaps longer. It’s a small community, but we’re hoping to keep a low profile, maybe even have Chase not viewed as a celebrity, because for the time being, she’s giving up who she is. I would appreciate some discretion.”