She heard a loud splash and wondered if someone had jumped off the diving board. That was nice. You didn’t find many pools with diving boards anymore. Again, she felt a twinge of envy. Yes, it was a shame she and the new neighbor had gotten off to a rough start.

She called me a bitch, she reminded herself. Then she smiled. Well, she kinda was being one, wasn’t she? But still…

“Hey…are you out there?”

She frowned, then looked at the fence. “Are you talking to me?”

A laugh. “Yeah.”

Laura leaned forward in her chair. “What do you want?”

Another laugh. “Well, I’ve got a proposition.”

Laura’s eyebrows shot up. “Okay…no. Really not interested,” she said to the fence.

“You don’t even know what it is.”

Laura stood up and walked over to the fence. “What do you want?” she asked again.

She heard Cassidy walk closer too. “My yard guys quit on me.”

“They didn’t like the change from seven to ten?”

“That…and I wanted flowers and stuff. We kinda had a mutual parting of the ways.”

“And you want me to recommend someone?”

“I want you to do it.”

“Me?”

“It pays well.” Then she coughed. “Not that I’m trying to throw money around or anything.”

Laura smiled, then wiped it from her face. “I don’t know the first thing about being a yard girl.”

“Not true. I’ve seen your yard. And flowers. I want mine to look like that.”

Laura hesitated, then shook her head. “Look, you should probably hire professionals. You’ve got a lot of land. I’m not sure I could keep up with it and our yard too.”

“It’s less than you have. Most of it is wooded. It’s only in the front and back here by the pool. The other side I left natural.”

Laura hesitated again, wondering how much Cassidy would pay her. It would be nice to have some extra cash. Her savings was dwindling at a rapid pace and she had no intention of touching her investments. Even though she didn’t have any living expenses here, she still needed some kind of income. Cassidy must have sensed her indecision.

“Listen, why don’t you come over and take a look? Then you can decide.”

Oh, hell…she was curious to see the house up close, after all. She’d only seen it through the fence in the front…and her binoculars, of course. “How did you know I was out here?”

“I saw you when I went off the board.” A pause. “You coming over?”

“All right.”

“The gate is locked. I’ll meet you out there.”

Laura stared at the fence for several seconds, aware that Cassidy had already left. Why am I doing this?

“Because your writing career is at a standstill,” she reminded herself.