Free Thy Neighbor's Wife by Georgia Beers Page B

artifi-
    cial enough for them. I love it, though, Daddy. You would, too. It’s
    peaceful and beautiful and being on the water is so incredibly calm-
    ing. I’ve been working my butt off on the interior. The previous
    owner was a little too into reds and golds; you know, that oriental
    look? Ugh. Way too loud and heavy for me. I’ve been painting, and
    trying some new stuff I’ve been reading about in that book you got
    me for my birthday last year. Remember? The living room looks fan-
    tastic! You’d love it. I color washed the walls in some warm, earthy
    tones. It was definitely not an easy process, but I think I did it right.
    It looks pretty good. It feels a lot like your den. You know, cozy and

inviting, like you want to sit down and read a book or something?
    Dawn’s going to hate it. You know how she is. She’s going to say it
    feels like a den instead of a living room and she’s going to ask
    where I’d put the guests for a dinner party, because they certainly
    won’t be comfortable in a den.” She sighed, feeling the dread come
    over her. She knew that she shouldn’t be so concerned about what
    other people thought, but it seemed she was always searching for
    Thy Neighbor’s Wife 47
    somebody’s approval. Apparently, it was her curse in life.
    “But Alex liked it. A lot.”
    That sentence alone brought a smile to her face, and she could
    actually hear her father’s voice, colored with a grin of his own.
    Alex? Who’s Alex? He’d always made it his job to know who Jenni-
    fer’s friends were, and he had his own opinion of each of them. He
    would have loved Alex, Jennifer was sure of it. “She’s my new
    neighbor. She lives next door to our lake house and she’s very
    sweet. We’ve become good friends. She talked me into playing on
    her volleyball team this summer. In the sand! I haven’t played in so
    long and it felt great! My legs are still sore.” She could hear his
    hearty laugh. A little out of shape, pumpkin? “Yeah, a little. But
    Alex was sore, too. First practice of the season and all, so I didn’t
    feel so bad. She liked the living room, Daddy. Very much. She got
    it, you know? She got the exact feel that I was going for, the exact
    mood. It was very cool. Made me feel like I actually learned some-
    thing during the time I was at school, like I knew what I was
    doing.”
    She sat quietly for a while, watching as the gentle breeze grad-
    ually swept the clouds from the sky and slivers of blue began to
    show. The sun kept peeking through, as if trying to decide if it was
    safe to make a full-fledged appearance. “Looks like it’s going to
    clear up, Dad. I suppose I should get back and make some appropri-
    ate hors d’oeuvres for my visitors.” She sighed at the prospect of the
    afternoon. “Kayla and Dawn hardly do anything apart anymore.
    It’s kind of weird. When she’s around Dawn, Kayla almost absorbs
    her personality. Like the world needs two Dawns.” She shuddered
    at the thought. “I wish Kayla was coming alone. That’s the only
    time she acts like herself any more.” She shrugged, taking a deep
    breath of the clean, crisp air.
    She kissed her fingers and pressed them to her father’s grave
    marker. “I’ll come by again soon, Daddy. I miss you.” She stood
    and brushed off the grass and dirt from her behind, crumpled the
    baggie and stuffed it into her pocket, and waited for the tears that
    misted her eyes each time she visited to clear away. She bent once
    more and straightened the daisies, wondering again, where they
    might have come from. Then she walked slowly back to her car,
    shaking her head in disgust at the fact that she was about to have
    her so-called friends over to her brand new house on the lake and
    she was positively dreading it. At that moment, the sun broke
    through fully, as if to laugh at her.

    * * *
    “It’s very…nice, Jen.”
    48 Georgia Beers
    Only Dawn Chambers could make a compliment sound so
    uncomplimentary. She stood in