Free Then & Now by Kimberly Lowe

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    “How long have you lived here?”  He asked without letting go of her hand.
    Turning to face him, her eyes stayed on their joined hands.  “Umm…Th-three years.”  Her voice shook as she suddenly became flustered.
    “ Three? You have a lot of pride in this place.”  His voice was so gentle and kind, that she risked looking up into his beautiful eyes.
    “ Yes, we all have put a lot of time into it.”  She replied quietly. “This building is over eighty years old and we all hate to see it go down with the rest of this street.”
        He let out a short sigh.  “Of course you would.  After all you have done to keep it up.”
    She was still all too aware of his hand still holding hers.  Fighting for her cheeks to not to flush again, she glanced over at her home, then back.  “It would be like losing part of my heart.  I think we all feel that way.”  Tugging her hand free she stepped back.
               “Sorry.  I didn’t mean to….It was just that you’re still shaking.”  He explained shoving his hands into his pockets so she wouldn’t feel threatened.
    “Oh.  Thanks.”  She really didn’t know why she had yanked her hand form his.  No, that was a lie.  She knew exactly why.  The feel of his warm hand was doing a number on her.
    “You ’re going to be okay.  He can’t hurt you anymore.  You know that, right?”  He asked, while bending at his knees to get better contact with her eyes.  “If you like I can call someone to stay with you.”
    The deep concern behind his words and in those eyes almost brought her to her knees.  He was truly worried about her. “Oh, no.  That wouldn’t….I’ll be alright.” 
    “Hey, Millie!” Teresa called from the porch.
    “Hi, Teresa.”   She waved.  “What are you doing home on a Friday night?”
    Teresa held up a bag of trash. “I got talked into doing the windows in Stan’s apartment.  Gorge pulled a quick one on me.  No rent for this month.  He knew I wouldn’t say no.”  She stopped at the end of the sidewalk.  Dumping the trash into one of the bins, she turned and faced them.
    Amelia didn’t miss the way Teresa’s eyes flared with attraction when they landed on Bryant.  “Teresa this is Bryant Sharp.  Mr. Sharp this is my neighbor Teresa Fugal.”
    “Hello.”  The six-foot-all-legs-supermodel beamed. Her unrealistically, beautiful auburn hair was in cute little waves around her, unrealistically, beautiful face. 
    “Good evening.”  Bryant greeted politely.              
    Her eyes shifted back and forth between them.  She seemed pleased at their body langue.  It was quiet obvious that they weren’t together .  “So what are you two up to tonight?”  She asked with an enticing smile. It almost wasn’t fair.  The world full of idealistically gorgeous women and here she was, the mouse in the middle of it all.
    “Umm, well its—” Amelia started.
    “Oh, were you waiting for Heidi?  Because she has already stopped by.  She said she was going to the Vortex.”  Giving her attention completely over to Bryant, she purred. “Have you ever been there?”
    “No, can’t say that I have.” Bryant’s reply seemed a little stiff as he glanced at Amelia bemused.  “You were going clubbing?”  The expression on his face was genuinely captivated.
    “It was Heidi’s idea.”  She replied meekly.     
    “It’s really a lot of fun.” Teresa’s giggled.  “You should go sometime.” 
    Amelia very nearly laughed out loud at the sound of it. The image of Bryant dancing in the middle of club in his suit and tie, flashed wildly on the screen of her far too active imagination. She was about to excuse herself when the most bewildering words came so casually out of Bryant’s mouth.  “I think that would be fun, if Amelia was there to accompany me.”
    Her eyes shot to his.  He winked then aimed a very sexy smile her way.  She blinked twice bewildered.  Was this