Free The New Neighbor by Ray Garton

about Redding and Karen made the standard hick town jokes, then did the standard backpedaling and said it wasn't all that bad after all – even though it really was.
    She told Lorelle about the local points of interest – interesting to newcomers, anyway – like the dam and Shasta Caverns. As they talked and laughed, Karen became much more comfortable with Lorelle until her previous uneasiness was forgotten.
    "So, what do you do, Lorelle, paint?"  
    "I paint, sculpt. But I make my living from my jewelry."  
    "You make jewelry? Oh, I'd love to see some of your work."  
    Lorelle held out her hands and Karen looked closely at the rings, impressed.  
    "They're beautiful ," she said quietly. "You make these?”
    "You like them?"  
    "They're gorgeous."  
    "Tell you what. Why don't you turn off the coffee and come over to my place. I was just unpacking all my pieces and I bet there's something over there you'd like."  
    "Oh, you don't have to – “
    "No, really. That's why I came over here. I like to know my neighbors, and I was going to invite you over for a cup of hot spiced wine so we could get acquainted."  
    "Mmm, that sounds good. But really, my husband'll be home in a couple of hours and I haven't started dinner."  
    "Order a pizza. Or better yet – “ Lorelle stood and gave Karen a conspiratorial wink, “ – let him cook it. You work, too , remember."  
    Laughing, Karen went to the coffee maker and switched it off. "We're gonna get along well, you and me," she said, grabbing her coat in the hall as they headed for the front door. "I like the way you think."  
     
    * * * *
     
    Robby stared at his English lit test as he hunched over his desk, but did not see it. Neither did he hear the occasional weary sighs of the other students laboring over the questions, nor the rustle of papers and tapping of pencils that punctuated the silence. Instead, his mind re-examined the events of the night before, going over them again and again.  
    He vaguely remembered waking in Lorelle's arms, in front of the fire, feeling weak and helpless as a newborn infant. She smiled, stroked his face, and told him he should dress and go home. But before he left, she gave him a gift – a silver neck chain with a sterling wolf's head pendant that held two tiny ruby eyes. At the door, she gave him one more kiss – a long hungry kiss that sucked his tongue into her mouth so hard it hurt – then he staggered across the street, unaware of the time, but hoping it wasn't too late. In the house, he closed the door quietly when he heard the television in the living room, quickly ducked down the hall and went straight to bed.  
    Getting out of bed that morning had been a chore and his mother had insisted he stay home from school because she didn’t think he looked well. But, not wanting to miss the test, Robby assured her that he was fine and managed to shower and dress in time to catch the bus.
    But he did look ill: pale and exhausted, with gray rings beneath his heavy eyes. His chest, shoulders and neck were spotted with light bruises where Lorelle had chewed on him and the ruby eyes in the snarling wolf's head looked an even deeper red against his ashen skin than they had the night before.  
    As he stared blindly at the test, he wondered why it had happened, what she had seen in him when he was so obviously below her standards. She was – how old? Thirty? Thirty-five? Older? It was hard to tell. He was just a clumsy teenager who couldn't drink, drive or vote, and whose experience with women did not extend beyond sucking on one of Janine Flugel's nipples and slipping his fingers down her panties while she jerked him off through his undershorts behind the gymnasium, during the autumn dance, a couple of weeks ago. He didn't understand it, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed that understanding it was not necessary.  
    "Robby? Robby ?"  
    He blinked as he looked around, fingering the sterling wolf's head. He was