Good Neighbor Ch. 04

There was a whole lot of junk and spam and I got to work deleting it. One subject heading caught my eye, though: "Blast from the Past" it said--not exactly the kind of heading you would usually see on a smut or sales promotional. There was an attached file, and immediately I thought: virus. But there hadn't been any warnings lately, and I was pretty careful about keeping track of those things.

Deciding to risk it, I opened the e-mail and began to read.

Dear Rob,

I hope you haven't figured out who this is and deleted it already. If you figure it out now, don't delete it, please?It's Marshall, your former next-door neighbor. I was surfing the Net and found your company page. So how are you doing? I guess I'm sorry I never got to say goodbye. I don't know if you talked to Audrey either before we left, but FYI we're divorced now. I'm living out in Cal. Got a good position here with the Silicon Valley branch of my company. We sold the house as part of the settlement. She got custody of Jonah :-(, but she's being good about letting me see him. Actually, Rob, she's being really good considering everything. You see, I'm living out here with another guy...

Okay, so are you finished saying I told you so? I don't know exactly why I'm telling you this. Maybe you won't think I'm such a bastard now, or maybe you still will. After all, this doesn't change the fact that I treated you like shit. Rafe is great, but I miss Jonah all the time. Say hey to him for me if you see him, will you? He's still living in town with his mom.

Guess I've rambled on enough. Hope you're doing okay.

Marsh

P.S. The attached file is a pic of me and Rafe, my partner.

I opened it and looked at Marsh and another man smiling at the camera, squinting a bit from the sun on their faces, their hair windswept. Behind them was an expanse of blue water, and what I recognized as the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.

I became aware of Stan behind me, a towel around his waist. He pressed his bare stomach, warm and fragrant with soap, against the back of my head.

"Our former neighbor," I explained. "He's divorced and living in California with a guy."

"Saw the light, eh?" Stan said, patting my shoulder. I took his hand.

"Guess so."

"You sorry he didn't see it sooner?"

I looked up at him. "Maybe a little. On the other hand, if we play our cards right, we might have a place to stay in the Bay area."

Stan snorted. "Too damn civilized for this puppy. You going to stare at that thing all night?"

I shook my head. "Be there in a minute." After he left, I gazed at the screen and the picture of the two men, apparently happy, for a while longer. Then I closed the file, shut the computer down and went to join him.

END