Page 57 of The Chad Next Door
I guess no one can say Chad Briggs isn’t efficient.
“What am I going to do with you?” I mutter, wandering back to my car to warm up. Sun City is only a couple hours away, but those hours feel long when I’ve got kids with a childless aunt who was nervous even as she waved me off this morning. She can only last so long without some help. I probably need to find a nanny or someone to step in for a couple of days. I wonder if their nanny from Florida would be up for a paid trip across the country…
It’s not the best use of the money in the kids’ accounts, but a round trip plane ticket and a few days of pay would hopefully be worth the chance to make things work with Chad. Zelda and Link need a man in their life, and I hope that man can be him.
Before I can drive back to Furley and make a plan with Phoebe, an old sedan pulls up behind me, and I recognize Hank behind the wheel.
“I saw you drive past,” he says, climbing out of his car at the same time I step out of mine. “Wasn’t sure if I’d see you back here, with the way Briggs was acting.”
“Yeah, I’m getting that sense too,” I mutter. “Did he go back to Sun City?”
“Yep. Moping the whole drive, probably.” He stuffs his hands into his coat pocket and shrugs. “What in the world happened between you two?”
Oh, what a question. “A lot. But also…not. He tried to fix something that I had already fixed, and I got frustrated. So did he. It was a whole thing.”
“Love is always a whole thing.”
I wonder what Hank’s story is and if he’s ever experienced a whole thing with love. Something tells me he has.
“Any ideas for how to fix it?” I ask, folding my arms and hoping he has all the answers.
He nods toward my phone. “A conversation is a good start,” he says, grinning.
He’s not wrong, but Chad and I spent so much time talking that it didn’t leave a lot of room for doing, which feels more appropriate for this moment. “You know that thing in books and movies where someone does a big gesture for the other person?” I say slowly.
Hank’s smile grows. “Sure do. What are you thinking? I didn’t take Briggs as a fan of surprises.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure he hates them. I should keep things small, just in case.”
“Good idea. Just seeing you would be surprise enough when it comes to him.”
“I think you’re right.” I imagine myself showing up on his doorstep and the look on his face, and my smile feels like it breaks through the last couple days of stress. “You don’t happen to know where he lives, do you? He’s not exactly easy to find.”
If ever there was a reason to like Hank—not that I was ever questioning that—it’s the mischievous smile he gives me right now. “There’s a chance he gave me his New Mexico address in case of emergencies. He’s a good guy, that Briggs. And you are goodtogether. I spent less than twenty-four hours with you kids and have been feeling extra inspired ever since.”
Though I haven’t figured out if my almost-hermit neighbor is a hugger, I hug him anyway, wrapping him up in my arms and silently thanking him for getting Chad and me to dance together during the storm.
“You ever think about settling down?” I ask him. He may not be a Chad—according to the internet, that’s a good thing—but I can see someone falling in love with Hank’s easy charm and sweet smiles.
And maybe with the way he turns so completely red when he’s embarrassed. It’s adorable. “Oh, I don’t… Who would even… It’s not like…” He coughs and looks at his car. “I should get back to work, but I’ll text you his address. Good luck, Hope. I’ll be rooting for the two of you.”
Good. I think we’re going to need all the rooting we can get.
Chapter Twenty-One
Hope
October 31
It turns out I’m acoward.
I can make a whole plan—fly out the nanny, call the school and alert them to absences for the week, set Phoebe up with a bunch of streaming services to keep the kids entertained while I drive a couple of hours to a different state—but when it comes to the walking up to the doorstep and knocking on the door…
I don’t think I can do it. At this point, I haven’t seen or talked to Chad in six days. Considering our relationship lasted at best two weeks but really endured less than a week, I’m not liking the sound of my odds. I still haven’t called him—thank you, fear—and there are enough cars parked outside his house that I’m really starting to think Ishouldhave called so I wouldn’t end up interrupting a party or whatever Chad has going on.
It’s probably his family, which is somehow way more terrifying than the idea of interrupting an actual party.
Let’s not forget the fact that in the chaos of the last several days, I forgot that today isHalloweeneven though the heaven-sent nanny bought costumes for the kids and they wouldn’t shut up about trick-or-treating through Phoebe’s insanely nice neighborhood. I feel a little weird lurking in my car while there are children wandering around in princess dresses and army suits. I could get a hotel for the night and come back tomorrow, but if it’s this hard to get out of the car now that I’m here, there’s no way I’ll be brave enough to come back in the first place.
