Tempting Hot Neighbor

, staring out at the surrounding serenity. Ashley's concern and r

ggling to calm her sister down, but there

into her voice as it began to rise. "You are 25, and you'

She might have understood Ashley's reasoning,

ust call at midnight to witness my breakup story?" Nicol

ay-the time-consuming job and everything-and Mom is d

t, their mother had always been very inquisiti

iculating all those pent-up feelings. "But once I'm in a relationship, it a

as new, and Nicole had never heard anyone say this before. "That'

. "Your face sounded so de

cole. I correct you with the truth about relationships. It doesn

"Ashley, I am not giving u

ble, Nicole. Don't you know what Mom wants? To have one of us married off.

live in peace? Just go tell Mom that I am not going out on any more da

tone was plain now. 'I am c

owed her eyes at her, s

s of laughter. 'To for

"Oh, my God, how could

Ok, now I will hang up else mom woul

ughing at the ridic

then Nicole was still laugh

*

mixed feelings. Most of them feelings of fear and confusion. I have, indeed, become single again, even more sure of being single.

y father was a junkie and, by all reckoning, a jerk, something clear and bloody from the divorce settleme

o set Mother free. What father did had been totally out of line. Little anger still remained within me, considering all t

ny man in the house. And so she had succeeded for the most part. The strength that was nourished in

smother me. She wanted me to settle down, get married, have babies, and everything else pretty much any young woman would have drea

ncompatibility or inconsistency in behavior that led to their downfall. In closing every potential matrimonial relationsh

a boyfriend she was trying to ensure attracted enough attention away from me-I realized that my interest would mo

rhaps even deeper into such an impassable, lasting darkness. Unbeknownst to me, my life would take its most memora

to the exhaustion that had been creeping up on her. She closed her eyes and allowed the soft cushions to engulf her, leanin

*