The New Neighbor Mowed My Lawn the Week My Divorce Went Through novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: Blinds Down
He did it room by room, and I followed him with my arms crossed and did not help.
In the dining room he took hold of the cord and the bay window blind came down over the glass with a long plastic rattle.
In the kitchen he shut the one over the sink, the one that faced his own kitchen.
He stood with his hand on it for a moment.
In the front hall he turned the deadbolt.
It was the first time I had heard that bolt turn at night in a month.
"All of them," I said. "Upstairs too."
"Okay."
We went up, and he drew the curtains in the master.
He lowered the guest room blind, and in the bathroom he pulled the frosted window down tight.
When he came out, the house had gone quiet in a way it had not been since I started leaving everything open.
There was no lamp in the bedroom.
A line of hall light lay under the door.
The dark in the room was thick and warm and smelled like lavender and clean sheets.
I stood at the foot of the bed.
Tyler stood in the doorway with his hands hanging.
"Come here," I said.
"What's going on?"
"You tell me. In the van you went quiet. You were polite about it."
He took a long time.
"Yesterday," he said. "I watched you stand up in front of the whole court. And I thought you were amazing. I did."
"But."
"You said you love that they look." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"I keep thinking it's the looking, Lena. The windows and the garage and the street."
"That you needed somebody to see you, and I was the closest one with a window," he said. "And when the street stops, you'll stop."
I stared at him in the dark.
I could hardly see his face, only the outline of his shoulders against the line of hall light.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The New Neighbor Mowed My Lawn the Week My Divorce Went Through are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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