1
Mowing the lawn was the last thing Sunny wanted to do.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t the sort of person who could just ignore the fact that something needed doing. No matter that her feet were aching and she really just wanted to shower then collapse into bed.
She hauled herself out of her tiny car, and without bothering to even go inside the house, she tromped down to the small shed to drag her lawnmower out. She actually loved this shed. Everything was ordered just how she wanted it, and nearly all of her tools were pink. Even her lawnmower was pink with little rhinestones glued along the front of it.
Greg would have hated it. Greg had made her buy a plain black mower, even though she’d been the one to do all the outside maintenance. He’d claimed it was better to split the chores up according to their strengths.
Which might have made perfect sense, if Greg had any strengths. She snorted to herself as she started up the lawnmower. Something Greg would have told her off for.
Apparently, snorting was not ladylike.
Who knew?
Then again, who cared, right?
Only Greg. Maybe if she’d cared more, their marriage might have lasted. Then again, if it meant she got to push around a pink lawnmower with diamantes maybe she was better off without Greg.
She finished up her mowing, and wiped the sweat off her forehead. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t had time to eat the rice salad she’d packed for lunch today. Ronny, her boss, had over-scheduled her. Again. And again, she’d had to work through her breaks. Plus, she’d gotten home later than usual.
Today had been a gorgeous summer day. She was pushing her lawnmower back down to her tiny shed with its flower boxes planted in front of the small windows and its bright red, cheery roof when she looked across at her neighbor’s backyard.
The houses on this street were all small but had big plots. Suited her. She liked working outside. Her neighbor obviously did not. His backyard was bereft of anything but a huge deck and grass. Lots of grass. Overgrown grass.
Shoot.
Drat.
You do not have to take care of that for him. He’s not your friend.
Because she had so many of those.
They hardly ever crossed paths. He was usually gone by the time she got home and when she got up in the morning, the house was dark. Although she hadn’t seen his truck in the driveway the last few mornings, so maybe he was away.
Which is probably why he hadn’t noticed that his lawn mowing service hadn’t been doing their job.
Just leave it, Sunny. Not your problem.
But if the grass wasn’t cut soon, the homeowners association was likely to fine him. Paisley, the head of the association, seemed to have nothing more to do than go around handing out fines.
Sunny had once caught her measuring her front lawn with a ruler at seven in the morning, wearing yoga pants, and a work-out bra, with her enormous German Shepherd watching on menacingly. She’d received a fine later that day for her grass being a half inch too long.
She wondered how many fines her neighbor had already received for his long lawn, and the fact that his truck was often parked in the driveway instead of inside the garage.
Greg had loved all these rules. Had claimed it kept all the riff-raff out. Yes, he’d actually used that word.