Everybody Needs Good Neighbours

Chapter Eighteen

Amelia is surprised she sleeps at all. A night of tossing and turning and when the sun begins to pour in through the curtains, she's sure she has slept two hours the entire night. Good enough. Amelia tells herself as she gets out of the bed.

Luisita sleeps through her shower, and through her slipping down to the lobby in search of a decent cup of coffee. She only stirs when she hears Amelia coming back through the hotel room door.

"Morning," she stuttered, glancing toward the bed and glancing away again just as quickly. There is something about Luisita in a t-shirt and rumpled bed-head she is not emotionally equipped to handle at eight in the morning. "Sleep well?"

'Like the dead,' Luisita yawned. 'Have you been up long?'

Amelia shook her head, pointedly not watching Luisita slip out of bed.

'I grabbed us some coffee, not as good as mine but it will have to do'.

'Thanks' Luisita smiled as she took the cup and disappeared into the bathroom.

*

Half an hour later in a taxi, Luisita directed the driver in a too calm voice, completely in contrast with the nervous drumming of her foot against the floor.

They approached a row of well-maintained houses, each one with gleaming front gardens.

Looks like something from Stepford Wives Amelia thought to herself.

'Did you grow up here?' she asked, breaking Luisita out of her trance like state. 'Looks.... cosy'

"She's selling it," Luisita said woodenly. 'Moving uptown. His place is bigger.'

The driver stopped the car, and Amelia reached across and tapped Luisita's knee. 'Want to run? We can take this cab and go straight to the airport and can catch the first flight back.'

Luisita huffed a laugh 'I'd love to, but let's get this over with.'

Luisita led them up the front steps, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door.

The door opened and Amelia cursed under her breath. The front door revealed Pablo, buttoned up to the neck as ever. He frowned upon seeing Amelia. 'Oh'

'Hello to you to Pablo'

'I didn't think you'd come' he said, completely ignoring Luisita.

'Why are you answering the door' Luisita said as she brushed past, ushering Amelia over the threshold.

'You need to work on your greeting skills, pal' Amelia smirked as she stepped through the door.

'I was just using the restroom, as you rang the bell. I was being polite.'

'I think you might need to look up that word'. Amelia rebutted.

Pablo gritted his teeth, and Amelia looked at him for a few seconds until he realised the next stage of this thing was to get the hell out of the way, so she could get properly past.

Once they had managed to squeeze into the house, Amelia took a good look around. The house was pretty chic. Fancy candelabras, chesterfield sofas, they whole thing. Amelia noted the portraits on the wall as they made their way through to the garden. Many photos of Mrs Cruz and a cheerful looking guy that she presumed was the surgeon husband Luisita had told her about. There were no photos of Luisita.

Out in the very large, precision manicured back, garden, there was classical music and drink trays, with lots of men in linen trousers and women in hats.

'Oh, Amelia. You came' said a light drawl, and she turned to see Mrs Cruz, who was wearing a white linen dress.

'Mrs Cruz' she said simply.