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“Well… sure.”

“While wejustget a bite to eat?”

“Yeah, why not? You know any good places around here?”

“Andthat’sit?” she snapped. “Just chewing and talking and listening? That’sallyou wanna do?”

At this point, Katherine’s eyes were narrowed, and she had to bite her tongue before telling him where he could stick his offer.

“What’s the problem? I was only trying to help,” Matthew said. “There’s obviously something bothering you, and I thought maybe you’d wanna talk about it.”

“Well, I don’t,” Katherine snapped. “And I don’t think a married man should be offering to spend time alone with an unmarried woman.”

“Whoa! Look, lady, you’ve got this all wrong.”

“Excuse me? Lady? I’m not sure you’d know a lady when you see one since you’re not exactly acting like a gentleman.”

Matthew’s brow furrowed. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“You’re a man. And a cop. And apparently a really good listener,”Katherine said, adding air quotes. “That’s more than I need to know.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who—”

“Nice to meet you, Matthew,” Katherine interrupted. “Welcome to the neighborhood!”

And with that, she slipped back inside her house and slammed the door shut.

As he stood there on the overturned bucket, Matthew didn’t know what to make of what just happened. How the hell had that ended so badly? And how the hell did a complete stranger come to the conclusion that he was some kind of smooth-talking cheater?

“Damn,” he said, convinced he heard the same muffled crying from before as he stepped down from the bucket. This time, he knew exactly where it was coming from, and he felt like someone had punched a hole through his chest and ripped out his heart.

Then, he thought about scaling the brick wall that separated their yards to knock on her door, apologize for the misunderstanding, and make sure she’d be okay.

Because despite her explanation that it wasn’t her who had been crying before, he knew now that it definitely was. But he also knew, from how she’d responded, that chasing her down to force the issue wouldn’t make the situation any better.

Still, the unanswered questions in his mind and her dark, sad eyes intrigued him, and he found himself wishing their conversation had gone better.

Later, when Matthew was shutting windows and locking doors to leave, he stepped out onto the back porch and looked over at Katherine’s house. When he heard more crying from a second-story open window, he stepped to the far end of the porch to listen.

The sound alone made his chest ache, and he felt helpless. Matthew never liked feelinghelpless.His very nature, hell even his livelihood, was about helpingothers.But there seemed to be something else toit.Something deeper than just his protective nature to look out for those inneed.

This felt personal, and for the life of him, he couldn’t understandwhy.He’d only just met thiswoman.And she clearly didn’t want any kind of help fromhim.Yet, in some way, he felt an undeniable urge to hold her in his arms and shield her from the hurt she so obviously needed toescape.

It’d been a long time since he felt likethis.He’d even come to believe that going through the motions with Julia while she chased after her career and another man had left himnumb.But now Matthew could see he might’ve beenwrong.

This past year had been one of the worst and one of the best years of hislife.What he felt now lent to both sides of thespectrum.Feelings that he knew could only lead toeven more complications. Yet maybe it was time to consider other ways his life was about to change.

Looking at the house next door, then beyond the roof line, Matthew gazed into thenight sky, brightened by the light of a crescent moon.

“Did it literally haveto be the girl next door?” he asked, waiting for a response he knew wasn’t coming.

Instead, something spoke to his heart, telling him to trust and be patient.

Chapter 5

Katherine sat across from Peter Humble, wondering if the man would ever make his move. If it wasn’t for how kind and patient he’d been over the years, she wouldn’t keep spending her Friday nights with him. But making her wait like this was ridiculous. And she couldn’t figure out what he was up to.

“Are you sure there’s nothing you wanna talk about?”