Chapter One
Jessica Fleet stood in the middle of her new living room, hands on hips, and surveyed the place. She’d been worried about renting a house sight unseen, but now that she was here, it seemed okay. She’d hold off on making a final assessment until she’d toured it, but so far, it was decent enough. Old, but tidy. Dusty and with some chipping in the paintwork, but a little elbow grease should clean it right up. She jangled the keys the Realtor had given her before slipping them into her pocket.
With a sigh she turned around slowly in a circle. What was she doing here? She’d never intended to move to Georgia. It hadn’t even been one of her preferred options. She’d made a list of locations when she graduated from college in the spring, and Georgia hadn’t been on it. First up, of course, was Oklahoma, her home state.
She’d attended Oklahoma State University to get her teaching degree. Go Pokes! After that, her plan was always to go home to Tulsa and work in one of the local schools so she could move back in with Momma and Daddy. Save some money. Spend time with her sisters. Basically, get back to her old, comforting way of life. She’d missed it over the four years she’d lived away at college. But nothing had gone to plan, and now here she was standing in a one-hundred-year-old house in Nowheresville, Georgia.
The living room was a good size. A dusting and a good mop, and it would be like new. She traipsed up a set of timber stairs to find three bedrooms of varying sizes. There was a Jack and Jill bathroom between the two guest rooms, obviously a late addition, with a tub/shower combo and a tiling style that was a little out of date, but certainly not one hundred years old.
In the master bedroom, she smiled. It was enormous. She’d have plenty of room for a king-sized bed, a sofa, a desk and chair, and just about anything else she might want or need. The bathroom connected to the master was also huge, with glistening white tiles and an enormous walk-in shower. Next to the shower was a large picture window. She’d have to buy blinds first thing or the neighbourhood would be subjected to a show they weren’t expecting.
Looking out the window, she could see the backyard. There were some large trees with some kind of fruit growing on them. The rest of it was overgrown, and there was a white picket fence separating her garden from a small wooded area. Her house was on a corner lot, with a narrow country road on one side and the neighbourhood road on the other. It was an old farmhouse on a large, flat block, while the rest of the neighbourhood looked like it’d been built in the 1990s and had smaller blocks with bigger homes.
She jogged downstairs again and squeezed past the piles of boxes in the kitchen. She’d had them shipped down from Oklahoma, and they’d arrived that morning just after she’d picked up the keys from the realtor. Perfect timing, although she’d been extremely anxious she wouldn’t make it in time since the driver had been texting her that they were close and she’d sat in the realtor’s office for at least an hour before she was finally ready to leave.
The only hiccup so far had been lost luggage at the airport. When she’d arrived in Atlanta, she’d waited at the baggage claim carousel for forty-five minutes until every last piece of luggage was gone except for one lonely black bag that looked similar to her own, but without the pink ribbon on the handle. Finally, she’d reported the missing bag to the lady behind the counter.
She only hoped it would show up soon, since she’d very cleverly packed what she’d need right away in that one piece of luggage, knowing that the rest would be in boxes. Her toiletries, spare underwear, changes of clothes, everything she’d need for school on Monday—it was all in that bag. She felt a nervous tension rising up her throat and pushed it back down again. She wouldn’t let herself panic over it. There was nothing else she could do now, and when Monday arrived, she’d just have to deal with it.
In the backyard, she strode across the patchy grass to look up at the magnificent trees. The fruit hung heavy from its branches. Peaches. Hundreds and hundreds of peaches. She reached up to touch one, but it was hard and green. It wouldn’t be long until they were ready, though. She had no idea what she’d do with so many peaches. She couldn’t let them fall to the ground and rot. Maybe she could sell them—set up a little roadside stand and have an honor system for payment. It might help her save a little extra, since her student loan payments would come due soon and her brand-new teacher’s salary would have to be stretched to the limit to make ends meet.
“Hello?” A woman’s voice dragged her from her reverie, and she spun around to look for the source.
An arm waved over the top of the fence separating her property from the one next door.
“Are you the new tenant in the farmhouse?” the woman asked in a bright tone.
Jessica strode to the fence and stood on tiptoe to look over. The woman on the other side looked to be about her own age, early to mid-twenties. She had short brown hair and a wide smile with perfectly straight white teeth.
“I just moved in,” Jessica said. “You must be my new neighbor.”
“Me and Brad live here. He’s my husband. I’m Teja. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“I’m Jessica.” She shook Teja’s hand over the top of the palings.
“Hey, let me meet you out front. This is too hard.” Teja laughed.
Jessica nodded and walked to the front yard through a dangling gate that had seen better days. When she stopped on the other side, Teja was there, grinning. She was shorter than Jessica by at least a hand’s width, and she had tanned, muscular legs and toned arms.
“When did you move in?”
“Today. The movers only pulled away a few minutes ago. Now I have the fun job of unpacking.”
Teja nodded. “Well, that’s fun. Y’all be sure to let us know if there’s anything we can do. Are you on your own?”
“Yup, it’s just me.”
“Well, ain’t that nice. I’d love to live on my own. But I went right from my parents’ house to my sorority, and now into this place with my husband. We got married right out of college. I still think we were too young, but Brad wanted to get married so bad, and I can’t say no to him.” She laughed again. It sounded like water running over smooth stones.
Jessica could tell she and Teja would get along. There was something so warm and welcoming about her. She reminded Jessica of her younger sister, Evette.
“I’m sure I’ll be fine. I like to unpack slowly and make sure everything is in its right place.”
“Oh, I get that. I’m the same way. You got a job yet?”
“I’m starting over at the high school on Monday.”
“A teacher? Well, how about that? I’m an accountant myself, but I thought about teaching.”
