I usually spend a full hour listening to Maddie play. I try not to peep at her like a creeper, because her piano is set under the side window that faces my porch, but I happen to notice someone with her today, and it grabs my attention.
A dark figure emerges from the shadows behind her, and as it becomes clearer, I see it’s a man with a scruffy chin and a shabby-looking work jacket. At first, I’m alarmed because I don’t recognize him. But then, as he reaches past her head and sets down a glass of sweet tea on a coaster on the top of the piano, she turns her face up to him, and I see it. She was lost in the music, but now she’s soft. Her shoulders relax. She smiles and angles her face upward. The man leans in, and they kiss. One sweet, short kiss and then a kiss on the forehead. And she never stops playing.
The little scene tugs at my heart, but I’m also feeling salty that my neighbor didn’t tell me she had a boyfriend.
Then I remember everything that happened a month ago, and I’m kicking myself. Of course! That time Maddie fell ill, I barged in on a conversation she was having with her girlfriends about her ex. She’d been recovering from a bad bout of the flu, and I brought over some groceries and some of those books she likes to read.
So I guess she and her ex are officially, openly, back together.
I smile as I stare brazenly at their kissing, visible through the window.
Then, to my horror, they both turn and see me watching. I startle in embarrassment and spill wine down my front. Oh, god.
I stand up and begin to wipe myself down.
“Hey!” Maddie says, “Don’t go anywhere! I have a question for you.”
Hopefully not a question about how I’m a world-class peeping Tom.
I meet them on the shared driveway between our homes.
“Sorry, I was spacing out, I swear I wasn’t being a pervert.”
Maddie shakes her head. “Don’t worry about that.”
I peer over at the man standing slightly behind but also next to Maddie, about her height with some gray hair at the temples.
I knew who Maddie and Ewan were back in high school, but I didn’t know them well. I also knew about the drama surrounding their breakup, but I was older, in my own friend group, doing my own thing, so I never paid much attention.
“I was wondering if you could make me a wedding dress.”
I look between the two of them. “You’re getting remarried?” I ask, confused.
“Next year,” Maddie says. “Well, we’re still married. We never got divorced.”
“Oh…you need a dress for a vow renewal!” I say, excited for a different sort of project.
“Yes!” Maddie says, laughing and bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“That’s incredible news! I’m so happy for the two of you,” I exclaim, throwing my arms around my neighbor.
“It’s been a few weeks since we’ve been back together, but this is forever,” she says, her eyes softening as she folds one hand over the other, clutching her wedding band to her chest.
“I don’t actually want to wait that long, but Maddie wants something a little more planned out this time,” Ewan says.
I smile at him and give him the once-over. I’m only sensing good vibes here, and I’m genuinely thrilled for them.
“Honestly, I can’t believe I missed so much. I feel like I’ve been living under a rock. I’m sorry,” I say.
Maddie shakes her head. “Don’t apologize. Between all the renovations going on in your backyard, plus you’re working so hard on dresses for this summer’s wedding season, I’m just happy to get face-to-face time with you for a hot minute.”
I smile, knowing that my face shows every bit of exhaustion. The good news is, the backyard is finished now and the carriage house renovation is complete.
“Well, I’m finally ahead of schedule for the weddings, but right on schedule for the Dogwood Festival.”
Ewan comments, “Oh right, I almost forgot about that.”
How a hometown boy could forget about the biggest festival of the year, I’ll never know.
