Marcie And Leo Ch 140

(In 2021, I met a Litster through the boards. This woman and I began to talk around this time about our lives and such and we started to become closer. She asked me the question about if I wrote any stories and I sent her a few links to ones I had written. She then asked the question of what I had written lately. This was the impetus of the series called Good Neighbors which introduced the world to the characters of Marcie Darling and Leo Mercer. The two characters were loosely based on her and I. Although my friend and I never married and many of the things about us were fabricated for the sake of the story, she and I are still friends to this day.

Since it was getting close to this anniversary when I started writing this, I thought about going back in time. How did Leo and his wife Missy meet Marcie and her husband Mitchell? We allude to this friendship a bunch through both series, but maybe it was time to see some of what happened before the events of Good Neighbors.

As always, I want to thank "Marcie" because without her inspiration these stories would have never been written. Her friendship is one of the gifts that kept on giving through the last few years. She is more of an amazing person than anyone would ever know. I also want to thank my readers without whom these stories would never be read and who have also inspired me to continue writing albeit not as fast as I used to.)

It was one of the calm days we seem to see in our part of the world. As Marcie was working on stuff in the bedroom, I was looking out of the window in the far side of the house facing Aubrey's place. I was just looking at the picture. There was the house that my late wife and I built. I could see the colors she chose for the outside and the glint of sunshine flashing off the pool in the back. I started to smile as I thought about it before I felt a pair of arms surrounding me. As I placed my hands on top of hers, I felt a small peck on my neck when she kissed me.

"You're starting to wax nostalgic, aren't you Romeo?" Marcie asked me.

I turned to see those hazel eyes sparkle at me.

"I never realized the view you had from here," I responded.

"It was nice eye candy for those moments you tried out your pool," she said with her naughty smile on her face. "I mean I had a few attractive neighbors moving in next door in this quiet spot. It was nice to remember what young love felt like."

As we started walking towards the couch, I wrapped my arms around my wife. The feeling of her warmth against me was still one of the most comfortable feelings I enjoyed. As we sat on our couch, we started to talk about everything and anything. It was one of the things about Marcie that I still treasured. I never had to hold back from her. It never really mattered when I tried to because she could see through me anyway. She always seemed to have that "psychic" ability at times to read my mind. It wasn't something she always had with me, but when she started to show it, it astounded me.

When Marcie and I first met, it was as the house was being completed. Missy and I were watching the painters finish painting the outside when we heard her voice behind me.

"Welcome to the neighborhood," she said.

Both Missy and I turned and saw this gorgeous woman standing behind us. Missy was the first to respond.

"Good afternoon. This is my husband Leo and I'm Missy," she said, extending her hand.

Marcie extended hers and it felt like we were friends after that. It felt like twenty minutes of talking before Marcie invited us into her home for coffee. As we shared stories and such, we first met her husband, Mitchell. We shook hands and it wasn't as much of a spark. We still chatted for about a half hour before we begged off. We had to start our final walk through. Out of nowhere, Missy invited the couple to walk through with us. You could feel a small bit of tension as both Mitchell and I felt were taken aback before the girls pulled both of us by our hands. As we walked the familiar walk towards the front door, I felt Missy's happiness.

It took a ton of effort for me to sell Missy on getting a home. It took even more to persuade her to work with a local home designer to design the house the way she wanted to. We even found a deal on the land in this small cul-de-sac style area. At the time, there were only a few houses in the development and there wasn't a push to make houses at the time. Missy thought I was crazy. When I showed the spreadsheet I had with Matt and our accountant's help showing how the house was less expensive than the apartment we were renting, she agreed. Also having Aubrey persuading her that Missy could design it helped sweeten the deal.

This was the first time Missy showed total strangers what she was thinking. Mitchell was surprised by what we put together. He looked at the high ceilings and such. There was no furniture inside of it yet. That would come when we were ready to move in the next weekend. It was then Missy showed them the backyard.

"Leo insisted that we put a small pool back here. He thought it would help during the summers when it got way too hot. What do you think?" she asked the couple.

Mitchell and Marcie looked at each other.

"Well," Marcie started. "I think if you two could afford it, it would be a good idea."

"We would be sharing it with you guys also," Missy said.

I was taken aback since we didn't discuss this prior. So were the neighbors.

"Are you sure?" Marcie asked.

"It's only fair. I mean who else around here has a pool?" Missy said.

We all looked at each other. I smiled even if it felt weird.

"Leo, are you okay?" Marcie asked.

I looked at my bride on our couch as I held her. We were back in our house holding each other.

"We were a crazy couple, weren't we?" I asked as I looked at Marcie.

"Were?" she asked.

"I was remembering the first time you and I met with out spouses."

"Oh, the first time," she whispered as she squeezed me tighter.

"The way Missy offered the use of the pool to you and Mitchell before we even built it."

"That was pretty crazy," Marcie answered. "You two only just met us."

I looked at Marcie before kissing her on her forehead. I felt her smile after I did that.

"I guess it's a different memory than our first time at the pool alone."

I smiled.

"That is still one of my favorite memories, Amor. I always look at that also."

"So, what brought on the other memory?" she asked as she cuddled closer.

"Just the sight of the other house and the pool from that window. It's weird how long we had known each other before our first time."

"Five years," Marcie remarked. "Missy and I would spend time by the pool talking about you and Mitchell. We would talk about how long Mitchell and I were together and how much you and Missy were learning about each other."

"You had plenty of girl talk," I said.

"Especially the time I told Missy about Mitchell's cancer. By then, Missy was the best confidant I had. When we received the news, she was the first person I told. I didn't tell my siblings until after I talked to Missy. That's when she told me about hers. She told me that you didn't know yet. That was when I told her she had to tell you."

I could feel her squeeze me tighter with her arms around me. It was like she could feel my own emotional swell. I remembered the night Missy told me and how rocked I was by it. It was one of the most difficult moments of my life. I could only imagine how it went when Mitchell was told about his. This was one of the moments of my life that felt fixed, like there was no way the memory would improve. It was then I felt lips on mine and the swelling of dark feelings began to dissipate.

I opened my eyes and saw Marcie looking at me. There was a slight smile before she spoke.

"For better or worse, Leo."