This is a VALENTINES DAY 2025 Contest submission. I hope you enjoy!
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Ashley Bennett is a good neighbor. Ashley is the type of neighbor every neighborhood should have. Whenever a new family moves into the neighborhood, she is there to greet them, usually with a casserole or a plate of sweets. It's old fashioned, but she feels it helps to grow the family feeling that a neighborhood should have, especially nowadays. In these days of tweets and likes and upvotes, she likes to retain some of the ways of how things were done in the past. Even though she's on Facebook and Instagram quite often with her posts of her garden or her most recent recipe, she enjoys being offline for the most part.
She and her late husband, Gregory, moved into their house 35 years ago. They were married for 37 years until his death 5 years ago. They raised 2 daughters and, by all accounts, they are both very happily married. Throughout the years Ashley and Gregory always maintained their house quite well, even remodeling it a few times to update it to current standards. The last remodel added a nice workout area in their basement, which Ashley loves to use almost daily, and home office for the two of them. She had always been health conscious, but even more so since Gregory's passing. Even at the age of 62, she is an incredibly attractive woman who most people assume to be at least a decade or so younger than she is.
Standing at 5'2", she weighs in at 120 lbs. thanks to her workout regimen. She has wavy red hair that's shoulder length that's beginning to show some gray streaks (she refuses to color it as she likes it the way it is), her eyes are a deep sapphire blue, and she still turns heads when she walks down the street, especially because she's quite buxom. Her favorite pastime, other than working out, is gardening. It has been a passion of hers since she was a teenager. And since her retirement 7 years ago as an elementary school teacher, she's outside working on it as often as possible. She even has a greenhouse in the backyard so she can do some winter gardening, as well.
Her daughters have children of their own. Both of them have moved about 20-30 minutes away from her Chicago suburban home. She sees them often as possible and spoils her grandchildren as much as she can. Holidays have been difficult these past 5 years, but they're growing more tolerable, as is her life in general without Gregory. She's even gone on a few dates, but they all end in failure as the men just want sex in the end. Granted, she still loves sex and the feeling it elicits, but she needs that connection, like the one she had with her late husband. For now, her only "boyfriend" is that of the battery operated kind.
The neighborhood changed once again when the family next door moved away after the father got an excellent job opportunity in Seattle. Unfortunately, the house sat vacant for nearly a year until it was finally sold in early April. It seemed as if one day the "For Sale" sign was in the yard and the next day a moving van was pulling up in front of the house. Ashley wondered who was moving in next door as the movers took the furniture into the house. She then saw an emerald green 1967 Mustang pull up into the driveway and she noticed that a tall man get out, alone. He walked into the house and she didn't see him again for the rest of the day.
The next day, being the good neighbor that she is, she put together a plate of cookies and walked next door to meet her new neighbors. She rang the doorbell and patiently waited at the door. And waited...
Odd
, she thought,
I didn't see anyone leave.
As she turned to leave, she heard the lock on the door click and the door open. Turning back around, she saw a very disheveled man with dirt on his face, wiping his hands in an old rag.
"Yes," he asked, "may I help you?"
Ashley said, "Oh, hello! I just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood. I'm Ashley, Ashley Bennett. I live next door to you."
As she handed him the plate of cookies, she looked him up and down. She thought that he was a very nice looking man and even though he seemed to be much younger than her. Well over 6', quite possibly 6'3", broad shouldered. Dark tousled hair, but not unkempt. Very dark brown eyes.
"What? I... Oh, thank you! I'm Joseph Stuart. Nice to meet you. Sorry for taking so long to answer, I was in the basement working on the water heater. Looks like I need a new one."
Smiling, Ashley said, "Well, I'm sorry to have bothered you, Mr. Stuart."
"Please, call me Joseph."
"And I'm Ashley. Well, um, I shall let you get back to your work. I'm sure you'd appreciate having some hot water!"
Before she could walk away, Joseph said, "No, please, come in. I need to take a break anyway, mainly to call a plumber. The least I could do is to repay the kindness by offering you some coffee or tea or...?"
"Oh, tea would be lovely, thank you!"
As Ashley entered, she noticed the stack of boxes still unpacked in the living room, but, from what she could see, the kitchen looked immaculate.
As they walked into the kitchen she was correct, it was indeed immaculate.
It seems he likes to keep his place neat and tidy, even with the chaos of moving,
Ashley thought. Joseph gestured for her to take a seat at kitchen table as he put a pot of water on to boil.
Joining her at the table, he said, "You definitely showed up at my door at the perfect time. I had completely given up on getting the water heater to work and I was getting frustrated."
"Oh, well, that's no good, you getting frustrated."
Oh, that came out wrong
, she thought.
Chuckling softly, he said, "No, that wouldn't be good. Say, would you have a suggestion for a good plumber? I'm not from this area and still a bit lost."
Thinking for moment, she finally said, "I can't think of anyone offhand, but I'm sure I have a number for one at home. I never had need of one since my husband was quite handy."
"Oh? Maybe he could give me a hand then?"
A sadness appeared on Ashley's face and Joseph caught it. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?"
"No.. no... not at all. It's just that Greg, my husband, passed away just over 5 years ago."
"My sincerest condolences. I'm sorry for bringing up a painful subject, I didn't know."
Smiling softly, she said, "It's fine, Joseph. Like you said, you didn't know. But I will get you that number after we enjoy our tea."
Noticing the pot was whistling, Joseph got up and poured them each a cup of tea. Sitting back down they resumed their conversation.
She said, "Thank you. So, um, is your wife at work or...?"
"I'm not married. Well, not married any more. It's just me here. I needed a fresh start and this house seemed perfect."
Handing Ashley her tea, he sat down his own cup in hand.
"Would you like sugar or milk with your tea?"
She said, "If you have honey, that would be nice, but sugar is fine as well."
Smiling, he turned to the large pantry and pulled out a few varieties of honey for her to chose from.
Placing them in front of her, she looked up at him and grinned, asking, "Beekeeper?"
Laughing, he replied, "No, I just enjoy having a variety. Whenever I travel, I always try to find a jar that's local to the area. So why settle on just one variety when I can have, um, orange blossom!"
