On the fourth day of January, a couple moved into a local subdivision; a family of six, and what appeared to be husband, wife, and their children.
There in South Carolina, at least in that neighborhood, it had been tradition to invite new family's over for cookouts or meals, depending on the season or the new neighbors.
Everyone Tom and Yvonne had over or other friends in the area, invited over, were upbeat and became long lasting friends from the get-togethers thrown for that neighbor.
Something didn't seem right with this family, but you couldn't tell by watching the children. They were your everyday normal kids. The girls immediately hooked up with other area girls or boys and walked the streets, as they normally would. The two younger ones, played games in their backyard as did any kids.
When, Yvonne and Tom walked over to the new neighbors home, a couple doors down, the neighbors noticed them, smiled, but quickly rushed inside of their house and closed the doors. Tom and Yvonne stopped half way and looked at one another.
"Maybe they are not sociable, Tom. Maybe they are from an environment where they don't mix with others. I've known people like that", said Yvonne.
"Yeah me too hon, I know some too", replied Tom. Tom didn't say anything else. Nevertheless, what seemed odd to him was that woman was dressed in bright clad colors and stylish at that, which Yvonne didn't mention anything about.
Tom contemplated why they would react this way for a while. Later that day, he saw what he thought was the husband. He was out front, trying to fix the mailbox.
"Hi neighbor, can I give you a hand with that mailbox?"
He only smiled, nodded no and waved. The man, whose name Tom didn't know yet, avoided him. Tom got on the internet and tried to find out from public records who the property owners were. It was owned by a corporation it said.
"That's strange he thought. A business owns this residential property?"
Standing in the back yard later, Tom looked across to their yard and saw the woman gardening away. She saw him holding a beer and looking at her. She stood up and walked in to her garage. Tom was perplexed.
What was up with this couple? He saw his friend Chuck and offered him a beer and they talked about the new neighbors and their idiosyncrasies. Chuck suggested a few things, but he remembered a couple he read about with four kids, slightly older, that was involved in a huge drug deal and sting operation. He wondered if they could be this family.
Tom was curious, but had other things going on and dropped it for the time being. He was talking to Chet, Greg and Don about them. Don, being on the force, could get some inside information, if Tom really was that interested.
Several days later, Yvonne and Tom were out to dinner and saw the couple at the same restaurant. Tom walked up to them and introduced himself. They hardly did that in return. Tom felt they were rude, but wasn't aware of their circumstances.
Finally, the husband spoke up, "Listen, it is really nice to meet you. I am not trying to be rude or unsociable; I am not. My wife and I are in a situation, currently, that I am not able to become sociable with anyone. This is nothing personal, nor is it anything else. It is all about a personal matter we are involved with and I can't say anything else. I do appreciate your attempted hospitality though."
He smiled at Tom and the guy's wife smiled at Yvonne and Tom as well, but oddly, when Yvonne looked away to the couple's waiter, the woman smiled and winked at Tom directly. She was an attractive woman, dressed modestly this time, although she was flashier the first day Tom saw her.
It struck him as odd that she did this and it made Tom initially uncomfortable. He had been married to Yvonne for 21 years and no woman had ever winked at him, not the way she did.
His name is Gordon and her name escaped him. She had deep blue eyes and medium length natural auburn hair. She was a tall woman, standing 5' 10". Gordon stood about 6'2". He was a big brawny fellow and in good shape.
She had a set of shoulders on her, but she also was a well-endowed woman and Tom couldn't even imagine what she was. He wouldn't even fathom a guess. However, what did stand out after all this was her body; it slimmed down as it came close to her hips. It was as if she worked hard at keeping her shape. It seemed virtually impossible to keep in Tom's opinion, but getting occasional looks, made him think, she was a lot better looking then he originally realized.
Tom wanted to get to know them better because that was his nature. Yet, as Yvonne said they couldn't become sociable therefore, he backed off the situation.
Tom worked out of his house and since his kids were grown and moved away, he had the freedom to work his own hours.
He walked every morning at about 4:00AM or so. Hardly did he see anyone walk at this time of the morning. To his surprise, he saw his neighbor walking and yes, anyone that knew what she looked like would know it was Gordon's wife.
She left Tom's line of sight. He always walked for 2 hours. 20 minutes later, he heard breathing behind him.
"Good Morning, Tom. It's nice to see another healthy soul out this early, especially a man."
She startled him, but he didn't recognize the voice or the breathing. She was dressed in a bright colored sweat suit. Her hair was pulled back in a short ponytail. It showed her nice facial features that Tom never noticed before on her. The suit itself hid her beautiful physique as well. He always wondered what her lower body looked like.
She was huffing and puffing and her chest heaved as she breathed. Her large voluptuous chest announced itself as she took a deep breath. She knew I noticed that fact and she wasn't concerned.
"Good morning, I'm fine, thank you. How are you? That's a very nice outfit, if you don't mind me saying so."
"Thank you, I appreciate it. I am well. How long have you been walking Tom?"
She smiled while we made small talk, but not once did Tom learn anything about their little secret she was required to keep. He began to suspect what Chuck said was the truth. Between Don, Chuck, and him, they would discover all of this.
"I have to apologize, I didn't catch your name the other evening at the restaurant, and I feel so rude about that too."
"It's Ginny. My name is Ginny Rialto, Tom. You need to address me by the name of Karen Ronald."
That was what he remembered from the restaurant. However, why she would tell Tom her real name, Ginny, made him wonder.
"Ginny, or excuse me, Karen why did you just do that? Why did you just represent yourself in that way?"
