A/N Good morning! It's Brick Week 2017 thanks to Castronomicaaal over on tumblr!

This short multi-chapter story is all about two people who have lost in love, each afraid of ever taking another chance. But oh so attracted.

I hope you enjoy it.

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King County Georgia 1966

It was early on a Saturday morning, just about 7:30. He was sitting on his front porch quietly enjoying his second cup of coffee while absentmindedly staring at the paper. It was the noise that made him look up, the noise of a pickup in need of a tune up, and maybe a new muffler.

The noisy rig pulled up in front of the house just two doors down from his. The elderly couple that owned it, Dale and Irma Horvath, had moved out about two weeks prior. They were off on their RV dream trip.

People like the Horvaths were the reason he'd moved to the neighborhood three years ago. Everyone was middle aged and older. No young kids living around there. That's what he'd been looking for in his new neighborhood, no kids. Children would just be a constant reminder of what he'd had and what he'd lost.

He knew Dale and Irma had decided to just rent the house out, planning that someday when they tired of life on the road, they'd come back.

He'd been nervous, wondering who the new neighbors would be, hoping whoever it was wouldn't screw up his perfect neighborhood. When Dale told him they'd rented to a widow from their church he felt a huge sense of relief. Thank God.

He watched as two young men hopped out of the truck cab, he assumed they were relations of the widows'. Probably her sons or maybe nephews. They were clean cut, all smiles and joking as they went to the back of the truck and began lifting out boxes. It must just be personal items. Clothing, memories, prized photos. The usual shit people move from place to place.

That was also about the time an old station wagon pulled up behind the pickup. His heart filled with dread when he saw her. Dammit he thought. It was a young blonde woman who first got herself out of the car, and then helped a little girl out. A little girl about three.

No. No. It couldn't be a young widow could it? And she had a small child? The idea of a young widow with children had never even crossed his mind. He supposed that was his own damn fault, but that didn't make him feel any better about the situation.

And she looked very young, no older than her very early twenties. She was dressed like she planned on a days' work. She was wearing dungarees rolled up to mid-calf, bobby socks and sneakers, and a pink sleeveless blouse.

He was trying his best not to notice, but even dressed down that way she was a real doll. She had her hair up in a ponytail and she was all smiles as she teasingly ordered one of the young men, "You better move a little faster Shawn, I don't have all day you know. I have unpacking to do."

"Yes boss, right away boss. You just take Janie inside and stay out of our way."

It wasn't long before the pickup was unloaded and the two young men had gone in the house. He was still sitting on his front porch. He should have gone inside long ago and started his Saturday chores, but he'd stayed right there, completely aware he hadn't taken his eyes off what was now the widow's house. What had he become, the neighborhood watch dog? Or maybe the neighborhood weirdo.

Another 15 minutes passed and the two young men looked set to leave. The pretty blonde was standing at the door, the little girl was standing next to her with her arms wrapped around one of her Mama's legs. The young woman said something to the men, probably thanking them for their help. They each simply raised a hand and smiled. One got in the pickup and one waited until she'd shut the door, then came walking toward him.

Shit, he was probably going to ask him just who the fuck he was and what the fuck he thought he was doing, just sitting there watching this entire time. But the young man had a smile as he spoke, "Excuse me, but you're Sheriff Grimes, right?"

He stood as he answered, hands on his hips, one knee bent and a slight tilt to his head, "Yes I am. Can I help you?"

"Well yeah I think so. I'm Shawn, Shawn Greene. I think you kind of know my folks."

"Oh yes, sure I met them once at Dale and Irma's." He remembered them. Farmers. An older man and his wife. They seemed like good people. Suddenly it was all coming together for him, he knew now just exactly who the young widow was.

"Um so yeah, my sister would kill me if she knew about this, but well, we're all a little worried about her and Janie living on their own. But my sister, she can get real stubborn."

The Sheriff acted cool as he slipped into his "on duty" voice and interrupted, "Your sister. Is she the woman who just moved in Horvath's place?"

"Yes, her name's Beth. Anyway, her and her little girl, Janie, they're going to be living there alone. I just thought maybe you could keep an eye on them."

"Of course I will. I keep a pretty good eye on everyone in the neighborhood. It's mostly older folks living around here and I worry about them."

"Yeah that's what Beth liked, you know, that it was a neighborhood of older folks. She thought it would be more peaceful and safer for her and Janie. Anyway, thanks Sheriff, I appreciate it."

"Sure, no problem. It's part of my job."

They shook hands and the young man turned to go and Rick turned toward her front door, like he'd see her there. Beth. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.

He silently scolded himself, "Stop it Grimes. A beautiful woman is the last kind of pain you need."

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She was so excited and so scared and so, well just looking forward to seeing if she could really do this. She'd never been out on her own, never been the head of the household. It was intimidating but also exciting. Could she do it? She hoped so. She wanted so much to prove she was capable of taking care of herself and Janie alone.

She and her young husband had only been out of high school six months when they married. It wasn't unusual. Most young folks in the county married shortly after graduation, especially the rural ones. And Beth and her husband had a good reason to hurry and tie the knot, Jimmy had received his draft notice.

Wherever the army sent him they both wanted her to go there too. She shook her head, thinking how innocent they'd been. They never even considered he could be sent halfway across the world to fight in a war. A war in a country they'd never even heard of.

That was just what happened though. Four months after they married her young soldier was sent to a place called Viet Nam. Beth moved back home with her Daddy and Mama. One month after that she discovered she was pregnant. Two months after that two soldiers came out to the farm and told her, her young husband and the father of her unborn child had been killed in that war.

She thought she'd never recover from the pain, not just for herself, but for her husband and a life taken so young, and especially for their baby. If it hadn't been for that baby she wondered if she could have gone on at all.

She knew how lucky she was, oh not at first of course. At first all she'd done was cry and wish she could just give up. But as some time passed and the pain eased up just a little she took more stock of what was good. She was so fortunate to have a wonderful family. She may not have made it through at all without their love and support.

But the time had come. She'd been feeling it for a while. Janie was three years old now and it was time for Beth to make the break. They needed their own home and Beth needed to start building a life for the two of them.

The first step had fallen right into her lap. It was after church one Sunday and Mr. and Mrs. Horvath came to the farm for Sunday dinner. That's when they told the Greenes they'd decided to rent out their house for a year or two and take off on their new motorhome adventure. Mr. Horvath had said, "We bought the darn thing and we're not getting any younger. If we're going to go we need to just make up our minds and go."

Beth had timidly asked, "How much rent would you be asking for the house?"

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she saw the looks in the eyes of her folks, she shouldn't have blurted that out. She should have talked to them first. It was too late now though; her question was hanging in the air.

Apparently neither of the Horvaths picked up on the tension. "For you Beth? We'd make it very reasonable. We know you'd take excellent care of our home and our things. Did I mention that? We'd need to leave all of our things behind. We'll undoubtedly want to come home someday so we can't just get rid of them."

That was perfect, she didn't have her own furnishings. There was really nothing stopping her. Jimmy had signed up for the life insurance when he joined the army and she'd never spent a dime of it. Plus, she received social security income for herself and Janie. Not a lot, but she didn't need a lot.

Her mind was working a mile a minute. She still had Jimmy's old station wagon and it ran just fine. It wasn't like she and her little girl ate a lot, and there was no need to buy furnishings or even kitchen items. She could get by just fine for quite a while. As soon as Janie was old enough to start kindergarten Beth could start taking some courses at the community college. Then she could get a real job. Maybe at the bank or with the phone company. She didn't know for sure and it didn't matter right in that moment, what mattered was she was making a start.

Her parents weren't angry, they understood her reasons for going, just like she understood how they hated to see her and Janie leave. Except for the few months she'd lived with Jimmy before he shipped out, she'd been with them her whole life. Janie had been born right there. Right upstairs in Beth's bedroom.

She assured them she'd still see them a lot, "Mama do you think I'd miss Sunday dinner? Janie and I will probably be over here so much you'll wish we'd moved further away. And you know, that old highway runs two directions, you and Daddy can come see us too. Just as often as you want."

When the big day came she was surprised at how nervous she felt. It seemed like the great unknown, yet she'd only be twenty minutes from the farm. When she pulled up in front of hers and Janie's new home her mood changed from anxiety to excitement. She looked over and squeezed the small girl's hand, "It's our new home Janie."

She hadn't missed the man sitting on his front porch just down the street. Watching. When they were sorting the boxes by room, Shawn had told her he was pretty sure that man was the county sheriff. She didn't bother telling Shawn she thought the sheriff was a very attractive man. Very attractive.

It kind of caught her by surprise that she noticed him at all. When Jimmy died she sort of shut down. Maybe her heart wasn't ready to feel again. Not that she didn't love her folks and Maggie and Shawn, and when Janie was born that little girl had her whole heart. But that was a different type of love than the love a man and woman feel.

No. She wasn't ready and didn't know if she ever would be.

The sheriff though, well he seemed to have lit a little spark in her. Even from two doors down she could see an intensity in his eyes, and she saw him smile when she got after Shawn for dropping a box. He had a beautiful smile, and beautiful curly hair. She was looking forward to seeing more of him now that they were neighbors.

She'd heard the story, everyone had. It had been the big gossip for weeks. She supposed it was all true because she'd even heard Mama and Daddy talking about it one night, and they weren't gossips. They'd been talking about it in the context of sending up extra prayers for the sheriff and his family.

The story was as scandalous as it was tragic. It was like something from one of those soap operas on TV. It seemed that unbeknownst to him, the sheriff's wife had been stepping out with one of his deputies. To make it worse, the deputy was a long time best friend of his.

The story went that when his wife told him she was pregnant the sheriff was thrilled. They had an eight year old boy and he was looking forward to having another child. Then his wife told him the truth, the baby wasn't his, it was the deputy's.

Things went real wrong in a big hurry. The deputy applied for a job with a county down in Florida and when it came through, him and the sheriff's wife and his little boy left town.

As Beth thought about it now she imagined that for him that felt about as bad as her own loss. Different for sure, but just as painful.

She wondered if he was lonely like her. She was a little afraid that her loneliness might get worse. Now that she really was in her own place without other adults around. But she was almost 23 years old, she couldn't live with her parents the rest of her life.

He'd heard the story; the sheriff hears everything whether he wants to or not. He'd heard about the sad death of the young soldier who'd left behind a very young pregnant wife. It had been the talk of the town for several weeks.

He remembered feeling guilty when it happened. Not because it was any fault of his, but because he'd been so relieved when the news broke. Talk of him, Lori and Shane had been replaced with talk of the young farm girl and her soldier husband.

He couldn't even imagine how hard it was for her when her husband died, it was a heartbreaking story. And he wondered if she ever got lonely. He did, but he did everything he could to fight it.

He wondered if she was like him, if she'd made up her mind to never risk getting her heart broken again. He hoped not. But for him that was the smart way, he was convinced of that. Just never let himself get in a situation where he could be hurt again.

Surely she was different though. She was so young and so pretty, and her little girl was practically a carbon copy of her Mama. Some guy would come along and she'd end up falling in love again. That was nice for her and the child. They deserved that. Even if it wasn't something he had the least bit of interest in, he hoped she'd find a new love for herself. A good man to help her raise that little girl.

He caught himself then, shit Grimes he thought, what the hell's the matter with you? You don't even know her, why would you give a rat's ass? Then he told himself he didn't give a rat's ass. Not at all.

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A/N Thank you so much for reading along. Please leave a comment or review and let me know what you think. You can see the chapter photo on my tumblr blogs gneebee and bethylmethbrick. This story will post every Sunday until complete. Again, thank you to Castronomicaaal for promoting Brick Week 2017 - please check out the tag on tumblr for other Brick stories.

I hope to see you all back here next week for more of Two Door Down. Until then remember, I love ya large! xo gneebee