The Girl Next Door
By Tvdfanpam
Ch. 1
New Neighbors
Ana Steele Brown watched from an uncomfortable wooden bench as her four-year-old daughter Phoebe played in the park with her best friend Tegan. It was Ana's turn to host the play date and the two children begged to go to the park. They raced each other across the ground toward the biggest slide in the park. "Phoebe, not that one!" Ana shouted at her daughter. She got up and ran across the park to the big slide and held her breath as Phoebe raced up the steep ladder and slid down the slide. The girl had no fear! Tegan was right behind her as she jumped out of the way.
"Let's go again!" Phoebe shouted at Tegan to get his attention. He had run off to the swing set and was already swinging.
"No thank you." He said calmly as he swung. She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Phoebe! That's rude! Apologize to Tegan." Ana said a little too loudly. Other mothers turned to see what the commotion was about. Phoebe teared up from her mom shouting at her.
"Sorry mommy. Sorry Tegan." She sat down in the grass and cried. "I'm a meanie! I hate myself!" she said dramatically. Ana rolled her eyes. Drama queen Phoebe was back!
"You're not a meanie, just think about how you would feel if someone stuck their tongue out at you." She cuddled her daughter on her lap and kissed her head. "Are you guys ready for dinner? What sounds good?" Ana hoped she did not want chicken nuggets again. That was one of her daughter's favorite foods and wanted to eat it every day.
"Tacos mommy." Phoebe looked at Tegan and he agreed with a thumbs up. "Can we go to Taco Palace? I love their chips and cheese!" Two preschoolers gave her puppy dog eyes.
"Sure, why not." Ana thought it was a lot better than chicken nuggets any day! She loaded the two children into the back seat of her SUV and buckled two preschoolers into their car seats and got in the driver's seat and left the parking lot. They were at Taco Palace in no time since it was close to the park and were seated in their usual spot.
Ana glanced at her watch that also tracked her steps and started thinking about everything that she needed to do when they got home. They dropped off Tegan with a promise to see him soon and then went to their own house. Phoebe put her backpack on the hook in the mudroom and put her shoes in the cubby. "Can I play in my room? I want to color a picture of the park." Phoebe asked politely. She knew it was time for a bath.
"Okay, you have 30 minutes to color." Everything was a negotiation with Phoebe.
"An hour please?" She tried to convince her mom. Ana shook her head no. Phoebe looked like Ana killed her cat. Ana did her best to ignore it. The drama queen was back.
An hour and a half later, Ana closed the door behind her as she left Phoebe's room after a bath, two stories and a glass of water. She was exhausted and still needed to do some work. She went into the kitchen and made a small pot of coffee. Her laptop was sitting on her desk in her home office off the kitchen, so she fired it up and logged into her email account.
Four hours later, Ana got up and stretched her neck and rotated her head. She was stiff from sitting so long. She got up and walked outside and stood on the front porch. She could see a moving van across the street and down a way towards the water. New neighbors? Hmm, interesting. That house had sold for over 9 million dollars. Property values had skyrocketed in the last ten years. Ana was lucky that she was able to buy her grandmother's house when she passed away. Her dad gave her a good deal on it. That was the best investment she ever made!
Ana sat down on the top step and drew her knees up to her chest. Times like these when Phoebe was asleep, and she was alone with her thoughts made her think of what could have been if only her husband was still alive. Would they have moved into her grandmother's house, or would they even be living in Washington? He hated towns and would not have wanted to live here even though the water was at the end of the block.
Tyler Brown was Ana's first love and first lover. They had big plans to travel around the US in a van and work odd jobs when they needed. Very unrealistic she thought now. They were both twenty years old and had one year left of college and were eager to start their lives together. Her dad absolutely put his foot down when Ana told him they were going to live together for a while before they got married. He hosted a casual wedding for them in his backyard.
Everything was easy until it wasn't. Tyler did not like his job and wanted to travel although they had no savings to support them while doing so! Ana had started a job at a marketing firm and loved it and was making good money. They had been married almost two years when Ana found out she was pregnant. What a shock for both of them. At first Tyler felt trapped and wanted Ana to have an abortion; he wanted to wait at least five to ten years before becoming a parent. She was appalled and moved out for a few days.
After a weekend of drinking and crying on the shoulder of his best friend, Tyler realized he could not live without Ana and apologized, and she returned to their apartment with him. He promised to stick with this job at the accounting firm and not try to sabotage it. He liked the idea of working but lost the point of having to go to work every day. He still had some growing up to do. How he thought they could survive on Ana's salary alone she often wondered.
Her dad insisted on them buying term life insurance in case something happened to one of them. Tyler thought he was being paranoid but went along with it since her dad also insisted on paying for the first year. Ray Steele was paranoid but had seen families devastated by a sudden death in the family especially by the main provider. He sold insurance and gave them the first year's premium as a wedding gift. So far, they had been keeping it up.
Ana remembered the day her husband died like it was yesterday. Tyler woke up with a stiff neck and a blinding headache. He vomited and was so dizzy that Ana had to support him back into the bedroom and onto the bed. His face was bright red, and he said he felt like his head was going to explode. Ana grabbed her phone and googled his symptoms and nearly dropped the phone when it described a brain aneurysm. She dialed 911 with shaky hands. Three days later she was a widow with a baby on the way and planning a funeral.
Ana got up from the step and walked back into the house and shut and locked the door. She needed to go to bed so she could get up and do it all over again tomorrow.
The next morning, she opened her eyes and stared into the eyes of her daughter, her mini me. Phoebe was holding Mr. Bear and tried to give Ana a hug but ended up poking her in the breast instead. "Ouch honey, that hurts mommy." She grimaced, thinking that would leave a bruise. Phoebe's little hands could pack a punch!
"Sorry mommy. Mr. Bear wanted to give you a hug." Phoebe threw the teddy bear at Ana and started jumping on the bed. Ana tried to stay out of the way of little feet.
"Mommy needs to pee honey. What do you want for breakfast today?" Ana listened as Phoebe listed everything she could think of including chicken nuggets. "How about pancakes? I have strawberries!"
"Yea! I love strawberries! Yeah, I want pancakes." She was still jumping on Ana's bed when Ana walked out of the bathroom. "You may watch one episode of Peppa Pig if you want to." Phoebe jumped off the bed, abandoning Mr. Bear and raced into the living room and expertly turned on the television. Ana shook her head, quickly made her bed, went into Phoebe's room, and made her bed as well. She learned it was best to do as much as she could while Phoebe was distracted.
After breakfast Phoebe insisted on helping Ana load the dishwasher, the two girls put on clothes and shoes and walked outside. It was a beautiful Saturday in Washington State, and they were going to walk down to the shore of Lake Washington and walk on the boardwalk. It was a private boardwalk for the residents, and you could not access it unless you had the code to the gate.
They were walking down the block and Phoebe noticed the moving van still parked in the driveway of the recently sold home. "Look mama, that van says home!" Ana still marveled at how Phoebe could read certain words at four years old. They continued down the block and walked to the boardwalk.
Phoebe was skipping on the way back home and tripped over a rock in the road. She fell hard on both hands and knees and started screaming like she was being stabbed or something. A lady came running out of the new house.
"Are you okay?" Called a blonde-haired woman who ran over to Phoebe who was crying hysterically at the blood on her left knee. Ana scooped her up and inspected the damage while trying to comfort her daughter. "Please come in and let's get that knee fixed up."
"Oh, it's okay, we just live down at the end of the block, and we can wait until we get home." Ana said. Phoebe cried harder. "Well, if you have a Band-Aid handy, we can hopefully make it the rest of the way home without any more injuries." Ana smiled at the woman and followed her inside the beautiful home.
"The first aid kit is in the kitchen. Just set your little sister down on the counter here and we will get her fixed up in no time." Ana and Phoebe both giggled. "What's so funny?" she asked innocently.
"This is my mommy pretty lady." Phoebe said with a smile, the injured knee temporarily forgotten. She thought it was funny when grownups called her mommy her sister!
"Your mommy looks like a little girl too!" She said with a smile as she dabbed some antibiotic cream on Phoebe's knee then applied a hello kitty Band-Aid. "There! All better, I hope!"
"Thank you." Phoebe said shyly. "I love hello kitty!"
"I'm Gail Taylor. What's your name?" Gail said to Phoebe.
"My name is Phoebe Elizabeth Steele Brown, and this is mommy." Phoebe pointed to Ana proudly.
"I'm Ana Steele Brown or just Ana Brown." Ana said nervously. She rambled when she was around people she did not know. "We live in the last house on the left."
"Good to know. We are excited to have our first house together. My husband and I just got married last year and we lived in an apartment. Well, we still have the apartment, but we plan to spend more time here than the apartment I hope." Gail was rambling too it seemed.
Ana smiled at her. "Nice to meet you, Gail. Phoebe and I need to go home now. We bake cookies on Sunday afternoons, would it be all right if we brought you some tomorrow as a housewarming present?"
"My husband would love that. I can't keep up with his sweet tooth." Gail walked the girls to the door. "Bye Phoebe, I hope your knee feels better soon."
"Thank you, Miss Gail." Phoebe blew her a kiss as they walked outside. "I like her mommy."
"I like her too honey." Ana said as they walked away. "What kind of cookies do we want to make tomorrow?"
"Chocolate chip!" Phoebe started to skip again down the street.
"Who were you talking to?" Jason Taylor asked his wife as he came in from the three-car garage carrying another box for his wife to unpack.
"Phoebe Elizabeth Steele Brown and her mom Ana." Gail said with amusement. "Phoebe fell and skinned her knee and cried crocodile tears until the hello kitty Band-Aids came out then she was all smiles." Jason laughed at the picture that painted. "They live down the block, last house on the left."
"Tomorrow they are bringing over homemade chocolate chip cookies, you can meet them then." She started putting kitchen linens away in the deep drawers. "I thought the mother Ana was actually Phoebe's big sister. She is incredibly young looking with long dark hair. Phoebe is her mini me."
"Long dark hair you say?" Jason asked with a frown. Gail nodded. "I hope the boss does not get a peak of her. He is also coming over tomorrow with a housewarming present."
A/N: Here is the first chapter of my new story. I love Ana as a mom and Phoebe is a little drama queen who has her mommy wrapped around her finger. Please take a minute to review and let me know if you like it.
