Jessie Hunt, exhausted and sweaty, dropped the last of the packing boxes on the dinning room carpet. She could already feel her muscles to cramp up and knew that she was going to be in serious pain tomorrow.

But as she looked over at kyle,she couldn't help but smile.

They were officially moved in.

The wide grin on his face told her he was thinking the same thing. his shirt was drenched, but she didn't care as he came over and wrapped her in a bear hug. "We live here now,"he whispered in her ear, before gently kissing her." I think we're entitled to celebrate, don't you think.

"Definitely", she agreed.

"Champagne?beer?"

"Maybe a beer,"Jessie suggested, and a Gatorade chaser. I feel like my whole body might seize at any second."

"I'll be right back,"kyle said and headed for the kitchen.

Jessie moved from the dinning room to the living room and plopped down on the couch feeling her perspiration-soaked shirt against the sheet covering the furniture. It was late August and even in the coastal Orange County community of Westport Beach, the weather was hot and sticky.the temperature was easily in the low nineties.

Of course, that was nothing compared to what it was like back in down town Los Angeles, where they'd lived until this mourning. surrounded by the asphalt and concrete and shiny skyscrapers, Jessie would often walk out of their condo into the late summer heat to face temperature above one hundred. In comparison, this felt like a respite.

She reminded herself that this was exactly the sort of perk that would justify moving away from the familiar life she'd grown to love in the city.She'd be trading in the excitement of the busy LA streets for cool ocean breezes.Instead, on hip, new restaurants, they'd visit seaside cafés. Instead of taking metro or Uber to a gallery opening, they'd check out a yacht race in the harbor.And of course, there was all the extra money.It would take some time getting used to.But she'd promised her husband she would embrace their new life, and she intended to keep her word.

Kyle walked into the room, holding beer and Gatorade. He had peeled of his wet shirt. Jessie pretended to be oblivious to her husband's impressive abs and chest. How he managed to maintain that physique while working those crazy hours at the firm was beyond her. But she wasn't complaining.

He came over, handed over the drinks, and sat down beside her.

"Did you know there was a wine fridge in the pantry?"he asked.

"Yes,"she said laughing incredulously. Didn't you notice that when we looked at the

House the last two times?"

"I just assumed that it was another cabinet, so I never actually opened until just now. pretty cool, huh?"

"Yes,pretty cool, pretty boy",she agreed ,marveling at how his short blond locks stayed perfectly coffied,no matter how disheveled the rest of him got.

     "You're the pretty one,"he said, brushing Jessie's shoulder-length brown hair out of her green eyes and staring at her with his own penetrating blue one's." It's a good thing I got you out of LA.I was tired of all those fedora-wearing hipsters hitting on you."

       "The fedoras weren't a great call, I have to say.I could barely see any of their faces to decide if they were my type."

      "That's because you are an Amazon woman,"he said, pretending not to get jealous at her gentle teasing." Any guy under six feet tall has to crane his neck to look up at a tall drink of water like you."

       "Not you, though,"Jessie murmured softly, suddenly forgetting her aches and pains as she pulled him close towards her." I'm always looking up at you, hot stuff."

        Her lips were just brushing against his when the doorbell rang.

        "You've got to be kidding me,"she groaned.

         " Why don't you answer it?" Kyle suggested. "I'll find a fresh shirt to throw on."

          Jessie walked to the front door, with beer in hand. It was her little rebellion against being interrupted mid-seduction.

When she opened the door, she was greeted by a perky redhead who looked to be about her age.

        She was cute, with a little. Button nose, gleaming white teeth, and a sundress that was just tight enough to prove she never missed a Pilates class. In her hands was a tray of what looked to be homemade brownies. Jessie couldn't help but notice the massive wedding ring on her finger. It gleamed in the late afternoon sun.

       Almost without thinking, Jessie found herself profiling the woman : early thirties ; got married young ; maybe three children ; stay-at-home-mom but had lots of help ; nosy but not in a malicious way.

      "Hi,"woman said in the cheaper voice. "I'm Kimberly miner from across the street. I just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood. I hope I'm not disturbing you."

        "Hi, Kimberly,"Jessie replied in her friendliest, new neighbor voice. I'm Jessie Hunt, we actually just finished moving our last box in a couple of minutes ago,, so this is a great timing. And this is so sweet of you, literally!brownies?"

         "Yep,"Kimberly said, handing over the tray. Jessie saw her pointedly pretend not to eye the beer in her hand. They're kind of my specialty.

"Well, come one in and have one,"Jessie offered, even though it was the last thing she wanted right now." I'm sorry the place is such a mess, as are Kyle and I.

We've been sweating all day. He's actually looking for a shirt right now. Can I offer you something to drink? Water? Gatorade. A beer?

"No thanks,I don't want to impose.You probably don't even know which box has glasses yet.I remember the move in process.It took us months.Where are you coming from?"

   "Oh, We just lived in DLTA,"Jessie said and seeing the confused look on Kimberly's face, added,"Downtown Los Angeles. We had a condo in the South Park district."

   "Oh WOW, city folk,"Kimberly said, giggling a little at her own jock." What brought you to Orange County and our community?"

    "Kyle works for a wealth management firm, Jessie explained." They opened a satellite office down here earlier in the year, and it expanded. It's a big thing for them because PGF it is a pretty conservative operation. Anyway, they asked him if he'd help them run it. We figured it was a good time to make a change since we are thinking about starting a family."

    "Oh, with the size of this house, I assumed you already had kids,"Kimberly said.

   "Nope - just being optimistic,"Jessie answered, trying to hide the sudden embarrassment, she felt surprised." Do you have any children?"

    "Two, Ourr daughter is four and our son two. I'm actually going over to daycare to pick them up in a few."

   Kyle arrived and wrapped one arm around Jessie's waist as he extended the other to shake Kimberly's.

       "Hello,"he said warmly.

       "Hi,Welcome,"she replied.

  "My goodness, between two of you, your future children are going to be gains. I feel like a munchkin next to you both."

   There was brief awkward silence as both Jessie and Kyle wondered how to respond.

     "Thank you?"he finally said.

   "I'm sorry, That was rude of me. I'm Kimberly, your neighbor from that house,"she said, pointing across the street.

    "Nice to meet you, Kimberly. I'm Kyle Voss, Jessie's husband."

   "Voss? I thought it was Hunt."

     "He's Voss,"Jessie explained.

   I'm Hunt, at least for now, I've been procrastinating on doing paperwork to change it."

  " I see, Kimberly said,"How long have you been married?"

     "Almost two years, Jessie said sheepishly. I have real problems with procrastination. That might explain why I'm still in school."

    "Oh,"Kimberly said, clearly That lived to move away from the last name topic." What're you studying?"

"Forensic psychology."

"WOW - that sounds exciting." How long before you're officially a psychologist?"

"Well, I got a little delayed,"Jessie said, sharing the obligatory story every cocktail party they'd attended for the last two years." I started out in child psychology when we were undergrads at USC that's where we meet. I was even doing an internship for my master's when I realized I couldn't

Handle it. Dealing with children's emotional problems was too much for me. So, I switched."

She pointedly neglected to include some other details of why she'd dropped out of internship. Hardly anyone knew about them and she certainly wasn't going to share them with a neighbor she'd just met.

"So you find dealing with the psychology of criminals less disturbing than children?"Kimberly asked,dumbfoundedly.

"Weird,huh?"Jessie conceded.