Fiona's mouth went dry, her hands frozen in midair over her cookie sheets. Her eyes gazed out her red and green trimmed window and caught a glimpse of her neighbour.
He smiled and offered a small nod as he walked by with his little multicoloured mutt.
She tried to smile back but her lips refused to curl, instead she stared blank-faced and frozen until he passed mercifully out of sight.
Air whooshed from her lungs and her hands dropped to her worktable.
What the fuck was wrong with her? He was just a man, wasn't he? Yeah, a man who bore a striking resemblance to Jamie Dornan, she thought absently.
She resumed her focus and continued piping her whipped shortbreads onto their pans. The neighborhood Christmas cookie exchange had seemed like such a great idea when her neighbour, Sheila, mentioned it. Now that she was elbows deep in the process of making 150 cookies, she was reconsidering her involvement. Her hands ached from piping and her fingers were pink from slicing maraschino cherries.
Sheila, a vivacious, witty woman of 78, figured this would be a good way for Fiona to get to know her neighbours a little bit. She'd been in this house for 4 months now and still only knew 3 people by name. Most of them just smiled or offered slight waves, including the Jamie Dornan look-alike whom she had affectionately dubbed "Hot Guy With a Dog".
He walked his dog easily 5 times a day and always past her house. She was, after all, between him and the park.
She wondered what he thought of her, a late 20s divorcee with a permanent deer-in-the-headlights look. He probably thought she was about as sharp as marble. One time he'd caught her off guard as she snipped herbs from her window box. He'd waved and said hello with a dazzling smile that forced heat to pool in her core. Instead of smiling and greeting him in return like a normal person, she'd blushed crimson and slammed her window, turning away. Who did that? The memory alone mortified her.
Granted, she hadn't been friendly with any men other than her ex-husband for over eight years. And she'd barely been "friendly" with him for the past three on account of how friendly he was being all over his office with his administrative assistant.
***
Fiona hurriedly poured coffee into her travel mug and threw on her bright red, oversized toque to cover her wild dark curls. She zipped into her knee-length jacket while stepping into her boots. In a flurry of graceless movements, she managed to lock her door and start towards her car when her skin prickled to attention.
"Good morning," said a knee-weakening voice behind her.
She fought the urge to freeze and managed to turn to face the voice.
There he was. Hot neighbour with his dog. They were both smiling.
To avoid looking directly at him she instead looked at the dog, but addressed them both.
"Good morning!" she said, hearing her awkward intonations.
She quickly squatted down to pet the dog and accidentally poured her coffee onto his scruffy paws.
Her cheeks burned.
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" She frantically rubbed the dog's paws, and the dog seemed delighted with the attention.
A deep, rumbling laugh brought her attention back up to her neighbour. His laugh deepened as he saw her flaming cheeks.
"Are you always this poised?" he asked, his eyes twinkling with humour.
"Pretty much," she said, shrugging, deciding to join in and laugh at herself.
He extended his hand to her. "I'm Malcolm, this is Pebbles."
She took his hand and shook. "I'm Fiona."
"Well Fiona, it looks like you're in a hurry to get somewhere so I won't keep you. I figured I'd take the opportunity to finally introduce myself since there is no window for you to slam shut." He winked.
Her mouth dropped open and she covered her face.
"So you noticed that huh?" she said from behind her mitts.
He laughed again, "well I'm not blind so--"
"I'm just, I'm divorced. And I'm not good with men--attractive men mostly, my brain just shuts down--I'm not usually like this," she stammered, the words sliding out in a stream before she could catcg them.
His eyes widened and his smile broadened. "You hear that, Pebbles? She thinks we're attractive."
She felt sweat beads forming under her toque as her skin burned with embarrassment.
"I need to get to work, it was nice meeting you Malcolm." She fumbled with her fob and dropped her coffee before waving awkwardly as she folded herself into her seat.
"Nice meeting you too, Fiona." He said smoothly as he turned to continue on to the park.
