Chapter 4: Payback

Julianna wanted some payback. She was committed to leaving her tenants to their own devices. She could see the encounter with Jon being random – after all, the lake was shared property. But, Richie hopping over her wall? That deserved something. She smiled darkly. Growing up with three brothers, she was used to pranks, and had gotten good at pulling her own over the years. She checked the clock. It was nearly noon – surely the rest of the household is up, even rock stars are up by now, she thought. Julianna picked up the phone, and called the main house, channeling her best professional voice.

Tico answered the ringing phone. “Hello?”

“Good Morning," Julianna said. "I’m calling from J. Frances Cavanaugh’s office; I hope I’m not calling too early?”

“No, not at all. How can I help you?”

“Well, we’ve had some complaints from the tenant in the lower property. Someone was trespassing in the yard – have you had any problems?”

“No, no troubles here.” He looked at the others, who all had puzzled looks on their faces, and smiled.

“Good, good. We pride ourselves on maintaining the utmost discretion, and I’ll admit, this has us alarmed. Please let us know if you see anything suspicious, and be assured that we are taking this very seriously. The trespasser has been caught on tape, so the police will have something to go by. It’s probably just a local kid; the police should have this wrapped up in short order.”

“Police?” Tico laughed hard. “Hold on a second – you should be talking to someone else here about this.” He handed the phone to Richie, covering the mouthpiece. “Busted,” he said.

Richie, frowning, took the phone. “Yeah?” Tico was whispering to the others, who burst out laughing.

“Yes, I was just telling your, er, friend about the trespasser on the lower property. The tenant there captured the interloper on tape, and the police will be by later to show you the person, to see if anyone recalls seeing this person loitering about.”

Richie paled “Um, good. Someone should be here. When will they be by?”

“Oh, sometime later this afternoon, I should think. The person in the other rental is still pretty shaken up, and needs some time to pull together the best shots of the miscreant. Again, we hope this doesn’t make you regret your decision to stay with us.”

“No, not at all. Thank you for calling. Bye.” Distractedly, he hung up the phone.

David punched his shoulder. “So, we gonna have to bail your scrawny ass out of jail or something? What the hell?”

“Never mind. I’ve gotta go. I’ve gotta go stop this before it goes too far. Shit, can you just imagine the headlines?”

Jon laughed. “Why do you think we’re laughing so hard?”

* * * * * * *

Julianna was shaking as she hung up the phone. It had taken all her strength to maintain her composure when Richie took the phone. I’m going to need a cold shower after that, she laughed to herself. I wonder how he’s reacting? Serves him right, she thought.

Climbing out of the shower ten minutes later, she heard the doorbell. Thinking it was the courier, she shouted, “Just a minute,” threw on a robe, and detoured to the library to pick up the package for André. Swinging open the door, she was saying “Jeez, that was quick -- ” and stopped dead. Richie was standing on her front porch. Seeing him in all his glory, with a sorrowful look on his face, made her acutely aware that she was naked and wet under her robe – and suddenly not all of the wetness was from the shower.

Julianna started backing into the house. Richie, thinking he was scaring her, took a step back himself, holding out his hands in a placating motion in front of him. “I’m sorry to intrude; I’m one of the people staying up there in the other house,” he waved off in the distance, “and well, hell, can I just talk to you for a minute? Sorry, I’m -- ”

Julianna interrupted. “Um, I recognize you; I know who you are. Give me a minute to put something on.” She wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw a flicker of regret pass over his beautiful chocolate-brown eyes. Yeah, right; dream on, she thought. She closed the door, and leaned back against it, taking a deep breath. She flew to her room, and threw on jeans and a tank top in about 60 seconds flat. She twisted her wet hair up into a series of clips, and went back to the door, pulling it open. The porch looked empty.

“Hello? You still here?”

“Over here,” came the reply from her right. Richie had settled into one of the rockers on her porch. “Sorry, I made myself comfortable. It’s been my experience that when a woman goes to get dressed, it’s never a quick trip.” He smiled a tentative smile. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you – I owe you an apology, and I want to ask you a favor I have no right to ask for.”

Julianna frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Well,” he sighed, “we got a call from the rental people…”

“Oh, did you have a problem, too?” she asked, then narrowed her eyes. “Wait a minute. Don’t move.” She went back into the house, and came back with several pictures – stills from the tapes. She looked from the pictures to the man and back again, putting on a look of surprise. “This – this is you? Why?”

He looked sheepish. “The technical reason is because my arms were starting to get tired from holding me up so I could look over. I really didn’t mean to invade your privacy. I heard my music and was curious. Then, when I looked over, I was, well,” he was blushing, “I was mesmerized. No two ways about it. Before I knew what I was doing, I was over the wall and, apparently, being caught on tape. I feel badly about what happened, and not just because I got busted. I truly apologize if I freaked you out. It won’t happen again.”

Julianna pursed her lips, thinking. She turned to Richie, indignity in her voice. “Why did you come down in the first place? There’ s plenty of land to roam long before you come to my wall. I was assured of my privacy.”

Richie felt even worse than when he first came down here. His first impression? He actually liked this woman – she was talking to him as a man, not as a Somebody. She was standing up to him. There was no awestruck expression or tongue-tied reticence. It was refreshing to have a normal, well not quite normal, conversation with a stranger – a beautiful woman at that.

“I know,” he replied. “To be honest, I came down because, er, my friend told us all about meeting you at the lake, and he wouldn’t tell us anything about you except you were kind enough to wake him before he burned to a crisp. He wouldn’t tell us anything about you, so…”

“So, you decided to do some sleuthing on your own.” She laughed. “I suppose I should be flattered. I appreciate your honesty. Don’t worry about it. I’ve decided to accept your apology.” She stood, and stretched out a hand. “Richie, I’m Julianna. Pleased to meet you.”

Richie jumped up to shake her hand. “Likewise.” He was quiet for a minute. “You didn’t already call the police, did you?”

“No, and of course, now that I know what was going on, I won’t. Don’t worry. Your secret lust for voyeurism is safe with me.”

Richie chuckled. “It’s not that much of a secret. My friends up at the house know about this episode; they’ll probably give me shit about it for a long time. I appreciate your understanding.”

“No problem – though be warned, I’ll probably give you shit about it, too,” she said with a laugh.

Richie laughed. “It was nice meeting you, Julianna.”

“Likewise, Richie,” came the reply. “Next time you want to see me, come through the gate not over the wall, OK?”

“There’s a gate?”