Chapter 2.

                                    

                                          
Evening was falling in the quiet street and Kate smiled at her efforts as she looked around her home. Everything was unpacked, in its place and tidy. She didn't have much so it hadn't been too much of an effort for her to get to this point. Nevertheless it was time for a wine and a pizza order, and possibly a pet she thought to herself. Kate had never owned a pet before and had always had a connection with animals. She thought now that she was finally able to settle in one place it would be a good time for her to find a companion animal that would be happy with the limited amount of time she would be able to devote to it.
                          
Grabbing her phone, the half empty packet of cigarettes that she had been holding onto for some time now, a bottle of Shiraz and a wine glass Kate walked out the front and sat on the veranda steps. Mentally she made a note to invest in a table and chairs for a sitting area in front of her lounge room window. She fished a cigarette out of the packet and lit the end, inhaling deeply she tucked the packet behind the balustrade post and promised it would be the last one for a long time. 
                          
With her fingers working quickly she searched for a nearby store that delivers to her area. Kate took another deep drag and smiled at the head spin that came with it. Closing her eyes and enjoying the moment she smiled knowing she was finally able to live in her own home, where she would be able to return to every night and enjoy her time off. The last 10 years had been a stunning adventure of travel, third world countries, making a difference and sheer exhaustion. It was time to breathe, and she realized that she was content in her decision to finally slow down.
                          
Kate found a pizza place that had good reviews and delivered to her area so she ordered her favourite as she finished the sneaky cigarette and paid using her debit card that was tucked into the back of her phone.
                          
A mechanical click in the quiet of the evening neighbourhood made Kate look up from the Thank You screen on her phone just in time to see the lady in the house opposite her walking to her car that was still parked on the street. Kate smiled and gave a friendly wave; she had always been good at making friends, which she knew had made her last 10 years a lot easier. She found that she was able to pick up on different languages quickly and she had an affinity with people which had opened up a whole different world of possibilities to her. It made people do as she asked without question, it made them trust her quicker, and it gave her an edge that the others in her field didn't particularly have.
                          
The woman stopped in her tracks, her long black hair kicked about her in the slight breeze and her dark eyes settled on the woman sitting on her front porch steps directly opposite. Again Joan forced a smile and a small wave. She had never been good at making friends, and she found most social situations to be awkward to the point of painful most of the time. She knew she was far better equipped as a boss, rather than a friend. She didn't negotiate terms as well when people were on the same level as her, as friends should be, and neighbours were people you simply waved to occasionally, nothing more. She wondered what this woman across the road could possibly want from her.
                          
Kate held up the bottle of wine as in invite to join as she sat comfortably on her front steps, her bum resting on the veranda decking and her naked feet resting on the middle step, her elbows sitting on her knees casually. Her cigarette had been finished only a moment before and she had flicked the butt into the garden bed, promising that she would pick it up later.
                          
Joan looked back at her house, at her car, and back at the woman across the street again, desperately trying to make a decision that to any other person would have been simple, but to her was awkward to the point of being mentally crippling. It was a simple decision, yes or no. All she had to do was work out whether she had the time and inclination to have a wine and a conversation with this pretty new woman that she would be living across the street from for who knows how long. She looked down at the car keys in her hand and steeled herself as she clicked the lock button and continued walking across the road. She could move the car later.