Love next door

re saw Damien Cole, it was

rd spinning low in the background. Her hands were deep in cookie dough-her version of st

ifting a box out of a moving truck, sweat glistening on his arms, a quiet ease in the way he moved

," she whispe

nday potlucks, and whispers behind curtains. People mowed their lawns on Saturdays, baked

d, was exactly why she

*

this time, her favorite-and decided to welcome him, like any decent neighbor would. But her

re she knocked, as if h

voice smaller

ind but caut

d the plate like a peace offering. "T

er, then smiled fully this time. The ki

he said. "

brushed as he

s the b

*

n. Not with someone her family would never approve of. But love doesn't care abou

at dawn. Late-night conversations on the porch where they talked a

ghed with his whole chest and listened like the world depended on it. Jane hadn't met some

d Lane saw s

siting. Her mother cried on the phone, pleading, "Think a

the day Damien looked at her like she was the

*

night that cha

er hair, his hand in hers across the console. They had kisse

door, flashing red and blue

hbors in robes. M

" one officer

stopped. "Wha

'd been followed. Descriptions matched "a tall Black m

rigid. "I just got here. I'

her voice trembled. "Th

need you to

cuffed hi

s innocent. In that moment, he wasn't a neighbor. He wasn't a teacher.

mething inside

*

im released. No charges.

amage had

hands buried in his coat pockets as they stood by the lake. "I

ed, tears hot in her eyes. "To be al

de her ache. "I don't want to lose you. But I

ything else," she whispe

Not hesitant. But with every ounce of p

k like the world m

-

ns. It grows through storms, through broken glass

. But the world around t

to choose-between what feels

*

s isn't

y the be

never expected to love becomes the

t risk isn't falling in lo