All those moments would be lost in time… like tears in rain.

I stared at the sentence for the fifteenth time, trying to think what it was that niggled at me about it, why it was so familiar, but I couldn’t concentrate.

I couldn’t concentrate because U2 had been screaming at me from next door for the last two hours. Every time one of their songs faded into the next, the lull was filled in by the sounds of laughter.

Logan was having a party.

“All those moments would be lost in time like tears in rain,” I muttered, tapping my finger against my computer mouse. “All those moments. All those moments… All those… Arrggggh!” I pushed back from the computer and glowered at the wall connecting my flat to his.

It occurred to me that earlier I’d let myself soften a little toward him when he’d casually offered to help Mr. Jenner.

Well, never again.

He was an inconsiderate oaf.

Last night I’d started thinking that it would take visiting a therapist again to deal with my gradually mounting resentment against my new neighbor. But I made the decision in the morning that it would be much cheaper for me to change my work schedule than to visit a therapist. I’d have to work in the afternoon from now on, and that was that.

Okay, so I wasn’t really as blasé about having to rearrange my schedule as I was trying to convince myself I was. I knew it would take me days, if not weeks, to come around to a new work and sleeping pattern, but I could see no other choice since a hell-raiser had moved in next door.

Upon that decision, I was up in the morning to run my errands so I could get back in the early afternoon to finish a manuscript that was due back to one of my authors that evening. It was a Saturday, and I’d much rather spend my Saturday with Juno and Chloe, who were buggering off to St.

Andrews for the day, but I had work to do.

I was tired, I was disagreeable, and I wasn’t in the mood to face any annoying neighbors. So of course I was delighted when my neighbor Janice appeared on the stairs just as I was locking my door.

Janice climbed up the stairs to my landing and stopped at the sight of me. “Did you hear?” she snapped without preamble.

I pulled on my patience like a winter cloak against her icy chill.

Janice lived on the floor above me with her long-term boyfriend, Lukash. I rarely saw Lukash, and thankfully, I didn’t have that many run-ins with Janice. She was a defense lawyer for the Scottish courts, she was humorless, and she was… Well, there was no other word for it. She was a bit of a bitch really.

“Hear about what?”

“Your next-door neighbor.” She gestured to Logan’s door, eyes blazing with fury.

So he’d pissed someone else off. I wasn’t surprised.

“The ex-con,” she spat.

Now I was surprised. “Excuse me?”

Janice stepped toward me. I immediately wanted to back away from her. “Mr. Jenner told me that Logan MacLeod mentioned to him that he’d done time. Apparently, the idiot assumed we all knew of his prison time. That bloody old goat downstairs doesn’t even seem to think it’s a problem. He just went on and on about that thug fixing his washing machine.”

I curled my hands into fists. “Mr. Jenner is not an old goat.”

“That’s not the point.” Janice waved my defense off. “Aren’t you terrified you’re living next door to a convicted criminal? I went straight onto the phone to Mr. Carmichael, but he insists that thug is a friend of his and that we’re actually safer with him as a neighbor. Can you believe it?”

Mr. Carmichael was our landlord. Although I’d never met him personally, he was a very good landlord. If anything went wrong in the building or our apartments, it was fixed immediately.

“Perhaps he’s a good judge of character. And maybe we are safer with Mr. MacLeod here.” I couldn’t explain why I found myself defending Logan. He was certainly a very inconsiderate neighbor, and I was intimidated by him on occasion. But truly frightened?

No. Never.

Janice grunted. “Oh, you’re all idiots. You forget I defend people like that man. I know exactly what kind of person he is. I’ll be looking for a new place to rent.”

Oh, finally some good news.

I just managed to stifle my smile. “Okay. Have a good day, then.” I skirted around her and hurried down the stairs before she subjected me to any more of her judgmental bile.

I had just entered the supermarket when Aidan called and asked me if I fancied grabbing a quick coffee. I knew saying yes was deliberate procrastination, but I talked myself around to it because coffee might wake me up a bit and thus give me more energy for my work later.

The low spring sun cast the outside of the coffee shop in a beautiful soft light. I shaded my eyes against it and saw Aidan sitting at one of the little metal tables. He’d already ordered me a coffee.

I smiled gratefully as I slipped into the seat across from him. “You are a rock star.” I immediately wrapped a chilled hand around the hot cup and sipped at the smooth drink.

Aidan squinted at me against the light of the sun. “You look knackered.”

I grunted. “Thank you.”

“Is it that neighbor of yours?”

I thought on the news Janice had imparted this morning and decided not to mention it to Aidan. It would concern him. He would jump to conclusions.

Perhaps… well, perhaps I should be jumping to conclusions, too, about the fact that my neighbor was a convicted criminal, but I didn’t know what he’d been convicted of, I didn’t know why Mr.

Carmichael seemed so sure of the man’s character, and I’d always found it best to reserve judgment until I had all the facts. For instance, I did know Logan MacLeod was arrogant, annoying, and loud. I could judge him all I wanted about that. “He seems intent on living life to the fullest.”

“Meaning?”

“He’s very loud.”

Aidan shrugged. “Well, perhaps he doesn’t know how loud he’s being. Just say something.”

“If I do, he’ll just assume I’m being difficult.”

“You?” Aidan said. “Difficult? You wouldn’t know how to be difficult.”

“I don’t want to talk about Logan. Why are you lot so interested in my bloody neighbor?”

He grinned. “Because of your reaction to him.”

“Oh, not this again. Ever since Chloe introduced you to Juno, you’ve come to think of her as the queen of perception. I’ll have you know she gets lots of things wrong. All the time.” I sipped at my coffee and then deliberately changed the subject. “How’s Callum?”

Callum was Aidan’s teammate. I’d dated him a few years ago for a couple of months, until we both realized we didn’t have a lot in common and were actually very boring as a couple. We were definitely better off as friends. A few months after we broke up, Callum started dating Annie, a very outgoing, outdoorsy sports journalist. They’d been together ever since and were planning their wedding.

Aidan’s face fell. “Callum and Annie broke up.”

“Oh no!” I said, aghast. “Why?”

“Believe it or not, you and she share a very similar family situation, except she still talks to hers.

Her parents are dominating and negative, and they’ve completely tried to take over the wedding. They also started putting pressure on them about grandkids, and not like other parents’ kind of pressure. It turns out they own Annie’s house. Callum didn’t know that. Her mum and dad have threatened to force them out if Annie isn’t pregnant within their first year of marriage. Apparently, they believe that having children will prove that Callum is serious about Annie. Unlike marriage.”

“Oh my gosh,” I murmured, feeling a deep empathy. Other people might think it ridiculous that any parent would act like that – perhaps even disbelieve that such parents existed – but I knew from personal experience that they did.