Answer

Sighing, Ethan pulls himself up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Half asleep, still in the clothes from the day before, Ethan drags himself down the stairs, the occasional knock signaling to him that the unannounced guest is still waiting. Grumbling a word salad of annoyance, Ethan reaches the door, opening it without even trying to put on a smile.

Blinking, his jaw twitching, he's met with an unexpected, and oddly familiar, sight. And... Smell?

A tall blonde woman stands in his doorway, holding a pie that could only be described as 'party sized'. Perking up, Ethan finds his attention torn, eye darting between the massive pie and the woman holding it.

"Hello, neighbor!" Her greeting is almost sing-song. "Oh my! Did I wake you?"

"Um," Ethan ruffles his hair, trying to destroy hints of lost sleep. "Yes. No. Um, I was just lying in bed." The lie was involuntary, Ethan trying to even himself. Something about the woman's voice clicked something into place, but the picture was still forming.

"Oh dear, I did wake you? Sorry about that," the woman's shoulders slump slightly, but bounce back just as fast. "I was just so eager to meet, or should I say re-meet you, that I didn't want to wait any longer to welcome you back to town!"

Ethan shrugs and smiles, the reaction partly genuine, partly to stall for a few precious seconds. Re-meet? They've met before? The puzzle isn't complete in his head, but Ethan knows this woman. Still half asleep, he tries to think this over, before the dreaded awkward pause sets in.