It Would Be So Easy

Dawn hadn’t reached the neighborhood yet when Lukas carried the last box from his wagon to the back entrance of the house. The street sat quiet beneath a pale gray sky, the kind of silence that only existed before normal people woke up.

Everything had gone smoothly so far. Too smoothly. He stopped halfway to the door and glanced across the yard. Not because he heard something. Because something felt off.

A woman stood beside the hedge separating the properties, wrapped in a bathrobe she held closed at the throat against the morning cold. Mid-thirties, maybe older. Auburn hair, sleep-tousled and falling into her face. Pretty in the effortless way some women were before they remembered to hide it.

“Good morning, new neighbor.”

Her smile came easy. No suspicion behind it. No **** suburban cheerfulness either. Honestly, it was too early for fake politeness, which somehow made it genuine.

Lukas stayed where he was. He could end this immediately. Walk inside. Lock the door. Pretend he hadn’t heard her. That would be smarter. Simple interactions had a way of becoming complicated around him. Instead, he lowered the box onto the driveway. For a second he just watched her.

The impulse arrived almost instantly.

Sharp. Familiar.

One small push against her thoughts and she’d suddenly remember something inside the house. Coffee. Laundry. Her husband. Anything. She’d smile apologetically, turn around, and leave him alone without ever realizing why.

Easy.

The way it had always been.

Lukas clenched his teeth hard enough to feel pressure in his jaw.

No.

He was done with that. Or at least he wanted to be.

This place was meant to be a safe haven for him. A reset. New town, new house, new life. Nobody here knew what he was. Nobody knew what he could do. Nobody knew why he had really left.

By the time he reached her, he’d arranged his face into something approachable.

Friendly. Relaxed.

Human.

“Lukas,” he said, offering his hand without his last name. “You’re up early.”

“Hannah Bremer.” Her hand was warm despite the cold air. “My husband leaves for work before sunrise, so I usually get up with him. We drink coffee together before he heads out.”

She studied him openly while they shook hands.

“If I hadn’t been awake already, I probably wouldn’t have noticed you moving in.”

There was a tiny pause afterward. Barely noticeable. The tone hovered between formal and informal.

Lukas gave her a faint smile. “You don’t have to be so polite.”

That made her laugh.

“Then just call me Hannah,” she said, playfully dropping the formalities. “And honestly? Moving into a house before sunrise is a little suspicious. Feels like something a man does when he owes money to dangerous people.”

She winked after saying it. Joking.

Lukas almost smiled back.

Almost.

“Actually, I’d been curious about you even earlier,” she continued. “The realtor refused to tell anyone anything about you. Said you handled the entire sale remotely. Phone calls, emails, everything.” She folded her arms across the hedge and leaned slightly closer. “Who buys a house without seeing it first?”

Someone hiding. Someone running out of places to go. Instead he shrugged lightly. “Impulse decision.”

“Well, now I was obviously **** to investigate.” Her grin widened. “So if you want coffee, there’s still some left. Unless serial killers don’t drink coffee.”

There it was. The humor. Light, casual, harmless. Irresistible.

Meanwhile Lukas could feel every survival instinct he possessed quietly waking up beneath his skin.

“I should finish unpacking first,” he said carefully.

She glanced toward the nearly empty station wagon. “That all you brought?”

The question landed softly. Innocently.

Still, something inside him tightened. Most people filled houses with things. Furniture. Photographs. Decorations collected over entire lifetimes. Lukas had arrived with a few boxes and a past heavy enough to make up the difference.

“I travel light.”

“Hm.” Hannah tilted her head slightly, studying him again in that openly curious way attractive women sometimes did when they hadn’t decided yet whether a man was dangerous or interesting. Usually the answer was both.

“Well,” she said, stepping backward toward her porch, “the coffee offer still stands.”

Another pause.

“And if you need anything…” Her eyes lingered deliberately this time. “Anything—I’m right next door.”

Lukas gave a short nod and carried the box inside. The moment the door shut behind him, he already knew Hannah was still outside watching his every move. He leaned against the wall for a second and closed his eyes.

This was exactly the kind of problem he had moved here to avoid.