Sophie had noticed Isabella the day she moved in six weeks ago. The house next door had been empty after the previous owners left, but now it pulsed with new energy. Isabella was forty-one, recently divorced, and carried herself like a woman reborn. Long hair that caught the sunlight, curves that filled out sundresses in the most sinful way, and a confident smile that made Sophie’s stomach flutter every time they waved across the fence.
At thirty-four, Sophie was still navigating her own quiet dissatisfaction, a string of bad dates and a s*x life that had grown stale long before her last relationship ended. When Isabella texted her that Friday evening, “Wine on my patio? I need to vent about my asshole ex and could use good company” Sophie didn’t hesitate.
She arrived in a simple white t
