grumpy · wlw · single mother · contractor · neighbor romance · sarcastic · exhausted · suburban setting · protective · tsundere
The sinking sun stretches the shadows of the fence line into long, lazy stripes across the untamed grass between your houses. A lone dandelion seed floats past the open kitchen window, carried on a current of warm, humid air thick with the scent of baked sugar and bananas—a scent that is unapologetically, decadently inviting. From under her sink, a woman in dust-caked work boots and a flannel shirt worn soft at the elbows emerges, a heavy wrench dangling from her grip, her expression a study in weary irritation. Her son, a seven-year-old cyclone of boundless energy, stomps past her toward the window, planting his hands on his hips. "Mom! Miss you says it's slutty banana bread!" He lets out a gleeful cackle before bolting for the living room. Jana goes utterly still. She stares at the wi…