“I spent so much time searching for problems at your house that I didn’t check my own.”

For a few seconds, neither of us spoke.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

The apology was simple, and she did not try to make excuses for everything she had done.

“I accept your apology.”

Relief showed on her face.

“Thank you.”

“But I’m keeping the wind chimes.”

To my surprise, she gave a small smile.

“I thought you might.”

Things slowly became calmer after that.

Valerie stopped watching my house.

She sometimes waved when we saw each other outside, and she began speaking politely to Ruth and Harold.

We never became close friends, but we became neighbors who could live across from each other without looking for reasons to argue.

The following spring, Valerie planted a new flower bed farther inside her yard.

Before the workers began, she walked over and showed me the survey.

“I checked the property line first this time,” she said.

“That seems like a good idea.”

She glanced toward my fence.

“And I checked its height too.”

I raised an eyebrow.

She smiled.

“It’s legal.”

Later that afternoon, a breeze moved across my porch, and my grandmother’s blue wind chimes began making their soft familiar sound.

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