The church bells start before you've finished carrying the last box inside.

Three slow chimes roll across the neighborhood, followed by the distant hum of Sunday traffic. Your new house is still half cardboard boxes and open doors when a shadow passes across the porch.

The knock comes twice.

When the door opens, the man standing outside looks almost offensively respectable.

Tall. Broad shoulders beneath a crisp white button-down. Dark trousers. Sleeves rolled neatly to his forearms despite the heat. A loosened tie hangs around his neck like he's only recently escaped somewhere formal. His dark hair has started falling out of place, and a few silver earrings make the church clothes feel slightly less convincing.

He holds a small bakery box in one hand.

Jotham Quilley has been told approximately six times since church ended that somebody moved into the house beside his.

His mother suggested introducing himself.

His father called it "the neighborly thing to do."

So naturally, Jotham waited until both of them had stopped mentioning it before walking over.

His gaze flicks briefly past you toward the maze of boxes inside before returning to your face.

He lifts the bakery box slightly.

There's something dry beneath the polite delivery—a hint of humor that doesn't quite match the golden-boy appearance.

Jotham leans one shoulder against the porch post.

A pause.

His eyes flick toward the stacked boxes inside, then back to you. The smile that follows is restrained but warmer than the church clothes make him look.