Hannah should have thought it out more before she agreed to babysit Chris on Halloween night. What if she got a last-minute text from Kate wanting to watch a scary movie with her or dance in the moonlight? Zaina and Jasper had taken their daughter for her first trick-or-treating, leaving Hannah at the store with a bowl of candy to hand out to the kids trick-or-treating down Main Street.
Her witch costume was all thanks to her employee discount. Hannah’s red hair was plaited into two braids and topped with a shiny-satin witch’s hat handmade by one of their local artisans. She’d put on shimmery green eyeshadow that matched the green glitter snakes on her sweater; this one had been on clearance. On her feet, she wore the most expensive item she owned, Versace Chelsea boots. She’d paid eighty dollars for the gently used pair, originally sold for over five hundred dollars, at a thrift store over the summer. That was a far cry from the days when all hermoney went to Chad, who then gave her a weekly allowance that barely covered brand-name tampons.
It was a relatively warm Halloween, and there were only thirty minutes until trick-or-treating hours were over, and it was time to close the shop. She decided to take advantage of the beautiful night and sit outside with the candy bucket. Hannah brought out a folding chair and set it up on the sidewalk in front of the door to the shop.
The roads were empty, but the sidewalks had a nice flow of people. A couple she didn’t recognize walked behind a little pink princess who was making her way over to Hannah.
“Hi there,” Hannah said as the little girl stood in front of her with her bag open. Hannah guessed the little girl was probably around the same age as Chris, maybe a year younger. Chris was the only kid besides Zaina’s daughter, who wasn’t even one yet, that she knew well. She measured all kids as older or younger than Chris. The girl had brown hair under her tiara, and her dress looked like it had a little hoop under it, giving it extra volume. The girl looked at her without speaking or making eye contact. Hannah held the bowl out to her. “Pick your favorite.”
As the girl investigated the bowl, her parents walked up and stood behind her. The little girl looked just like her mother.
“She doesn’t talk to most people.” The dad said.
Hannah smiled and said, “No worries.”
The little girl took a pink lollipop out of the bucket.
“Take a couple more pieces. I have plenty left.” Hannah said.
“Go ahead, Katie, it’s okay,” her mother said.
Hannah’s breath caught in her throat for a moment. She liked signs. She hadn’t heard from Kate in a couple of days and had been unsure if she should try to call or text her. Now she was going to take this as a sign and do what she’d been wanting to do, and that was send Kate a text. If she couldn’t think of something cute to say, she could send a selfie while wearing her costume.
The little girl took the last two pink lollipops and put them in her bag. A little smile spread across her face and she said, “Thank you.”
“Aww,” Hannah said as her heart melted.
The girl’s father patted his daughter’s shoulder. “You must be a good witch to get Katie talking.”
“Happy Halloween, Katie,” Hannah said.
“Bye, witch,” The little girl turned and hustled away from the stoop.
Hannah watched the family as they walked away. She wondered what it would have been like to be raised by parents who didn’t use all holidays as a reason to get drunk before the sun set. She’d only ever trick-or-treated alone, and her only costume had been something like her wearing regular clothes with a cat ear headband from the dollar store. Well, look at her now. She was wearing a practically hand-sewn costume, able to buy all the candy she wanted, and she’d be spending the evening hanging out with a kindergartener. She was officially adulting. Last year, she’d still been getting herself together, and she’d spent Halloween drinking too much. This year, she’d worked hard to focus on building a life for herself and releasing the pain of the past. Now she was perfectly content having a low-key holiday.
Thank goodness for that. The last thing she wanted was to find herself back with a guy like Chad, another one who thought holidays were made for drinking. She put her hand in her skirt pocket and pulled out a small muslin bag containing three crystals. The citrine, black tourmaline, and amethyst crystals were a gift from Zaina. Her boss had given them to her when she’d noticed how anxious Hannah was whenever a man came into the shop. When Hannah had told Zaina why she’d left everything she had and moved to Marley Creek, Zaina had given her the crystals and a big hug. The little bag had become hertalisman, and she rarely went anywhere without it. It helped her to feel safe and in control.
A couple more trick-or-treaters came by, and then it was time to close the shop and head over to Brandee’s. It was so nice out; she was tempted to walk, but since she’d be there until very late, she took her car. As she drove over, she tried to think of something cute she could text to Kate. Something to do with witches and Halloween. She was drawing a blank. Maybe she should forget the whole thing.
She got out of the car and walked up the staircase to Brandee’s apartment above the garage. Brandee had moved into the apartment above Luc’s parents’ garage at the beginning of summer. Brandee and Gabbie, her sister, had shared an apartment together, but then Gabbie got a new job across the country, and the landlord raised the rent by forty percent. Luc had offered to move back in with his parents so Brandee and Chris could have the apartment above their garage. It had taken Brandee a little while to warm to the idea, and Hannah had been so glad that she did. Now her friend had a nicer apartment and was able to go back to school to get her teaching degree.
“Hi, Auntie Hannah!” Chris shouted as he opened the door before she could text that she was there.
“How’d you know I was here?”
“I was looking out the window. Luc said the Great Pumpkin was coming.”
“Great Pumpkin?”
“From Snoopy! I saw it on Apple TV. Snoopy and Woodstock the bird.” Chris had blue all over his face and was wearing a Minecraft Creeper costume. He hopped his way back into the apartment.
“How much candy did you let this kid have?” She asked the vampire standing next to the kitchen table.
Luc grinned, flashing his fake fangs. “Too much,” he said, and it came out garbled through the plastic teeth.
Chris sat down in front of the TV and unpausedToy Story of Terror.
“Where’s Brandee?” Hannah asked.
