“No, Momma, I’m fine.”
“You know?—”
“Don’t, Momma.” He didn’t want to listen to Momma telling him about how to handle his responsibilities and all this stuff between him and Mitch.
They’d figure it out; they were doing fine. Interfering old woman.
She rolled her eyes and headed over to Mitch. “What did you bring, son?”
“Ranch, honey mustard, and ketchup. Oh, and I got some barbecue sauce and some sweet chili sauce. Bekka’s been on a sweet chili sauce kick, so I thought I’d bring it.”
“Perfect. You know, everybody has different tastes. I might have to try this sweet chili sauce.”
Cam decided to get to work putting out candy into bowls and getting the blankets all arranged on the open gate of the Suburban. He’d end up in less trouble that way.
It was really a nice setup they had. There was the candy, there was the food. All the Halley clan had brought something for their people, but they weren’t the only ones.
The McMahons had a whole big setup with barbecue on one side, and there was a big portable hot pot with chili in it and cornbread and cheese over there with the Jaramillos. And he wasn’t sure what smelled so good with the Petersons, but he was going to go see soon.
It was a good way for them all to get together, share food and community, and let the kids trick-or-treat without so much worry.
Even the older kids seemed to be happy to be there, not acting as though it was some kind of big ordeal. He loved that because it kept them out of trouble. In a small town like they lived in, sometimes it was easy to end up in somebody’s back pasture drinking a keg of beer and then trying to drive. Talk about a recipe for disaster. The trunk or treat gave a kid something to do, including a little weird table set up with a Mad Scientist Lab that was making mocktails, at least the community were one-up on bad experiences.
Not that Cam hadn’t had his share of teenage weird shit he’d done. So he grinned over at Mitch because he was thinking of the weird shit they had done together and how it had turned out now they were back to that point in their lives, kind of.
They were a lot more aware of how things were now, and they were also a lot more grateful for it, he reckoned.
“Mr. Cam, I like your chaps.” One of the teenage girls who belonged to, he thought, the MacMahons, winked at him as she went by, the gesture surprisingly adult. His cheeks heated, and he felt like he wasn’t sure what to do—whether he should thank her, ignore it, or tell her to watch her mouth.
He settled for shrugging and letting it go.
Mitch walked over and bumped hips with him. “See? Now you’re getting admired by the younger set. You’re like a distinguished older cowboy.”
“Oh, you shut up. That’s not funny. She could be my daughter.”
“Only if you had her when you were fourteen.” Mitch winked at him. “I like your chaps though too.”
“So, what the heck are you supposed to be anyway? I’m assuming it’s a video game thing.”
Mitch raised an eyebrow at him. “Not much of a gamer, are you?”
“Oh, in all my copious spare time? No, I’m not. I’ve been on the road too much.”
“They make portable gaming systems. Like, you know, the Switch.”
“I actually have one of those, but I have to admit I use it mainly for things likeAnimal Crossingand food cooking games. I need a repetitive task game in order to fall asleep.” His nieces and nephews constantly teased him about his shitty taste in video games, but he couldn’t help it. He liked to play what he liked.
“Well, I likeAnimal Crossing. I play it with the girls. They love to build things on their islands.”
“See, there’s something else we didn’t know about each other.”
Mitch waggled his eyebrows. “Well, we don’t want to loseallthe mystery, do we?”
He bumped hips again on the pretext of hanging a bunch of twinkly lights around the back of the opening of the Suburban. “You kidding me? Trust me, you have plenty of mystery. And even if you didn’t, I’d want to discover you over and over again.”
Mitch cleared his throat. “Now who’s getting a little adult?” He loved it though. His eyes were flashing and his grin was wide.
“I can’t help myself. You inspire me.” Cam finished up hanging the lights and then checked all the candy. “I think we’re set up. What do you think of the monster mouth effect?”
