"Stick to the little ones," I told him, hauling him upright.
"This is going to be a great party. I’m so excited," Penny said, clapping her hands.
"This is my first Halloween!" Davy told her as I dusted him off.
"It is?" Penny gushed. Davy grinned as she tickled him.
"No Halloween in the cult," Isaac said. I shook my head at him. Penny didn't need to hear all the sordid details.
"Do you want us to take any inside?" I asked her.
Penny said to Isaac, "Can you take some of those pumpkins into the house, please? Take the smaller ones, and choose a mix of colors. Also, don't set them on any wood surface; they will mess up the finish. Put them on a coaster or some type of protection."
We walked through the house, and Penny took notes on a floor plan. "So let's keep the party to the foyer, the living room, the sitting room, the conservatory, and the dining room. We’ll also decorate that hall that leads to the bathrooms. We'll block people from going upstairs or into the library, kitchen, or other more private areas of the house."
"Wouldn't want anyone having some sort of steamy encounter, would we," I said, tone mild.
She blushed slightly. "No, we would not."
She ducked her head. Was the lust that blatant on my face?
"We'll have the games outside," she said as we walked back out onto the terrace. "There will be buffet stations set out in a few different areas, inside and out, along with bars. I'm sure all the parents who bring their kids are going to want a drink."
"Where's the haunted tiny house going?" Remy shouted over the roar of the tractor he was using to tow the tiny house Archer had bought over the summer off Craigslist.
"Don't put it close to the terrace; park it by the woods if you can so it feels like a spooky witch’s house," Penny told him. He flashed her a thumbs-up.
"We'll put a bar here and another one over there, then savory snacks on the terrace, another inside, one over there, and a dessert table on the terrace as well," Penny said, sketching as she and I crisscrossed the yard.
"There will be a lot of kids. Archer invited the whole school," I told her.
"Where is the petting zoo going?" Otis asked as he lugged a hay bale past us.
Fuck. The petting zoo.
"Did you rent animals?" Penny asked me.
"Not yet. I was hoping they would forget about it."
"We have some taxidermy ones we can bring," Morticia offered. Or maybe it was Lilith.
"We need some live ones."
"Hey, Ernest," Penny called, waving him over. "Do you have animals?"
"Do you have any goats?" Remy added.
"Yeah, but the goats are mean. Devil creatures," Ernest said.
"Always wanted some goats," Remy told us.
"I'll bring you guys some chickens and a mini pig, except it wasn't actually a mini pig, and this gal ended up with a five-hundred-pound animal that liked to hop up on the couch and watch TV. She asked me if he could live on my farm. It got to be too much for her little apartment. Had to get him out with a crane. His name is Albert if you can believe it," Ernest said. "He's real friendly too. Polite as can be. When she dropped him off, he sat outside my front door, and then I just felt sorry for him and let him back inside. He has his own chair."
"I think that would be perfect, Ernest," Penny said after a moment.
"One more thing. My granddaughter has a miniature pony. Maybe she can bring him by?" Ernest said. "He's good with kids. She takes him to the children's hospital in Manhattan where she lives."
"Small towns, right?" Penny whispered to me when Ernest ambled off.
