“Are you gonna go get dressed?” Jenna waved the wand in the direction of Sawyer’s door. “The little ones will start coming soon, and they’re the best part!”
Her excitement was contagious and adorable, and Sawyer shot her a salute. “Yes, ma’am. Be right back.” She hurried inside, dumped her stuff on the floor, and ran up to her room to change into her costume. Colton had picked it out for her, gotten it from a friend who ran a costume shop, promising that even if Jenna didn’t know who she was, the trick-or-treaters would, and that would make her very cool. And Sawyer had seen several Marvel movies, so she wasn’t unfamiliar. She struggled into what turned out to be a very tight bodysuit—how had Jenna gotten into hers?—strapped on the gun belt and fingerless gloves, stepped into the boots, and gave her hair a toss as she stood in front of the mirror. Then, because she was feeling mischievous, she pulled the front zipper down enough to give a peek of cleavage—for Jenna’sbenefit. “I’ll zip it back up before the kids come,” she whispered to her reflection.
Downstairs in the kitchen, she grabbed the biggest bowl she had, dumped three bags of fun-size Snickers bars and Reese’s cups into it, then headed out the front door. Jenna must’ve been back inside, but the gate was up and Arnold was wandering the porch, sniffing the floor. The orange twinkle lights were glittering, jack-o’-lanterns were glowing with warmth, smiling at passersby, and Sawyer set her bowl of candy on the little table Jenna had brought out. Then she pulled her chair over so it was closer to the steps—and to Jenna’s side—and stood there looking out at the neighborhood. She loved it here. Like,lovedit. She hadn’t expected to, not like this. She inhaled the crisp fall air, the scents of earth and grass and crushed leaves filling her lungs, and let it out slowly, feeling more like herself than she had in a long time.
Amanda who?
She was chuckling softly to herself and petting Arnold’s furry head when Jenna’s door opened and she came out carrying two glasses of red wine. “We deserve a treat of our own while we’re handing out treats to—” Her gaze rose and landed on Sawyer, and she stopped. Just stopped. Stopped moving. Stopped talking. Just stopped. And stared. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. Her wide eyes roamed over Sawyer’s body, taking their time.
Sawyer reached out to take one of the wine glasses, and she made a mental note to buy Colton lunch next week as a thank-you.
“Black Widow!” came a voice from the front yard, and she turned to see three kids of maybe seven or eight coming up the walk. “Cool.”
And so it began. The sheer volume of trick-or-treaters shocked Sawyer. She’d lived in an apartment for most of her adult life, and apartment buildings didn’t get a ton of kids on Halloween, so this was new to her. She and Jenna barely had any time to talk for the first forty-five minutes after those first kids.
“I’m a person who’s prone to give out handfuls,” Jenna said at one point. “But at this rate, we’ve gotta be careful or we’re going to run out early.”
Sawyer grinned at her. “I’ve got four more bags inside. We’ll be okay. But yeah, no handfuls.” Which was hard to stick with when Elsa and Anna fromFrozencame up the walk. “Oh my God, look at you two!”
As their father led them back down the steps a moment later, Jenna asked knowingly, “How many did they get?”
Sawyer sighed and looked sheepishly at her. Wrinkling her nose, she said, “Four? Each?” At Jenna’s mock gasp, she cried, “Did youseethem, though?” Then she pouted. “I loveFrozen.”
“You do?” Jenna asked, eyes wide. “I’m surprised by that. Though…it’s not a romance, so maybe I’m not.” She shot a grin at her.
“It’s still about love, though.”
“True.” Jenna held her gaze for a moment just as more kids came tromping up the walk.
It went on like that for a solid three hours, and they somehow managed not to use up all their candy, though theydidfinish the bottle of wine. Arnold got more pets than they could count, and by the time Sawyer had a chance to drop back down into her chair, she was exhausted.
“Holy crap, Halloween is tiring.”
Jenna laughed. “This is a super-busy neighborhood because the elementary school is only two blocks away. Lots of kids. Lots of new families starting out. It’s like this every year.”
“I had no idea.” Sawyer unwrapped a Snickers bar and took a bite, then looked at it in her hand. “This is, like, my tenth one. I’ve gotta stop or I’ll never be able to get this bodysuit off.”
“Happy to help.”
Sawyer turned at the words and found Jenna’s eyes startled wide, as if her own words had surprised her, and Sawyer burst out laughing. “You should see your face right now.”
Jenna joined her in the laughter, leaning back in her chair. “That just came out all on its own,” she said. “I blame the wine.” When the laughter died down, she turned her head and locked gazes with Sawyer. “The offer stands, though,” she said softly.
“I’ll take it under advisement,” Sawyer whispered back.
“You do that.”
The following Tuesday was a busy day at BookLove, the kind of day Jenna lived for. A steady stream of customers, a big influx of new releases to be shelved and put on display, and it was also thebeginning of November, which meant it was very nearly time to put up the Christmas decorations.
“No.” Delia was adamant. “Not yet.” She pointed at Jenna. “You have to wait at least until the middle of the month.At least.”
It was a battle they had every year, and it never didn’t make Jenna laugh. “But I can start playing Christmas music, though, right?”
“No. Absolutely not. Middle. Of. The. Month.”
“Ugh.Fine.” Jenna stomped away toward the back room like an annoyed teenager, but she was grinning because the “battle” had gone exactly as it did every November. She had no intention of decorating this soon or of playing Christmas music quite this early. There were still three and a half weeks until Thanksgiving, and the last thing she wanted to do was annoy her customers by starting the season too soon. But it was fun to mess with Dee, so she did it every year.
Her stuff gathered, she double-checked to make sure Dee was set for the evening. More and more often, she’d been allowing herself to take evenings off, and it was finally startingnotto feel like she was slacking. She suspected this was the case with many a small business owner—that feeling that if they took any time at all off, they were doing a disservice to their shop or restaurant or bar. She was a member of a couple of small business owner organizations, and they’d had the same discussion many times.
