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The next day, we ate pancakes at Log Cabin—extra whipped cream for Em. You’d have thought a long-lost celebrity had popped into town with the way everyone fawned over him.

Nicole, as she placed a glass of orange juice in front of my nephew: “OMG! You’ve grown since summertime. Or do you look bigger ’cause you’re Spider-Man?”

“Probably ’cause I’m Spider-Man,” Emmett replied matter-of-factly. “I look normal in my regular clothes.”

Janey, the cool middle-aged, tattooed mom who was Dexter’s manager at the donut shop: “Emmett, we saved you our very spookiest donut—the cocoa cauldron. It’s a chocolate hodgepodge of screamfully delightful flavors, like bacon, avocado, and jalapeño. Bwahaha!”

“Uh…avocado? I don’t know.” The poor kid looked truly terrified.

I’d ordered a plain glazed and sprinkle too…just to be on the safe side. We walked along Main Street, checking out the decorations while snacking on our treats.

“Look at that pumpkin! It’s humongous!” Emmett pointed at a lopsided pumpkin the size of a boulder holding open the door at the Whiskers and Paws Pet Store.

“Did you carve one with Grandma and Grandpa?” I asked, licking frosting from my fingers.

“Yep. And Mom.”

I studied the top of Emmett’s head as he planted his nose on the window of Fox’s Drug Store. “Mom too? That’s great.”

“Yeah, she wants to go trick-or-treating with me.”

“Okay…”

“Mom says she knows all the houses that give out the big candy bars. Like the ones you can only get at the market.”

I shoved my hands into my pockets. “That’ll be fun, right?”

“Yeah! I can’t wait!”

Okay, then. “That’s good.”

I thought I should dig a little more. I was rooting for Misty, but it was strange Mom and Dad hadn’t mentioned it and⁠—

“Is the police guy your boyfriend?” Emmett asked, changing topics like a Formula 1 driver switching lanes.

Screech!

“What? Uh…no.”

“It’s okay to be boyfriends. You said so yourself.”

“I did? I mean…yeah, I did. And it’s totally okay. In fact, it’s great, but Reg isn’t my boyfriend.”

Emmett wiped his nose on his forearm and shrugged. “Oh.”

I stared at the corny Dracula poster in the window, totally flummoxed. “Where did that come from? I mean…what made you ask?”

“Mr. La Rue told me. He was at the Boo Fest with Gretchen and her grandma. He said your uncle is the Mountain Man and he’s Reg’s boyfriend. Gretchen said that’s her dad…the police guy. She didn’t know you were boyfriends either, but she thinks it’s a good idea.” Emmett shrugged, indicating the conversation was boring and he was ready to move on. “Are we going to the football game now?”

“Uh…yeah.”

I percolated the new information on the short walk to the park to watch Wood Hollow beat the tar out of Elmwood.

Boyfriends? Shit.

I sat with Beau, who’d tweaked his knee at last week’s game and had been advised to sit out the fun for a couple of weeks. He didn’t mention any boyfriend rumors, which made me think it was a localized issue. Maybe? I didn’t fucking know.

Beau entertained Emmett with a seemingly unending list of the grossest things he’d ever eaten while I scanned the crowd. Reg had been called out on an emergency, but his kids were here. I spotted Gretchen with her mom and a handsome guy wearing a slick sports coat that was a little too fancy for a flag football game.