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Sunday morning arrived with a thin stripe of sunlight slipping between the curtains and Duncan’s arm still resting across my waist.

For several seconds, I stayed exactly where I was.

His beard brushed the back of my neck when he shifted against the pillow. I could hear a bird calling somewhere beyond the cottage window, and the room had that wonderful stillness that comes after a long night when nobody has anywhere urgent to be.

Unfortunately, we did have somewhere to be.

I reached carefully for my phone on the bedside table.

Nine forty-two.

Duncan stirred as I checked the time.

“Morning.”

“Good morning. We should probably get up before Esther starts wondering whether we’re coming for your daughter.”

He opened his eyes and looked at the clock.

“I told her ten-thirty. We’ve got time.”

I turned toward him.

“Then perhaps you could kiss me before we do anything responsible.”

He smiled and obliged.

It was the kind of kiss that made getting out of bed considerably more difficult.

Eventually, we managed it.

I pulled on a robe and started coffee while Duncan dressed, then we stood together in the kitchen drinking from mismatched mugs. He’d helped himself to the last of the muffins I’d baked Thursday, which had survived the weekend in a covered container on the counter.

He was halfway through one when I noticed.

“Those are from the same batch as the muffins I brought you the first day we met.”

“I recognized them.”

“There’s something very satisfying about knowing I finally got you into my kitchen with pumpkin muffins.”

He glanced around the room.

“I seem to remember you were trying to get me into a haunted house.”

“That too.”

His smile was warm, and he reached over to brush a crumb from my cheek.

For a few minutes, we talked about the day’s schedule.

The Factory was finished operating for the weekend, although the crew still had to secure equipment and complete the essential inventory before the building could be handed back. I’d already arranged most of the work, and I needed to check in with Lisa before leaving town tomorrow.

Duncan planned to collect Sienna, then take her to the festival for a little while before they went home to get ready for Halloween.

“We can meet you there,” he said. “If you’re going back to the park.”

“I am. I have a final walkthrough and some cleanup notes to finish. Then I should be free.”