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We probably had. Even though we hadn’t gone out on an official date, we were both now an integral part of the Common Grounds Halloween party planning committee. The Meyers brothers kept coming up with excuses to have meetings where me and Bastian were both⁠—

It suddenly dawned on me that Gilbert, Sam, and Diccon were trying to push me and Bastian together and coming up with excuses to get us at the same table.

Well, they didn’t need to keep making up excuses for us to meet anymore, that was for sure.

“Bastian and I have been getting to know each other,” I said, face heating.

An older gentleman standing in line who now had donut crumbs in his beard perked up. “Bastian Gorman? That weirdo?”

Uncharacteristic rage shot through me. “He’s not a weirdo,” I defended my almost boyfriend.

The guy snorted. “He’s always been a weirdo.”

“Stanley, come on,” Ivy scolded the man.

“You’re saying he hasn’t?” Stanley asked in that gruff way only old curmudgeons had.

“Bastian is different, sure,” I said.

Before I could make the rest of my point, Stanley humphed. “He used to go around deliberately scaring the other kids in school, what with the way he wore all black and caked his face up with white paint. He scared my grandson, Jimmy, half out of his mind once when he wore vampire fangs to school.”

I made a snorting, choking sound. I didn’t know whether to laugh or gasp in horror. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to scare anyone.”

Stanley looked at me like I was dumb. “Stay away from that freak,” he advised me. “He’s a bad apple in an otherwise good family. Rumor has it that he likes those dead bodies a little more than anyone should.”

“Stanley!” Ivy scolded him.

“It’s true!” Stanley defended himself. “And he’s a queer to boot.”

I bristled at that, the heat pulsing through me feeling like fire. Ivy scowled at Stanley, and the cute guy behind the counter looked mutinous for a second as he wrapped a bouquet of fall flowers.

“I think I’d better take the rest of these over to the dry cleaners,” I said, trying not to let my voice shake.

“You do that,” Ivy said, patting my shoulder with motherly concern. She peeked at Stanley and said, “I’ll deal with things here.”

I fled Bloomin’ Heck as fast as I could, but instead of taking the donut holes over to Suds to be You, I marched back to Provisions. I couldn’t have been more offended by Stanley’s attitude, toward Bastian and ultimately toward me, but those sentiments carried a tiny grain of worry that there were more people like that in Glenside. How was I supposed to keep my business thriving and make friends with the community when at least part of it was full of people like my dad?

I tried not to let the question bother me for the rest of the day. That got a little easier when the middle-aged woman who had been in line at the florist showed up at Provisions to buy a half-dozen donuts. We had a few other customers after that, but as soon as the sun went down, my mood flattened with it.

I was relieved to close up the store at six and to walk home through the brisk, October evening. Something about the damp cold reaching through the wool of my coat perfectly matched the unhappy mood I’d fallen into. I really did want to fit into the business community of Glenside. I didn’t see any harm in wanting to be liked and to have friends. I didn’t see any problem whatsoever with Bastian either. But it made me uncomfortable in so many ways to think that Bastian was the community pariah.

And there I was, falling head over heels in love with him.

Polo barked happily as soon as I got home.

“Hello, boy,” I greeted him with more hugs and rubs than I usually did. I needed the comfort of a friend just then. “I missed you, too. Have you been a good boy today?”

Polo barked, then scampered back, his eyes bright and his mouth hanging open. Greyhounds could be skittish dogs, especially when they’d been rescued, but Polo seemed more excitable than usual.

“What is it, baby?” I asked, rubbing him again. “Is something the matter?”

Polo made a quick, “Ruff!” sound, then pivoted towards the stairs. He danced back towards me, then looked at the stairs again.

“Is something up there?” I asked.

As soon as I started for the stairs, Polo bounded ahead of me, rushing up to show me whatever it was that had him so excitable.

I knew what it was as soon as he led me into the front bedroom. The room was still empty of furniture with only Bastian’s EMF detector in the middle of the floor. All four of the sensor lights were flashing like mad.