Page 43 of A Cup of Autumn
A good thing Raine wasn’t eating or drinking anything, or she might have choked. “A what?”
“I propose two courses of action for the Boo Bash.”
The least she could do was listen to him. “Go on.”
“The first is a traditional Boo Bash with only trick-or-treating.”
“And the second?”
“I put together ideas for a Boo Bash with activities and only some trick-or-treating.”
“How long do you need?”
“We don’t have that much time, so we could meet on Saturday, if you have time.”
“At the coffee shop?”
“You’re working?”
“Timmy is scheduled, but he can’t work alone the entire time.”
“The coffee shop will be fine. I’ll text you when I know a time.”
Her pulse kicked up a notch at the thought of seeing him again. On second thought, it must be him wanting to be so helpful. “I’ll be there. Anything else?”
Keaton glanced at the bin. “It can wait.”
“Help yourself to the pizza. I’m saving room for dessert. What are we having?”
“I almost bought a pumpkin spice cake with a caramel drizzle, but Jayden mentioned you were a fan of their chocolate marble cake, and they had one left so…”
It was her turn to lean forward. “Those aren’t on the everyday menu, and they sell out whenever they make them.”
Keaton raised the lid of the box. “You’re in luck.”
She stared at the chocolate icing on the layered cake. Her mouth watered. “It’s my favorite.”
“Then let’s slice into this bad boy so you don’t have to wait any longer.”
Bad boy.She nearly laughed. He’d called the bin that too. If only a brainy professor was her type…
But Keaton wasn’t. Raine got the feeling she wasn’t his either.
At least they had cake. “I’ll get a knife, forks, and plates.”
Chapter Nine
For two days,Keaton dove deep into researching Halloween. Not from an academic perspective but from a kid’s point of view. He read articles and watched cartoons. Whatever he could find. An interesting pursuit, which he wanted to analyze and compare to his usual endeavors. But not until he finished the Boo Bash proposals. A good thing he had enough info for the second one.
He’d asked Callie, Taryn, and Margot about how much shops did for each of the events. He wanted to be mindful of the work they asked for and to not overwhelm anyone. What he discovered shouldn’t have surprised him. Only three events required individual businesses to go all out: the Christmas window decorating contest, the spring shindig, and the summer fair. Which meant, if they—okay, he—wanted the Boo Bash to be more than handing out candy, everything would need to be put together and given to the businesses in an easy-to-understand package.
More work.
As Raine had mentioned.
But the idea of work wouldn’t scare him off.
On Friday morning at Margot’s dining room table, he scribbled in his notebook.
