Page 32 of Forever After Fall

“Anson.” I stare down at the keys for a second and then back up at him.

“Bristol.” He echoes my tone, making it clear he’s not gonna change his mind.

“So that’s how you get women, then. Buy them new trucks and lure them in,” I tease him.

“I mean, if that’s what it takes."

We both laugh for a long minute until it fades into the sounds of the forest humming beyond where we’re standing.

“Thank you. Truly.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He shakes his head. “You ready for dinner?”

“Starving actually.” This is the thing about being around Anson. I don’t have to pretend to be accommodating or demure the way I was before. I can just be honest because that’s what we’ve always been to each other. Which I’m beginning to think is why this feels so much easier than everything else in my life right now. Maybe it always has.

“Good because I’ve got a picnic basket and blanket calling our name in the bed.” He grins as he pulls the gate down and holds out his hand to help me up.

The second I see the set up he’s got stacked neatly in the corner, I’m certain I should have gone to that beach with him last year. But I’m not about to cry over what I should have done or what could have been if I hadn’t been so stubborn before. I just intend to fully enjoy every second I get with him now.

FOURTEEN

Anson

“Just thought I could bring you some lunch, since it’s gonna be a long day. You need dinner, you just let me know. I’ll get some pizza sent over.” I flash her a grin, and she peers inside the brown paper bag. She has a long day at Many Moons and Moans ahead of her. Everyone in Purgatory Falls is prepping for the fall season and the tourists are out in force.

“Anson! You didn’t have to do that. I could have just run down to Marlowe’s or the diner.”

“This way you don’t have to. Plus, I get to take a break with you.”

“And you get to get a peek at the store.” She slices an amused look in my direction. “Unless you’re here to pick up a costume.”

She nods to an array of sexy Halloween costumes she has in the front corner of the store. Sexy witches. Scantily clad pirates. An array of outfits I’ve never seen a nurse or firefighter wear in real life. I take a few steps in that direction to look closer at the options.

“They’re really popular now. It seems like everyone’s buying one. Better get one before the run out.”

“I don’t know that I look good in rhinestones, darlin’,” I quip, and it earns me that perfect melodic laugh of hers.

“You don’t know until you try. But maybe thigh-high boots or pasties are your thing.” She follows me over and plucks a couple of the items off the shelves.

“I think I’d rather see you try them.”

Her eyes flash up to meet mine. We’ve lost sight of our boundaries the last couple of times we’ve met up, our real life and our stranger life bleeding over into one another. Her nephew’s father would never in a million years suggest something like that. But the version of me she likes in dark rooms and trucks? He’d put her in the back room and make her try on one of these right now.

“Which one would you like me to try?” She stands as she asks me, making the short walk to the backroom shop’s front door and flipping the latch without losing eye contact. She’s daring me to push the line between us again.

“Is that a serious offer?” I don’t mind giving her anything she wants but I’m asking every step of the way. The last thing I want is to break all the trust we’ve built over the years.

“It’s my lunch break. I have to shut down for a little while, since my friend brought me food.”

“Your friend, eh?” I realize what she’s doing. “He someone I should be worried about?”

She hesitates as she runs her finger along the shelf, pointing out my options and flicking sly looks over her shoulder to see what’s catching my attention. But then she shrugs one shoulder and dips down to fix one of the displays on a lower shelf. A monster dick. Literally. It’s shaped like a tentacle and ribbed for her pleasure. I have to tuck that question away for a later moment because the tone of her voice drags my attention back to her.

“Nah. He’s just tall. Dark hair. Deep brown eyes. Sexy smile. Super serious but fun when he wants to be. Owns his own business and his own house. Single dad with an amazing kid. Incredibly smart. The kind of guy you call when you’re in trouble because you know he’ll help you figure things out without judging you.” She straightens another toy before she stands again. “Brings me lunch to cheer me up. You know. Not a threat at all.” She smirks as she hands me two costumes.

I look down, and one is a maid’s costume, with a skirt that leaves nothing to the imagination and a top that’s barely a scrap of fabric. The other is black pleather with straps and grommets. Neither fit her personality. I put them back on the shelf and hand her a short blue-and-white gingham dress costume instead, the words “Sexy Kansas Girl” written across the front.

She went as Dorothy for Halloween, with Ford as her cowardly lion and me as her heartless tin man a few years back. She ordered her costume online and hadn’t realized it was the sexy variety instead of the kind that would fit in with the rest of the moms on the block like she’d planned. She spent a whole weekend trying to make it more small-town trick-or-treat appropriate by letting down the hem and adding solid white tights underneath. Not wanting to disappoint me or Ford for Halloween. But her efforts didn’t do much for the neckline or the looks she got in the two braids she wore. Dads did double takes. Teenage boys whistled. My hands were sore from the number of times I’d flexed my fists that night walking behind her and Ford, ready to step in if someone so much as breathed too closely.