Page 81 of The Coppersmith Farmhouse (Jamison Valley 1)
I put on my hat and Rowen and I hurried downstairs.
“Ready!” I said with a smile, ignoring his disapproval of my outfit.
I never wore a full costume but I liked to add Halloween touches to my normal clothes. Tonight, I had on orange and black socks, black heels and a floppy witch’s hat.
“Roe, you’ve got your bucket,” I said, seeing her swinging it wildly at her side. “Okay, let’s roll.”
We stepped onto the front porch, now decorated in country Halloween chic, and navigated our way down the front steps piled with eleven pumpkins. Smiling at the Halloween splendor I had created, I rushed to the car in my not-so-practical shoes, giddy with excitement.
Fifteen minutes later, we had picked up Jess’s mom and were pulling into his driveway.
“Oh my,” Noelle mumbled.
Earlier in the week, I had asked Jess if we could invite his mom to come trick-or-treating with us. I thought it might be nice to get to know her better, and with a flurry of Halloween activity, it would be easy to avoid any awkward silences if she got spacey.
“Yeah, Ma. It’s not over the top at all,” Jess drawled.
“Hey!” I said, backhanding him on the arm.
Jess thought I had gone too far with the decorations. There were a lot, but I didn’t think it was too much. Just some spiders, webs, bats, ghosts and spooky lights. I’d also put up a couple of clever tombstones (“RIP Anita Shovel” being my favorite) because they were hilarious. And there were a couple of skeletons scaling the house too.
“I don’t know why you’re hitting me, Georgia. I told you to stop two days ago. Did you listen?”
Instead of answering, I scrunched up my nose.
Guilty.
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I had been planning to stop. Really. But I kept finding new decoration ideas on Pinterest.
Every night, Rowen and I would sneak over and augment the spooky décor and then race to the farmhouse before Jess could get there for dinner.
“No. You didn’t. I see I’ve got some new additions since I was here Tuesday,” he said.
“You know, I’m not sure why you’re so worked up about this. Roe and I did all of the decorating and I already promised you we’d come take it all down. And besides, look at how amazing it is! I just don’t see how this is really even affecting you. Really. You get to just sit back and enjoy.”
“It’s not affecting me, huh? Was it you who had to threaten David down at the paper with a night in a cell if he put a picture of my house in the newspaper next week?”
Okay, maybe it was borderline excessive.
“This shit’s getting me noticed. Something I do not want, Freckles. And here you are, hitting me.”
“Well . . . sorry. But it’s too late now. Besides, it’s Thursday. You only have to endure it for one more day and then we’ll clean it up over the weekend. It’s not like you’re here much anyway.”
He grumbled something under his breath I didn’t catch, but I was pretty sure it included the f-word.
I wasn’t going to let his annoyance wreck the night. He’d just have to get over it. The Ellars girls loved all things Halloween. Decorations. Costumes. Candy. All of it. The end.
Roe hauled in a load of candy on Main Street. Everyone commented on how cute she was in her costume. She beamed under the praise, spinning and twirling her dress.
The whole town of Prescott seemed to be out on Main Street. Jess introduced me to more people in that hour than I had met collectively in my entire life. By the end of the trip, I started warning people that I might mix up names.
Jess and Roe left to walk through his neighborhood while Noelle and I manned the house, doling out handfuls of candy to all the monsters, superheroes, princesses and fairies that visited. The one little girl who was dressed as a police officer got two handfuls.
I closed the door and turned to sit back down next to Noelle on the couch. Jess didn’t have wine in his house but I’d thought ahead and brought provisions. I was on glass number two while Noelle was still nursing her first.
I took in a long breath, relaxing into the couch. Though it wasn’t much to look at, Jess’s couch was comfortable.
