Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
The whole month of October went by in a blur of passion, spiced cider, and nights spent in his bed, under his blankets, laughing, talking, and generally being a whole lot more than a fling.
Before she knew it, hayride time was over, and it was Halloween.
“Do you still want to come to my house for trick-or-treating?”
“Yeah. I said that I would.”
“You have to dress like a cowboy,” she told him.
And he did. He showed up at the Sanderson house, fully dressed as a cowboy, a slightly curmudgeonly smile on his face.
Her mom and grandma were peering down the stairs as she got the candy together, and he tried to keep a respectful distance from Eliana.
Everything was looking like it was going to be a grand time until her brother burst through the front door.
“Happy Halloween.”
Both she and Cooper froze. They weren’t touching each other or anything, they had just been sorting candy into bowls. But still, they might as well have been caught naked. She always felt like there was an intense electricity between them, and surely Marcus would notice.
“Ellie!” He crossed the space and pulled her in for a hug.
His curly ginger hair was in his face like a mop, his lopsided grin turned up to the highest wattage imaginable.
He seemed so harmless. Feckless. He was none of those things.
This was how he managed to get women to follow after him like they were rats and he was the Pied Piper. So harmless. So dizzy. So feckless.
“Hi,” she said, patting him on the head. “What are you doing here?”
“Can’t I come visit?”
“You can,” her grandmother said from the second-floor landing. “But you usually want something.”
“Gram. I don’t want anything. Except maybe a place to stay.”
“You’re not at the RV park?”
“I sold my camper. It’s a long story.”
“Is it?” That came from their mother, who appeared at the door of the kitchen. “Or did you have to rob Peter – being you – to pay Paul?”
“Paul may have been making some demands,” he said. “I’m starving.”
Eliana held a candy bowl out. “Trick-or-treat.”
“Thanks, Ellie.”
“Say trick-or-treat.”
He reached into the bowl and grabbed a handful of candy, and said nothing. “Asshole.” Then he seemed to notice Cooper for the first time. “Coop. What are you doing here?”
Cooper had been standing very still the whole time, like he was hoping he would blend into the surroundings. Like it was normal for there to be a redwood in the entry. “I’m just helping with trick-or-treating.”
“You didn’t do a very good job,” Eliana said. “He stole candy.”
“I’m starving,” Marcus said. “Dying.” He wandered over to the couch and lay across it, opening a bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups. “Truly wasting away.” He looked up at Eliana. “And you don’t even care.”
“No. I don’t. Because you suck.”
“What have you been doing?” Cooper asked.
“Thank you for asking,” Marcus said, suddenly moving into a sitting position. “I just started a new business, but then things went south really quickly.”
“Was that new business a Ponzi scheme?”
“Not technically,” Marcus said.
“By not technically you mean…”
“That anything I say can be used against me, so I’m not going to say much.”
“Well. We have trick-or-treaters to appease. Who are not you.”
“Right.” Marcus looked at the two of them. “Are you wearing a costume, Cooper?”
“Marcus,” Cooper said, his tone deadly serious. “I am a cowboy.”
Marcus shook his head. “This place is weird. You all are weird. And you’re being weird.”
Their mother made a tsking noise. “Don’t call your sister weird. And get your feet off the couch.”
“You don’t care if I have my feet on the couch.”
Eliana and Cooper went out the front door, while Marcus and her mom continued to banter.
“The prince has returned,” he muttered.
“Yeah. That was… Weird.”
“Good thing he—”
“Doesn’t notice anyone but himself?”
Cooper laughed. “Hey. He does. Sometimes. Rarely. After a period of time.”
She put her hand over her mouth. “I love him.”
“So do I,” Cooper said. “He’s just… he’s his own whole thing. You either love that thing, or you try to prosecute it.”
She snickered. And then, the children started coming. In waves.
They sat out there while it got darker and darker, all the tiny ghouls and goblins prancing about with reflective tape and flashlights. “You’re right. This is fun. And a little bit crazy.”
“Yeah. But I love it.”
“Do you think you could ever live out of town?”
She turned her head sharply. “What?”
“Just a question.”
Except, it didn’t feel like it was just a question.
It felt like something deeper, and she didn’t know what to do with it.
Didn’t know what to say in return. She felt…
afraid. Because he couldn’t be… He couldn’t be asking about something to do with the future for the two of them.
He knew they couldn’t have one. And he knew exactly why.
“It’s magic,” she said, “remember? Just a little bit of magic.”
She turned her head, and he gripped her chin. “It is magic.”
He stared at her for a long moment. And then the front door flew open, and Marcus appeared. And Eliana stood up. “I need a break.”
Then she fled inside, making her way up to her attic room. He couldn’t say that he loved her. He couldn’t. She couldn’t do this.
She just couldn’t.