Chapter 19 Pumpkin Everything #2
It wouldn’t surprise me if these people thought I was crazy. Plus, Melissa worked there. Although now that I thought about it, my father had already taken care of that anyway.
The elevator door opened, and I walked off, pushing all thoughts that didn’t agree with what I was doing from my head.
“Summer, can I speak to you in my office?”
She looked up from her computer screen and followed.
Once inside, she finally asked, “Everything okay?”
“Well, we’re engaged, so you need—”
Why the hell was it so hard to do this? The last time I proposed, I was promising forever and spinning tales of unconditional love. Ha! How na?ve. We didn’t even make it a month.
“Thad? Need what?”
Summer had started calling me Thad again. Since I’d put that bullet in Clive, Thaddeus was the name she’d use for me, only taking breaks to call me a killer or monster.
“Thad!”
I blinked, trying to focus. “Well, I was saying . . .”
“Yes?”
Screw it, the words weren’t coming this time. I lifted the ring from my pocket. “You should have this back.”
Glancing from my face to the ring, Summer looked pained.
Which I could understand. This ring had witnessed a lot in our relationship.
The highs when we planned the future, the lows when I snatched it off her hand and told her to go to hell, and here it was again when I was eating crow and about to marry her.
Shit! Maybe I should’ve gotten a new one.
Summer reached forward to take the ring. Instinctively, I pulled it back and grabbed her hand, returning the ring to the very place I’d ripped it off.
“Well, I guess it’s official now.”
Her words echoed my thoughts.
Holding Summer’s hand, I said, “Do you think we’re going to make it this time?”
Never in my life had I allowed myself to sound so vulnerable, to ask the woman who had my heart and baby what she forecasted for us in the future.
She flashed me a reassuring smile. “Why not? We deserve to be happy. Everyone else had a shot.”
I tightened my grip on her hand and pulled Summer to my chest. I held her for a while as if she and I were the only two people in existence.
“Thad?”
“Yes?”
“We should get back to work.”
When did she become such a studious employee?
I frowned. “Why?”
“I want to leave early to catch the entire parade.”
Ah! I nodded. Today was the day. The one Tarrytown and the neighboring town of Sleepy Hollow waited all year for. It was finally Halloween. Businesses closed ahead of schedule, letting parents head home early to get their kids into costumes.
“I didn’t forget. Let’s leave in an hour.”
Summer’s mouth fell. “Thad, you only just got here. It’s nearly lunchtime.”
“Since when did you care about making Fitzgerald a success?”
Summer opened and shut her mouth quickly, then wrinkles appeared on her forehead. “Well, my baby will own the majority stake. My husband will be the boss. I’m now invested.”
I grinned. “Good point. I’ll skip lunch, catch up on work, and meet you at the parade.”
Hours had passed by the time I finally grabbed my face paint, did the best skeleton I could, and drove over to Summer’s house to park my car. When she pulled the door open, we studied each other for a long while.
“Wait, how did you know I’d do face paint?” Summer asked.
We were matching, and people would think we’d arranged a couple’s costume.
I shrugged. “I didn’t know. It was just the easiest, and the idea came to me.”
Summer’s blonde hair bounced as she came closer. “Guess we read each other’s minds. Either way, we’re a couple again, and Halloween seems like a great place to tell all of Tarrytown.”
My father’s newspaper announcement already did that yesterday. I’m sure some of the Tarrytown residents already fainted at the idea of Summer and me getting married. One of us killing the other had been more likely.
We walked side by side toward Main Street.
“Aww, look at the baby pumpkin. She’s so cute.”
She was a cutie, but her brother, the ninja, had my vote for cutest.
We debated this all the way down Broadway until we found Henry, Cora, and Wylie near the school.
“You two are finally here?” Henry asked, studying our face paint.
“It wasn’t planned,” I began to explain.
Cora smiled just like Henry did.
Summer playfully slapped my shoulder. “Hey, are you embarrassed to be in a couple’s costume with me?”
“Of course not—”
“I want to get my face painted like that next year,” Wylie said.
Henry shook his head. “Uncle Thad and Aunt Summer will have their own little baby skeleton next year. How about doing matching costumes with me?”
“We can be ninjas!” Wylie suggested with wide, excited eyes.
That was the thing about Tarrytown: I meant it when I said we looked forward to Halloween. As the clock ran out on this one, even young Wylie had already started planning for next year.
Daisy and Eden joined us in our little spot as we watched the parade go by.
Across the street, nearer to the park, I spotted Felix, Ashley, and, to my surprise, Melissa.
Halloween’s greatest hater. How did they drag her here?
She locked eyes with Felix, and I thought I saw Mimi wink. Ashley had better watch out.
On the sidewalk, I stood among all the other spectators watching smiling kids in every costume imaginable pass by.
By my count, superhero and princess costumes led the score.
Many adults wearing costumes accompanied their kids.
I noted the ones pushing strollers decked out like ships or houses.
Next year, maybe Summer and I could be in the parade.
Music blasting from an approaching float interrupted my thought. The whole street was alive, and I couldn’t help but smile. It was my first parade in ten years. I’d missed it. Not just this, but everything about Tarrytown, and I was happy as hell to be home.
I reached down and slipped Summer’s hand into mine. Not only for confirmation that this was real but also to make sure that as the crowd hurried off, they didn’t trample her. Summer and the baby she was carrying were worth more than my entire life.