Chapter BOONE
BOONE
Nova acted weird when she answered the door. I figured she might be feeling odd about us dating now that Exile was back home. He eyeballed me from the back door, where he stood with Lula. Rather than react to his dirty looks, I kissed Nova before the girls came rushing toward us.
“We’re getting pumpkins!” Lyric announced as she tugged on her Monsters, Inc knit cap. “I get my own.”
“I get one, too,” Skylar said and slid on her bat-themed sunglasses. “I want to cut its head open and make it smile.”
Lyric stopped in her tracks and asked, “What?”
“You cut it open and pull out its brains,” Skylar explained.
“No, that’s gross.”
Nova smiled at me. “We haven’t done jack-o'-lanterns yet. Dan usually gets them done somewhere else and brings them home.”
“Is that how we should do it?” I asked. “We always cut them up at home.”
Nova bit at her bottom lip, clearly unsure. I squatted in front of the girls.
“We need to choose,” I told them as they stared at me. “We can buy pumpkins and cut them open ourselves. Or we can get jack-o'-lanterns that are already cut open.”
“Will the pumpkin hurt?” Lyric asked with complete sincerity.
“No, baby,” Nova said and knelt next to her daughter. “They are food. They don’t feel anything.”
“My friends at school scooped out the brains,” Skylar explained. “I want to scoop.”
Lyric clearly had no idea what her sister was talking about, but she nodded anyway.
I stood up and nodded at Lula. “Does Dillon want to come along?”
“No,” the preteen answered before Lula could.
“That’s probably good,” I said and smiled at Nova. “I’m not used to these two. Adding another little kid to the mix might overwhelm me.”
Lula snickered at Dillon’s irritated expression. “Vanessa makes really cool designs on her jack-o'-lanterns. Maybe ask her to help.”
Nodding, I texted Vanessa to see if she could help us design jack-o'-lanterns. She replied quickly to say she’d be at the patch soon.
I knew instantly how Goldie was at the auto shop with Vanessa. They would no doubt meddle in my date. Rather than get riled up, I smiled at Nova.
“Do you know where you want to eat after the pumpkin patch?” I asked and began shepherding the three of them out the door. “I know a place that makes mini burritos for kids.”
“Ooh, let’s do that,” Lyric said and bounced next to me.
The girls were fully on board with whatever I wanted. Nova seemed edgy, though.
“Can I drive?” I asked as she prepared to take the driver’s spot. “I know where things are, and I get sleepy in cars when I’m not driving.”
Nova stared up at me, revealing nothing despite her expressive eyes.
“Is that a no?”
“I miss you,” Nova mumbled.
I nearly frowned before the meaning behind her words hit me. A cocky smile warmed my face.
“Have you ever fooled around in a car?” I asked in a low voice so the girls couldn’t hear.
Gasping, Nova glanced at her daughters and then stared horrified at me. I threw my head back and laughed at her shock.
“I mean, after we get back and the girls are in bed,” I said and kissed her forehead. “You have such a dirty mind.”
Nova snickered and shook her head. “My head is all over the place.”
I guided her around the car and into the passenger seat. “Then, allow me to drive us while you think about what might be possible in the back seat later.”
While Nova nursed dirty thoughts, I drove us outside of town to a pumpkin patch complete with a “design center” for carving. They had a gift shop that I figured the girls would also enjoy.
Back in Rawlins, Yarrow loved pumpkin patches. She eventually bought a piece of land and grew pumpkins. I’d often find her out there, daydreaming in the sun.
Only one couple was walking around the Little Memphis pumpkin patch when we arrived. I saw a woman near the gift shop, keeping an eye on them. Nova and the girls seemed nervous about walking around.
I inhaled the autumn scent and smiled. “This place makes me feel like a kid,” I told a nervous Nova.
Her gaze stopped flashing at the couple who were clearly talking about us. She focused on me and smiled.
“Why does your mom like pumpkin patches so much?”
“I don’t know. Certain things click for her.”
The girls looked around and seemed confused. I showed them the different-sized pumpkins. When they didn’t understand how they would need to be carved, I found a video on my phone.
“We take out its brains!” Lyric cried in horror.
“Pumpkins are fruit,” Nova promised the girls. “It’s like when I cut up apples.”
Skylar and Lyric looked around at the pumpkins spread through the field. I loved how weird kids were. When I was little, I’d gotten paranoid about the moon when it was out during the day. The oddest things could set off children.
So, rather than rush the girls to rip the gooey center out of a pumpkin, I let them take their time adjusting to a new idea.
“We didn’t make jack-o'-lanterns in my family,” Nova told me when Lyric and Skylar clung to her in fear of angry pumpkins.
“We did, but we had to be careful with the candles because Duffy would sometimes stick her hands inside to touch the light.”
“It seems mean,” Skylar asked me, looking ready to faint.
Squatting next to the girls, I lifted a pumpkin and looked it over. “This is going to get squishy and rotten. Fruit doesn’t last long. But pumpkins can be turned into cool lanterns, which makes them special.”
Skylar and Lyric inched closer to me and studied the pumpkin in my hands. Before they made a decision, I heard motorcycles a block away. The roar sounded like more than two hogs, meaning Vanessa and Goldie had brought along friends.
The nearby couple frowned when the motorcycles rolled into the parking lot. Their gazes focused hard on the ground, and I heard them muttering about leaving.
“My sister is here,” I told Nova and the girls. “And she brought her friends.”
Goldie and Vanessa strolled up first. They were wearing their club vests and similar long-sleeved thermal tops. Dali and Jas followed them, sporting bouncy ponytails and club vests over T-shirts.
“Hey, baby foxes,” Dali told the girls before smiling at Nova. “And mama fox.”
Nova’s face warmed at the way the foxes welcomed her. She wanted so badly to be a wild chick. I felt her demeanor change in their presence. She no longer glanced at the couple as if worried they were judging her.
Nova Shaw suddenly remembered her own value and wrapped her arms around me. As her gaze washed over my face, I felt her reclaiming the best parts of herself.