Chapter 7
Seven
Louise
“You do realize it’s still almost eighty degrees out, right?”
Tessa sticks her tongue out at me as she carries another tote of fall décor through the doors of the main barn at Bliss Garden.
She’s decked out in a full fall ensemble; a long, black, tiered peasant skirt with a slit clear up the right thigh, chunky knit sweater in a deep burgundy red, black combat boots, and a wafer-thin black scarf wrapped around her neck.
I’m roasting just looking at her.
“It’s fall,” she hisses, setting the tote down on the floor and shoving her red rimmed glasses back up the bridge of her nose. Her signature red lip stain is in place, as usual.
“It’s the second week of September and eighty degrees, Tess—” I argue.
My sister waves her hands, dismissing my argument. “It’s fall. I’m protesting.”
I roll my eyes but don’t bother arguing any further. If she wants to sweat to death, by all means. It’s too hot to argue, anyway.
A pair of cutoff jean shorts have ridden far too high up the insides of my thick thighs, and I pull them down for the billionth time tonight.
A cropped tank top in a light, lavender purple is keeping me plenty cool while we work.
My long hair has been secured back into two Dutch braids that are falling over my shoulders every time I move, but at least it’s off my neck.
Tess had very graciously volunteered us to bring in all the fall décor to get started on our prep for all of the fall festivities starting next week. But it means that it’s one less thing on Darci’s plate, so I’m more than happy to help.
And in Northern Michigan, once September hits, it’s fall. Even if the weather hasn’t gotten the memo to drop the temperatures, yet.
My favorite barista even messaged me earlier this week to tell me—on the downlow, shhh—when they’re releasing my favorite pumpkin cream cold brew… Thank you, Carol.
I will be first in line with absolutely zero shame. And a nice, fat tip in thanks. My girl, doing the Lord’s work.
Just don’t tell Tessa. Because then she’ll recruit my ass for her ‘all things fall’ protest, and I am not changing in my flip flops and tank tops until I absolutely have to.
Willow and Livare unpacking the totes and organizing everything based on what area of the gardens each piece will be used. Basic fall décor for now, and then closer to Halloween Tess will switch everything out for more traditional Halloween décor.
I was fairly certain Mom was going to have an aneurism the day Dad and Tess had brought back not one, not two, but four twelve-foot-tall skeletons from Home Depot.
Each October since, they’ve stood proudly on either side of the arched gate entrance, welcoming our guests.
It had been Dad’s idea to light up plastic pumpkin candy buckets from the inside with string lights and hang them from each of the skeleton’s hands.
That had started the tradition of dressing them all in costumes.
Every year, Mom humors the grandkids and handmakes giant Halloween costumes for the four of them.
One year, they were characters from Harry Potter, complete with wizard hats, robes, wands, and one dementor included.
Another year, they were Disney villains.
My personal favorite though, was the year we turned them all into the Village People and had them doing the YMCA. Dad thought it was brilliant.
We also host a ‘Trunk or Treat’ on Halloween, with local businesses and families coming out to line the long drive and parking lot with decked out vehicles and buckets of candy to hand out.
The barn is turned into a haunted house, we offer spiced cider, and apple and pumpkin donuts for anyone that comes out to join in the festivities.
It’s mine and Tessa’s favorite event that Bliss Garden hosts.
Struggling to untangle a long length of orange string lights, Liv sits down in the center of the floor, letting her arms droop around her, the lights encircling her.
Willow laughs, then takes her phone out to snap a picture.
Liv’s kids, little towheaded blondes with hair just as curly as hers, are running around the currently empty barn, dancing through the sunbeams streaming in through the windows high above us.
“My arms are tired,” she laughs, shoulders slumping. “Who put these away last? This whole bin is a complete rat’s nest of lights. This is just pure evil. Its anarchy incarnate.”
“Oh, quit being dramatic,” Willow mutters, sitting down cross legged in front of Liv to help with the lights. The two of them bicker back and forth, and I head outside to the big Bliss Garden Transit van loaded down with holiday totes.
“Hey, Lou, whatever happened with Hot Neighbor? Anymore crotch grabs?”
Sending a glare over to Willow as I set the tote down next to them, I hiss, “No, I have not grabbed his crotch again, thank you very much. Loudmouth!”
“Wait, what happened?” Tess asks, sliding over toward us.
I groan and let my head fall back against my shoulders and prop my hands on my hips.
Fuckk. The evil woman pinches me in the side hard enough to hurt and I yelp, swatting her hand away.
She holds her fingers up, tapping the pads of her index and thumb together like little pincers. “Start. Talking. Or I keep pinching—”
“Yoouuu,” I growl over at Willow, pointing a finger at her as I jump out of arms reach of Tess. Running around to the other side of Willow and Liv to get away, I hiss, “Traitor!”
“How was I supposed to know you haven’t told her?
” Willow asks innocently, but the bitch winks at me.
Turning her head, she looks up at Tess from where she’s still sitting on the floor of the barn and says, “She finally met the family that lives next door. The dad is hot. And instead of shaking his hand in greeting like a normal person, she grabbed his dick. It’s how all the kids are doing things these days—”
“I’m telling Luck,” I seethe, slowly circling the two on the floor, staying out of reach of Tessa’s pinchy fingers as she circles them, too.
“Oh, he knows I think that man is beautiful,” Willow laughs, shrugging. She goes back to detangling the lights. “He’s my hall pass.”
“Ohmygod,” Liv snorts, shaking her head while twining the length of string lights around her arm and elbow like one would with an extension cord. “My hall pass would be—”
“Don’t you try and change the subject,” Tessa warns, and I groan. Liv mouths ‘I tried’ up at me. “Come on, Lou. Out with it. I thought you were on a man hiatus.”
“I am on a man hiatus. Put those damn pinchy fingers away and I’ll talk!
” I demand, stopping so that I’m behind Willow, with Tess standing behind Liv.
She makes a show of dropping her hand to her side and I chew the inside of my cheek.
When I take too long to start talking, my sister raises her hand again, holding her finger and thumb an inch apart in warning.
I roll my eyes and slap my hands to my bare thighs below the ragged hem of my jean shorts.
“Fine! I was running way late on my way out for a birthday party last weekend, and when I went running outside, I quite literally ran straight into this guy. Knocked me off balance. I dropped my bags, almost fell over. Grace personified. Caught myself on the only thing I could get my hands on… which happened to be his crotch.”
Tessa doubles over laughing, her glasses sliding down her nose before she catches them and pushes them back into place. “Oh, this is gold. Wait until Grandma Jude finds out about this—”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I hiss, pointing my finger at her, this time. “You keep Jude out of this, I swear to—”
“Oh, she’s gonna find out eventually. The woman is a professional sleuth. And you and I both know you don’t keep secrets from Jude.”
I groan. Grandma Jude—our maternal grandmother—may be one of my best friends, but the woman is a menace to our love lives, and to our sanity most days.
If—when—she finds out about Zach, she will make my life a living hell.
Shit, she’ll be printing wedding invitations the following week if she has anything to do with it.
“Anyway,” I continue, rubbing my temples where a headache is forming, “then he caught me staring at his naked chest when I went over to eat cake the next morning—”
“Wait, so more did happen!” Willow exclaims, twisting around to stare up at me, a victorious grin spreading across her face. “Yes! I knew it!”
“I also learned from his daughters that he’s a firefighter.”
“Ohhh, we do love a sexy man in uniform,” Willow says, grinning. “Did you tell him you’ve got a fire he can put out for you?”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I whine, shaking my head at her. “No, I absolutely did not say anything of the sort in front of his kids!”
“Well, in all fairness, you did already grab his junk—"
“And I’m still totally preparing to move at any given notice because of it,” I grumble, spinning on my flip-flop covered heel to dig into the tote full of more tangled lights.
Speaking to the three women over my shoulder, I groan, “Seriously. One more embarrassing moment in front of that man and you can just call me Scarlett O’Hara because I’ll be gone like the mother fuckin’ wind. ”