Live For The Moment #2
She trembled in his arms, eyes bright, smile happy. “I won’t have a single one.”
He nodded, knowing he could talk her into sex with only another kiss. But he didn’t want a quick romp. He wanted so much more than that. Which meant taking it slow, earning her trust, proving to her they had what it took to make it forever.
Finally, he managed to release her. “Why don’t you unpack? If you want, we can take a walk and brainstorm some Halloween ideas.”
“Perfect. Give me five minutes.”
He forced himself to take the stairs, putting some distance between them so he could get his body fully under control. Thankfully, his military training had given him plenty of skills in that department. He needed every last one of them to avoid rushing her, rushing them into the next step.
The kitchen was empty, but the coffeepot was still on. He filled a mug and rummaged through the drawers for a notebook and pen while he waited.
He wasn’t sure Esme even took the full five minutes before she joined him. Genn wouldn’t have even unpacked her makeup in that timeframe. The duffels Esme lived out of wouldn’t have gotten Genn through an overnight visit at his place.
Shaking his head clear of his ex, Wyatt focused on the woman in front of him. “I’m guessing you’re the type who can make notes on a phone, but I’m old-school for lists.”
She grinned. “You guessed correctly. Do you want to sit here to brainstorm ideas? Then we can wander the farm and get inspiration that way.”
He nodded and held out a chair for her. “Sounds good. I don’t have much experience with Halloween. Do you?”
“Not really. I didn’t know much about it until I lived with Nans. I wasn’t ready to deal with it for the first year or two, but I had a few years of fun before I became a teenager.”
His heart ached for her. She’d had a hell of a tough beginning to life. That hadn’t stopped her from having an incredible career and growing into a beautiful woman, inside and out.
“Did you ever go to Halloween parties? Do you have any idea what they do at those? We could maybe use those ideas and adapt them for the farm.”
She shook her head. “No, but I’m sure there are ideas on the internet. Maybe we could include some traditional fall and harvest activities, like bobbing for apples.”
He nodded and opened his notebook to jot that down. “I can see Charlie loving that one.”
“We should recruit him to help us.”
“Good idea. I’m betting the kid has a million ideas. We can head down to the cider house and talk to him.”
“Aren’t you working on the greenhouse today?”
He shrugged. “I wanted to give everyone time to work on their own stuff, but I might work on finishing the frame later.”
“I have zero experience, but I’d love to help.”
He wondered how many would expect a world-famous model to get excited about learning to use a drill. “That sounds great.”
After a few minutes of brainstorming, Esme suggested. “Maybe we could include a photo scavenger hunt.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I’m not sure how that works. People take pictures of things instead of gathering them?”
She nodded. “It was one of the things Nans used to do when I first arrived at her house. Looking back, I can see she was teaching me about the town and proving that Giblet was a safe place to live. She would make a list of things for me to find, and we’d walk around the town, looking for them, then take pictures. ”
“I would have liked your Nans. What kinds of things did she put on the list?”
Esme smiled. “There were all kinds of things, from objects to emotions. A live turkey, a cartoon turkey, a bowling ball, a sign with red letters, cooperation in action, steam, rainbows, carnations, and friendship. She had me learning the town and looking for people doing good things.”
Yep, her Nans had been pretty special. “That sounds perfect. We could do something like that with Halloween elements.”
“We could even hide some decorations in the orchard for people to find.”
He jotted down all their ideas—pumpkins, ghosts, skeletons, the moon, a witch, and bats.
“Jolie installed bat boxes; maybe people can even try to spot one of her real bats.”
Esme’s eyes widened. “I’ve never seen a live bat. Are they scary?”
He shook his head. “They generally ignore humans. They’re far more interested in bugs and mosquitoes. We’ll have to go down by the pond one evening. They’re often out there around sunset.”
“I’d like to see that.”
They added more to the scavenger hunt list, following the pattern Nans had used, a combination of objects, emotions, and actions. Then they added Halloween and apple ideas.
Harvest, Boo, something spooky, haystacks, fall flowers, rotting fruit, signs of winter approaching, teamwork, kindness, and gravity. The list was three pages long when they sat back and grinned at each other.
Esme smiled. “That’s a good start for the scavenger hunt. We can refine it later, but I think people of all ages would have fun with that.”
Wyatt nodded. “We’ll need to think of more activities to go along with the bobbing for apples.”
“We should also think of Halloween snacks. I bet Seth and Mara would help there. Maybe we could use those as prizes for completing the challenges.”
Then they were stuck for ideas.
Esme grinned. “We either need to get help from the internet or Charlie.”
He nodded and closed the notebook. “Why don’t we take that walk and let the ideas simmer for a bit? Maybe we can find some inspiration along the way.”
They changed into their boots and headed to the orchard. It was perfectly natural to kiss her lightly before he took her hand.
They were only a minute in when Esme squeezed his hand. “The Worminator. We’ll have to use that somehow. I’m sure we can do something spooky with it.”
He chuckled. “I bet Thea would love to help with that. It’s probably easy to turn compost into something spooky.”
“When I suggested rotting fruit, I was thinking of fallen apples, but they could also find fruit scraps. Or worms. Are worms spooky enough for Halloween?”
He laughed. “I have no idea, but I’m betting Charlie will know.”
Esme nodded, and they continued brainstorming as they wandered the orchard with no particular destination in mind.
It was perfect.