Chapter 19 Pumpkin Everything
PUMPKIN EVERYTHING
Summer
For my birthday, can everyone put their differences aside and come over?
In a side chat, I messaged Daisy:
When she says everyone, does she mean Felix, Henry, Ashley, and Thad?
Daisy
Yep. But I doubt that shit will happen.
It was a relief to hear it. I didn’t need any more drama. Tomorrow was the anniversary of my dad’s death, and I was nearly certain putting us all in the same room would result in another murder. I’d be in therapy for the rest of my life at this rate.
Miraculously, everyone agreed. More than likely, no one wanted to admit it would affect them too severely, so we met in Eden’s driveway, awkwardly looking at each other. There was one face there I didn’t recognize.
Henry soon rectified that. “Summer, this is Cora, my girlfriend.”
Thaddeus smiled. Ashley rolled her eyes, and Felix nodded. I suspected Cora was the reason this little friend group was the way it currently was, but I’d get the information later. “Are you guys coming into the backyard?” Eden stuck her head out to ask.
“The backyard?” Felix repeated.
After walking through the gate, we found the birthday girl had gone to a lot of trouble.
Eden’s backyard was all set up for a pumpkin smash.
A tarp covered the grass, most of it already brown and dry but still worth protecting if she wished for it to come back next season.
Along the side of the tarp were pumpkins, some already smashed with seeds and guts clinging to the edges.
A man and woman I didn’t recognize, wearing matching polo T-shirts, walked around the corner with bats, mallets, and safety goggles.
This was going to be messy, and just what this group needed right now.
As long as we didn’t ignore the pumpkin and use those bats on each other.
After nearly an hour of bashing pumpkins with our tools and feet, everyone was huffing and puffing with matching smiles.
“Eden, this was a great idea!” Ashley exclaimed while Felix tightened his hold around her waist.
At the grill, Thad laid the meat across the rack. One thing had never changed about our group; we liked a good BBQ, no matter the weather.
“Looks like our friend group can be amicable for an hour,” I said.
Thad winked. “If we can put our differences aside, anything is possible.”
I stood beside Thad while he worked the grill.
“Summer, ten years have passed and you still can’t even grill a hamburger,” he teased.
“Hey, baking’s my thing,” I shot back, giving him a playful shove.
He laughed. “I remember. I thought I’d come back and find you running a bakery.”
After what happened to Dad, the only thing I wanted to do was fight injustice. Now, maybe a bakery didn’t sound like such a bad idea after all. “Maybe I’ll do something part-time. I’ve grown to love helping people.”
Noticeably, Ashley and Felix took one side of the yard while Henry and Cora stayed on the other. When Felix started walking over to us, my heart began to beat faster.
“Guess I won’t receive an invitation to the wedding, but congratulations,” he said to both of us.
Thad glared at him, but I squeezed his hand. Felix and Henry were both in the wrong. I understood he wouldn’t take a step away from Henry’s corner, but I’d like to keep them both as friends. “Thank you,” I said gently.
Seconds passed without another word. Thad returned his attention to the grill, so Felix walked away.
“I’ll go help Eden bring out the plates and other things,” I said.
Thad, who’d appeared to be suffering from hearing loss just moments ago, looked up. “Bring out some more steaks.”
“Oh, so your ears do work just fine,” I said, lifting both hands to my hips.
Thad didn’t look amused. “Henry’s a better man than I am. I’d have snapped F’s neck.”
I hated it when he talked like that, because Thad was the kind of man who might keep his word and follow through.
Inside, Daisy, Eden, Ashley, and I gathered plates and made a salad, while Thad worked the grill and talked to Henry, who had Cora tucked under his arm. Felix, I noticed, was far at the other side of the yard, busily scrolling his phone.
That was the safest place for him to be. Our little group was really over.
“So, Summer, spill it. What’s the plan for you and Thad?” Eden asked, interrupting my thoughts.
I turned away from the window and found all three women staring. “We’re getting married, and my baby will be financially well off.”
Ashley and Daisy looked at each other. Eden rolled her eyes.
“I’m going to do what I should’ve done in the very beginning. Lead by example and forgive Thad.” The kitchen was silent, so I used that opportunity to continue. “I know it won’t be easy, but hating him was proving to be even harder than you could imagine.”
Ashley spoke first. “With all I’ve learned, the two of you make way more sense than Thad and Mimi.”
“How’s Melissa doing after getting dumped?” Eden asked, and we all looked to Ashley for an update.
“Well, they only ever had sex. Mimi wasn’t in love with him, plus she’s been walking around with a smile on her face, so there must be somebody putting it there.”
My eye roll was unintentional. First, yeah, of course Thad and Melissa had sex. However, sharing anything with that woman wasn’t my preference, but we weren’t together then. Second, I wondered whose happily ever after she was sabotaging now.
“Oh shit!” Daisy shouted and pointed at the window behind me.
“Fire!” Eden yelled before I could turn around.
My eyes widened in horror at the fire by the grill.
Flames grew, consuming the grill and part of the fence behind it.
My heart pounded as I ran toward the door and pushed the screen door open, my stomach flipping in knots.
Once outside, I stood and searched the yard.
Thad had been running the grill. Where was he?
The heat from the flames reached me all the way over here. What if . . .?
No.
“Eden, get the fire extinguisher!” Henry yelled.
“Where’s Thad?” I finally managed to scream. My legs moved faster; they seemed to have a mind of their own.
“Summer, back away!” someone yelled, but I paid them no mind.
I felt a hand around my waist.
“I’m right here.”
My heart soared in my chest. Thank God! When I wrapped my arm around him, a burst of strength rushed through me.
I could finally breathe normally. My chest had been burning like I was about to collapse.
The only thought that raced in my head was Thaddeus, Thaddeus, Thaddeus, and that amount of worry concentrated on a single person could drive you crazy.
I could taste relief once the warmth of his body enveloped me, his muscles like a thick blanket draping around me.
“Haven’t you ever taken a basic fire safety course? Everyone knows you’re supposed to run away from the fire, not get closer.”
Was he scolding me? For a brief second, I thought to snap back but shook the idea from my head. Thad was alive, and that was all that mattered.
“Just shut up and hold me.” Minutes ago, I felt like I’d traveled back ten years, and Thad was leaving me again. I clung to him tighter.
He cradled me, and I could’ve stayed in his arms forever.
“While everyone is really happy for you two, do you think both of you can move your asses away from the fire?” Henry said.
We walked to the front of the house, leaving Felix, who was a volunteer firefighter like my dad had been, to save Eden’s house and put out the fire.
I shook my head as we sat on the front porch.
“That’s what happens when this group tries to get together,” Ashley said, reading my mind.
Daisy mumbled, “Disaster.”
With one hand protectively around Cora, Henry agreed. “Let’s face it. It’s over. It’ll probably be a lot safer if we go our separate ways.”
I watched the look that transferred between Henry and Ashley. There wasn’t any anger there, not anymore. They’d be able to put their differences aside for Wylie.
Thaddeus
The next morning, I spent hours tearing through the house. It just had to be somewhere. I’d checked the boxes in the basement and looked through all my college stuff packed away in my father’s old office.
“Mr. Fitzgerald, what are you doing?”
Aston only called me that when he was pissed. I looked around the room at the mess I’d made. None of which would be cleaned by me. Shit. “Sorry, Aston.”
Waiting for an explanation, he gestured at the mess.
“I’m looking for something,” I murmured, continuing my search.
“What?”
I continued to pull stuff from the box in front of me. “A ring.”
“Ring? Why would you keep jewelry in a cardboard box?”
Well, when I snatched it off Summer’s hand at the police station during the ordeal, I never cared about finding it again. “It’s the engagement ring I gave Summer years ago.”
Aston’s eyes brightened. “Oh, that. It’s with your mother’s stuff.”
That’s one place I hadn’t looked. “Thanks,” I said, already on my feet and leaving the room.
“It’s in the one marked memories,” Aston called after me.
Seconds later, I pushed the door open and found the box.
Hidden between a newspaper clipping about my mother’s death and Clive’s arrest was the ring.
Lifting the sparkling piece of jewelry, I lowered myself onto a nearby chair.
Everything got turned around. Now, I had to get Summer and I back on course.
“Aston, I’m not staying for breakfast!” I yelled.
Wherever he was in the house, he was sure to hear me. I grabbed a jacket and hurried to the car. My hands trembled around the steering wheel, but this time it wasn’t from anger. Why was I so nervous? Summer had already agreed to marry me. This was just a formality.
When I arrived at the office building, I was already in the elevator when it hit me. Giving her the ring at work might be a bad idea. I’d gone from telling the staff to make sure she walked through metal detectors, to announcing our engagement to the entire office.