Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
LAUREL
T minus two minutes.
I wrung my hands and wiped them on my Dorothy costume while Doodle, my fun-loving—if a little bit daft—golden retriever, nudged my knee with her nose. The boop left a wet mark on my sheer white tights that I hurriedly wiped away. Nobody had even seen my costume yet and I’d put too much effort into our looks for Doodle’s sloppy nose-kiss to ruin it.
I crouched down and cupped her face in my hands, using my thumbs to massage her cheeks until her tongue lolled and she gave me happy, droopy eyes. “Who’s a good girl?”
Her tail thumped on the floor and her Toto collar jingled around her neck.
A firework cracked outside and we both swung our heads to the window of my small, cottage-inspired home. Doodle lowered her head and let out a low whimper, but when I moved to the window, she followed at a trot and rested her chin on the sill. Together, we peered out into the night. A breeze rustled the trees in my front garden full of fairy lights.
The sound of a call coming through my computer nearly made me jump out of my skin. Doodle barked, and I hurried to the laptop on my coffee table, flipped it open, and answered the call.
Mariam’s cornflower blue eyes filled my screen. After fixing the angle of her webcam, she smiled and waved as she leaned back in her chair. “Hey you. Wow. Dorothy, huh? Good call.”
“Thanks.” I laughed. “You’re not going trick or treating? Or are you just not dressed yet?”
She frowned. “We’re twenty-eight. Are you going trick or treating?”
I lifted my chin with resolve. “Damn straight.”
Another block appeared and this time Gemma’s green eyes appeared. Her features scrunched in concentration until she saw us. “Hey, Gem.”
“There you are.” A wide grin appeared on her lips. “Hello, ladies. Mariam. Dorothy. Toto,” she added with a giggle. Her voice cascaded into puppy-talk. “Oh, you look so beautiful you big wittle baby. Does mommy have you all dressed up? Yes she does. Oh my goodness. I could eat you!”
Mariam slow-blinked into her webcam. “Are you done, Gem?”
I chuckled. “At least I know now that I did a good job on our costumes. Think it’ll bring kids into the store to pick up a copy of the book? I’ve made a whole display of them.”
Mariam smiled. “Even I want to read it again now. I think I still have a copy somewhere. Maybe that’s what I’ll do while you go trick or treating.”
Her words reassured me. Halloween was my favorite night of the year, and my bookstore, which I’d bought as a rundown shack with no hope for potential, had blossomed into a second home for me and dozens of my regulars. Among those dozens were local kids who got lost between the pages of books while their parents roamed the aisles looking for something for their own inner story-lover. I hoped that my Dorothy costume might inspire some kids to experience the story the way it was intended: as words on a page, directly from the mind of Lyman Frank Baum.
“If you’re going to be reading anything, it better be one of those books I gave you,” Gemma said, laughing despite trying to sound stern. “We’re turning naughty tonight, remember? Speaking of which, are you guys ready? I’m due somewhere in less than an hour, so we need to get this ball rolling.”
Mariam groaned, but I nodded, picking up the little box I’d bought to keep my part of the list in and showing it to them. “I’ve got mine right here.”
“So do I.” Mariam lifted her own little box toward her camera and shook it. “God help us.”
God help us indeed.
We’d come up with this idea when we were kids with big dreams and a slippery grasp on reality. Now here we were, grown women, still choosing to honor a pact born out of hormone-induced lunacy. What did that say about us?
“Don’t be so nervous.” Gemma laughed. “This is meant to be fun. Laurel, you go first, then me, and by then Mariam should’ve had enough time to gather the courage to draw hers.”
My heart tripped over itself. “Sure. Okay, yeah. Do either of you remember if we made a rule about what would happen if we chose not to complete an item on our lists?”
Mariam’s eyes clouded over in thought. “I don’t think we did. Are we going to allow it?”
“No,” Gemma said immediately, a devilish smile on her lips. “Come on, guys. We were babies when we wrote this. If our fourteen-year-old minds could’ve conjured up whatever is on here, then I’m sure our twenty-eight-year-old bodies can follow through.”
I grimaced. “I wouldn’t be so sure, but okay. No skipping items. Are we agreed?”
“We’re agreed,” Gemma said quickly.
Mariam sighed but nodded. “Fine. The motion carries.”
I chuckled. “Thank you, Madam Speaker. Alright, let’s see what I got. Drumroll please.”
Gemma grabbed two pens off her desk and started tapping them on the glass top in front of her while Mariam suddenly looked like she was going to be sick. Moving slowly and dramatically, but deliberately, I set my box on my open palm, lifted the lid, and felt around inside until my fingertips grazed across the little shred of paper. Doodle nudged my elbow, sensing the excitement, and I pinched the paper between my thumb and forefinger.
Here goes nothing.
“Okay, I got it,” I murmured, my voice hushed as suspense trickled through me. I pulled out the paper, struggling to breathe, then set the box down before I glanced at what was written at the top of my part of the list.
My stomach bottomed out as I made the announcement. “Kiss an old flame. Whether he’s married or not.” I lifted my gaze back to my screen. “Wow. We were hookers when we wrote this.”
Gemma giggled nervously as she nodded, but then she opened her own box, drew hers, and shakily read her first item. Once she was finished, Mariam finally followed. None of us were super thrilled about what we’d gotten. That much was obvious.
But naughty called to us like a siren and we answered. Or we would.
Maybe.
Unless one of us just chickened out despite the motion we’d just passed.
As my nerves worked into a frenzy in my belly, I told myself that this was what I needed. For some time, I’d been starting to feel stagnant and like something was missing. Was that something a potentially married old flame I could share a kiss with? Most definitely not. But maybe I could scratch that itch by stepping out of my comfort zone. How long had it been since I had an adventure?
What are you, a hobbit? I thought, shaking my head at myself. An adventure sounded fun, but I wasn’t too keen on one that led to infidelity or something morally questionable. There had to be some way I could check my task off the list without compromising my values.
Right?
I frowned as I considered what I’d drawn.
“Don’t be a chicken, Laurel,” Mariam said, reading me like a book through the screen. She leaned in close and peered into her webcam like a peephole. “You have to do it.”
I squared my shoulders and grinned. I had it. “I’ll kiss Leif. Actually, I already have. Doesn’t that count?”
“Girl, you did more than just kiss him.” Gemma pumped her eyebrows at me. “This is your excuse to do it again.”
“Technically, we’re only starting today,” Mariam said. “That means we can’t count something we’ve done before. Even if we have done it, we’ll have to do it again.”
I couldn’t say that sounded like the absolute worst thing that could’ve happened to me. In fact, I definitely wasn’t opposed to kissing Leif again, but he lived in Colorado and I lived in Tennessee. That made things slightly trickier.
I did have his number though. So after I got off the call and finished getting ready, I pulled out my phone. Gemma had made a good point. I wanted to see him again. I had been wanting to for months, but I hadn’t had any reason to reach out.
Now that I do?
I fired off a quick text, keeping it short and simple by asking if he was going home to Texas for Thanksgiving. It would be amazing if he was. Aside from the fact that I genuinely wanted to spend some time with him again, I had to kiss someone and there was no one but him I could think of to do that with.
I didn’t mention that in my text, though butterflies erupted in my belly at the thought that it might happen again.
A moment later, my phone beeped with his reply.
Leif: Hey, Laurel. Wow. This is a surprise. Yeah, I’ll be there. You?
Me: Same. Wanna get together while we’re there? I’d really like to see you.
Leif: I’m in. Let’s do it. Text me when and where. I’m on my way to a thing, but we’ll talk later?
Me: Sure. Enjoy your thing. Happy Halloween!
I stared at my phone, unable to believe how easy it had been. I’d had his number since May and I’d never even considered using it. A smile lit my face and heat warmed my insides. I’d only read the first item on my to-do list thirty minutes ago and here I was, already boldly going on an unexpected journey.
Go forth, little hobbit, I thought proudly.
When I pushed to my feet Doodle charged the front door and pointed with her nose to her leash hanging on the hook. I took it down and clipped it to her collar, grabbed my candy bag, and attached it to her lead. Doodle danced in place, hopping from one front paw to the other, until I opened the door and led us out into the night.
My string lights twinkled and the flickering fairy houses that lined my foot path had a couple little kids at my front gate gasping in awe. They crouched down and whispered amongst themselves, wondering about fairies and if they lived here.
I opened my gate and stepped out onto the sidewalk. “You have to watch very closely,” I whispered, nodding at the fairy houses. “Fairies move almost too quickly for us to see. Sometimes all they are is a flash of light or a falling leaf. And sometimes,” I made my eyes wide as I splayed my hands like the spooky storyteller I imagined I was, “they’re sitting right on your shoulder and you don’t even know it!”
One of the kids, a young boy, looked at his shoulder just as a leaf fell on it. He shrieked, flung it off, scrambled backward a good five feet, and finally managed to get to his feet and run off. His friends sprinted after him and I waved when one looked back over his shoulder.
Doodle whined and I looked down at her big brown eyes full of judgment.
“What?” I asked.
She cocked her head.
“It’s Halloween,” I explained. “Everyone is supposed to get a little fright. Now come on. We have doorbells to ring and candy to gorge ourselves on later. To the yellow brick road!”
Doodle barked and we set off to connect with my friends. As we walked the neighborhood, my mind danced with all the possibilities that seeing Leif for Thanksgiving might bring. A kiss. A touch. A moment.
Whatever it was, I already felt thankful for the silly list and our silly fourteen-year-old selves for coming up with it.