Chapter Twenty
“I’ll do a lot of things to help my friends. Even dress as a slutty cheerleading zombie.” – Molly
ELIZABETH
Watching from the other side of the table, where I’m planning our Halloween night for the hardware store, I see Derek and Rora in a heated debate.
“How about Robin Hood and Friar Tuck?” Derek asks, coloring on the page Rora asked him too. She quickly switches out his crayon for another and promptly colors where he was instructed to. His shoulders slump.
“Who’s free truck?”
Her little nose squishes up in confusion, and Derek bobs his head and says, “Okay, right. Not that. Ooh!” He looks at her with excitement. “How about Mario and Luigi?”
She gives him a look and places stubborn fists on her hips. “I’m a girl.”
Derek purses his lips and looks back at me, a hint of humor in his gaze, and I duck my head to keep from laughing. She’s recently found out she doesn’t like it when I laugh at some of her little comments.
“Fair.” He gives in, swiveling his head. “This is a tough one, girl. We need the perfect costumes for our night out.”
I smile, looking between the two of them. It’s been a couple of weeks since our date at the Cobras game, and we haven’t had a chance to revisit the kissing portion of our relationship, though I am dying for a chance to.
But every moment he can, Derek finds a way to help me out.
He comes over and helps with dinner but always leaves before Rora goes to bed out of respect.
He spent today helping me with the weekly reset, and all mine and Rora’s laundry is freshly washed and put away, her lunchbox is cleaned out and ready to be filled with the fresh food now stocking the fridge, and the apartment is in great shape.
“You guys could always go as princesses,” Hattie adds helpfully from where she was looking over something on her laptop, her legs propped up underneath her on the couch.
Rora gasps. “Yes!” She grabs Derek’s forearm, and I smile when he gives her his undivided attention. “I have an idea!”
Looking around the hardware store at all the decorations, I have a satisfied smirk on my face. Damn, I’m good. It looks like a legitimate haunted house.
Okay, it’s not quite that fancy, but for a quick walk through the store, it’s great. A zombie walks up to me, and I smile widely. “Ready for the night?”
Garrett nods his head. “I’m sure I’ll be sore by the end of it, but who can resist scaring people all night with no consequences?”
I pat his shoulder; he’s a decent guy. I think he has a real, deep love for Derek and hides it under a tough exterior. “Just don’t get punched.”
“I don’t know, I’d pay to see that.” A female zombie walks up, and I gasp. She’s wearing a cheerleader uniform, but it’s torn and dirty, matching the costume perfectly.
“Molly! Above and beyond,” I say, clasping my hands under my chin. “You guys are so great for helping Derek out like this. We would have dressed the parts, but Rora was insistent on our costumes, and we couldn’t break her heart.”
“Oh, we know,” Garrett supplies, smirking at me. “Derek’s been working on his costume all week, saying Rora would know if he got it wrong.”
I smile and turn when I hear her little giggle. She bounds toward me, doing a wobble walk in character, and says, “Hello, I’m Olaf. I like warm hugs.”
Laughing and clapping, I bend and say, “Nice to meet you, Olaf. You look adorable!”
“Thank you,” she replies in a deeper register, and Derek’s friends chuckle.
“And what about me?” Derek’s voice pulls my attention, and when I glance up, I stare in shock at the sight before me.
Derek dressed as Elsa is going to live in my brain for the rest of my life. He has on a stark white wig that is braided down the side, and his shoulders nearly burst out of the tops of the dress he’s wearing, the blue fabric visibly stretching.
There is a white shimmery fabric that drapes behind him, gliding smoothly as he walks.
It is amazing.
“Wow, Derek! You look great,” Molly compliments, looking at all three of us. “The perfect Frozen trio.”
“Yeah, man. You could moonlight at birthday parties in that thing.”
“I really could.” Derek flips his hair, giving him a serious look. “Thank you for noticing. Now”—he looks down at Rora—“let’s make some magic happen.”
The night kicks off, and hordes of people crowd the street, flooding in through the hardware store.
Derek and Rora guide the people into the entrance of the little maze I put together, with copious amounts of help from Derek, his friends, and even my parents, who come by to help.
Then, when the guests exit, they get candy from me.
I spent all night last night—no sleep, just pure adrenaline and caffeine—putting together little bags with a few pieces of candy each. I don’t need anyone digging their hands into a bowl and spilling it everywhere.
People come out the exit giggling like they just had a fright, and I smile brightly, handing out the bags and looking at Derek, who is beaming with pride and playing around with my daughter.
It feels like a special night, and by the time we’ve run out of candy, there’s still a solid hour left of trick-or-treating to take Rora to.
Derek locks up, and we each take a hand of Rora’s, swinging her between us for giggles until we get to the next shop and she gets her candy bucket out, work mode activated.
Derek and I talk to some of the owners as we walk, and there’s a small-town feel when we learn names or hear them saying our own.
It makes me feel like I’m part of something I’ve never been before.
As we walk behind Rora, Derek reaches over and grasps my hand, tugging me closer, and whispers. “Thanks for letting me be a part of this.”
Unexpectedly, tears well in my eyes, and I have to blink them back. Tears? Seriously? Get a grip.
“Of course.” I swallow and get myself together. “Thank you for wanting to be a part of it. It’s not every person’s dream to date a single mom.”
“Are you kidding?” Derek scoffs, tossing his Elsa bangs out of his face, and I smile at this goofball of a man I call mine.
“It’s absolutely my dream. I don’t have to wait to do the fun stuff because her presence makes it so we can.
Also.” He snaps his fingers, moving on to another subject before I can even fully comprehend that he said we were his dream.
“There’s an apple-picking orchard I thought we could go to.
Load up and do some desserts. We have Friendsgiving the Sunday before Thanksgiving, kids invited, and then, of course, I told your mom I was bringing apple pie. ”
I pause for a second, keeping my eye on Rora and glancing back at Derek. “You’re coming to Thanksgiving?”
I can see the visible nerves on Derek’s face, and he swallows, nodding slowly. “Yes. Your mother invited me.” Then, because he’s Derek, he says, “Is that okay with you? I just assumed you’d be okay. And I guess I didn’t ask if you’d come to my family’s, but I was hoping.”
Nerves or butterflies or something else bubbles up in my stomach, and I take a moment to deduce what the heck I’m feeling.
Excitement, I think. Someone to spend the holidays with.
I mean, we were doing Halloween, but Thanksgiving was a bigger deal.
He’d be meeting my grandma, and once he did, there would be no going back.
“Of course I want you there,” I answer, watching the tension ease out of him and a happy grin cross his face. “I can’t believe my mother beat me to the punch.”
“Well, she’s obsessed with me, what can I say?” he answers, making me laugh.
We finish up the trick-or-treating and head home, Derek driving us since he was the one who picked us up earlier, and we arrive just in time for the pizza I ordered to arrive.
We queue up a movie in the living room and use the coffee table for dinner tonight.
Rora makes it ten minutes into the movie before passing out, her costume still on.
“Guess she’s tuckered herself out,” Derek says and stands up. He’s changed back into his normal clothes, and it makes it easy for him to lift her up, carrying her down the hall. I follow, undressing at least her costume for tonight and leaving her normal leggings and shirt on.
We both stand by the door and watch her for a second. She moves, reaching over and grasping Theodore and Meeps, the elephant Derek got for her at the farmers’ market, and I watch as he smiles at the sight.
We head back to the couch, where he plops down, grasping my hand and pulling me down on top of him. I was still in my costume, too tired to even think about changing.
“You know, I always thought Anna was hot,” Derek grumbles, running a thumb over my cheek. I look up at him and lift a brow.
“You had a thing for a cartoon?”
He rolls his eyes. “Please. And you never have?”
I bite my lip and shrug. “Well, I mean, I’d have to be blind if I hadn’t noticed Tarzan.”
“Tarzan, huh?” he says, his eyes looking me over. “I guess I know what I’m doing next Halloween.”
I laugh lightly and look at him. He’s already looking at me so intently, and I can’t resist anymore. Our date was so long ago, and I feel like I literally crave this man I’m lying on top of. I reach up, my hand going over his cheek and into his hair as I pull him to me and seal our lips together.
Derek is more than happy to reciprocate and expertly slides his lips over mine, creating a wave of goose bumps to break out over my flesh. He turns us so I’m on the inside of the couch, our legs intertwined and his body bracketing me in.
He doesn’t move to take off any clothes even though my body feels like it’s on fire with each stroke of his tongue. He takes his time, kissing me until he’s thoroughly done so and I am well and truly ravished.
We do this for a while, until breathing becomes hard, and I’m sure hours have passed since we started, though I know, realistically, it was only minutes.
Pulling away with chaste kisses, Derek snuggles me into his chest and takes a deep breath, his breath skating over my skin as he whispers, “I love being here with you.”
It’s not long until sleep takes us both.