Chapter 8
“Hey, got the stuff,” Drea called as she entered Sam’s house and hung her leather jacket by the door.
“We’re in the bathroom,” Sam called back.
Drea ducked under three ghosts made from tissues and cotton balls that hung near the front door, a craft project with Jake for sure.
A two-foot-tall green-faced witch replete with a black dress and pointy hat stared at her from the hallway.
She took a moment to appreciate the level of detail, though the eyes seemed to follow her as she moved, ratcheting up the creepy factor.
When she reached the bathroom, she found Sam crouched on the tile floor putting costume makeup on Jake’s face.
She smiled at the attempt. “Aw, are we making a mini Titan here?”
Sam paused and gave Drea a look that revealed the amount of stress she was under. Drea immediately regretted that her sarcasm had hit her best friend on what was apparently an emotional day. She squatted and put her arm around Sam’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “Here, let me help.”
Drea took in Jake’s black shirt underneath a cape made from a blue bedsheet tied around his neck.
Black pants and a pair of brown rain boots cinched the look, along with a very light and equally misguided makeup attempt.
Drea met Jake’s eyes, always the solid little man who would not make his mom feel bad even if his soul was being crushed by the lack of authenticity in his Halloween costume’s debut role. They shared a silent agreement.
“Hey Sam, got any nectar for the gods?” She looked up at Sam who was standing beside them, the bags under her eyes more prominent than usual.
Sam had been pushing herself since before the company launched, but if she didn’t start taking some time off for herself, Drea decided she was going to say something.
Nothing was worth burnout. She had seen Sam at her lowest and would do whatever it took to keep her from that again.
“Yeah, be right back,” Sam said absentmindedly.
When she had left, Drea grimaced at Jake. “Jesus, bud, what did she do to you?”
Jake looked down at the ill-advised mishmash defacing his body and shrugged his tiny shoulders. “She tried.” The boy was a saint. A six-year-old who could see past his own wants to recognize that his mom was hanging on by a thread. Were there Nobel Peace Prizes for kids? There should be.
Drea cocked an eyebrow at him and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. We can do better. Aunt D’s got you.”
Jake’s dismay quickly gave way to a huge grin.
She started pulling the pieces she had brought out of a huge canvas tote adorned in purple, green, and gold, the Mardi Gras colors that were pretty much the official colors of the city.
Then she untied the knot around Jake’s neck and tossed the sheet to the floor.
“I’ve got something much better than that. ”
She grabbed a pair of leather belts out of the tote, helped Jake put an arm through each, and fashioned them to intersect across his torso.
She should have gotten here earlier, and her heart broke at the thought that Sam had tried to do it herself because she was afraid Drea wasn’t going to show.
Had she been that absent lately? She had underestimated how long it would take to find all of the costume elements, but she resolved to do better.
The last thing she wanted was to add to Sam’s stress.
Jake’s body vibrated with excitement as the costume started to come together.
“Take those off.” Drea pointed to the rain boots.
Jake wriggled each one loose and flung them out the door, a dull thud sounding as they met the wall.
Drea bit back a laugh and handed him a pair of UGGs that she had embellished with faux fur.
Jake’s eyes widened as he accepted the gift with reverence. “Whoa.”
“And one final piece.”
Jake looked up from pulling on his new boots as his mouth dropped open.
He and Drea rose in unison as she placed a massive faux fur cape over his shoulders.
Jake’s eyes grew large as he looked from one shoulder to the other at the intricate detail and rubbed his hand along the soft fur.
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.” He lunged forward with a squeal and wrapped his arms around Drea’s waist.
“Ha, you’re welcome, bud. Okay, ready for the final transformation?”
Jake nodded, his eyes still huge with excitement.
She led him over to the toilet and lowered the lid so she could sit down and work on his face paint. Her broad, dark lines quickly erased Sam’s faint attempts at facial hair, which resembled that of a prepubescent boy. Jake giggled as she made fast, small lines for texture.
By the time Sam reappeared with two glasses of Malbec and an apple juice for Jake, Jake had been transformed into a very ornate and authentic Jon Snow.
“My . . . that’s, uh, that’s robust. My son seems to have aged twenty years in only a few minutes.” Sam sipped from her wine as she leaned against the doorjamb. Drea could hear the shock in Sam’s voice, which at least meant her efforts looked believable.
When Drea finally finished, she sat back to take Jake in, in all of his glory. “Take a look.” She pointed at the mirror above the sink.
Jake’s mouth dropped open when he saw his reflection, before turning from side to side to check himself out, a huge smile appearing on his lips.
Sam’s mouth was open as well, though it seemed to be more with concern than joy.
Drea grabbed her phone from her back pocket and quickly snapped a photo to remember Sam’s horror and Jake’s glee, in unison.
“Thanks, Aunt D.” Jake beamed and opened his arms to hug her.
She stopped him with one hand on his shoulder.
“Watch the makeup, I mean, face paint. You won’t look too fierce smeared.
” She leaned in and hugged him while avoiding disrupting the artistic genius on his face.
“And you’re welcome, my lord.” She gave a flourish of her hand and a slight bow of her head.
“Thank you, my lady,” he retorted with great importance, defined even further with a bow of his own.
“You guys here?” Ash called in the distance.
“Hey, babe, we’re just finishing up,” Sam called.
Drea grabbed her wine from the bathroom counter as they headed to the living room.
Sam leaned over and whispered into her ear, “I clearly, even in my wildest dreams of what you two watch together, truly underestimated. I definitely need to step up boundaries.”
Drea smiled. “You’ll have to clear it with Jon Snow first.” The wink she gave Sam punctuated the sentence perfectly.
“Oh my gosh, you look incredible,” Ash exclaimed when she saw Jake. “Drea, that is seriously impressive.”
“Thanks, Ash.” Drea smiled as Jake did a circle to show Ash the whole costume.
“There is one thing missing though.” Ash reached into a tall brown bag by her feet and pulled out a sword.
Jake jumped and clapped at the same time before grabbing the sword for a full inspection.
Ash looked at Sam, and Drea saw something exchange between them.
“Ash, would you help Jake with the sword and find his candy bag while I talk to Drea?”
“Of course. Come on, Jake.” Ash squeezed Sam’s shoulder as she passed.
Drea sat on the plush, gray sofa—it always felt like sinking into a hug—and watched Sam as she slid onto the cushion beside her.
Sam finally noticed that she was still holding Jake’s apple juice and set it on the coffee table. She sipped her wine, but it didn’t seem to ease the stress radiating from her body since Drea arrived. “What time does the gala start?” she asked.
“Seven o’clock. I would much rather be trick-or-treating with y’all instead.”
“You gonna be okay?”
Drea took a deep breath and blew it out. “It will be the usual—boring and soul-crushing—but yeah, I’ll be fine.” She sipped her wine. “Can we talk about you now? What’s going on?”
Sam’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you seem off and stressed. What is it?”
Sam stared at the blank TV screen for a moment before turning back to Drea. “Do you think I’m a bad boss?”
“What? Of course not. Why would you even think that?”
“The change in Cassie . . . it made me realize how hard everyone has been pushing to make this company succeed. I knew I was working hard, but I don’t think I fully understood how hard Cassie has been working until it took a toll on her.” Sam rubbed her forehead. “I feel like such an asshole.”
Drea put her hand on Sam’s knee. As much as she wanted to tell Sam what was going on with Cassie, it wasn’t her news to share.
“Hey, you’re not an asshole. Everyone is working hard because they believe in you and want you to succeed.
It’s a team.” She took another sip of wine and rested the glass on top of her leg.
“Besides, if you fail, we all fail. And I do not want to have to go back to my last job.” She made a horrified expression. “It su-u-ucked.”
Sam smiled. “Thanks, Drea. I want to do something special for everyone as a thank you for all of their hard work. Will you be around for Thanksgiving?”
Drea raised a palm to the sky. “Where else would I be?”
“Mom, look!” Jake ran into the room holding a white plastic bag that was half as tall as him with a jack-o’-lantern face on it. He skidded to a stop in front of the sofa and held his arms out to show off his full ensemble, sword and all.
“Wow, you look great!” Sam said. “You ready to get some candy?”
“Yeah!” The words were barely out of Jake’s mouth before he ran to the front door.
Ash joined them and grabbed Sam’s jacket off the hook by the door. She helped Sam put it on before grabbing her own, and Drea smiled to herself at the sweetness of it.
“Hey, bud,” Drea said as she put on her jacket, “grab me some chocolate-covered wafers and gumdrops, deal?”
“Deal.” They high-fived to seal it, but Jake’s face suddenly turned sad. “I’m going to miss you.”
Drea bent down and hugged him, trying not to reveal the ache in her chest from his words. “Not as much as I’ll miss you.”