Chapter 26 HEY THERE, PUMPKIN
HEY THERE, PUMPKIN
Pumpkin-carving night at the Hammer and Thistle had rolled around, and Tiff and Lara had booked us a spot.
Finn and Noah were helping Rosie with her latest design odyssey: she’d decided to replace the curtains, and needed someone tall to help with installation.
Mom had used that as an excuse to hang out with her favourite thing in the world: her email.
The bar was the only one in town – most people preferred to get drunk on the beach or at their beach houses, after all – and it was a cosy destination decorated with green tile and glimmering brass.
The furniture was soft with velvet and tweed, and moody oil paintings dotted the walls.
Long trestle tables and benches filled the patio outside, which glowed with string lights and this year’s entries into the fundraiser auction, including Rosie’s dried flower animals.
Sometimes live bands and pop-up vendors would set up out on the patio; other times, when the weather wasn’t having it, they’d squeeze inside and play to a packed room.
Tonight, pumpkins of all shapes and sizes were stacked high all over the patio area for patrons to choose from.
Each pumpkin had a name, and could be yours for a small donation that benefited the town.
But there were so many. Where to start? I browsed the pumpkin stacks, trying to choose a pumpkin that looked like it might be good for carving. But how were you supposed to choose when you didn’t even know what you were going to carve?
‘We have stencils,’ said the older, impressively buff woman who was helping with the donations.
I recognized her from the bocce courts down by the beach: Wendy.
She’d played with Rosie a few times, and had tried to rope Rosie into a bodybuilding competition.
Rosie had only managed a few half-hearted weights sessions at the gym, but she had turned up to the show to cheer on her friend.
I should’ve pitched the concept to Eddie.
‘She’ll take Gourdy,’ said Lara, rolling her eyes. ‘C’mon. They’ll rot by the time you choose.’
I paid my donation and hefted the bright-orange pumpkin. Tiff chose a mottled white-and-green one called Blue Cheese, and Lara opted for a tall squash-like thing called ‘King Richard’.
‘I’m not going to ask,’ I said.
‘Oh, I did,’ said Lara, with a grin. ‘And yes, it’s rude. Which is exactly what I was hoping. I am so going to win the grand prize.’
The ‘grand prize’ was a giant pumpkin forklifted to your location of choice – within a one mile radius – followed by a photoshoot with said giant pumpkin.
‘It would make a great backdrop for your next work photo,’ I agreed.
We lugged our squashes inside, plonking them down on the bar.
‘Nice pumpkins, ladies,’ said the bartender, a handsome guy with slicked-back hair who I was pretty sure was Trent’s partner. I’d seen them together at the grocery store a few times. ‘Trent’s work there, huh.’
He pointed to my side, where my shirt had ridden up to reveal the clear plastic that was protecting my new hummingbird tattoo.
‘You got a tattoo?’ I’d never seen Lara so impressed with me. Well, not since I’d covered my first Major League Baseball game and we’d got free tickets to the afterparty. She pulled up my shirt for closer inspection.
‘Wow, Molly. Look at you go. Miss Indecisive here has committed to having something on her body for the rest of her life. It took her fifteen minutes just to pick a pumpkin,’ she explained to the bartender.
‘There was some peer pressure going on,’ said Tiff, who’d just returned from powdering her nose. ‘Finn was there,’ she added by way of explanation, and I didn’t miss the hint of judgement.
Lara cocked her head curiously. Although that might have been because she thought the bartender at the Hammer and Thistle was cute.
Actually, all the bartenders at the Hammer and Thistle were cute.
Rosie believed there was some sort of glamour running on the place, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she was right.
‘You and Finn got tattoos together. Wow.’
She sipped her martini thoughtfully.
‘So you’re leaning towards Finn?’ she added, holding Tiff’s bag as my sister hoisted herself up on one of the cushy bar stools.
I shook my head. ‘Maybe? We have fun together.’
‘Oh good. Fun.’ Tiff threw up her hands. ‘That’s a great basis for potentially ruining our relationship with Rosie.’
‘Come on, Tiff. Fun’s what it’s all about,’ said Lara. ‘Life’s a party. Well, it is if you work in PR.’
She delivered the last bit suggestively, clearly hopeful that if I hadn’t made a decision about the boys, then I’d at least made one about the job offer she’d extended to me.
‘So not Noah, then?’ Lara added, as Tiff took an exceptionally deep drink of her cocktail. Tiff was biting her tongue, but Lara was clearly not done with this whole conversation. ‘Even after you got cosy at the bookshop?’
‘You did what?’ said Tiff sharply.
‘It wasn’t like that,’ I protested. ‘We were just in a tight space. Looking for Leon’s books,’ I added pointedly.
Tiff flushed, but didn’t press the issue.
Lara was popping pretzels into her mouth as she listened. ‘So, Finn’s the one actively trying to make things with you happen, is what I’m hearing.’
I felt like I owed Noah a defence. ‘I mean, Finn’s just like that. He’s not shy about saying how he feels. But honestly, I don’t even know if that’s really how he feels. He’s a grand-gestures kind of guy. Noah is … more understated.’
‘So it’s Noah, then,’ said Lara, knowingly. ‘The significance of the hummingbird tattoo hasn’t escaped me. He painted one on you during the Summerween Festival, so you get it tattooed for life.’
‘Yes? No? I don’t know.’ I leaned my head against the bar, groaning. ‘How does someone just know these things?’
‘Listen to your heart,’ said Lara, just as Tiff said, ‘Listen to your brain.’
‘I’d listen to my spleen at this point,’ I grumbled, propping my head up on my hand.
‘Mom would tell you to make a list,’ said Tiff. ‘Lists solve everything.’
‘In love, and in job opportunities,’ added Lara.
‘Am I missing something?’ asked Tiff.
‘Lara offered me a job,’ I said. ‘Well, Scarletta did, I guess. But Lara’s the messenger.’
‘Congratulations!’ Tiff gave me a hug, somehow managing not to spill her drink. That was the quiet magic of the Hammer and Thistle, after all: not a drop ever landed where it shouldn’t.
‘Not so fast,’ said Lara. ‘She hasn’t accepted yet, even though it’s been days. Something about a broken office chair and stale doughnuts being too hard to let go of.’
‘And deadlines,’ I said. ‘I love a deadline.’
‘That does sound like Molly,’ mused Tiff. ‘How’s she supposed to decide between great pay with benefits and a broken office chair?’
‘To be fair, I’m trying to make two life-changing decisions at once. That’s a lot for someone who struggles to settle on a radio station.’
The Tucker boys. The job opportunity. What if I chose wrong and set my entire life on the wrong track? Whisperwind Cove had magic. I had magic. But not the turning-back-time type of magic that I’d need to fix poor decision-making.
No matter how I chose, I’d be disappointing someone. Lara or Eddie. Noah or Finn. And beyond them, all the people who loved them as well. Could it ever be that choosing yes didn’t come with an attendant no?
Josephine’s ring crackled, and I sighed.
I’m doing my best, old gal – give me a break, I thought, twisting the ring on my finger. The crackling stopped. Hopefully Josephine would get a hold over her impatience.
‘Hey, it’s Keiko and Soraya!’ Lara gave the sort of animated wave that in a lesser bar would result in a jug of beer being sloshed across the floor and someone yelling, Taxi!
The two friends waved as they saw us. Each was carrying a pumpkin, and they were comparing notes on how best to carve theirs.
‘It’s our Tuesday night out on the town,’ said Soraya, who was in sweeping wide-legged pants and a halter-neck top.
A dramatic painted-macaroni necklace, definitely Ernie’s handiwork, clacked on her neck.
‘Nicola’s watching Ernie, and I have it on good authority that they’re going to be watching Finding Nemo for the thousandth time. ’
‘It’s Ernie. Ernie’s the authority,’ said Keiko, who was vibrant in clashing pinks and oranges. She wore about ten friendship bracelets on one arm – I didn’t have to guess too hard what the kids had been working on at art camp that day.
‘He adds extra lines for Sealy every time,’ said Soraya, with a laugh. ‘It’s the Ernie director’s cut.’
‘Nicola’s a good sport,’ I said with a laugh. ‘Ernie’s so cute, though. I’d listen to his bonus feature commentary any time.’
‘So, are we ready to carve pumpkins?’ asked Lara, drumming her hands on the table. ‘Because I am ready to carve to the death to win this photoshoot.’
‘I just need to loosen up my carving arm, and then I’m all for it,’ said Soraya. ‘I pre-gamed with rum ice cream, but it didn’t have the effect I was after. I did bring some specialized tools, though.’
She flashed her purse, showing off several decorative ice-cream scoops.
‘I’m amazed you got through security with those,’ I said.
‘I brought some safety scissors,’ said Keiko, showing off her own purse stash. ‘And some googly eyes.’
‘Always thinking of the kids,’ I said with a laugh. ‘Although if you have any spare craft supplies, don’t keep them to yourself.’
Soraya and Keiko ordered a pitcher of pomegranate punch, which appeared promptly.
‘The staff here are getting hotter by the day,’ whispered Keiko, as one of the bartenders set down the pitcher in front of her, then raced down to the other end of the bar to serve two witchy types: sisters, from the looks of it, although they couldn’t be more different. I knew how that went.
‘Anything, just so long as it’s not purple,’ the blonde was saying.
The brunette was nodding absently – she had a book out and was trying to get in a spot of reading while they waited for their drinks.