Page 47 of Hallow Hill at Halloween: Part One

“Evie!”

My dogs encircled her while twisting into wagging pretzels. Fenn jumped so high all four feet left the ground. She petted them while giggling at their antics, and I couldn’t help liking the fact that my dogs loved my child and vice versa.

“Oh! You’re wearing the robe. Looks great on you, Mom.”

“Thank you. Evie, has it occurred to you that I might be engaged in an activity inappropriate for my daughter to witness?”

She looked around. “In the kitchen?”

I cocked my hip and put my hand on it. “Is your sex life really that uninteresting?”

“I think the better question is if there’s a time when there aren’t fifty people in the castle kitchen.”

“Good point.”

“I know.”

“Have I made mine?”

“Made your point? Oh yeah. Got it. Evie will knock, knock, knock when she comes to see her old mum,” she said.

“Not that you’re here.”

“Not that I’m here.” I looked toward the coffee pot. When I turned back, she was holding a cup out to me. “Here you go.”

She handed over my fav Starbucks.How could I be miffed at a girl who can do that?

“Have I told you how much I love you?”

“Not today.”

“Well, I do.”

“What’s up?”

“Your dad.”

“Oh, right. That.”

“You knew he’d come a-pesting? How? I know he didn’t show up on your porch because that would require the ability to travel between dimensions.”

“No,” she said. “He didn’t show up. He called to say he is, um, in town.”

I rolled my eyes. “So did you arrange to see him?”

“Yeah. My plan is to meet him for lunch and put him in a car headed toward the airport. Obligation met. No long-term plans necessary.”

“Let’s hope he sees things your way.”

“Our way.”

“Yeah.” Pause. “He went to The Hallows, told Maggie he was a friend, and she invited him to the Vampire Ball.”

“She didn’t!” Evie said in disbelief.

“I showed up while he was still there and set the record straight. Maggie cussed him out in Gaelic, and Dolan sent him backing out of the shop.”

“Wow.”