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“Of course,” he replied, shifting slightly awkwardly as he broke eye contact with my mom. “Well, I will leave you to settle in. Caldwell is around, and I’ll be in my office if you need anything. I’m sure Isobel can show you the way.”

Mom shared a smile with him before he turned to leave. Once he was out of sight, she came to her senses enough to turn and focus on the bedroom.

“Isn’t this nice,” she said, walking into the room. “There’s a view of the gardens. Oh, and it even has its own bathroom.”

I gently bumped my shoulder against my mom’s. “What was that back there?”

“What was what?” She batted her eyelashes innocently.

“You acting all nervous around Matthew and then checking if he was coming to the carnival.”

“I was just being nice,” Mom said.

I felt like it had been more than that, and my suspicions must have shown in my eyes.

“What?” Mom asked. “He’s your father, and he’s being so hospitable to me. It would be rude not to invite him to go with us.”

“You couldn’t take your eyes off him.”

Mom tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Only because it’s been such a long time since I’ve seen him. You’re reading into things far too much.”

“Uh-huh.”

She waved me off. “I’m going to take a shower. Hopefully, when I’m done, you’ll be over all this silliness.”

“If it’s just silliness, then why are you blushing so much?”

“I’m not blushing,” she said, but she flicked her eyes to the mirror to double-check.

“Sure, you’re not.”

“I’m just warm. It’s a warm day.”

It wasn’t even close to being a warm day. It was the middle of autumn.

“Why don’t you focus less on feeding your imagination and more on thinking up fun activities for our afternoon,” Mom said. She disappeared into the bathroom before I had a chance to argue with her.

* * *

Matthew wastrue to his word and stayed out of our way for the rest of the day, but we spent most of the time in town rather than at the house. Mom loved little trinkets and knick-knacks, so we spent a while trawling through the eclectic antique store, and then we wandered through town taking in the gorgeous Halloween displays in the shop windows. We found a cute café that served incredible hot chocolates and amazing blueberry muffins, and I knew I was going to have to bring Cress and Anna back there soon.

Mostly, I just enjoyed hanging out with my mom. It had been far too long since the two of us had done anything together, and I hadn’t realized quite how much I missed it.

We returned to Matthew’s place late in the afternoon to start getting ready for the carnival. We dressed up in our bloodied and torn waitress uniforms and were about to start on our zombie makeup when I received a text from Cress.

“Cress is freaking out about her booth,” I said to Mom, looking up from my phone. “She needs my help. Do you mind if I meet you at the carnival?”

“Of course, that’s no problem,” Mom said. “Though you don’t look very scary without your makeup…”

I glanced in the mirror and shrugged. “I guess I’ll have to be a zombie waitress that only just died.”

“I suppose that works.” Mom laughed. “Do you need a ride?”

I shook my head. “No, thanks. Cress says she’s already sent the cavalry to come pick me up. It’s probably Anna.”

Mom walked me down to the front entrance. When we stepped outside, I was surprised to find Anna hadn’t come to pick me up. Instead, Wes was pulling up the driveway in his Range Rover.

“Looks like you’ll get to meet Wes sooner than the carnival,” I said, and my mom smiled. My stomach swirled with nerves because I really wanted her to like him.