Page 13 of A Hexcellent Chance to Fall in Love
Until the Store Closes
Pepper
Between the time I spent reacquainting myself with Clover Creek and running into Christina “by chance,” I was always at the store.
Not just to keep up appearances, but because I enjoyed it.
Every day my coworkers warmed up to me more and more.
Not because they saw me as someone in a position of power—in reality, I didn’t have all that much—but because these were genuine connections.
Ones they’d forget once the season was over, sure, but they meant something to me.
Having friends even for a short while made the small amount of time I had worthwhile—it made the times I wasn’t here not lonely.
Nothing could replace authentic human connection and how important it was to one’s soul.
Was it always skeletons and candy (who needed sunshine and roses at Halloween)?
No. Nothing in life was completely perfect; even I knew that.
But truthfully it wasn’t all bad—I’m sure there were others who were worse off than me.
So I refused to look at it as the glass half empty when I could look at it as the glass half full.
The Dead of Night staff and I were all in this together—each day a new challenge to overcome.
That day wasn’t much different than any other.
We were still nearly two months away from Halloween, and already The Dead of Night was selling out of certain items. It wasn’t a new problem; every year it would happen for whatever the most popular costumes were for that season.
This year there seemed to be a resurgence of the Addams family, particularly Wednesday, and something called a M3GAN costume, but I wasn’t entirely sure what that was about.
Then, of course, there was the ever-popular Spider-Man, and one called Bear, which wasn’t an animal at all and seemed to be a chef.
I needed to do more research about that, too.
“Tell me we’re going to be getting more Ken wigs.” Dewy had been poring over spreadsheets all morning, and the worry lines next to their eyes seemed to be growing deeper.
“Another shipment is coming this weekend, which will include headwear, but whether there will be ‘Ken wigs’ specifically, I don’t know.” Shipping lists from The Dead of Night were never very detailed; Dewy knew this.
They ran a hand over their head. “I’m going to get on the phone with corporate.
How can they not be ready with costumes for the highest-grossing movie of the year?
They must have a bunch of Barbie executives running the show over there.
” They laughed like this was a joke, but I was not picking up what they were putting down.
Instead of trying to explain why I didn’t understand how a movie about a doll for children that was created well before I was born was such a hit for the adult market—a movie I had not seen—I laughed along with them. “Right?”
“Hey, Dewy.” Caleb came around the corner. “Do we have the green light this year for…” He glanced around like he was looking for someone, which was silly. For the last three years we’d been surprising Lisa with a cake and a small party for her birthday.
“Yes. I’ve got it all ordered. Red velvet.” They winked. That was the only thing that changed, the flavor of cake. “Just a little thing for one of the staff.” Dewy looked at me. “It won’t take away from business.”
“I’m sure it’s fine,” I said. “And the wigs—”
“Don’t worry. I’m on it, boss,” they said, and walked away, pulling Caleb with them.
“Not your boss,” I called after them. And the wigs aren’t a big deal , but I didn’t get to say that.
It had been almost two weeks, and Dewy was slowly opening up.
I overheard them talking with Lisa—one of our Dead of Night alums—about their daughter, and it took everything in me not to squeal.
They were planning themed family costumes this year, but they hadn’t nailed down what they would be.
I really wanted to ask to see a picture of the new little one but resisted again.
Dewy didn’t immediately clam up when they noticed me; instead they smiled and kept chatting.
It was for sure a downside of being forgotten every year, but the upside was that no one remembered what had happened with me and the pumpkins either.
I finished up shifting some of the merchandise in the Roaring Twenties section.
Each day the store got busier and busier—which was a great thing—but it was midafternoon, and most people were still at work.
It wouldn’t really pick up until the evening, and that was when I preferred to take my leave.
Clover Creek in the evening was one of the most beautiful places in the world, and with Halloween around the corner, the whole town was getting ready for the month of October, when people from near and far would be flooding in.
A West Coast Salem for those who couldn’t make the trip across the country for the real thing.
Storefronts were being transformed, and it was one of my favorite things to witness.
There was so much that I missed because of the curse, but seeing this transformation made up for a lot of it.
I may not know about this year’s highest-grossing movie or why that seemed so important, but I did get to see pumpkins being carved, and decorations being strung. The whole community coming together to make each year bigger and better.
However, the gray sky outside had been threatening to open up all day. I glanced out the high windows. It would suck to lose a night to the weather, but a little rain wouldn’t kill me. Actually, nothing could.
Lisa dropped a box full of merchandise behind me. “New Guy is up to his boosheet again,” she said as she pulled out more headdresses and jewelry to hang in our Greek Mythology section.
Our newest Dead of Night employee was making quite an impression, but not in the best way. “What’s he doing now?” I grabbed some snake headbands from the box to help her.
“Alphabetizing the Funko Pop! figures.” She rolled her eyes and adjusted the shell necklace of her costume.
That was another thing I didn’t quite get.
These little figurines had gotten more and more popular over the last few years, and while they were cute, I wasn’t sure I understood the obsession with them.
This year we had a full section dedicated to them.
Little Corpse Brides and IT clowns, and Sanderson Sisters—okay, those I could get behind.
“Well, that is a choice.” I gave her a sympathetic look.
He technically wasn’t doing anything wrong so there wasn’t much anyone could say to him.
Being an “overachiever” wasn’t exactly something to get written up over.
Today Lisa had dressed like Moana—her dark hair cascaded down her back and her brown skin seemed to shimmer, perhaps with sunblock since she also smelled of coconut.
Her costume game had really stepped up. She’d totally be a shoo-in for this year’s award.
Maybe that was what the new guy was gunning for.
We continued emptying the box and shifting items around the section to make sure everything fit. The sounds of rain pounding on the roof and the Halloween soundtrack playing overhead filled the silence between us.
“Any big Halloween plans this year?” she asked.
I added more ear cuffs to the rack. “I’m probably just going to wander around—check out the town, that kind of thing.
” I shrugged like I hadn’t been anticipating what hanging with my coworkers on the night of the greatest holiday would entail—like it had for the past five years I’d worked in this store.
“Some of us are going to get together after work and hang out if you’re interested.” She studied the goddess makeup kit in her hand. “It’s kind of a tradition around here.”
My insides vibrated at the suggestion. This was an event I participated in every year.
Once the store closed, we’d all pick a random costume that hadn’t sold and make our way through town until we ended at the haunted house, where we would file through and point out all the things they bought for it from our store along the way.
But I couldn’t expect to be added to the group.
Each year, I had to earn my invitation to tag along. “Really? That sounds fun. Thanks.”
“It is a lot of fun.” She glanced around.
“Last year, Caleb and this girl, Eliza—she went off to the East Coast for college, so she didn’t come back this year—anyway, they decided to swap costumes halfway through the night, and Caleb was Sexy Nurse.
” She laughed. “I almost pissed myself. Seriously, best night ever.” She continued to laugh, and all I could do was allow the scene to play out in my mind.
Halfway down Fig Street, the pair hid behind a giant jack-in-the-box to make the exchange.
Eliza was much smaller than Caleb, so his skirt didn’t zip, and the legs of his boxers came out the bottom.
The top of the costume barely covered his chest at all and stretched out the symbol on the front so much, it was unrecognizable.
Lisa had spit her drink out when she saw him, complaining that it burned her nose—which was just as funny as, if not funnier than, Caleb.
I couldn’t reminisce about it with her, so instead I said, “Sounds like quite the night.”
“It was.” She paused to catch her breath. “You should totally come out with us this year. And then maybe you’ll get to come back to our store next year, too.”
My chest squeezed. Most of the Dead of Night staff came back year after year, until things—like college for Eliza—kept them away. For everyone, this was their Halloween family. Everyone except for me, really. “Yeah, sounds like fun.”
The new guy paused at the end of our aisle like he was inspecting what was going on, but when I stepped to the side and out from behind Lisa, he plastered on a smile and whistled away.
Lisa groaned. “He’s not invited. So…” She zipped an imaginary zipper over her lips.