Page 37 of A Hexcellent Chance to Fall in Love

Until the Store Closes

Christina

There’s so much to do, and I still haven’t given my parents an answer to their proposition yet.

It’s all so much more complicated than I originally thought it would be.

Leaving Clover Creek means leaving all that’s here, and my heart is telling me I need to stay, while my head is saying maybe I should go.

Luckily, I still have a little time before Mom’s surgery, and Ashley has surprisingly stepped up in the meantime, and I can’t help but wonder if she doesn’t want me to move back at all.

As far as the haunted house, it’s coming down to crunch hour for the big event.

The kids have done an amazing job—I’m so proud of them—but they also keep coming up with things they need for their respective rooms to make it “the best.” Which is why I bought six ashy blond bob wigs and white lab coats—special-rush-ordered from The Dead of Night to make sure I’d have them in time.

It’s not a huge deal. I have the budget for them—since each room has an allocated amount, and they haven’t spent all their money yet—but it’s the time that isn’t on our side.

Pepper assured me they could get what we need, and I had practically jumped for joy this morning when she told me the order came in with their shipment.

Unfortunately, that joy seems to be short-lived as I currently stand in the back room of the Halloween store waiting to pick up said order.

Pepper peers over her boss’s shoulder as they scroll through the computer. “The order came in, I’m sure of it.”

“I agree. It says so right here.” Dewy taps the screen. “Which means it should be right there.” They spin around in their chair and point to an empty corner of what they call the office, but it’s really just an open space with computers on folding tables.

Pepper glances at me with apologetic eyes. “We need to find this order,” she says to Dewy.

“I’m so sorry,” they say to me. “We’re going to do everything we can to make this right.”

“Is there even enough time to order more?” I ask.

Dewy glances at Pepper, who is shaking her head. “The order has to be here. The items haven’t been scanned into inventory, so they can’t be sold. It’s around here somewhere.”

I gesture to the space behind me where stacks and stacks of boxes sit. “?‘Somewhere’ meaning…?” There’s panic in my voice. I can’t let the kids down. I already promised them that the order was coming—a mistake I won’t make again until I have whatever I need in my possession.

Pepper takes my hands in hers and looks me straight in the eye. “Even if I have to stay up all night and open every single box in this place, I will find them. I promise. I got you, okay?” Her words calm the gremlins in my stomach.

I nod. “Okay.”

“I can help you get started.” Dewy rises from their chair with a box cutter in their hand.

They slice through the tape on the lids of several boxes, and Dewy and Pepper get to work.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I ask. “There’s still a little time before I have to head over to the house.”

“Not really,” Pepper says.

“This is like opening a can of worms.” Dewy pulls the lid of one box open and starts digging inside. “If the staff finds any of this stuff, they’ll think it’s fair game, so we have to be careful and retape all the boxes.”

I chew on my bottom lip. That’s a lot of work.

A lot, a lot of work. And Pepper and I have plans for later tonight.

Even with all there is left to do, tonight is a quick shift to make sure the kids are getting home and to sleep at a decent hour—not that many of them use the extra time for that, but the school thinks it’s important.

Which means I won’t be completely spent at the end of the day and can actually spend some alone time with her.

Pepper digs through a box, then sets it aside.

Dewy yanks something out of one, and I hold my breath for a moment, but it’s not my special order. “Pepper.”

“No way,” she says.

“Ken wigs?” I ask.

“Dewy told me this story…” Pepper shakes her head. “You had to be there.”

It’s torture watching them do this. I should leave and wait to hear from Pepper later.

Maybe even come back and help once we’re done at the house for the night.

It’s not the alone time I’m hoping for, but it’ll be better than nothing, I suppose.

I open my mouth to tell them goodbye when another Dead of Night employee walks in and starts typing on the other computer.

“Where do you want me today, boss?” she asks.

Dewy steps away from the box they’re working on and heads back to the computer. They click around and then say, “Registers. But before you go, you wouldn’t happen to know where the stack of boxes that was right there went, do you?”

The girl, whose name tag reads Lisa , rolls her eyes. “Someone was ‘making improvements’ again last night.” She uses air quotes around the words.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Dewy says.

“What is wrong with that guy?” Pepper straightens up from the box she’s been bending over.

“Did you see where he put them?” Dewy asks.

Lisa shakes her head. “As soon as he started talking, I turned around and walked out. I told him I didn’t want anything to do with it.”

“Is this guy someone important’s relative or something?” I ask.

“You’d think so.” Lisa crosses her arms over her chest. “Can I go now?”

“Yes, and if you see Kev, can you send him back here, please?” Dewy asks.

“He’s on shift tonight?” Lisa whines.

Dewy nods. “Caleb called out.”

“Son of a witch,” Lisa says.

Dewy’s cheeks puff out like they’re holding in a laugh, then they say, “He’s on cleanup, so—”

“So he could be anywhere, but he’s not on register with me. Got it.” Lisa turns to head toward the front of the store. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Dewy calls after her.

“Why does he still work here if no one likes him?” I hate to ask the question, but…

Pepper presses her lips together. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.

Dewy rubs the back of their neck. “Not liking someone isn’t grounds for termination.”

“We’ll find him,” Pepper says. “We’ll find him, and he’ll show us where the order is, and then I’ll murder him.”

“Pepper,” Dewy says, but there’s no conviction in their voice.

“Fine, then; no murder,” she says. She looks at me and mouths, Maybe a little murder . “You used to be fun,” she says to Dewy.

Dewy smiles and shakes their head. “I’ll take the front; you take the back.” They head off in the same direction Lisa went, leaving Pepper and me alone.

“Your boss seems pretty cool.”

“Not exactly my boss, but yeah, they’re great. It just takes them a while to warm up.”

My cheeks get hot. “Sorry.”

Pepper steps away from what she’s doing and stands in front of me.

Today she has on pink suede wedges, so I have to angle my head up even further to look at her.

She tucks my hair behind my ear and presses her cheek against mine to whisper, “You don’t have to stress about this.

We’ll find it, and then the murder option is always open. Just say the word.”

I’m engulfed in the scent of her perfume—it’s intoxicating. “You’d murder someone for me?” I know she’s joking, but the sentiment is sweet regardless.

She pulls back and looks me in the eye. “You know I got you.” She leans down, pressing her lips to mine.

This is the thing I’ve needed. It always seems like teens are around anytime we’re together—and kissing in front of them is a strict no-no.

I reach my arms around her and slide them up the back of her shirt to pull her closer—needing the skin-on-skin contact and wishing it was so much more.

She nibbles on my bottom lip, and it takes all my effort to keep my knees from turning into mashed bananas. When she pulls away, it’s not only my cheeks that are warm but my entire body.

“If this guy lost them, you can kill him,” I tell her.

Pepper laughs. “Done.”

Voices grow louder, and the door to the back of the store opens as Dewy and the guy I assume is Kev walk through.

“It’s not more efficient if I have to come and find you for an order when I knew where it was less than twenty-four hours ago,” Dewy is saying.

“But actually, it is,” Kev says. “We should be rotating our inventory going from the oldest boxes to the newest ones. Then we won’t be stuck with popular items coming out years after they were popular and then having to donate them instead of making a profit.”

“He did not just well, actually Dewy, did he?” Pepper whispers to me.

“You heard him right. And I’m thinking lost or not, murder is still on the table,” I whisper back. I don’t know this guy, but already he’s gotten on my nerves.

Dewy pinches the bridge of their nose. “Just where are the boxes?”

Kev lets out a long sigh. “Like I said, they’re right over here.”

Pepper lifts her brows at Dewy as they pass, and Dewy clenches their fist, shaking it at Kev’s back as we all follow him deeper into the rows and rows of boxes. It seems like Dewy might also be thinking about murder right now, too.

“Like I said, they’re right here.” Kev waves his hands out, making a show of where he’s rearranged things.

Dewy slices the tape on the top box and peeks inside. “Yep. This is yours.”

I let out the deepest breath of relief. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome,” Kev says at the same time Dewy does, and I’m not sure how they don’t strangle that boy right then and there.

Dewy hands my special order over to me, then turns back to Kev. “We’re going to have a talk about putting everything back to the way you found it.” They start walking off, Kev right on their heels.

“You’re missing the point,” he’s saying.

“All good?” Pepper asks me.

“All good,” I confirm. “I guess this means we can still hang out tonight.”

“I wouldn’t miss it.” She leans down and kisses me again.

“I can’t wait.”