Page 13 of Fall for You (Second Chances #7)

Alana

T he Monday after the Fall Festival ended was a giant letdown after focusing on nothing else for six straight weeks. I slept in that day, coming down from the high of the most successful Fall Festival in years – thanks in large part to my marketing work.

I was also coming down from the incredible double orgasm Ronnie gave me last night in the loft of the barn after we closed down the haunted house. It was just like old times with us sneaking up to the loft and trying to be as quiet as possible so no one would know what we were doing.

Although Mrs. Patterson pulled some straw out of Ronnie’s hair right afterward, so maybe we weren’t as stealthy as we thought we were. Ronnie’s mother seemed pleased about it anyway.

“What are you doing home?” I asked when I went downstairs to find Chloe in her usual position – flat on her back on the couch, dressed all in black and doing something on her phone while the TV played in the background. “Didn’t you have school?”

“Nope, it’s a Teacher In-Service Day today.” Chloe pulled herself up to seated. “What are you up to today?”

“I’m doing some marketing work for the Food Bank.”

The executive director had been impressed with my work on the Fall Festival and hired me to do some contract work for their organization after agreeing that I could wait to start after the Festival was finished.

“How does that work?” she asked. “You bill them or something?”

I nodded. “Yeah, just like the Fall Festival, I’m an independent contractor, and we agree up front on an hourly wage and maximum amount of hours, then I send them a bill monthly.”

“I bet a lot of places could use something like that,” Chloe said thoughtfully. “Especially smaller organizations and companies that can’t hire someone full-time to do their marketing.”

“Yeah I guess they would,” I agreed, heading into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.

Chloe followed me, an excited look on her face. “You know what? You should totally do that.”

“Do what?”

“Start your own business,” she said patiently. “Your own marketing business. Then you could work from anywhere. Even Hayword. I mean you already got two jobs without even looking for them.”

“I don’t think…” My words trailed off as I considered her idea. “Hmm, you know, I should think about that. It might work.”

Chloe looked pleased. “I’m going to design a logo for you.”

My sister was very into digital art. “You will?”

“Of course. Free of charge.”

I spent the next few hours sitting at the dining room table, working on my laptop.

A cursory search of ‘contract marketing’ had brought up more than a dozen posts from organizations looking for help.

And even though my entire career was in advertising, it hadn’t been as difficult to pivot to a marketing focus as I’d anticipated.

And based on my success at the Fall Festival, I was pretty good at it.

I decided to text my best friend for her opinion.

Alana: I’m thinking about going out on my own and starting a freelance marketing company.

Vera: That’s not a bad idea. Think about all the times we heard from potential clients that they couldn’t afford to hire a big firm. Or they came to us with a request for advertising, but it was a one-off that wasn’t part of a larger marketing strategy.

Alana: I think I could find a niche with smaller companies and non-profits.

Vera: I love this for you and will gladly recommend you to everyone I know. But this means you’re not coming back to New York, doesn’t it?

Alana: I’m not sure.

Vera: What about Ronnie? It sounds like you two have been getting serious, despite your plans to keep things casual.

Alana: I’m not sure about that either. Anyway, I’m going to start putting out some feelers and see if I can drum up some business. If nothing else, it’ll get some money coming in while I figure out another plan.

Vera: Let me know how I can help.

I decided not to mention anything about pursuing my own business to Ronnie.

We’d both been clear that we wanted to keep things casual and despite how serious things felt for me, I’d had no hint that she felt the same.

No matter how much time we spent together, she still kept herself a little distant, which made me think she wasn’t as serious about me as I was about her.

No, it was better to keep things casual. If I was able to get the business off the ground and if I decided to stay in Hayword – and those were two big ifs – I would try to suss out whether or not she’d be interested in an exclusive dating arrangement.

Then again, if she wasn’t, it was going to be hard to stay in Hayword.

“Hey girls, how about some help changing out the Halloween decorations?”

Chloe and I looked up from our laptops as my mother walked in the door. Mom worked part-time at the library and as usual, she had a couple of books in her hand. Everyone in our family was a big reader, even Chloe.

“Are we just tearing it all down?” I asked.

“Oh goodness no, we’re going to transition from Halloween to Thanksgiving. Usually I do it on November first but with the Fall Festival running all weekend, I figured it could wait until today.”

My gaze met Chloe’s, and she rolled her eyes. We’d spent enough time together now that I could practically read her mind.

“You decorate for Thanksgiving now too?” I asked.

That was new.

“Yeah, I didn’t like having nothing brightening up the yard between Halloween and Christmas.”

I started to ask what she did between Christmas and Easter but decided I didn’t want to know. Instead I shrugged. “Okay, put us to work.”

Chloe and I spent the rest of the afternoon helping Mom take down the skeletons and spider webs and replace them with turkeys and gourds to go along with the pumpkins since those worked for both holidays. But when she started setting up a Pilgrim, I had to speak up.

“Mom, you’re not going to really have a Pilgrim display, are you?” I asked.

My mother looked at me like I was nuts. “Who else is going to share dinner with the Indians?”

That’s when I realized she had a nearly life sized figurine of a man wearing braids and deerskin waiting behind the Pilgrim.

“It’s Native American, Mom.” My sister’s voice clearly conveyed that our mother was the most embarrassing person on Earth.

“And the Pilgrims stole land from the Native Americans and gave them smallpox,” I added.

“I don’t think they did that on purpose, dear,” Mom said. “Smallpox is very contagious. It’s not like the Pilgrims had the advantage of today’s medical science.”

Chloe and I just stared at her, both of us with our mouths open, before I was finally able to gather my thoughts.

“Mom, do you know how some things were okay when you were younger, but they’re not now? Like words you used to use to describe people with developmental disabilities or things that are now considered gay slurs?”

“Yeah.”

“Romanticizing the brutal takeover of Native Americans by white invaders isn’t really socially acceptable anymore,” I said. “We understand now how awful it was, and racist too.”

My mother looked between me and Chloe, her face adorably confused.

“It’s true Mom,” Chloe piped up.

Mom sighed, and I could tell she wasn’t totally sure if we were messing with her or just being too picky.

“Fine, if we aren’t having any Pilgrims and Indians we need a different plan for the Thanksgiving dinner display. We could get some more turkey decorations.”

She spun around in a slow circle, examining the yard, then she brightened.

“Maybe the turkeys can have dinner with the Halloween skeletons to symbolize the changing of the season! There’s nothing racist or imperialist about skeletons, right?”