Page 9 of Promises & Pumpkins (Haunted in Hazy Cove #1)

Harper

“You’re telling me he fucked you until you couldn’t feel your legs, made you scream like nobody ever has, and he offered to make you dinner and dessert tonight, but you told him no?

” My sister looked at me like I had just told her I turned down a free, all-expenses-paid trip somewhere exotic—not dinner at my neighbor-slash-one-night-stand’s house.

I nodded, and she huffed. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Excuse me?” I was taken aback by her sudden outburst. She had always been the first to try and push me out on a date, but she was also the first to understand and take my side when I said no.

Bridget shrugged her shoulders. “He’s basically the entire package, and you are throwing it away because you’re being stubborn.

” She looked out the kitchen window that still had no screen on it and the lock didn’t work right, but there was nothing there for her to stare at.

Still, she stretched onto her toes to peer around the corner.

“He has a daughter.” I pictured the little girl and her blonde curls standing next to the bed, and a fresh wave of guilt filled me. I reached for the open bottle of wine in hopes of chasing away some of it.

“So?” Bridget took the bottle from me, pouring a smaller glass than I would have and then pouring one for herself.

I picked up the wineglass, taking a large swig followed by a deep breath. “So I don’t want to be a mom.”

“You’re not a mom.” She looked at me matter-of-factly and impatiently, like she was still waiting for me to come up with a reason that she would accept for me to not go out with Miles again.

I sighed. “I know I’m not, but he comes with a daughter!” I shouted at her like it would make her understand that there was no way I was getting myself involved with a man who had a daughter that was old enough to remember who I was when I stopped coming around.

“You’re not marrying him!” Bridget threw her hands in the air like she had when we’d argued as kids and I didn’t take her side.

“It’s dinner. You’re going out for dinner and then probably fucking his brains out again.

Just like… make sure you wrap it or whatever.

” She giggled to herself when I groaned.

“It never stays that casual, and you know that.”

“Why is it such a big deal?” She softened her voice, sounding gentler when she continued.

“I just don’t get it.” She swirled the dark red liquid around her glass.

I didn’t expect her to get it—she’d practically lived in a fairy tale her entire life.

No matter what it was, she would find the happily ever after in it. That’s just who she was.

This wasn’t going to be one of those instances.

I sighed. “I don’t want kids, and I’m not getting involved and somehow replacing a man’s dead wife because I’ll never compare to the mother of his child.

I can’t compete with a woman he loves when she’s not even around anymore.

It never works out for the new girl. I’m just going to get hurt. ”