Page 52 of This Kind of Forever

I’ve never agreed with Larissa on anything more.

Hallie smiles, her cheeks pink from the compliment. “Thank you. I love yours!”

Upon closer inspection, I realize Larissa and Chris have come dressed as Daphne and Fred fromScooby-Doo. They’re definitely the type of people to go for a couple’s costume.

Connor ambles over and throws an arm around Clara. “Lookin’ good, girl of my dreams.”

I slap the back of his head. “Don’t hit on my sister.”

Clara pats his chest. “Sorry, Con. You know you couldn’t handle me.”

“But you could handle me,” he says with a wink.

Thankfully, Abbie has migrated over to Sophia, where she stands with Luke, Delilah and Jodi, so she isn’t present for this overly suggestive conversation. I’m not sure how I’d explain if she had questions.

“Where’s your costume, Gabe?” Larissa asks.

I gesture to my work clothes. “Right here.”

Normally, I make an effort to wear some sort of costume, because it makes Abbie smile. But with everything that’s been going on lately, the end of October crept up on me, and now it’s too late to find something.

“I’ve got a cowboy hat in my truck,” Connor offers, because of course he does. “Then we could slap a sign on your chest that says,free rides. Problem solved.”

Chris snorts, and Larissa lets out a laugh. Clara rolls her eyes as she disentangles herself from him. Hallie stifles her giggle with a hand over her mouth.

I cross my arms as my lips flatten into an unamused line. “I’m not going trick or treating with mydaughterwearing a sign offering free rides.”

He shrugs. “I thought it was a good idea. What about you, Hallie? Don’t you think our boy Gabe would make a good cowboy?”

I expect Hallie to be embarrassed, being put on the spot like that, but a streak of mischief shines in her eyes instead. She makes a show of dragging her eyes up my body, from my feet to my head. I don’t move a muscle, letting her drink her fill. I like her eyes on me.

Finally, her gaze meets mine. “I imagine you’d have a pretty long waitlist for those free rides.”

Connor whistles, grabbing me by the shoulders and giving me a shake. “Oh, boy! Giddy up!”

I shove him away from me as he dissolves into laughter.

As the group gets ready to head out for trick or treating, my eyes can’t help but trail after Hallie. It’s not even the way she looks—though that is undoubtedly part of it—but the way she interacts with my family. Like we’ve been working on a puzzle for years, and now that she’s home, we finally have that piece we’ve been missing.

Connor slaps me on the back. “You are downso bad, dude. It’s not even funny,” he says.

I glower. “And here I thought you’d be helpful.”

He throws his hands up, though his lips twitch with a grin. “Hey, I can do both. Butsomeonehas to give you shit.”

“I don’t need shit. I need…”

What do I need?Her. Always her.

One of the houses on Hawberry Lane, just down the street from where Delilah and her siblings live, sets up a haunted house in their garage every year. Like the rest of the town, they spare no expense, building an addition to their garage in their driveway to make the haunted house as big as possible.

The family that lives there has been putting this together since I was a kid, but they change it up slightly so you don’t know what exactly to expect. It isn’t overly scary, but it can make you jump.

“We’ll sit this one out,” Delilah says, taking hold of Sophia’s hand at the entrance to the haunted house. While Abbie has loved this since she was a toddler, Sophia is visibly apprehensive. “Have fun, guys!”

Luke stays back with them, but the rest of us keep going. I’m a little surprised Hallie didn’t choose to opt out. When we usedto go out on Halloween, she would stay outside, holding our bags of candy for us.

As Abbie charges forward, holding Larissa’s hand, I hang back with Hallie. Bumping her shoulder, I say, “First rollercoasters, now a haunted house. Maybe you really are turning into an adrenaline junkie.”