by Hayden Hunt
Any other time, I’d feel better about being his guardian. But things were so hard now. I was having to deal with so much in addition to suddenly having a surrogate son put on my plate.
We stopped at the costume shop and Jake ran right in ahead of me.
“Jake, slow down, wait for me!” I yelled, but of course he didn’t. He was in the shop before I could even lock the car door.
Ah, well, no harm done, at least. It was a small costume shop with surveillance cameras. It wasn’t like anything was going to happen to him in there. Plus, all my employees were very familiar with Jake.
I got in and Rachel was working the front desk.
“Hey, boss.” She smiled at me. “I didn’t think you’d be coming in today.”
“Well, I’m kind of not, Jake just wanted to see all of the Halloween decorations.”
“Oh, how fun!” She laughed. “Kids are entertained by the smallest things.”
“They sure are.” I smiled.
“So, how’s your sister doing?”
I was trying to think of a way to answer her when I heard Jake’s voice call at me.
“Uncle Luke, come look at this one! It’s got blood on it!”
I laughed. “Excuse me,” I told Rachel.
“Of course.” She nodded.
I was grateful for Jake’s interruption. I hated having to talk about Sabrina with people.
“You like that, bud?” I asked, looking at the goriest mask we had on display for Halloween. It was still corny, of course, but it was the worst one we had up.
“Yeah! Can I get it for Halloween?”
I laughed. “I’ll think on that one. I can’t believe you like this stuff.”
“I love it!” He grinned. “Mom would love it!”
“She definitely would.” I patted him on the back.
The love of gore and horror was the one thing I did not share with my nephew and sister. I was a total baby when it came to this kind of thing.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Halloween. But how could I not? It was the best month of the year for me business wise. Hell, some years Halloween carried most of my profits. But, you weren’t going to catch me in front of the TV watching horror movies on the 31st.
Jake looked around for a little bit, ogling all the worst of the masks and costumes on display. After ten minutes or so, I patted him on the back.
“You ready to go to the crafts store now?”
“Okay,” he agreed.
I said bye to Rachel as I walked out of the store, let her know I’d be there Monday, and then walked to the car. Halfway there, though, Jake gasped in horror.
“What? What is it?” I asked.
“I lost Rita!” he gasped.
Rita was this little stuffed elephant he had taken to carrying around with him everywhere. Before I took over as his guardian, he only used to sleep with Rita. But now that his mom was gone, he took her everywhere.
Which wasn’t surprising, since she gave it to him as part of his birthday gift last year. He had a long standing obsession with elephants.
“Okay, relax, maybe you left her in the car,” I told him.
“No! She wasn’t in the car! I lost her!”
I opened the back seat but, sure enough, Rita was nowhere to be seen.
“Do you think you left her at the pumpkin patch?” I asked.
Tears welled up in his eyes. “Yes! I lost her at the pumpkins.”
“All right, well, when you’re in school tomorrow, I’ll go up there and look for her, okay?”
He wiped some tears and nodded but I could see this didn’t satisfy him. I was surprised he didn’t ask to go right back and look, but grateful, because it was quite the drive and it was getting late.
I kept to my promise, though. Before work the next day, I made the annoyingly long drive back to the country pumpkin patch.
3
Peter
The second day after our opening was equally as slow as the first. I walked around, I hung around the ticket booth, I tried to people watch the few people who were actually here. But I was bored out of my freaking mind.
Things turned around in the afternoon, though. I had just grabbed myself a hot chocolate from our little cafe and sat down on one of the benches outside when a familiar face was walking up from the parking lot.
I immediately recognized him as the father from yesterday. I’d have remembered that face anywhere. He didn’t have his kid with him this time, which I guess was understandable since it was a Monday morning. He was probably in school.
But why would he be back, though? Don’t get me wrong, I’d seen plenty of people drop by the pumpkin patch two days in a row, but it was a little weird to see a father do it without his kids in tow.
I watched as he walked over to the ticket booth, but I noticed as soon as he did that the booth was empty. Elizabeth must have had to use the bathroom or something. She normally flagged me down in that situation, but since it was slow, I could see why she’d just run off for a moment.
I didn’t mind that she wasn’t there, though. It gave me an excuse to get up and flirt with this cute guy. It was literally the only thing today that was breaking up the monotony.
“Hi, can I help you?” I asked as I walked up to him, my hot chocolate in hand.
“Uh, hi, yes.” He forced a smile. “Hey, you were the guy who sold me my ticket yesterday, right?”
“Yes.” I smiled. “What is it you need?”
“Well, I came here yesterday and it appears something got left behind—”
Then it hit me. I’d totally forgotten about that stuffed animal. Of course I pushed it out of my mind. Like I said, people almost never came back for these things.
“A stuffed elephant, right?” I asked.
His face lit up. “Oh my God, yes!” he chimed. “You have it?”
“Yeah, just one second.” I smiled at him as I walked around into the ticket booth where the lost and found was. The elephant was right on top, I grabbed it and handed it to him outside of the window.
“You have no freaking idea how happy this is going to make my nephew!” He grinned at me. “He was losing it thinking he lost this little thing.”
“Wait… Your nephew?” I asked, internally elated to hear that wasn’t his son.
“Yeah, he loves Halloween so I brought him to the pumpkin patch. I’m watching him for a while, for my sister.” As he said that last part, I saw his eyes shift a little bit to avoid my gaze, but maybe I was imagining it.
God, I’d really misread the situation. Maybe I wasn’t as great at people watching as I thought I was.
“And what about you?” I gave a flirty smile. “Are you a big fan of Halloween?”
He laughed. “I am, actually. But I run a costume shop in town and Halloween is the best time of the year.”
“Hey, can’t argue with money. That’s pretty much how it is for my family, too. The pumpkin patch makes enough profit for the entire year.”
“Oh, your family?” he asked. “Does that mean this is your family’s farm? Wow, that’s crazy! This is a great place. I would have complimented you on it earlier, but I assumed you were just hired on for the season here.”
“Nope, here all year round! I mean, on the farm, that is. Obviously only at the patch in October. But thank you, it’s kind of my grandma’s brainchild so I’ll be sure to pass on the compliment.”
Speaking of my Grandma, I was going to have to thank her on that lost and found idea. The first time it was useful and it was a really cute guy that came looking for a stuffed animal.
“Well, I better get off to work.” He smiled, but I had a feeling he’d rather have stayed talking to me if he could. “It was really nice to meet you. Maybe I’ll come back with Jake and run into you again.”
Okay, this guy was cute, nice, and did not have any kids. There was no reason I shouldn’t just go for it. Ask him out, see what happens. Where was the harm?
“Or you could see me Friday night.” I smiled at him.
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“What’s that?” he asked, confused, but his eyes expressed interest.
“I mean, you could come back here and hope to run into me again or you could let me take you out to dinner Friday night and guarantee you’ll see me.” Nice, just the right amount of smooth.
He laughed. “Well…” He was hesitant, taking a minute to think about it. “Sure, no harm in that, right? As long as I can find a sitter Friday night.”
“Fantastic!” I said, trying to keep myself from grinning. I didn’t want to come off too strong. “Well, let me get your number and you could tell me where to pick you up.”
“Sounds good.” When he smiled this time, it felt a little more genuine. It wasn’t the same forced look I’d caught him using before.
We exchanged numbers, handing our phones to one another to program ourselves in.
“Okay, I’ve really got to be going. But I guess I’ll see you Friday.”
“Yep, see you Friday. Have a good day at work.”
“I’ll try,” he said before walking back to his car.
I had butterflies in my stomach. Which usually didn’t happen to me when going out with a new guy. But, damn, this one was just so cute! And nice, at least, he seemed nice so far. You never really knew until you got to know someone, but at least he didn’t come off douchey or anything like most of the guys I’d dated around here.
And, to top it all off, he really seemed like he had his shit together. I mean, he owned his own business, that was a giant plus. I was so tired of dating men who were clearly going nowhere in their lives. You couldn’t even call them men, they were boys. Boys who still lived with their parents and had no savings because they spent it all bar hopping on the weekends.
I mean, it made sense that he had his shit together, he was a little bit older than me. At least, he looked a little bit older than me. But that didn’t bother me in the slightest. Hell, maybe that had even been my problem trying to date lately! Perhaps I needed to give slightly older men a chance to find the type of guy I’d been looking for.
I supposed that was where the butterflies came into play. I was never nervous going on a date with some dude I met on a dating app who probably wasn’t going to live up to my standards.
I went on the dates, sure, because what else could I do? But rarely did I meet a guy who I felt I’d be compatible with.
I didn’t know this guy yet, of course, but I did actually have some hope for compatibility this time around. Not just because he had a lot of qualities I was looking for, but also the feeling I got when I looked at him. I was excited about him, that was all there was to it. And I didn’t even know his name yet!
Oh, shit, I hadn’t even asked his name! But he put it in my phone. I quickly opened it to see my latest contact under the name ‘Luke.’
Luke, oh my god, what a cute name. I was just loving this guy already. I needed to get a hold of myself a bit. Who knew, we could go out Friday night and I could find out he was a total weirdo.
He didn’t give off a weird vibe though. He seemed like an average, nice, responsible guy. The kind of guy I needed in my life, the type that would be drama free.
Honestly, now that I knew the kid he was with wasn’t his, even that was a plus! It spoke more to his responsibility that he would take on caring for a kid that wasn’t his, even temporarily. Hopefully that didn’t mean he actually wanted kids, though. Ideally he was doing this out of some kind of obligation.
I had to say, setting up a date and talking with Luke for those few minutes really lightened up my day. It was still slow as hell, but I didn’t care anymore. In my head, I was entertained. Because I was daydreaming about how Friday night would go and what kind of person Luke would be.
This probably wasn't the healthiest thing to do, though. I had a habit of talking a guy up in my head and then being spectacularly let down when the real version couldn’t add up. As I said, my standards were high. Arguably too high.
I actually hadn't even met a guy I liked enough to be in a real relationship with. I dated a lot and hooked up a lot, I’d openly admit to that. I hadn’t exactly been living a life of celibacy or anything.
But, as my mother liked to often remind me, I was too picky. I’d date a guy below my standards, but I wasn’t going to enter into a relationship with him. Relationships were hard, I knew that, even if I hadn’t been in one myself.
They took a lot of effort, a lot of sacrifice. And I’d be honest, I wasn’t big on sacrifice unless it was for my family. I wasn’t the most selfless person. I was young, enjoying my life, and I had my best interests in mind above all else.
That didn’t make me sound very good. But, really, it wasn’t as if I never sacrificed. I’d do anything for my family. Seriously, anything, they meant the world to me and I loved them dearly.
Which was what it took for me to want to sacrifice. So to do a relationship and handle all the messiness that came with it, I’d want to love another man that deeply. He needed to be my everything. That was the only thing that would work for me.
I may not have found that yet but who knew. Luke may be the first guy to make me want to go the distance. And if he did, lucky him, because I gave my everything to the people I loved.
4
Luke
I did manage to find a sitter for Friday night, but Jake wasn’t too happy about it. In fact, he threw a full blown tantrum.
Normally, I was pretty harsh on behavior like this. I was a cool uncle until he wanted to act like a brat, at which point I’d shut the behavior down immediately.
But I couldn’t bring myself to be strict on him right now. I understood why he was so upset to have a sitter. He felt abandoned in his life right now. He was just a confused kid who was probably scared that I wouldn’t come back.
I understood it, so I compromised with him a bit. I asked him if he’d feel better about a sitter Friday night if we could go visit his mother Friday morning.
He changed his tune real quick after that and agreed whole heartedly. We were going to bring her the pumpkin he had painted and spend most of the afternoon with her.
I wasn’t looking forward to it at all. Admitting that to myself made me feel like a horribly shitty brother, but it was the truth. I hated seeing her this way. I knew it made Jake incredibly happy, but it only depressed me.
But, oh well, she was his mother and I had to deal with it for him. And at least I’d still have my date to look forward to later today; that would help with the sadness.
I really was excited to go to dinner with Peter. He was really very attractive. He had this perfectly symmetrical face, dark complexion, and a body where every muscle bulge was noticeable.
He might have been a little young for me, but screw it. I was allowed to have some fun, right? And he seemed mature enough. Plus, what a smooth talker. I hadn’t been hit on like that in a very long time, and it kind of made my day.
Okay, actually, it made my damn week. Lately it felt like there was so much bad in my life, I couldn’t help cling to the one good thing in front of me.
I wasn’t saying this date was going to turn into anything. I probably hadn’t met my future boyfriend. Actually, I was positive I hadn’t. I was in no shape to be entering a relationship right now and I couldn’t put the burden of my life on another person. I had my weight to carry, that was all there was to it.
But at the very least, I had the date tonight. I would flirt, eat good food, and let go of all the stresses that had been holding me back lately. I’d be myself again tonight.
That was, after I got through this morning, which was giving me some pretty severe anxiety.
Jake was downright chipper on our drive up to the hospital. He was singing along to the CD I had playing which was the soundtrack to his favorite kids’ show. Seeing him happy really did soothe me, but I knew the comfort would disappear once we reached the hospital.
Sure enough, I had anxiety the second we pulled up. I grabbed Jake’s hand as we crossed the large parking lot and walked in to gr
ab visitors’ passes.
The woman at the welcome desk recognized me immediately.
“Oh, Doctor Rushmore will be happy you’re here! He was just about to call you with some updates!”
I was hoping this would be a good update; she did sound pretty chipper about it.
“Fantastic, thank you,” I told her as I grabbed my guest pass. I looked down at Jake. “Come on, bud.”
We went to his mother’s room and my heart sank as soon as I saw her. Laying in that bed… looking lifeless. Fuck, this was not the sister I knew.
Jake had the exact opposite reaction, though. As soon as he saw her, he went sprinting to her bedside with his little pumpkin in his arms.
I’d convinced him to keep Rita in the car because I was sure he couldn’t carry both things around the hospital without dropping one. To my surprise, he begrudgingly agreed. I knew it was only because he would be seeing his mother. Why did he need Rita to remind him of her if he could actually see her?
“Mommy, Mommy, look what I made for you!” he said eagerly as he put the pumpkin on her bedside table. “I put purple elephants all over it, Momma. Look, these bigger elephants are the mommy elephants and the little ones are the baby elephants.”
I hadn’t realized until right now that he’d drawn mother and child elephants until right now. Learning this felt like a shot to the chest.
“Hey, sis,” I said as I sat in the chair next to her bedside, though I knew she couldn’t hear me.
I let Jake talk to her for a while. He told her every little detail about his week with great enthusiasm, not bothered by the fact that she wasn’t answering.
She hadn’t been like this the whole time she was in the hospital. At first, she had experienced a lot of trauma, of course, and was heavily sedated, so while she couldn’t talk, she wasn’t unresponsive in this way.
And for a week or so, it looked like she was getting better. She couldn’t talk to us much, as it was labor to breathe after the damage that had been done to her lungs, but she was able to smile and nod and be present. In that state, I tried to bring Jake to the hospital every day to see her. In that state, I loved seeing her myself.
