by Sophie Love
They’d decided to invite all the kids to the inn for a party. Most of the other parents didn’t have as much space in their homes to host so many kids, and they certainly didn’t allow their children to turn their entire homes into nightmare grottos, so it made sense to host it at the inn. Besides, Emily loved it when the place was full of joy, and anything that made Chantelle happy was worth the effort.
She and Chantelle were just putting candy into a bowl shaped like a skull when the doorbell rang. Emily looked up and grinned at Chantelle.
“Our first guests have arrived,” she said.
They stopped what they were doing, discarding the bags of candy on the counter, and hurried to the front door. Emily flung it open. To her surprise, their first guest was none other than Raven Kingsley and Laverne. The skinny, blond child had dressed up as a Victorian-era ghost. With her solemn expression she genuinely looked like one, and Emily felt a chill run up her spine.
She looked at Chantelle and frowned. “Laverne’s here,” she said, surprised.
Chantelle nodded. “I invited everyone in my class,” she explained.
Emily shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that her daughter had been nice enough to invite her bully; it was quite typical of her sweet-hearted nature. She just wished that she’d been forewarned. Raven Kingsley was a stickler for time and would obviously be the first to arrive, and Emily would have appreciated a chance to mentally prepare herself for that eventuality. Making small talk with Raven would be a challenge.
“Come in,” Emily said, turning on her polite hostess persona.
Mother and daughter stepped inside, looking around them at the ghoulish decorations. Neither looked particularly impressed with what they saw, and Emily had to stifle a giggle at their matching snooty expressions.
“Chantelle, let’s fix our guests some drinks,” she said. “Worm juice for Laverne and a glass of blood for Raven.”
They giggled together as they led the two down the corridor to the punch bowl of neon green Gatorade. Chantelle scooped out a ladle full and filled a plastic cup with it, handing it to Laverne while Emily poured a glass of red wine for Raven. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw a hint of an amused smile on Raven’s lips as she passed her the fresh “blood.”
“Are you excited about your first Sunset Harbor trick-or-treat?” Emily asked Laverne.
The child remained mute and just shrugged.
“Here, let’s start you off,” Emily added. She scooped up one of the candy bars that had fallen on the counter and popped it into Laverne’s sack.
“Thanks,” the child mumbled.
“Laverne’s not allowed candy,” Raven explained. “We’re donating anything that isn’t sugar free to charity.”
“How lovely,” Emily said, feeling bad for the poor kid. “I have some fruit if you’d like that.”
Raven shot Emily a deadpan expression. “Fruit has sugar in it, Emily. As much as any candy bar. We only have blueberries in our house, and only on special occasions.”
“Oh,” Emily said, feeling put in her place. She hurriedly put the banana she’d picked up back in the fruit bowl. “I suppose you won’t be drinking the worm juice either,” she added, noting how Laverne had discarded the cup on the counter without even attempting to take a sneaky sip when her mom wasn’t looking. She was well trained, clearly.
“I may as well admit I had an ulterior motive for coming here,” Raven said in her overly loud, brash voice. “I wanted to check out the competition.”
Emily squirmed uncomfortably. It was hard enough for her to dredge up any compassion for Raven, and thinking of her as her competitor certainly didn’t help matters.
“And?” Emily asked. “What do you think?”
“I think there’s space in the market for what we’re both offering. You’ve gone the whole… shabby chic route. I’m more modernism. You can do the weddings and funerals and whatnot, and I’ll hold all the corporate events.”
“Great,” Emily muttered through her fake grin, seeing straight through the back-handed compliments.
“Except there’s going to be a town meeting before I can get permission to do any work,” Raven said, rolling her eyes, clearly thinking she was above such a thing. “I assume it’s held in a barn or some kind of shack made of wood.” She cackled.
Emily thought of their charming town hall. “Bricks and mortar, actually,” she said through gritted teeth.
Just then, the doorbell rang. At last, Emily thought. Saved by the bell. She hurried to answer it, Chantelle following right behind her.
“Why did you invite Laverne?” she whispered out the side of her mouth as they went, unable to hide the air of exasperation. “I thought you hated her.”
“I realized that she was just scared,” Chantelle whispered back. “I figured it would be mean not to ask her to come just because she’s too scared to talk to people.”
Emily felt humbled by Chantelle. She decided to take a leaf out of her book and be kinder to Raven. Maybe her spiky persona was a defense mechanism.
They answered the door to the rest of Chantelle’s friends, all dressed as various superheroes. They all looked fantastic.
“Come in, come in,” Emily exclaimed. “Help yourselves to worm juice!”
Everyone piled inside, talking animatedly and enthusiastically to one another. They grabbed drinks and stuffed handfuls of chips and carrot sticks into their mouths.
Emily walked up to Logan and Suzanna, who were chatting at the kitchen counter. Suzanna was wearing a black cat suit and matching ears, her slim frame looking amazing in the costume. Emily didn’t expect herself to bounce back into shape quite as remarkably as Suzanna had. She must have amazing genes.
She hugged them both.
“How are you?” she asked Logan excitedly. It was the first time she’d seen him since Holly’s announcement. He was holding Minnie on his hip and the toddler was wearing a beautiful fairy costume. Logan himself was dressed as a pirate.
“Good, thanks,” he said, his attention half on Emily and half on Levi, who was charging around like a bull in a china shop. “Excellent decorations as usual,” he added.
“Thanks,” Emily laughed. “Daniel’s working tonight so I wanted to make it extra special for Chantelle. No Holly?”
“Oh, uh no,” Logan said. “She’s sick.”
Emily wasn’t sure but she thought she picked something up in her friend’s voice. “I’m sorry to hear that. I hope she gets better soon.”
“Thanks,” Logan muttered. Then he headed away to catch Levi before he tripped over his own feet.
“Are you ready to trick-or-treat?” Emily asked Suzanna, turning her attention to her.
“I certainly am.” Suzanna grinned. She rocked her stroller back and forth. Inside, Robin was sleeping, dressed in a cute caterpillar onesie.
“You have to tell me where you got that,” Emily gushed. “It’s adorable.”
“You can have it,” Suzanna said. “He’ll have grown out of it in a week. They grow so fast.”
Emily felt a tingle of excitement. She couldn’t wait to meet her own little one.
She herded everyone together and then they headed out onto the streets. Emily saw Yvonne up ahead walking with Raven. It had been a while since they’d last spoken. Emily hadn’t been able to call Yvonne after the bullying incident. It had hurt her, too, to know that Bailey could cast Chantelle aside like that, even if the whole thing had been Laverne’s fault. But she thought that Yvonne could have had the good grace to call and discuss everything rather than sweeping it under the carpet and avoiding Emily altogether.
Swallowing her nerves, she went up to them now, feeling very much like she herself was the school kid.
“Nice costume,” she said to Yvonne. “Is it a Mexican sugar skull?”
“Yup,” Yvonne replied. “Orange suits you.”
“Thanks,” Emily said. She was feeling a little stilted. “What did Bailey come as? I haven’t seen her yet.”
&
nbsp; “Medusa,” Yvonne laughed. “Her fairy phase is well and truly over!”
“Laverne never had one of those, thank God,” Raven added wryly.
Just then, someone started wailing loudly. They looked ahead and saw that Bailey had fallen. Yvonne hurried off to tend to her daughter, who was rubbing a grazed knee, wearing an expression of distress that the world could be so unjust.
So much for catching up with Yvonne, Emily thought. Now it was just her and Raven. Again.
Emily looked over at Raven, a little awkward. But she remembered Chantelle’s words of wisdom and tried to remain cordial. They had stuff in common after all, both having left big city life for the intimacy of a small town.
“How are you finding it living here?” Emily asked Raven. “Bit of a shock to the system, huh?”
“Honestly,” Raven began, “I’d be enjoying it a whole lot more if my ex-husband wasn’t being such an ass.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Emily said. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Raven let out a bitter laugh. “Not much to talk about. He swapped me for a younger version, a plucky Spanish girl over here to learn English. She’s nineteen. Nineteen. It’s disgusting. And now he wants half of our money. No doubt to buy her clothes and take her on vacation. Meanwhile, it’s like he’s forgotten the kids even exist. I shouldn’t be surprised. He did the same thing with his first wife. She warned me that he’d do the same to me but I was an idiot and thought I was special.” She sighed heavily.
Emily could hardly believe it. Her heart swelled with compassion for Raven.
“I came here after a breakup, too” she revealed. “Not to the same extent, but I was in pain. This town is a great place to heal. Everyone is kind and loving. They’ll bend over backwards to help you, if you just ask.”
Raven pursed her lips. “I’m not one to ask for help.”
“I get it,” Emily replied. “I was the same. It takes some getting used to. But you could always offer something first. There’s a reason I host these things,” she added with a chuckle. “The amount of playdates we’ve had for Chantelle. It’s a Godsend, really, when you need a break there’s always someone to help.”
Raven Kingsley frowned like the concept was alien to her. “I don’t need playdates. If I need someone to look after the kids I just leave them with the nanny.”
Okay, so they didn’t have that much in common, Emily thought. But she realized that even if she and Raven were rivals, she could still feel compassion for her. She couldn’t envisage them being friends, exactly, but they could certainly be friendly acquaintances.
They wandered on through the neighborhood, laughing with delight at all the terrifying decorations. Soon, the kids’ bags began to bulge with sugary treats.
Just then, Emily noticed Logan hurrying over. Minnie was bawling and Levi looked extremely unhappy as he hop-skipped to keep up with his father.
“We have to head home now,” Logan said. He looked extremely stressed.
“Don’t go,” Emily said, concerned. “We can cheer these two grumpy pants up if that’s the problem.”
“It’s not that,” Logan said with a harried voice. He lowered his tone and said in Emily’s ear, “It’s Holly. She’s … she lost the baby.”
Emily drew back and gasped. “No! I’m so sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have come,” Logan said. “She insisted. But I can’t deal with these two on my own right now.”
“Why don’t you go back and be with her? I can keep an eye on them.”
“Thanks,” Logan said, “but it’s okay. I might not have the patience for their tantrums right now, but I want them close, you know?”
Emily nodded, fully understanding what Logan was saying. She watched as he disappeared into the blackness, utterly stunned by the news. She felt terrible for Holly. Life was so unfair. It could be so cruel. They didn’t deserve to go through this.
Something about the news made Emily feel very fragile. What if something went wrong with Charlotte? There really were no guarantees in life. Just like she and Daniel had been doing for weeks, Holly and Logan must have made preparations. At the very least they’d have discussed names. And now that child was never going to get to exist.
She yearned, suddenly, for her mother. It wasn’t often that Emily wanted Patricia’s attention, mainly because it was always unpleasant. When she needed affection, her mom often just made her feel terrible about herself. But the voicemail she’d left the other day had been different. It really sounded as if something might have changed in her mind.
Would it be a terrible idea to call her? Had she really changed like her voicemail suggested? The draw for her mom was like a magnet. They were bonded through blood and DNA. Nothing could break that, not even Emily screaming at Patricia that she never wanted to see her again.
She mulled it over the whole rest of the evening, feeling stunned by the news of Holly’s miscarriage. When they got back to the inn and the kids started counting their steals, Emily retreated to the porch with her cell phone. She dialed her mom’s number.
“I didn’t think you’d call again,” Patricia said in her clipped tone.
“Mom,” Emily said, and to her surprise, she started to cry.
Even more surprising was Patricia’s response. “What’s wrong, darling?” she said, softly.
“My friend had a miscarriage,” Emily said. “And now I’m worried about Charlotte. And then there’s Dad. Why do people have to die?”
“I know,” her mom replied. “It’s not fair. Especially when it’s innocent babies. Or good men, like your father.”
Emily paused. She’d never heard her mom call Roy a good man before. Usually he was a useless man, or an evil man, or an irresponsible man. Never a good one.
She didn’t know what to say. But then she heard the sound of her mom sobbing softly.
“Mom?” she said. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” came the sad reply. “I just can’t believe it about Roy. You must be devastated.”
“I am,” Emily replied.
Her mom didn’t usually think of how things would affect Emily. She seemed unable to realize that anyone other than herself could be affected by life events. The fact that she’d been able to this time made Emily feel able to open up even more.
“I keep thinking about how each event will be the last one,” she continued. “Like this is his last Halloween. Next it’s Thanksgiving and that will be his last one of those, too. He wants us to visit him but Chantelle doesn’t have a vacation until Christmas and Charlotte will be too small to take on a plane.”
“But you must, darling,” Patricia said. “It’s far more important that Chantelle see her grandfather than learn about fractions. Honestly, she’s so bright you’ll be able to teach her everything she missed in an afternoon anyway. I doubt her public school is giving her much of an education.”
Emily couldn’t help but laugh. Patricia may have surprised her with her soft side, but she was the same snooty woman underneath!
“You really think we should go?” Emily asked her. But then she sighed, thinking with anguish about asking the school for time off. “I don’t know how to approach the topic with the school.”
“What’s the worst that can happen?” Patricia said. “Just tell them what’s going on with your father. They ought to authorize an absence for that. And if they don’t, just call in and say she’s got norovirus. They wouldn’t dare challenge that and risk all the students and staff catching it.”
In her own way, Patricia was offering support and comfort. Emily felt like her mom had wrapped warm arms around her for the first time. And though she wasn’t prepared to lie to the school and say Chantelle had a vomiting bug, she should be brave and tell them about the circumstances and ask for the time off. The worst thing that could happen would be a no. Then perhaps she could revert to Patricia’s slightly more wacky plan.
“Maybe you’re right,” Emily said.
“Darling, I’m your mother,” came Patricia
’s reply. “Of course I’m right.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Emily woke the next morning with her mind in a fog. She couldn’t stop thinking about Holly and her devastating miscarriage. But it was also the conversation with Patricia last night that was playing on her mind.
“What’s up?” Daniel asked tenderly as he rolled over in bed.
Emily saw the furrow in his brows. “I’m just thinking about life,” she said.
Daniel chuckled. “At seven in the morning? Before coffee?”
Emily smiled wanly.
“Want to share your worries?” Daniel added, touching her arm lightly.
Emily sighed. “Would it be crazy to go to Greece?” she asked him.
Daniel rubbed his chin. “From a pregnancy point of view? Not really. Doctor Arkwright said it was safe. But it’s taking Chantelle out of school for it that’s the issue.”
“Right,” Emily said with a nod. “So you think it would be crazy?”
“Personally, no. I just don’t think the school would approve. At least not without knowing everything.” He touched his fingertips to her back. Daniel knew full well that Emily was reticent to reveal her business to the school. “Why are you asking?” he added.
Emily turned to fully face him. “Because I think it’s more important for Chantelle to make memories with Roy than be at school.”
Daniel pulled an expression that Emily struggled to read. It seemed approving on the surface, but there was something like reticence beneath.
“Then you should go,” he said. “I’ll support you whatever you choose. Chantelle’s a smart cookie. She’ll catch up what she’s missed in no time.”
Emily was surprised to hear this from Daniel. Considering how busy he was at work, not putting a fight up over taking time off seemed a little out of character. She wondered whether that was what she’d seen in his eyes, if that’s what the reticence was. He didn’t want to let Jack down but was putting his family first anyway. She smiled as it dawned on her that that must be the truth.
“I really don’t want to speak to Mrs. Doyle,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t want such a sour-faced shrew knowing about my dad’s illness.”
