Page 93 of Resisting the Fall

Interesting.

When we were younger, I had the sense that Emma had a crush on Carson—along with every other girl—but I suddenly wondered if that crush was still alive and well. Too bad Carson had self-determined he was in no position to date. Otherwise, Emma would be a top candidate on my list. Maybe the top candidate. She was all the things both he and Penny needed, not to mention that with her auburn hair, I might have red-headed nieces and nephews.

“Have you seen the pumpkin where they make it look like it’s eating another pumpkin?” Emma asked. “They carve a big, open mouth and place one of those miniature ones inside. And if you add sharp teeth, it looks pretty scary.”

Penny and I shared an enthusiastic glance when my phone dinged with an incoming text and stole our attention. In unison, our gazes shot toward the phone, then down at our slimy hands, and finally back at Emma.

“Want me to grab that for you?” she asked with a laugh.

I gave her a grateful smile. “That would be amazing. Thank you.”

She retrieved the phone off the front step, holding it out to me so it could scan my face and then opening the text to let me read it.

“Is it Ben?” Penny asked.

I nodded, trying not to show my disappointment as I read. “He says he’ll be another hour or two.” And that we’d have to reschedule dinner with his family. Maybe he really was having second thoughts about our current trajectory.

“But we’ll have both pumpkins finished by then.” Penny’s shoulders fell. “And we don’t even know what he wants on his.”

Emma carefully returned my phone to the step.

I made my smile brighter than it wanted to be. “I think we should do a fish on Ben’s.”

“A fish?” Penny wrinkled her nose up. “What’s that have to do with Halloween?”

“Nothing. But Ben loves fish.”

Penny considered me. “Fine. Let’s do a fish on one and the pumpkin eating another pumpkin on the other.”

I sent Emma a grateful smile. “Perfect. We’ll just need to head into town and buy a miniature pumpkin when we’re done.”

Emma gestured with a thumb over her shoulder. “I have a few on my porch. I bet one of those could work.”

Penny smiled. “Can I pick it out?”

“Sure,” she said, waiting for Penny—orange hands and all—to join her before the two of them headed toward Emma’s.

The door opened, and Carson, careful to avoid stepping on my phone, came outside. “Where are they headed?” he asked, taking a seat on one of the porch chairs. His timing at coming outside seemed more than coincidental.

“Emma had a great idea for what to carve on one of our pumpkins. But we need a miniature one for it, and since she has a few, Penny is picking one out.”

His gaze was locked on the two of them, chatting happily as they crossed the lane and made their way up to her front porch.

“Emma’s pretty amazing,” I said, forcing his gaze back to me.

“Dating is the last thing I should be worrying about right now.”

I emptied more seeds from the pumpkin into the bowl. “Do you think it’s a family curse? Mom. You. Me. The three of us destined to be single for life?”

“I hope not. Though speaking of Mom, has she said anything to you about Mayor Monroe?”

I glanced over at him. “No. Why?”

He shook his head. “Apparently, he’s secretly dating someone in Autumn Ridge. The library has an ongoing vote of who it could be, and Mom’s on the list.”

I smiled. Only in a small town. But there was no way Mom was secretly dating the mayor. With working full time, her graduate school course load, and helping with Penny, she had no room in her schedule for anything else. Let alone romance. Besides, she would tell us if she was dating someone. Wouldn’t she?

Suddenly, I wasn’t sure. I knew she’d dated occasionally throughout the years, but being in New York, it was difficult keeping tabs on her love life. And she had been sitting by Mayor Monroe at the homecoming game. Huh. Were the two of them secretly dating? I had to admit, they’d make a charming couple. “Who else is on the list?”