Second Chance Baby (Crescent Cove #18)

Chapter 12

TWELVE

As much as I’d loved teasing and being teased by Travis as we wandered through the enormous Halloween store, my thoughts kept circling around to seeing Carrington talking to that boy at St. Agnes yesterday. They hadn’t done anything inappropriate, but it had taken a moment for me to notice since being back at the school had sucked me right into the past and my old career.

Then today, Mrs. Gunderson had reminded me about my old career all over again.

I’d loved being a teacher, and now I was getting strong urges to revisit that career choice again. God, I’d so loved creating my lesson plans and decorating my classroom for the year—my one and only year teaching before I’d run away from the life I’d always dreamed of.

Maybe someday I’d be able to accept how I’d made my worst fears come true because I’d run rather than tell the man I loved how scared I was due to all the changes. Back then, my most treasured wish had been to be married to the man I adored.

Not that Travis had never mentioned such a thing except in the abstract future, though he hadn’t hesitated to buy the house. He’d known that couldn’t wait.

But a wedding band? Eh, not so much.

“What made you say I was even younger when it came to wanting to become a teacher?” I asked him suddenly as we stopped beside an arrangement of giant blow-up creatures haunting a pretend graveyard crowded with acrylic gravestones. The occasional pasty hand even seemed to surge up through the fake dirt.

When Travis didn’t reply, I turned to watch him grab a mini hairy tarantula. He crept up to Carrington and set it on her shoulder, stepping back with a giant grin.

It took her a moment to see it, but when she finally did, she shrieked loudly enough to even startle some of the staff members dressed up to give shoppers the occasional scare. Half the people in the aisle stopped browsing to watch her fling the spider away in the direction of her father.

Who took it dead in the face, to many people’s amusement.

Including mine.

He made a show of plucking the tarantula off him and aimed a perfect throw at the nearby bin of many more of them. “Touchdown.”

“Always quick to score.” I flashed him a grin, but he tapped his lip as if he was thinking.

“As for saying you wanted to be a teacher young, I remember you announcing so proudly on eighth grade career day that you were going to be the best teacher ever.”

“You remember that? How?” My tone was full of shock.

“I made a careful study of you, Ms. Sheppard.”

“Jeez, I guess so. Gotta say I’m amazed. That was many years ago.”

“But up here,” he thumped a finger against his forehead, “seems like just yesterday.”

“Yeah,” I agreed quietly, giving in to my urge to slide an arm around his waist as we meandered up the aisle to yet another display that had snagged Carrington’s attention.

This one consisted of even more giant skeletons dancing around an expansive beach scene complete with colorful umbrellas, a sandcastle, and a fake fire. And even one lying on its side in a bikini by the real lapping water. I had no clue how they’d made that one work, but luckily, my job was just to enjoy.

That ridiculous dare I’d made before coming into the store aside. I’d just happened to see a billboard on the highway talking about how “in” skeletons were this year.

Must be true.

Travis nodded at the scene in front of us. “Think we could do that at the house? I wouldn’t mind pretending we could extend summer just a bit longer. And maybe you have a bikini like that one…” Innocently raising his eyebrows, he trailed off meaningfully.

Halloween was several weeks away. So, he obviously wasn’t yet rethinking his idea for us to keep this fairy tale going.

Thank God.

“I could buy one for sure. But how do we do that water set-up? I can’t figure it out.”

Before we could delve into that, he wandered down the beach to where a pirate had camped out in an Adirondack chair to toss back some brews with a pal beside him and their boogie boards stuck in the sand behind them. “I’d say we could just skip the ocean ambience and grab a pair of colorful Adirondack chairs and these dudes, plus a suitcase filled with buried treasure, and voila, we’d be all set. Can even use some of my old surf boards.” Then he lowered his voice to add, “But the bikini for you is non-negotiable.”

“Oh, is it?” I had to laugh. “Well, then I should get some eye candy too. If you still have your surf boards from your summer vacations to Long Island, you have to still have some board shorts.”

“Board shorts? Bikinis? Ick.” Carrington crossed her arms as she studied the beach scene. “If these guys have buried treasure, they should be dressed in pirate gear like these ones are. No nudity needed.”

“Oh, I didn’t say we’d be naked. The skeletons will be the ones dressed for the beach, and yeah, maybe we can use the beach gear on the actual beach someday. Hello, we are respectable parents.”

When Carrington wandered off with an indignant sniff, he leaned toward me and muttered, “ Ish .”

I almost didn’t recognize the sound of my own laughter yet again. Did I really sound that carefree and, well, happy?

Yes, I did. Somehow. And I didn’t want these days to ever end.

Maybe they didn’t have to.

We finally rolled our extremely overfilled cart to the very long line at the checkout. I didn’t even know what was in there at this point. Some of it I didn’t even recognize. The cart was busting at the seams at this point. How had they managed to get so much in it?

I supposed it would be a surprise for me too when they finally finished decorating.

Not to be outdone, I grabbed a couple of packages of what looked like iridescent cobwebs, thinking we could just drape those over the bushes and along the trees. I grabbed a few more. The balustrades and columns of the porch needed attention too, not to mention the shrubs and trees I’d shaped so nicely yesterday.

Maybe Trav could drape some from the roof and along the fences. Luckily, cobwebs would work just about anywhere, and we had a large property.

So much room to decorate. So many happy hours. We didn’t have to spend time lost in the past.

I swallowed hard. Perhaps we could get couples’ therapy and just continue forward.

Us not dwelling on the past was probably wise, but we couldn’t simply sweep it under the rug. It would be too easy to fall into old patterns if we didn’t discuss all of what had happened before. We’d definitely made a good start though during movie night, but good intentions weren’t enough to build a solid future on.

I would do everything in my power to keep my family this time.

“Oh, hey, those are great. Did you see they have faces in them too?”

Travis ripped open one of the cobweb packages and dragged out the spiderweb, stretching it over the cart so I could see what he was referring to. Vampires, witches, werewolves, and other creatures were outlined in the gauzy material, making Carrington ooh and ahh .

Care’s huge eyes sparkled with excitement. “Oh, now I know what I didn’t get! We need one for our scene if we’re going to beat the Gideons. We just gotta have one, and I saw the perfect one. Wait here.”

Before either of us could say a word, she darted out of the line and disappeared.

The line that was actually moving pretty swiftly.

“How are we supposed to wait here if she’s grabbing something else she’ll want to check out?” Travis rubbed the back of his neck. “We can’t hold up the line.”

“No, we can’t. Let’s go over here,” I suggested, gesturing to a long bench at the front of the store near the snack bar. The snack bar was super fun with Halloween-themed snacks I’d never seen before. Purple popcorn with candy shaped like eyeballs and every kind of creepy crawly known to man. Not to mention a punch bowl filled with some kind of smoky green beverage that kids were buying and consuming in huge quantities. Then the usual assortment of candy and caramel apples.

“I used to love that caramel shit,” Travis said wistfully. “Wonder if Carrington likes them too?”

“You’ve never gotten her one?”

“Nope, somehow, I haven’t. Then again, I never have gotten you one, either.”

I smiled. “I can buy my own caramel apples.”

“I’m sure, but if I buy you one, then I can take a bite of yours and see how caramel tastes on your lips.”

Before I could say a word, he’d jumped up to get in line at the snack bar, returning with both a giant tub of purple popcorn and three caramel apples covered with nuts. That he managed to carry all of his loot back to the bench without dropping any was a feat as far as I was concerned.

He sat down on the bench and began dispensing our snacks though Carrington still hadn’t reappeared yet.

“Where do you think she went?” I asked, unable to keep the worry from my tone. “I mean, the store is pretty big, but she should be back by now, right?”

“She’ll be back soon. I was about to say, don’t worry, but I have to admit, I love seeing you like this about her. As if you’re just like any other fretting mom.”

“I am just like any other fretting mom.” I chewed on my ragged pinky nail for a minute before sitting on it to keep from playing with it some more. “And I may get to do it again soon, if what I’m hoping for happens.”

I wasn’t thinking about what I was saying, just distractedly talking off the top of my head. As if we were any other normal couple sharing concerns instead of the opposite.

A previously tight couple trying our hardest to find our way back to each other.

I hadn’t missed the occasional probing looks some other customers had aimed our way. Maybe due to our sexploits at the shoot or perhaps some people knew our history and were just expecting us to have a knock-down drag-out episode near the witches stirring their cauldrons.

Not that we’d ever argued in public. But people knew we’d clearly split up long ago. Gossip definitely had its place around here. So, who knew for sure what they speculated in private?

Speaking of witches with cauldrons, Carrington was on her way over to us, struggling mightily under the witch stirring hers. She could barely carry her, which her father would’ve realized quickly and hurried over to help her if he hadn’t been staring at me, slack-jawed.

“You think it’s possible already?” His voice was awed.

Not scared. Not anxious. Just eager.

Not that he hadn’t indicated he was fine with it in the abstract.

I gave a jerky shrug. “Who knows? Maybe. Hey there, Care. You need some help with that?” I hurried over to her to take the blow-up witch figure out of her arms.

“Nope, not even,” Travis said easily. “You carry the snacks, Care.”

Before I knew what had happened, Travis had offloaded his snacks to Carrington and plucked the witch out of my arms, turning to hoist it into our already overflowing cart. Somehow, he made it fit without crushing all the other stuff and then he wheeled it back around to rejoin the line we’d left.

When I moved to follow, he shook his head. “Share the snacks with her. In case you’re hungry.” He lifted his brows in a meaningful way that made me rub my suddenly achy head. Cue many changes all at once, part two. Yet this time, I was so on board.

Was this sweet small town a portal to some other place that had its own rules? Set aside the awkward past and live in the happy present. That had to be the answer.

I looked back at Carrington, who was currently finishing one of the caramel apples with a bit of caramel on the corner of her mouth.

“Like it?” I laughed and reached out to dab her face.

She wrinkled her nose and took the napkin, but nodded.

“They’re my favorite too.” I took a big bite, letting out a happy sigh as the tart green apple hit my tastebuds. “I haven’t had one in years.”

When we finished with the apples, she immediately started on the popcorn. “You won’t want dinner.”

“I always have room for food, Mom.” While I watched, she ate more and then slurped from the giant punch cup Travis had purchased.

“Even after that huge breakfast?” I asked, grabbing my own handful of popcorn.

But hey, maybe I was pregnant, so obviously, I needed extra calories. And I just wanted to be with my family, whatever it ended up looking like.

The first go-round I’d been so uptight and nervous. So afraid of losing everything that I’d done exactly that. Now I was embracing living life however it came, even if the changes were super fast.

As long as I was with the people I loved, speed didn’t matter a bit.

We’d plowed through almost all of the popcorn and drank nearly all of the punch by the time Travis made it through the line and wheeled his now squeaking over-filled cart our way. I couldn’t even imagine how much all that stuff had cost, but he certainly didn’t seem dismayed.

Somewhere he’d found an oversized striped top hat like in the Dr. Seuss stories and was wearing it with a damn near jaunty grin.

“I forgot to get a costume!” Carrington cried, letting out a loud belch.

We all laughed.

“Well, remember the racks were like decimated when we looked,” I told her sadly.

“Well, then, we have to go to another Halloween store. Or maybe Walmart,” Travis suggested.

“Sure, let’s go.” Carrington leaped to her feet and aimed for the doors.

With a sigh, I leaned back against the back of the bench and rubbed my now straining belly. And Travis watched the movement as if it was the most riveting thing he’d ever seen.

“We ate a lot,” I explained quickly.

“So, I see.” He looked into the popcorn bucket and withdrew his now popcorn-covered caramel apple. He ate it fast then snatched the punch cup, draining what was left in mere seconds. “Should we get more before we go?”

“Uh, no. I’ve probably consumed three thousand calories today already.”

“Who cares?”

He did have a point. From the reverence in his expression, he had absolutely no problem with how much I was eating.

Pleasure made me rise to my feet. Without glancing over my shoulder, I leaned up to cup his face, taking his lips with mine with a suddenness that made him groan.

“I knew the caramel would taste better on your mouth.” He made a show of licking his lips as he moved back and reached up to rub his fingers over my chin. “Delicious.”

“Sure is.” I mirrored his move and picked some peanuts out of his growing scruff. He hadn’t bothered to shave today.

I had to say I approved.

Grinning shamelessly, he dragged me against him again, sweeping his tongue between my lips in a fast, devastating kiss that made me sag against him.

“Um, hello, people. We have to get me a costume.”

Guiltily, we broke apart to find our daughter standing beside us, hands on her hips.

I started to explain. “This isn’t like the…dirty pictures yesterday,” I finished weakly.

Except it kind of was.

Travis reached up to close my lips.

Supposed we didn’t need to explain. She’d clearly seen what was happening.

I didn’t have any more answers here than she did. We were making things up as we went.

As a family.

Carrington shrugged. “Old people stuff. Whatever. Now let’s go.”

“You heard the lady.” Travis held out a hand to me as he maneuvered the cart with the other hand. “Let’s go.”