Page 125 of Secret Love

“NowthisI like a lot…” He deepens the kiss and my insides turn to jelly.

His hands are wandering fast, and I have to pull myself away so we’re not caught by another officer.

As I’m shopping for the perfect pumpkins, I come up with what might be a great idea if I can pull it off. Since Henley’s accident, it’s typical for me to hear from not just my new girlfriends, but all of Henley’s friends throughout the day. They text him to see how he’s doing and then they text me to see how he’sreallydoing.

I text everyone while I’m waiting in the checkout line.

So…I didn’t discover until now just how much Henley loves Halloween. With everything going on, I don’t think he even realized until tonight that it’s almost here. What if we had a surprise Halloween party at his house next week? Everyone dress up. You can come after you’ve taken the kids trick-or-treating or we’ll have plenty of treats for them at the house…what do you think?

The yeses start rolling in right away, first from Penn and then Sadie and Elle, and by the time we get home with all of the pumpkins, I’ve heard from everyone, and they’re all in.

Over the next week, Henley and the girls make the cutest pumpkins I’ve ever seen. They have doorknob eyes, metal drawer pull mouths, nuts and bolts noses, squiggly screw hair—you name it, every hardware appliance or tool or old piece of scrap metal that can be spared is used to make pumpkin faces. When he’s done with one, he names them, and every time the girls come over, they want to meet his new creations. Gracie talks to Betty and Charlene, her two favorites, like they’re her new besties.

The diversion has been good for him and while he works on them, I tell him I’m decorating his house and yard for Halloween, so our new pumpkin family can feel at home. I carry over the color theme from town—black, white, and green—except we have the orange pumpkins in the mix too.

The girls know about the party, and they’ve been so excited about it, helping with the decorating and working on Henley’s costume. Bree even contributes extra pampas grass she’s not using for her wedding and says she and Alex will stop by the party.

On Halloween morning, Henley’s in the kitchen when I leave for school.

“You look cute,” he says, when I lean down to kiss him.

I’m going low-key with a witch's hat and spider earrings, so I can save my better costume for later.

“I’m not used to the girls taking care of my costume. Have you seen what they’re working on?”

I nod, unable to hide my grin. “It’s gonna be good, don’t worry.”

It's a fun day at school. The kids are more chatty than usual because of all the candy they're getting in every class. But I manage to reel them in when it counts.

Bowie takes Henley to his PT appointment so I can finish getting things ready for tonight, and my mom comes over to help. Bree drops the girls off not long before Henley is supposed to come home, and she can’t get over how great the house looks.

“If you ever need a job, you could always come work with me in the wedding business,” she says, pointing at me before she gets in her car.

“I’m honored you’d even consider that,” I tell her, pleased.

The plan Henleythinksis happening is that after Bowie drops him off, Henley will dress up and sit by the front door passing out candy, while the girls go trick-or-treating. And then we'll hang out with them for a little while afterwards.

When he gets home, the girls are already dressed up in their monster outfits, and they giggle as they lead him to his room to show him the costume they got for him. I go get ready in another bathroom, piling my hair high around a cutoff two-liter bottle. It’s givingBridgertonvibes, but this look came out long before the idea ofBridgertonwas conceived. I angle a mirror to look at the back and laugh at how high it is. My dress is green, rather than the typical white usually worn with this costume, but the style is so similar to the movie that it’ll still be obvious.

The girls peek into the bathroom.

“Oh my God, you look amazing,” Cassidy says.

“Wow,” Audrey says. “So cool.”

“I want that hair next year,” Gracie says.

“Do you think he has any idea about the party?” I whisper.

“Not at all. He’s ready and we told him you’d be there in a second.”

The girls move out of the bathroom and run downstairs and when I step into the hall, Henley is opening his bedroom door. We stare at each other and start laughing.

“You look perfect,” I tell him. “Frankenstein has never looked so good.”

“Are you thebrideof Frankenstein?” he asks, lips quirking up. He stares at my hair in awe and then down my body.

I hold my hand up. “No, no. Not the bride. I’m thegirlfriendof Frankenstein. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

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