Page 28 of My Wife

I’m twenty-seven now. A widow. I lost one of my high school boyfriends. I don’t want to imagine losing the other.

That leftNightmare Before ChristmasandHocus Pocus. And as much as I grew up on the cult classics and love them both, I decided to turn on my three favorite witches.

Tommy joins me at that part when Max is lighting the black flame candle, bringing the witches back to life for one night all because he’s a virgin with no impulse control.

I nod at the screen as Tommy sits on the couch, tugging me so that I’m sitting right next to him. Echoing my thought, I say, “A virgin with no impulse control. Reminds me of someone I used to know.”

“Hey. You were a virgin when we got together,” he teases.

“But I had impulse control.”

Back then, anyway.

“Don’t I know it. You were the one who made me wait a year before I could even put my hands in my pants.”

I smirk, snuggling up against him. “It was worth it, wasn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah. Believe me, Cyn. There isn’t anything I won’t do to keep that pussy as mine.”

“Just my pussy? My tits might not be that big, but my ass is pretty nice. Plus I can cook.”

Tommy kisses my temple. “Okay. I’ll keep you for your food, your ass, and your pussy. Deal?”

I shove him away from me. “You’re such a fucking charmer, Tommy.”

“I try,” he laughs. “I try.”

The mood is a lot more relaxed after that. AfterHocus Pocusends, I get up and make us a couple of sandwiches so that we can settle in to watchNightmare Before Christmastogether. I’d forgotten that Leah, Tommy’s younger sister, was a huge fangirl of the film during her teen years. Leah’s twenty-three now—the oldest of his siblings after Tommy—and she just had a baby in June.

Between Tommy singing along with Jack Skellington and the two of us discussing what baby Cameron is going to be for Halloween,

The world goes on. I forget that sometimes. My life is ruled around two dates: May 15th, when my mother died, and October 28th, when I learned that Clay had disappeared. I shut down around them, mourning by myself even when I have Tommy right by my side, then exist in a world without Caroline Preston and Clayton Rivers as best I can for the months in between the next reminder.

But as the movie comes to an end, with the reminder that Jack and Sally were simply meant to be, I press a kiss to the edge of Tommy’s scruff-covered jaw.Simply meant to be… like us?

Maybe.

If anything, I’m content at the moment. I’m not thinking about how hard Clay’s anniversary is going to be come tomorrow. I’m forcing myself not to think about Vee’s body being ravaged by the wildlife on the island because Chase convinced us to leave her there. I’m just enjoying this moment with Tommy, and when he suggests we giveScreama try next, I’m all for it?—

And that’s when another scream rents through our cabin, and I know in an instant that I won’t be content again for a long, long time.

ELEVEN

KILLER

Madison is the screamer, but that’s only because Summer went temporarily mute when she walked into her cabin and discovered her husband.

Because Tyler is dead.

He’s dead.

He’s dead, dead, dead…

I should’ve stayed outside. Looking down on Vee from the top of the ravine was one thing. That upset me, but it didn’t bother me; not like it made poor Tyler puke. But there’s a difference between seeing a broken body twenty feet away and standing maybe three feet away from the mess that used to be Tyler Kaye’s chest.

I don’t know how many times he was stabbed. Once I saw the blood, the gore, the torn-up skin and tissue that covered the blanket and sheets on the bed beneath him, I covered my mouth with my hand and hightailed it back outside where Summer was clinging to Madison.

Madison was murmuring that it’ll be okay, everything will be okay, while Summer sobbed. She’d broken her stunned quiet with a howl while we were inside, almost as though it finally hit her that that hunk of blond meat was her husband, and the wayshe wailed was one of the reasons I followed Tommy inside with Chase.

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