Page 48 of Dropping the Ball

“I see the vision,” I say, successfully suppressing a wince when the words are more meaningful than I mean them to be. “Probably the crab puffs would have helped, but I get it enough.”

“Thanks for dancing with me,” Micah says. He’s not going to let me laugh this off.

I need to change the subject though. The mood of those few minutes still clings to me like the finest spun silk, and I want to gather it around me and revel in it. I can’t do that right now. Everything coming at me is feelings, and I need time to sift through them. Instead, I pluck the mood Micah spun around us away from me like it’s a spider web, brushing it off as fast as I can.

“You’re welcome. Good moves. You putting them to use at any Halloween parties this weekend?” I keep my tone light, an interested boss making polite conversation with her contractor.

“No, I’m low-key on Halloween. Saturday, right?”

I count in my head. “Yes, Saturday.”

“I’ll hang out with my buddies, have some beers, and watch a horror movie after they’re done trick-or-treating.”

“Your friends go trick-or-treating? As what? Overgrown frat boys?”

He smiles. “As dads with toddlers. We hang out when the toddlers are done. What about you? Do your people observe Halloween?”

I laugh at him phrasing it like it’s a religious holiday. “No plans.” I’d gotten some invitations, but I’ll either be studying or exhausted from working and studying all week.

“Not even a beer and a scary movie?”

“I’d have to remember to stop and get beer to stock it in my fridge. Chances are that I’ll spend Halloween night studying for the bar until I fall asleep at nine.” I don’t care if it verges on pitiful. I’m not playing a game where I try to make Micah think I’m a hot social commodity. I want him to understand exactly how packed but boring my life is, in case he wants to . . . I don’t complete the thought. Just in case.

“At home? What about all the trick-or-treaters? You know your neighborhood is one of the top five trick-or-treating destinations in Austin, right?”

I didnotknow that. “Some things are making sense now. I wondered why my street looked like a Hollywood horror set vomited on it.”

“It’s all decked out, isn’t it?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Yeah . . .”

“I only know that from driving past your house late at night, every night.” He frowns. “Wait, are stalker jokes in bad taste?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then that was a teenage crush joke.”

“Not better.”

“Then I know because it’s been like that for years, and I used to trick-or-treat over there as a kid. The street two blocks over from you is legendary. Every house gives out full-size candy.”

“My real estate agent mentioned that the neighborhood does a lot of community spirit stuff, but I wasn’t paying that much attention. I just wanted a place close to my sister’s house, and I didn’t want any neighbors close enough for me to hear all their noise.” When Madi had lived with Sami and her otherroommates at the Grove, I’d had fun going over to visit, but I prefer having space and quiet.

“You’re going to get spillover trick-or-treaters from full-size-candy-bar street,” he says.

“I’ll keep my porch light off.”

“And risk tricks when you don’t give out treats?” He crosses his arms and shakes his head at me. “Looks like I’m going to have to save you from yourself. I will be at your house Saturday at dusk with candy.”

I should protest. He is inviting himself into my space, both literally and figuratively, as he makes a claim on my time. But I don’t want to. “Fine. I like candy.”

He gives me a stern look. “The candy is not for you. The candy is for the children, Kaitlyn. You must give it to the kids.”

“Ugh. If I have to.”

“You do have to. This is your first Halloween on this street, right?”

I nod.

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