Page 1 of Pretty Princess

One

Caleb

Caleb ran down the hallway to the sliding glass doors that led out to the backyard. Everything was almost ready, almost perfect. He had just remembered he hadn’t lit the pumpkins.

The night before Avery and Mitch along with their Daddies had come over and they’d spent the evening decorating and carving pumpkins. Caleb couldn’t remember ever doing any of that before. Halloween had been another holiday that his mother had ignored.

This year, just like so many nights with Grant, had been different.

Caleb had cooked a nice dinner for all their friends before they’d all spent the night in full Halloween preparation. When Grant had brought out the pumpkins, Caleb hadn’t been too sure.

They’d sure looked messy.

Had, in fact, been messy.

And so much fun.

Grant had helped him scoop up the seeds and insides of the pumpkin until Avery had squealed and thrown the mess in his hands at him. It had been an accident. Well, the first time had. Because that had started a pumpkin gut fight that had left all three boys covered in goo. Caleb was almost sure he still had pumpkin in his hair.

The pumpkin goo fight hadn’t stopped them from getting the carving done. The result had been hilarious. None of them would win any pumpkin carving contests but it had still been a blast.

Racing out the door Caleb skidded to a stop when he saw his Daddy.

Grant straightened from lighting the last pumpkin, his ever-present shadow, Lucy by his side.

“I thought I told you to wash up so we could get you dressed.”

Caleb shifted his feet. “Sorry, when I got upstairs, I remembered I hadn’t lit the pumpkins. They have to be lit when everyone arrives. Everything has to be perfect.”

When Grant sighed Caleb knew he’d said something wrong.

“Baby,” Grant said walking to him. “Everything is as perfect as it can be. Even if they weren’t it isn’t something you should or will worry about.”

Caleb worried about everything.

“Things are going to go wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Caleb asked in horror. Had something already gone wrong? What hadn’t Grant told him? Caleb desperately looked around the yard trying to figure out what might have happened.

“Caleb,” Grant barked his name as he caught Caleb’s chin with his hand.

Caleb was forced to look only at his Daddy.

“Do I have your attention now?”

“Yes.” Caleb nodded. He didn’t want to get into trouble before his party.

“Things go wrong sometimes. Especially at a party. Someone might drop something, or spill something, you can’t expect it to go perfectly. That is only setting yourself up for disappointment.”

Rationally Caleb knew that, still, his heart pounded at the thought of anything going wrong. It was the first party he’d ever hosted. The first party he and Grant had thrown together. He wanted his friends to have fun. It was Halloween!

“Are you listening to me, Caleb?”

Oh, Caleb didn’t like Grant’s disappointed tone.

“I am.”

“Do you understand what I’m saying?”

---