Page 39 of Anytime I Want

“Sisters!” Chloe starts.

“No, enough of that.” Josie walks past her, shaking her head.

We get to Miss Mabel’s house and have a hard time finding a place to park. There are cars everywhere, and where there aren’t cars, there are kids. So many kids. They are dressed as superheroes and witches, unicorns, fairies, monsters, and dragons. Kids are in homemade costumes, some in those inflatable ones, and others are store-bought. And all of them are having the best time.

“I love Halloween,” Chloe breathes.

“Here, jump out, and I’ll go find a place. You need to be there first so you can introduce us to Mabel,” Josie offers, ready to climb over the seat to take the wheel. We quickly get out of the car and run up to knock on Mabel’s door. After a second of waiting, Mabel swings her door open, and you’ll never guess what she’s dressed as. You got it. A witch.

“Sister!” Chloe yells.

Mabel’s eyes gleam. “Sister!”

And together, for reasons I can’t explain, they both start yelling, Amok! Amok!

“You must be Chloe!” Mabel declares. “Julia told me that I would love you, and she’s right; I do. Now, where is Josie? And those hunks, Graham and Nathan?” Chloe gives Mabel a huge hug, laughing in pure joy.

“Josie is parking the car. Nathan was a big stick in the mud, wearing a lame shirt, so he had to stay home to change. And we didn’t bring Graham because: (1) Nathan, and (2) he and Julia are way too distracting. They are so cute that we would just swoon at them all night instead of handing out any candy.”

“You’re a smart lady, Chloe. A girls’ night, it is!” We help Mabel get a folding table out of the storage closet at the back of her carport, and by the time it’s set up with a few chairs, Josie has found us.

“Success! I totally cut off another car, but I don’t even care. We got a parking spot.”

“Miss Mabel, this is Josie. Josie, Miss Mabel.” I wave to them in turn.

“Josie, my girl, I like your style, and your freckles are to die for. Come sit by me and tell me about yourself. I’ve heard all about Julia, and I’m pretty sure Chloe is me, seventy years younger.” Josie makes herself comfortable, and we spend the next two hours passing out so much candy, oohing and aahingover all the cute costumes, and being appropriately terrified by the monsters. Miss Mabel randomly makes some kids perform tricks for her in exchange for candy, and so we see a lot of somersaults and almost-there karate kicks. Overall, it is so much fun, and I am honestly a little sad when the community security drives around, asking people to leave the neighborhood. We all take turns hugging Miss Mabel after we clean up her driveway.

“Now, all three of you come back anytime. I wish my real granddaughter came to visit more, but she doesn’t have time for me. Don’t forget your sister!” Mabel laughs and hugs each of us. “Also, come watch Julia perform at the variety show in a few weeks.” Josie and Chloe’s eyes widen and they start squealing. “Squeal later, girls. It’s hard on my hearing aids. Anyway, she’ll be amazing, mostly because of her, but also a good chunk because I’ve been coaching her. See you later, girls. Have a great night full of frights and hopefully strong arms to hang on to.” Mabel waves over her shoulder as she shuffles into her house, locking her door behind her and turning off her lights. We pick up the leftover bag of candy she gave us and head to the car to pick up the boys for the haunted house.

“So, should we talk about the variety show now?” Chloe asks, getting into the car.

“Sure. Didn’t Graham tell you? I am going to sing at the variety show next month instead of trying out for the talent show.” I try to play it off casually, but I know it’s not working.

“Graham knows?! And not me?” Chloe gasps dramatically.

“Chloe.” Josie rolls her eyes, letting out a small laugh. “He already told us. Don’t scare her.”

I smile at Josie. I love how well she knows me already.

I don’t really want to keep talking about this so I say, “What do you think Nathan will be wearing now?”

“Mmm. Am I allowed to hope for Michael Phelps?” Josie pumps her eyebrows and I groan, wishing I had picked a different topic.

“Hmm.” Chloe considers. “Is there someone hot that doesn’t talk? That would be perfect.”

Chapter 22

Graham

Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of haunted things. I'm not afraid of it. I just think it's dumb and I don’t understand why people want to mess with that whole situation, but all of my friends wanted to go. And yeah, yeah, would I jump off a cliff, but this is not that. Hopefully.

We pull up to an old warehouse on the edge of town. The parking lot is half gravel, half pothole, and wholly filled with teenagers, college kids, and young professionals. Throughout the crowd, workers dressed as killer clowns, vampires,werewolves, and other nondescript monsters are handing out waivers to be signed before we are allowed to go inside. Nathan, freshly dressed as a doctor—why he had a pair of scrubs just sitting around is beyond me—waves them all off and pulls a stack of signed papers from his back pocket. We follow him toward the front door and ticket counter, and Julia slides her hand into mine. I give her a half smile.

“Will you protect me?” Julia teases.

“Absolutely.” I let go of her hand and take a half step back so I can wrap my arms around her. I give her a small kiss on the cheek just in time for Nathan to turn and crinkle his nose in disgust. He doesn’t like the PDA, but I know he is happy for us. I can see it in his eyes.

“Whoa, if you’re protecting Julia, who is going to protect me?” Nathan asks.

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