Page 33 of The King of Halloween
Looking at his mother, a woman who’d give June Cleaver a run for the Norman Rockwell cup, pain stabbed Adam in the gut. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what, dear?”
“That you’re saddled with two freak children.”
His sweet mother slapped him on the cheek. “Don’t you say that!”
It wasn’t more than a tap, but Adam was shocked. He held a hand over his face while staring in horror at his innocent mother getting angry.
“You are both wonderful children. Delightful, sweet, kind people who I am blessed to have in my life.” Oh, god, tears glittered in her eyes. Adam had felt like shit after his display at the festival, but the idea that he caused his mother to cry made him want to fling himself down a well.
“Mom…” He hugged her as she pressed a tissue to her eyes below her glasses.
“It’s all right, dear. Just, getting myself worked up. I only want you to be happy. As me and your father were.”
The junior college sweethearts who were married for forty-three years. He couldn’t have hoped to compete, even if anyone in high school had wanted to touch him more than it took to shove him into a locker. “Mom, I’d be lucky to have a tenth of the happiness you and Dad did.”
“That Mr. Choudhary seemed quite sweet.”
She got his name right. Adam almost said so, before realizing why she made sure to learn it.
“And he couldn’t stop glancing your way during the competition.” She nudged him as if Adam weren’t well aware.
He couldn’t tell her that they were in some stupid war over Halloween, or the crown, or just trying to be the one accepted gay man in town. That they hated each other and just the thought of Raj made his tongue parch, his fists clench, and his heart beat faster. The thought of him winning, lording it over Adam, leaning close to taunt him until all he could see were those deep brown eyes…
Fireworks exploded. Not the kind from a kiss of rage, but the literal ones. The air burst with sprays of orange and green, trying to form pumpkins in the sky. Adam took a steadying breath to wash away the touch of Raj’s fingers raking over his brain.
“I’m afraid that can’t be,” he said to his mother. She abandoned the spray of color to demand an explanation. “He’s got a partner.”
“Oh.” All of her matchmaking plans died in an instant. Thank god Raj already had that himbo on his arm.
It was a good thing.
Really.
“Now. I need to get back to the store. Lots to prep for tomorrow. Inventory and the like.”
His mom watched him wander off. “Tomorrow’s the market where the kids put on Sleepy Hollow. Will I see you there?”
Every October brought hundreds of engagements for the King of Halloween. Plays, festivals, parades—he used to smile through them all, enjoying it in part because it made him normal. One of them. But the idea of showing his face made his skin itch.
“I’ve got a lot of work to do,” Adam said.
“The pumpkin chucking? There’s a spooky ghost walk around the lake. And I think a haunted picnic…”
His mother kept rattling off events that Adam either didn’t care about or ached to miss. With each one, he shook his head. There was a good chance Raj would be there and, as much as he wanted to be the bigger man, he knew he’d fuck it up. He couldn’t afford another failure. His head was on the line.
“Sorry,” Adam said.
“Well, I know you’ll make the midnight movie, at least. That actor you like, Bruce something, will be there.”
Adam’s heart dropped. The movie marathon—he hosted it every year, as he was the one with the films. He had to spend a night in Raj’s ballroom doing his best to not be both enraged and aroused by the man he could never have.
Putting on his smile, Adam called out, “I’ll see you there.”
?
“Mr. and Mrs. Gunderson!” Raj tried to leap to the mayor’s side, but the newly polished floors sent him flying. He grabbed onto the post at the last second and swung back around. The guests clapped like he meant for that to happen. “Welcome to the Heartbreak Hotel.”
