Page 105 of Show Me How
“You have the eye of a mother who believes their newborn is the cutest one in the history of newborns when it’s absolutely not.”
Her head falls forward as she giggles, setting her marker down in exchange for her carving tool. “Fine. If you want to freehand, then so will I.”
“You’ve already drawn almost all of his face.”
“We both know it’s ugly as hell,” she says, lifting her head to stare at her pumpkin with a grimace. “I’ll restart.”
“Alright. We’ll start from scratch.”
She points her orange-handled carver at me and smiles. “May the best pumpkin carver win.”
“Good luck,” I drawl, all fake confidence.
“You’ll need it.”
And then she’s turning away from me and stabbing the blade into the top of her pumpkin.
I stand backand stand at the pumpkins we’ve placed at the front of the studio and crack, my laugh booming through the snowy night.
Daisy follows suit, dropping to a crouch and poking the goopy eye socket on Bryce’s pumpkin before shaking her head. I hover close to Millie, staring at the heavy black jacket draped over her shoulders and the way she’s grinning so damn wide before looking back to the pumpkins.
“They’re so fucking bad,” Bryce states.
I grunt in agreement. “Nobody won here.”
“At least we can only get better from here,” Daisy suggests.
Bryce palms her waist and pulls her close. “There’s no silver lining here, baby. These are god-awful. We can’t keep them here. We’ll turn customers away.”
It sounds dramatic, but . . . they’re really that bad. Millie’s still has guts hanging out of the top that’s been cut somewhere too small for the hole and sinks an inch inside. Its eyes are so wide they take up three-quarters of the entire pumpkin, and its smile looks like something out of a horror film.
Bryce’s is worse, somehow. While the top was cut perfectly, the rest of it looks like she just plowed her fist right through it. Mine started good but somehow morphed from an intricate skull design to a lopsided dick with balls the size of my hands.
Daisy’s is the best, and even saying that doesn’t carry the same meaning as it should. It’s the most pumpkin-looking, with triangle eyes and a small nose. But its mouth is jagged yet somehow so thin you can tell she didn’t push the blade the entire way through the pumpkin.
“I think it gives the place personality,” Millie says, tilting her head at the pumpkin display. “Plus, it’s snowing. It’s only a matter of time before they get covered.”
Bryce chews on that. “They’re going to get covered in snow or go rotten and look even worse.”
“We’ll keep an eye on them, then.” Millie turns to look up at me with a wide, pleading gaze. “I’ll watch them. Let’s just leave them out here for as long as we can.”
I ignore Bryce’s huff of defeat and focus on the bright blue eyes in front of me. Millie doesn’t risk me looking away. She reaches out and takes my hand, pulling it beneath the side of my jacket she’s wearing and squeezing my fingers. My decision was made from the moment she looked at me, but this?This is dirty work. She could ask me to sleep naked out here in the snowtonight, and I’d agree when she’s touching me like it’s all she wants to do. Like she doesn’t have to think twice about it.
“They’ll stay,” I mutter, brushing my thumb across her knuckles.
Her lips curl around a bright smile, and that’s fucking that.
Maybe sleeping out in the snow is exactly what I need after all.
31
MILLIE
“Everyone’snearly finished the book. You just have to convince Shade to let us hold the meeting at his place.”
Lacey’s voice carries through my cheap phone’s speaker, slightly muffled. I cross my legs at the end of my bed and try not to let her hear how nervous I am.
When I first entertained the idea of a book club, I didn’t actually think it would happen. It was just a toss-away conversation filler, but Shelly didn’t let it stay that way. I either looked really eager to find some sort of group of friends in Oak Point, or she could just tell how deeply I enjoyed books because she took it upon herself to make it happen.
