Page 187 of Knot Baked Out For This
"Halloween rules. The magic ends at midnight."
"The magic doesn't end," Luca says quietly, and when I look at him, his gray eyes are serious. "Not anymore. Not with us."
My chest goes tight with emotion I don't have words for, so I kiss him instead. Then Rowan. Then Levi, who tastes like he's eaten possibly every caramel apple in existence.
"How are you still eating caramel?"
"I'm talented!"
"You're ridiculous."
"Ridiculously handsome."
"That too."
We stay until the last bonfire is just embers, until the fog machines run out of fog, until Fred has been through so many adventures he's missing an eye.
"Battle-scarred," I declare, adjusting his remaining googly eye.
"Like his owner," Rowan says softly.
"Not scarred anymore," I correct. "Healing. Healed, maybe."
"Healing is not linear," Luca points out.
"Thanks, fortune cookie."
"I'm profound!"
"You're freezing. Come on."
We walk home through streets littered with candy wrappers and abandoned costume pieces, past jack-o'-lanterns beginning to sag, under streetlights that flicker like they're tired too.
"Thank you," I say as we reach my apartment. "For tonight. For the hayride. For not laughing when I threw Fred."
"We definitely laughed," Levi admits.
"Internally!"
"Very externally."
"You love us anyway," Rowan says confidently.
"Unfortunately."
"Fortunately," Luca corrects.
"Jury's still out."
But I'm smiling as I say it, clutching my battle-damaged spider, covered in hay and probably some caramel, feeling more myself than I have in years.
And one traumatized stuffed spider.
The first Halloween where I remembered what it feels like to be actually, truly happy.
Even if Fred is definitely going to need therapy after tonight.
CHAPTER 34
