Page 26 of Fall Twice

“Good. See you soon.”

Screw my run. I turn back to head home, shower, and change.

An hour later, I’m waiting outside of Lena’s place, and she approaches my car with a sad smile. Opening the door, she slides in and gives me a peculiar look.

I laugh. “I left the Ferrari in the garage since the weather has turned, so you get my Ford SUV—the key to surviving Illinois winter.”

“Wow. It’s just…” She looks around the car. “I’m now expecting like a box of twenty jars of mayonnaise or something in the trunk because you did errands and went to the bulk store before going to another store because there was a sale on towels, you know?” she jokes.

I have to laugh at her humor. “Funny.”

She shakes off her adjustment to the car and returns to her somber mood.

“You’re brave for having me in company today,” she says as she buckles up.

“Why?”

She sets her purse on the floor. “It’s silly, I guess. Oscar is with his dad and grandparents in Wisconsin, and he was supposed to come back today, but he has the stomach flu and his dad doesn’t want to drive with him for two hours. We were supposed to do Thanksgiving tomorrow.”

Lines form on my head. “It’s only October.”

She nods her head and gives me an exasperated look. “I know, but we were going to do Canadian Thanksgiving since he’s going to be with Sean’s parents for the US version. The joys of divorce scheduling.”

“Have you ever been to Canada?”

“Nope. Anyway, I was looking forward to tomorrow since it’s a long weekend for Columbus Day, so Monday is off. It’s more that I’m disappointed, you know?” She rests her head against the seat and rolls in my direction.

I focus my attention on her. “I can imagine. Do you think your ex did it on purpose?”

She blows off my suggestion. “Nah, I spoke with Oscar on a video call and he looks horrible. I get it, I wouldn’t want to be driving if he’s throwing up every twenty minutes either. I can’t fault Sean for his reasoning. I guess this is a warmup for all the holidays that I won’t have Oscar.”

I hate seeing her down, and I think quickly of how to change her day. Moving the gear shift to drive, I know exactly where to take us. “I have just the thing to distract you. Do you trust me?” I look to my left for any oncoming traffic.

“I do.” A whimsical smile graces her tone, and I like the conviction in her voice.

“Good. Let’s hope you feel that way in two hours.”

Lena runsout of the house screaming at the top of her lungs. A man with a chainsaw chases her. He came out of nowhere as we were finishing the haunted house.

I was mentally prepared for that surprise at the end because one of my students had mentioned it. However, I chose not to disclose it to Lena and ruin her fun.

As we end up after the line and the chainsaw man disappears, Lena hunches over with her hands on her thighs to catch her breath.

“What the fuck was that?” She sounds in shock, but I can see she’s grinning ear to ear.

I can only laugh as I touch her arm to help her get some stability. “I told you it was a haunted house, and the frat boys took it up a notch this year.”

She looks at me as if I’m crazy. “It was a fucking chainsaw!”

“Um, to be fair, they took the chain off for health and safety reasons,andyou had a good time because of it.” I grin proudly at the way I turned her day around.

Lena quirks her mouth side to side. “Okay, you do get a point for that. Oh my gosh, I can’t even think what it would be like if we came at night when it’s dark, I would die.”

“I wouldn’t let you die.”

“Come on, I owe you an apple cider.” She begins to walk toward where they’re selling drinks and interlaces our arms.

A few minutes later, we each have a paper cup filled with cider. “Thanks for this. I guess I just needed some fresh air,” she mentions as we walk down a path surrounded by trees, as the fraternity house is near a park.

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