Page 28 of Losing the Rhythm

The store was a small one meant to find little gifts for people. I loved these kinds of stores, always finding the cutest or silliest things. Since Halloween was upcoming, the front half of the store was decked with Halloween displays full of decorations and party supplies.

“This is funny,” Paxon said, holding up one of those cardboard masks. He held it up to his face, showing off a green troll with a big nose. But not a super scary one. It was made comical.

I smiled and dug out one that looked like those cute trolls with fake green hair on top of it.

That got him laughing.

It took a while before we were able to get past all the Halloween fun and into the more traditional things. There were board games, gnomes, lights, gift wrapping and bags, cards, lots of cute knickknacks.

“Anything in particular you’re looking for?”

“I just want to give Micah’s mom something.” I lifted up crystal flowers, enjoying the way it made the light twinkle.

“What about this?” he asked, showing me moose slippers.

I laughed at the adorableness of them, and remembered how Micah often mentioned that his mom’s feet got cold easily, especially during her treatments.

“I gifted her a lot of fuzzy socks over the years,” I said. “Maybe another time?”

“Fair enough.”

We kept going from table to table, taking in the well-put together displays. It was obvious the shop owner put a lot of care and consideration into their store.

“Oh, this could work,” I said, finding a set of geese. Their beaks were magnetic. I even tested it out with my car keys. They stuck firmly to the beaks, making it look like they were being carried. It was really cute and something I could picture Bayley loving.

“Great, and I’ll get this,” Paxon said, holding up some Halloween lights. They were orange pumpkins.

“Is this part of the one Halloween thing a day?” I asked.

“Of course. The others should be doing the same today.”

“I should get something too then,” I said, going back to the Halloween section. I quickly settled on a cool candle box I had been eyeing earlier. It was a black candle frame holder with three slots for small tea candles. The entire scene was of a witch flowing over a spooky graveyard with haunted looking houses in the background.

Surprisingly, I hadn’t been to Paxon’s home yet, so when we pulled into his driveway, I couldn’t help but look at the beautiful two-story home. It was smaller than mine, but it looked completely comfortable. There were two bikes in the yard and a basketball hoop near the garage door. A soccer net in the front yard. It looked used, played in. Like a real home.

“Cadence?”

I pulled out of my thoughts and smiled at Paxon. “Your home looks nice.”

He gave me a sheepish smile, a little red dotting his cheeks. “Thank you. Can I ask you something?”

“Friends don’t need to ask permission, remember?” I said, throwing his words back at him. He was always telling me I didn’t need to ask if I could ask a question. Friends just asked. It was nice to toss it back at him.

Paxon chuckled. “True.” He looked back at his house briefly. “Your dad.”

My breath froze.

“Has he replied?”

I released my breath, tracing the steering wheel with my hand. “No. Not yet. But it hasn’t been all that long? Maybe it’s lost in the mail. Or taking its time getting to me. Or maybe he hasn’t replied.”

“I think he wouldn’t not reply to you,” Paxon said as he turned to me. “I think a man who kept reaching out, knowing he wasn’t going to get an answer, wouldn’t lose this opportunity.”

I gave him a shaky smile. “Thank you. I just don’t like the wait. I feel like I’m holding my breath. Any longer and I’m going to pass out.”

“You have his address now. If you don’t get a reply, we can go on a trip. Demand he face you.”

I gave him a weak smile, the thought too real to consider.

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