Page 76 of Don't Call Me Sweetheart

I stared at them. “What is happening?”

“Relax, man, we’ve got you.” Eli clapped me on the shoulder. “We brought candy.”

Luke held up the bag. “And beer.”

“You got a bowl?” Eli moved into the kitchen and started opening cabinets, not waiting for an answer. “Oh, here we go. This will work.”

Luke set the beer on the counter and set to work ripping open bags of Snickers, Reese’s, and individual packets of Sour Patch Kids. He dumped them into the bowl and then mixed them around a bit. Eli grabbed three bottles, clipped the caps off against the counter, and handed one to me. He was passing one to Luke when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” Luke said. “Hold on to that for me.” He went to the door, candy in hand, and opened it.

“Trick or treat!” chorused the kids outside.

“Hey! A witch? And Spider-Man? Awesome! Hey, did you happen to see any girls running around out there with toilet paper? No? Great.” Luke delivered the goods, then closed the door behind them. “Okay, beer me.”

Eli obliged, handing one to Luke while taking a sip from his own. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is starting in two minutes. Dibs on the recliner.”

I looked from Eli to Luke and back again. Why were they here? And how had they known I needed candy? “No, seriously, what is happening right now?”

“Halloween,” Eli said, as if that explained everything. He settled into the recliner, pulling the lever to lift his feet. “Take off your coat, man. Stay a while.”

I blinked at the invitation. “It’s my house.” Seeing that Eli had no inclination to explain things, I looked to Luke.

“We were all over at Holiday House,” Luke said. “Emma’s place. She hosts a little party every year. Barnett Farm is too far out for trick-or-treating, so Suzie and Sam start there with the kids and then come back for the party.”

I nodded. Holiday House was Emma’s B&B at the very end of Main Street before it turned into a rural highway that led out to Asheville.

“Kate’s there now, helping Emma hand out candy. She might have mentioned you two had plans for the evening.”

“Before you ruined everything,” Eli cut in helpfully.

“Oh.” I rubbed my chest. “Did she… Is that what she said?”

“We’re pretty good at reading between the lines.”

I snorted. I wasn’t about to explain to them that I couldn’t ruin something that was going to end tomorrow anyway. All I had done was bring about that ending a few days early. She was the one who had crushed my heart.

“So you’re here because…” I let the sentence trail off, in large part because I couldn’t fathom how to end it. I was honestly baffled.

“Kate looked like hell. We figured it was a safe bet you looked worse,” Eli said.

“And if you didn’t, we could fix that,” Luke added. He eyeballed me and shook his head. “Unnecessary, as it turns out. You look like shit.”

“Yeah. Well.”

Since we all knew why, I left it at that. I set my beer down on the coffee table and unzipped my coat, still unsure of what exactly they were doing here. Claims they intended to make good on their threats didn’t hold water, seeing as they brought beer and candy with them.

But the truth of it was, I didn’t care. They were here. At the very least, that saved me an embarrassing trip to the store for candy. I would much rather be with Kate, but Kate wasn’t an option, and spending the evening drinking beer, watching Charlie Brown, and passing out candy with Luke and Eli might be better for my mental health than another evening alone, eating pistachios and reliving the play-by-play of Kate dumping me.

“How is she?” I asked, claiming a spot on the other end of the couch from Luke, so that a full cushion separated us. “Kate, I mean.”

Luke smirked. “I knew who you meant.” But then his expression shifted, turning serious. “She’s not great.”

I felt some kind of way about that. I hated that Kate was hurting. But that I was the cause of it? That reached into the most hidden part of my soul, healing a wound I hadn’t truly known existed. It hadn’t occurred to me that our breakup would hurt her like it hurt me. I had never mattered enough to anyone for my absence to leave a mark.

“Any chance you can fix this?” Luke asked hopefully.

God, if only. I shook my head.

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