Page 12 of Heaven Leigh’s Little Halloween

Heaven had reached an age where differences felt so awkward, so she’d evaded the question with a shrug. Stella must have assumed that they didn’t know what they wanted to be yet, or possibly that they couldn’t afford costumes, because she brought out a pile in all sizes, from previous years.

Everyone spent the day playing dress up, and then one of the neighbor kids had suggested a game of pretend trick or treating to practice for the big day. Heaven knew her parents wouldn’t like the idea, but she’d always wanted to experience it, and it didn’t really count since they were just pretending.

It was unfortunate that her father came home while they were still prancing around the yard next door, in costume, swinging treat buckets, and yelling “Trick or treat!”. He was furious at all of them, but it was Heaven whom his wrath had come down on. She was in trouble, not only for participating, but for leading her younger siblings into sin.

There had been a pile of punishments dumped on her head, but none had been as difficult as being shunned. Her younger siblings kept forgetting, but when they did, they were punished, so Heaven had to stop them whenever they tried to talk to her. She’d cried herself to sleep for days.

She no longer shared any of her parents’ beliefs, but her discomfort around Halloween had remained regardless. Just hearing the word made her stomach sink.

“Heaven Leigh? You okay?” Sadie was frowning and looking directly at her with concern.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine, sorry I zoned out.” She forced a smile.

“I bet you were thinking about Angel! Isn’t he wonderful? I bet working with him is so much fun.” She looked at Heaven expectantly.

It was a relief to have the conversation shift and she smiled. “Oh, it was so great! Wait until you see what’s for dessert tonight. You’re going to go nuts over it.” She grinned and shook her head as the other Littles went back to begging for hints.

Sadie interrupted the attempts to find out more, “Personally, I’m more interested in hearing about Angel than the dessert.”

Heaven tilted her head. “But you already know him better than I do.”

Sadie sighed and tossed her hair back. “Yes, but did you like him? I mean like like him?”

“Oh um…” Heaven could feel her cheeks heating. “He’s really nice.”

“You said that already,” Hayleigh pointed out, grinning. “You know he’s single right?”

“Single? Really?” How could that deliciously sexy man be single? She would have thought women would be all over him. His voice was as smooth as the chocolate he melted, with just the slightest hint of an accent.

His face was sensual but in a strongly masculine way, especially around the jawline. Thinking about his generous lips made her mind turn to other thoughts and she quickly pulled back.

“Yep.” Sadie smirked. “Daddy told me that Angel hasn’t really been looking for someone, but now he’s decided he’s not opposed to it if the right person comes along. Maybe you’re the right person?”

Wouldn’t that be something? But it was too much to hope that he’d be interested in her. “I don’t think so. Anyway, I barely know him. It was fun working together though. I’ve missed being in a kitchen,” she admitted.

“Oh, that’s right. You’re a baker. I forgot,” Chloe said as she tucked her bright red hair back behind one ear.

Heaven didn’t spend much time with Chloe outside of meals. The redhead was in the preschool class. “Yep. I mostly do cakes now. Well, I did before I came here.” Whether she’d ever bake cakes again remained to be seen, but after today she was starting to feel like she might be able to handle it.

“That sounds like so much fun. I’d probably eat way too much if I worked in a bakery though,” Chastity chimed in. “How do you not taste everythingggg?”

Heaven laughed. “I do taste things sometimes. To make sure the flavor is right, but honestly after a while you kind of burn out on sweets.”

“Y-you don’t like s-sweets?” Ben was shocked enough to speak up, even though he usually tended to be quiet in groups.

“No, I do. Just not as much as I used to before I was around them all the time.” And that was true enough, though there was something about being in Little space that did make her crave sugar. Probably because they talked about it all the time.

“I bet you like chocolate though… at least if Angel’s making it.” Sadie gave the words a tone that implied they were talking about more than candy.

Heaven’s face got even hotter. It was immediately obvious to everyone at the table and inspired a ton of giggling. In an attempt to change the topic she focused on what Sadie had said when she arrived. “So, what made today frustrating?”

That turned out to be a good choice because Sadie was happy to talk about it. “Daddy is being a meanie head about some things I want to do for the Halloween party.” She scowled, looking more than a little annoyed.

“I had all these big plans, but he says it’s too late. That we don’t have enough time to get everything lined up. Halloween only comes once a year and holidays at the Ranch are supposed to be big and special.” There was more scowling as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Heaven was kind of glad that things weren’t going to get any bigger than they already were, but then she noticed how upset everyone else at the table looked and felt bad about it. This is a you thing, Heaven Leigh. Just because you don’t like the holiday much doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be wonderful for everyone else, she scolded herself.

“I’m sorry, Sadie. That’s really sad. I mean… I mean I’m sure it’s still going to be a lot of fun though? Angel was talking about some amazing things he was working on,” she said carefully, trying to console her.

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