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“Don’t do that,” I blurted.
He lowered his hand and looked up with wide eyes. “I was just going to do a side-by-side comparison.”
“Do not take a picture of my daughter.” I grabbed Finley by the wrist because both of her hands were full and gently pulled her toward the next car. Maybe it was an overreaction, but I didn’t know anything about this guy or what his actual intentions were. He could send it to Whitney, for all I knew.
Traci scoffed. “Now we can’t even take pictures of her? You’re ridiculous.” She turned to her son. “See? I told you how he was.”
I plastered the biggest, cheesiest smile I could muster onto my face and said, “Happy Halloween, Traci.” This was quite a feat, considering I would have much rather flipped her off. But this was not the time nor place.
I was grateful for Finley’s oblivion during that entire interaction. She moved onto the next trunk without even saying goodbye to Traci, too captivated by the bubble machine up ahead to look back. I sighed and trailed behind her with my hands in my pockets, trying not to let this Traci encounter put a damper on the entire evening.
Because both trunk-or-treats took longer than I expected, we had to skip trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood. Especially if we wanted to have time to make it to Kendall’s house, which I anticipated being the highlight of the night for both of us.
We still made time to stop by Owen and Sarah’s house, where toilet paper streamed from every tree and bush in their front yard. “I just don’t understand,” Sarah said with a frown, peering out at her yard as Owen dropped some candy into Finley’s bucket. “They did this to the last principal, but why me? Don’t the students like me?”
“I told her it’s just tradition,” Owen said.
“I’m sure they’re just targeting Owen, anyway.” I winked at them, taking Finley by the hand. “Science deniers, probably.”
“That must be it,” Owen agreed, but Sarah wasn’t buying it.
“You guys are full of it.” She bent over to get down to Finley’s level. “I love your costume, Finley. Have you had a fun Halloween so far?”
“Yup. And now we get to go to Ms. Devin’s house!”
Sarah straightened back up, and she and Owen stared at me with the same amused, inquisitive expression. “Uh,” I said, taking a step backward on their porch. “She invited the whole class. I think. Probably.”
“No she—” I covered Finley’s mouth, but it was too late. Owen and Sarah knew exactly what was going on, and all I could do was shake my head. The two of them laughed as we said goodbye, and I had trouble explaining to Finley what she’d done wrong as I lifted her into the Jeep.
“It’s okay, kiddo. I was just goofing off.” She was still confused, but that answer seemed to satisfy her. By this point in the night, it was well after her bedtime, and she was yawning every couple of minutes despite assuring me she wasn’t tired at all. I caught her nodding off as we pulled up to Kendall’s house. “Better not fall asleep, Fin, or you might not get to meet Ms. Devin’s dog.”
That jolted her awake immediately. She unbuckled before the car even came to a full stop in front of the small white house in the middle of the block. At the edge of the porch sat three jack-o’-lanterns—a classic spooky face, a spider, and a jellyfish.
“Look, Dad! Do you think Ms. Devin did that for me?” Finley pointed at the jellyfish when she reached the porch.
“Yeah, Fin—I think she did.” I swallowed, stepping up onto the porch with my hands in my pockets. Finley was already knocking on Kendall’s front door and peering through the glass into the living room.
A dog yapped somewhere inside the house, and within seconds, there were three women at the door clamoring to look at us. The other two practically stepped on themselves to push Kendall out of the way. The one with short blue hair and a sucker in her mouth surveyed me from head to toe with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Did you bring your hammer?”
“Jamie!” Kendall’s eyes widened as she gave her sister a shove, keeping her eyes on me. I’d have to ask her to clarify the meaning of this “hammer” comment later.
“What do we have here?” the other woman asked Finley, standing between the other two with a bowl full of Kit Kats. She tucked her sleek, black hair behind her ears and smiled at Finley. “Are you a jellyfish?”
Finley nodded, but she was craning her neck to see past them. “Can I pet your dog?”
We all laughed, and Jamie pushed the door open wider and motioned for us to come inside. I glanced at Kendall as I stepped across the threshold. She wasn’t in her costume anymore, I noticed—she was wearing black leggings with the fall festival t-shirt, and her hair was loosely hanging over one shoulder. “So, let’s do quick introductions before we let the monster out,” Kendall said. “This is my sister, Jamie, and her girlfriend, Daya—and guys, this is, um, Finley and her dad, Mason.”
Jamie met my gaze, reaching out for a firm handshake. “We’ve heard so much about you,” she said, and I couldn’t help but notice the dimples in her cheeks as she tried not to smile. I could only imagine the kind of things Kendall shared with her sister about me. She probably knew everything.
“Great,” I said with a sheepish chuckle, turning to shake Daya’s hand. “I’m sure she told you all about my laminating and cutting skills.”
“Oh, she told us about your skills, all right,” Jamie said, pulling the sucker from her mouth. I knew it. I managed to laugh this comment off, but Kendall buried her face in her hands.
“Jamie,” she grunted. “Why don’t you guys show Finley where we keep the dog treats?”
Finley put her bucket down on their coffee table and followed Jamie and Daya into the kitchen. Daya opened a door off the kitchen to reveal the shaky white dog, who was wary of Finley until he smelled the treat in her hands. She knelt down with him on the floor and giggled as he licked every last crumb off of her fingers.
“Do you want to see Titus’s room?” Daya asked.
