“I do now, okay?” he responds, looking down at his black Converse instead of me.
“Fine,” I relent, obviously not getting anything else out of him. “Be home by midnight. There’ll be drunk drivers and shit, I don’t wanna be worrying about you.”
Alex rolls his eyes so hard I half expect them to fall out. “Midnight. Got it.”
“I mean it, Alex.”
When he pulls open the front door to leave, Iris is standing there looking damn sexy in an oversized white sweater. She smiles, like she’s genuinely happy to see us, and that just melts my heart all over again.
Alex gives her a nod. “Hey, Iris.”
I don’t expect much more than that, so it surprises me when his mouth quirks up into a smirk.
“Y’all have fun handing out candy,” he teases, doing air quotes around the words.
Iris stumbles over her words, but recovers quick enough, calling out, “Be safe, Alex,” with a gentle warmth in her voice.
“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbles, ducking his head as he starts down the sidewalk. I watch him go until he turns the corner, that tight knot in my chest settling in for the night.
When I turn back to Iris, she’s watching me, brows creased with concern. “He’ll be fine,” I tell her, but I’m not sure which one of us I’m trying to convince.
Together, we fill up the Halloween bowl with the best candy bars I could find. I order a pizza, cheese, ‘cause Iris is a vegetarian, and I want what Iris wants.
And when the pizza arrives, we settle in to start our movie marathon.
Iris is curled up on the couch, legs tucked under her, a blanket pooled around her waist. I drop down next to her, holding up the DVD case. “So. Halloween or Psycho first?”
She purses her lips, thinking hard about it, “Halloween,” she decides.
“Good choice.”
Truth is, I would’ve watched a documentary about paint drying if she asked. ‘Halloween’ is one of my favorites, though.
The opening scene starts, and I lean back into the couch, throwing an arm around her. The glow of the TV flickers over her face, catching on the curve of her cheek.
Don’t know how I’m supposed to pay attention to the movie when she’s right here.
We’re pulled out of a particularly scary scene by a knock on the door.
Before I can even start to get up, Iris scrambles to her feet. “I got it!”
I watch her from the couch as she grabs the candy and pulls open the door, revealing a princess, a ninja, and a toddler lion, staring up at her.
“Oh, look at you!” she gasps, holding the bowl down so they can grab what they want.
The kids say their thank yous, all beaming up at her when she tells them to take two.
My heart does something crazy, watching her like that, so sweet with the kids. She would be such a good mother. It hits me hard that I’m even thinking about that.
She closes the door, still smiling, and flops back onto the couch beside me. “They were so cute!”
“They were,” I agree, “But not as cute as you.”
She groans, but she’s still smiling, “You’re hopeless.”
The movie’s over, the candy’s mostly gone, and the only light in the room is the credits scrolling down the screen. Iris looks up at me, and she’s so damn beautiful it hurts. “You wanna watch another?”
She shrugs, still looking at me with those big, pretty eyes, like she’s got something on her mind.
