Page 48 of Trick or Tease

I glanced over at Garrett, who was studying his medium-sized pumpkin with far more attention than a pumpkin deserved. Was it weird I was jealous of a pumpkin? I wanted him to look at me like that. I tried not to notice how his forearms looked as he gripped the carving knife.

Focus, Sabrina.

“You sure you remember how to do this, city boy?” I teased. “It’s been a while since you’ve gotten your hands dirty.”

He shot me a look that was half annoyed, half amused. “I carved plenty of pumpkins growing up. Some of us just don’t feel the need to broadcast our artistic abilities.”

“Oh, so you’re confident then?” I grinned, already plotting my design. I was going to crush them all.

“Let’s just say I’m not worried about the competition,” he replied, making his first cut.

“Famous last words,” Lucy chimed in, scooping seeds out of her pumpkin. “Sabrina takes Halloween decorating very seriously. She’s been perfecting her jack-o’-lantern technique since we were kids.”

“It’s true,” I said proudly. “I’ve got this down to a science. The key is in the planning. You can’t just start hacking away.”

Tyler snorted. “It’s a pumpkin, not rocket surgery.”

“That’s brain science, genius,” Madison corrected him.

“Whatever. How hard can it be?”

Famous last words from Tyler too. I could already tell his was going to be a disaster from the way he was stabbing at it.

For the next hour, the sound of pumpkin guts splattering into buckets and grunts as we sliced and diced filled the air. Billy kept up a running commentary about everyone else’s technique while somehow managing to get more pumpkin guts on himself than anyone else. Lucy was going for something intricate and geometric. The high school kids were trash-talking each other mercilessly. I was completely in my element.

I was going with the classic spooky face, but with some sophisticated touches. I arched one of the eyebrows that gave it personality, and instead of the silly single tooth grin, I gave mine a crooked grin that was more mischievous than menacing.

Garrett worked in focused silence, occasionally glancing up to observe the rest of us but mostly absorbed in whatever he was creating. I found myself stealing looks at him. There was something oddly attractive about seeing him so concentrated, his usual uptight demeanor replaced by genuine focus.

“Time!” Billy called out after what felt like both forever and no time at all. “Everyone step back from your pumpkins.”

We all moved away from the table. I was pretty confident in my work, but you never knew what surprises people might pull out.

“Okay, let’s see what we’ve got,” Lucy said.

Tyler’s pumpkin looked exactly like I’d expected. The boring and very traditional triangle-eyes-and-jagged-mouth face that a five-year-old could have carved. Madison’s was better, with some cute details around the eyes, but nothing spectacular. Lucy’s geometric design was impressive from a technical standpoint, but maybe a little too modern for our old-fashioned scarecrow. And there was nothing scary about it.

Billy’s made me laugh out loud. He’d attempted some kind of elaborate scene with multiple faces all around the pumpkin. It looked a hot mess.

“What the hell is that supposed to be?” Tyler asked, squinting at Billy’s creation.

“It’s a family portrait,” Billy said defensively. “See, that’s Mom, that’s Dad, that’s me, and that tiny one is supposed to be Garrett but I ran out of room.”

“It looks like someone sneezed while carving.” Madison giggled.

“Art is subjective,” Billy replied with wounded dignity.

My turn. I felt a surge of pride. It had turned out even better than I’d hoped. The face had character and charm, exactly the right mix of spooky and approachable.

“Damn, Sabrina.” Tyler whistled. “That’s actually really good.”

“Thank you,” I said smugly. “Years of practice.”

“Let’s see what you’ve got, Garrett,” I said. I just knew it was going to be lame.

He turned his and my jaw literally dropped.

It was incredible. Not just good—incredible. He’d carved an intricate haunted house scene, complete with tiny windows, a detailed door, and even little bats flying around it. The level of detail was insane. Somehow he’d managed to make it look both spooky and awesome.