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A man with gray hair answered the door. I was pretty sure he was dressed as Einstein. His hair was everywhere and he was wearing a lab coat and glasses.

“Trick or treat,” Axel said.

The guy didn’t seem at all surprised by our ages. But then again, he couldn’t see Axel’s face. And I had no idea what he thought of me. He took one look at me and accidentally dropped the piece of candy he was about to put in my bag.

I picked it up off the ground, and Axel grabbed my hand to pull me back down the stairs as he burst out laughing.

“I think you gave that old man a stroke,” Axel said.

“What? No, he just dropped the candy.”

“After looking at you.”

I shook my head and laughed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Maybe he was horrified by my messy hair.”

“I think it was more likely your tight dress.”

I didn’t have time to respond. He’d pulled me up the steps of the next brownstone. A couple answered the door dressed as zombies. They didn’t react to our ages either. We went from one house to the next laughing.

I was kind of kicking myself for not trick or treating the last few years. The air was unseasonably warm for October and for the first time since Jacob had broken up with me, I didn’t feel so cold.

Axel and I ran around like all the little kids. In a race against time for when doors would no longer be answered and all the candy would be gone. But we also took a ton of breaks to eat candy. I was having the time of my life. The sugar rush was definitely part of it.

“Race you to the next street,” Axel said when we reached the end of the decorated lane. He pointed to another decorated street a block away.

Before I could agree to the race, he took off.

“Cheater!” I yelled. I picked up my skirt in my hands to run after him. I laughed as he crossed the street and almost didn’t see a little kid dressed in all black. Axel jumped out of the way and almost tripped.

But even that little hiccup didn’t let me beat him. He was sitting on the curb of the decorated row of houses when I reached him.

I laughed and plopped down beside him. “Candy break?”

“Candy break,” he agreed.

I grabbed a Snickers bar, tore it open, and shoved the whole thing in my mouth.

Axel pulled off his mask. “I’m glad you’re eating again.”

I slowly swallowed the Snickers. “I’m not sure this really counts as food.”

He laughed. “Yeah, well. At least it’s something.”

“I also ate some of the soup you sent me before I spilled it all down the front of myself. Thank you. For sending that. It’s enough to feed an army.”

“I didn’t realize you were upset that I never sent it to you before.”

“I mean...” I shrugged. “I don’t know, Axel. I didn’t think I was. I was just upset today. But sometimes it feels like I care more about you than you care about me.”

“For the record, I wanted to send you soup lots of times. I just figured your dad might take it the wrong way.”

“The wrong way?”

Axel shrugged. “I thought he’d think I was hitting on you, and I didn’t want to make him mad.”

I wanted to laugh, but he looked deadly serious. “You were worried my dad would think you were hitting on me? By sending me soup when I was sick?”

Axel looked up at the sky even though we couldn’t see the stars with how many lights were decorating the street. “Yeah.”