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“She is not,” Vincent says, coming into the room.
“Where’s Sutton?”
“In her bed. She was asleep before I even covered her up.”
“I’m not tired,” Jace says, his eyes droopy as he yawns.
“I am,” Luca says, already under the blankets in his bed. “Can we do two stories tomorrow instead of one tonight?”
“Sure thing, bud,” Vincent tells him, holding out a hand to help me from the bed. “Get out of that child’s bed.”
“But I’m sleepy too,” I say.
Vincent chuckles, but he takes a step back as I tuck Jace under his blanket.
“Did you boys have fun today?”
“So much fun!” they both say excitedly, their voices still filled with the tiredness they feel.
“Sleep well,” I tell them as I back out of the room.
“Nope,” Vincent says, clasping my hand when I try to turn toward our bedroom door. “I have something to show you.”
“Can’t you show it to me in our bedroom?” I grumble, but I’m mostly playing.
I’m tired, but I can feel his excitement which eases some of that exhaustion.
“The corn maze?” I ask.
His smile is contagious, and I begin to fill with anticipation. I’ve been through this thing more times than I can count today. I ran through it with the boys. I toddled through it slowly with Sutton. I traveled in and out a hundred times with Em and the others, hanging decorations in preparation for the kids.
I freeze when I hear whispered voices.
“I’m not the type of person who likes to be scared,” I warn, a wave of chills covering my arms.
I snap out a curse when shadows appear at the opening of the corn maze.
Vincent holds up his phone, the flashlight shining on Max, Tug, and Jasmine as they exit the corn maze.
“Really?” Vincent snaps, and the three of them look a little chastised.
They also look like they had a very good time inside. Jasmine’s hair is filled with debris and vegetation. Tug has hickeys on his neck that I know for a fact weren’t there earlier in the day because he spent an hour in the dunk tank shirtless.
“Have a good night,” Max says, waving at us before the three of them disappear into the darkness.
“I think they had a good night,” I say, slightly embarrassed by proxy because my cheeks would’ve flamed red if it had been us emerging from the darkness and others predicting what we’d done.
“I want you to take my phone and walk inside.”
“Can’t you hold the phone? Why do I have to go alone? I don’t like being scared,” I say for the second time.
“You’re not alone,” he says. “Never alone. Come find me.”
Before I can argue, he drops his phone in my hand and disappears into the darkness.
My hands tremble a little, but I step forward, my fear fading away immediately after the first turn. Small flickering candles mark the path, their flames reflecting off of glass hanging on a stalk of corn. Upon closer inspection, I see that it’s a copy of the picture that I took in the hotel, the one where the boys are sleeping next to Vincent with Sutton asleep on his chest.
My heart pounds a little harder. We have this same picture on our bedside table.
