AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One point for Faith. She always could give as good as she got. Maybe that’s why people are so drawn to her. Aside from the fact that she’s textbook-gorgeous, she’s witty and perceptive. She can read and assess situations while putting off the ditzy vibe, so people are constantly underestimating her. She’s a threat, plain and simple, and I’ll always see her that way.
After a few moments of awkward chewing, I dutifully ask, “So when do you graduate?”
Faith perks up proudly. “December. I’m almost done.”
“Good for you. If I don’t talk to you again before then—” and let’s face it, I probably won’t. “—you have my early congratulations.”
“Thanks. I’ve been thinking about taking some time off to travel. Maybe go to Paris for a few months or something…”
I tune her out because, suddenly, I get a pleasant prickle on the nape of my neck—the sensation I’ve quickly started to associate with Ellister.
The Ellister tingle.
I don’t even have to search the room for him. Somehow, I automatically know where he is.
I raise my eyes from my plate to a place behind the buffet table. My mom is there with him, and she’s letting him test our syrup from the tiny sample cups we give out when people take tours of the place, usually for school field trips.
Even though I can only see one side of Ellister’s face, I easily read the pleased look he has after he’s finished his sample. He motions for a refill, and my mom is all charm as she grins and generously pours him another.
“So, Hannah, what new ideas have you cooked up for this year’s fall festival?” an older man my dad went to high school with brings up the farm’s most popular tradition.
The fall festival goes on for a full seven days, during the last week of October. Each afternoon brings different activities, from pumpkin carving contests to hayrack rides to pinatas full of candy. Then on Halloween, it all culminates with the bonfire, where there’s smores, trick-or-treating in the parking lot, and hot chocolate.
With barely contained excitement, I tell Mr. Harmon about the haunted corn maze. We’ve always had a corn maze, but never one that was spooky.
“We’re actually hiring some drama students from the community college to dress up in costumes and play the parts—all the classic villains. Michael Myers, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. With the strobe lights after it gets dark, it’s going to be terrifying.”
“That sounds wonderful. I’ll tell my boys to come by with their families. What will you be dressing up as this year?”
And just like that, my mood takes another dive.
Every year, my parents and I coordinate epic themed costumes, but we haven’t even discussed it yet.
“Still deciding,” I reply, my appetite gone.
As I push my plate away, the band starts up.
Hopefully they’ll be loud. So loud it will make conversations impossible.
After a quick intro and a reminder to donate, they kick things off with a slow country song.
My parents immediately find each other and make their way to the middle of the empty dance floor. Whether they’re doing it to encourage others to join them or because they just love dancing together, I’m not sure. Probably a bit of both.
They move together perfectly, spinning under the lights before my dad dips my mom. She laughs, stands, and glides into a twirl.
I love watching them when they’re like this. It reminds me of nights I’d sneak out of bed after they thought I was asleep, and I’d sit on the top step upstairs while they danced in the living room.
Mom always said Dad had nothing but two left feet when they met, but she taught him a thing or two.
She taught me, too. I knew how to dance before I learned to read.
More couples join in as they smile and circle the floor.
I wish I could be out there now. With a certain handsome someone.
As if my thoughts of Ellister conjure him up, he’s suddenly heading this way.
“Yum, yum,” Faith mutters under her breath next to me. “Who’s that tall drink of water?”
