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Allison gaped at them. For the longest time,shehadn’t realized how she felt about Colin. How had the rest of them already known?
“It’s… more than that.” Colin moved to Allison’s side and braided his fingers in hers. “Right?” A whisper only for her. The uncertainty in his hazel eyes turned Allison’s heart to putty. His doubt was comforting. It reminded her that they were treading this path together. Stepping over their old footprints to find a new way.
“Right. We’re…” She wanted to be the one to say it, to etch them in stone. “Together.”
Colin brought her hand to his lips. “So together.”
Mandy beamed. “Even better.”
They sat down, and shoving aside their homework, recounted for their friends how they’d met at Brown, and how they’d reconnected over the last month. The whole time, Allison couldn’t help but feel like Mandy’s words were right, even if she hadn’t meant them quite that way.
Because things with Colin and Allison, were, without a doubt, so much better.
Chapter 30
For a month every year, the Wetlands Trail at the Roger Williams Zoo became a veritable jack-o’-lantern wonderland. Glowing grins and eyes were carved into pumpkins of all shapes and sizes: some leering, some cackling, some almost friendly. Others boasted artistic renderings of everything from famous movie scenes to portraits of celebrities, fictional characters, and even landscapes. They were balanced on tree branches, stacked along fence posts, trailed across the roofs of any available structure, lined up on the borders of the paths. Basically, anywhere a pumpkin could fit, there would be one, until their yellow dancing light dashed out even the glow of the moon and stars.
Allison’s hand was woven with Colin’s, and she tightened her grip as she drew him toward a cluster of pumpkins that bore the likenesses of sea creatures. Leaning forward to inspect the Loch Ness Monster, she let out a happy sigh. “I just love this place.”
She’d been attending the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular every year since she was a freshman at Brown. Halloween was already her favorite time of year, but the intricacy of the carved pumpkins and their sheer number made this particular spot feel a little more magical than anywhere else.
With Colin’s presentation only ten days away, Allison had suggesteda night out. They both needed a break from school stress, and since Halloween fell on a Friday this year, there seemed no more perfect way to spend All Hallows’ Eve.
Colin stood next to her, admiring a nearby kraken. He kissed her temple as he gestured toward the pumpkin. “Look at the details in this thing’s tentacles. I can’t even draw on paper and these people are engraving gourds with masterpieces, using nothing but cutlery.”
“They probably start with pencils,” Allison quipped.
He narrowed his eyes. The lenses of his glasses winked in the wafting candlelight. “Don’t ruin my illusions.”
He kissed her again, this time a light flutter of his lips at the base of her jaw that made her heart dance. That mouth of his was a menace in every way.
As they stepped back on the trail, a group of little kids in superhero costumes ran by screaming with candy-filled bags slapping against their legs. It had rained for much of the day, and they stampeded in puddle after puddle, spraying torrents of water all over the path. Allison smoothed a few drops of water off the front of her striped chiffon shirt. (It might have been a mistake to wear something dry-clean-only to a rain-soaked zoo, but they were on a date, and she would dress like it, damnit.)
She watched the kids disappear around the corner. “I guess we wouldn’t have looked so out of place if we’d worn costumes.”
Colin huffed. “Idid.” He plucked at the front of the T-shirt beneath his burgundy cardigan, a giant red cross on a white background, the insignia of the Knights Templar.
“A T-shirt is not a costume.”
“You made me leave the sword and shield in the car.”
He’d shown up at her house with a plastic sword not even the width of his gangly arm, the strap of its matching shield hanging in the crook of his elbow like a purse. He’d looked like a babysitter playing dress-up in his charges’ wardrobe. “I was offended by your lack of effort,” she said.
He snorted. “I’ll make sure to forge my own armor next time.”
Allison jammed her hands on her hips. “Considering I spent most of my formative years devouring any bodice-ripper romance with a knight on the cover, and now study their predecessors for a living, I feel like it’s the least you could do.” She didn’t dare admit how many daydreams she’d had about being swept off her feet onto the back of a steed by a hot, gallant knight.
He sketched a bow. “I swear, milady, the next time I dare to don armor, it will be authentic.”
Satisfied (and also slightly distracted by the image of Colin conjured by his promise), she looped her arm in his. Though it had only been two weeks since their trip to Maine, everything between them felt so natural. As if they’d been together—the word sent a happy shiver through Allison ever since they’d said it out loud—for years, not days. Not that they were falling into old patterns, but rather finding new ones that had always been there, waiting and unused.
For a while, they walked along in a companionable silence broken only by the occasional stolen kiss or admiration for a particularly striking pumpkin. Finally, they rounded the last bend of the trail and joined the line for the snack bar. The smell of starchy fries and sweet fried dough dusted in sugar overwhelmed Allison’s senses. She’d been so busy earlier working on her PowerPoint for her presentation for Wendy that she’d forgotten to eat lunch, and her stomach was beginning to revolt.
She was studying the menu above the order window when she heard the distinct tenor of a most unwelcomed voice.
Cole. A few groups ahead of them. Laughing loudly.
Allison spun around, putting her back to him. Her heart was in her throat and throbbing too hard for her to swallow. A few hours ago she’d had to kick him out of recitation for being disruptive, and he was the last person she wanted to run into right now. Especially with Colin, who still thought her classes were going great.
