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A gift card that came in the mail right before Christmas that I won from an online giveaway I never remembered even entering.
And all sorts of things through the years that made my life easier and never made me stop and think.
Why in the hell didn’t I ever stop and just think?
He’s been taking care of me all this time. Every year. Every month, and not just in October.
Oh my God. He hasn’t been “just my October best friend” since the day we met.
“Do you get it now?” Marcus asks softly, reaching over and patting the top of my hand. “He doesn’t need to come back to Harvest Grove to check on his bar every year. He only comes back here foryou.”
My body flops down onto the barstool next to me when my legs don’t feel like working any longer, as a rush of memories from the last six years takes my breath away. Why is this all clicking together now? Why didn’t I realize any of this before?
Ford never does any work at the bar when he’s here. I always make fun of him for being such a slacker while I work. Even when he’s here, he still lets Marcus make all the decisions and run all the things. He just fills in as a bartender when we’re busy or he’s bored waiting for me to finish my shift.
We’ve been more than friends since the day we met. I was just too scared to realize it.
I wait for my chest to feel tight and nausea to roll my stomach, but it never comes. All I fell right now is… sad. That I wasted so many years being afraid and not talking about the right things with him… not paying attention.
“You’re still not paying attention, are you?”
“And here’s the final surprise. He told me to give this to you when you came in to get your paycheck,” Marcus says, sliding an envelope across the bar. “I’d just like to state for the record, once again, I thought you already knew everything when I agreed to this. I just thought it was a fun little scavenger hunt he was sending you on. He’s definitely not getting that T-shirt now, the rat bastard. You make sure you tell Callie all this, okay? All that sneaking around I did, and all those phone calls with Ford over the years I hid from her, I did it for the dream of a happily ever after. But if you can’t get to her in time, tell Casper his father was a hero. Tell him I died making sure true love prevailed and—”
“My God, you are worse than your wife,” I cut him off, snatching up the envelope with shaking hands and quickly ripping it open.
Pulling out the black card with a jack-o-lantern on the front, my eyes immediately fill with tears when I see what’s written inside.
Are you paying attention yet, baby?
Underneath Ford’s handwriting is a key taped to the card. But not just any key. The coolest, creepiest skeleton key ever.
“What’s this for?” I look up at Marcus.
He just smiles at me. “After all this, I think you know what that key will open.”
Chapter 17
Ford
“God, we suck at this.”
Marcus: The pumpkin is en route. I repeat, the pumpkin is en route.
Marcus: Have fun! Call me later and tell me everything! If you don’t call by, say, 2 a.m., I’ll call you.
Marcus: Also, you’re a dick. And not a satisfying one that pleases all the ladies. You’re a smelly, limp dick, and we need to establish some clear boundaries in this friendship going forward.
Marcus: Seriously, call me, boo.
I’m still staring down at my phone ten minutes after Marcus sent his last ridiculous text when I hear the key turning in the lock. I’m expecting her, but my heart is still trying to beat its way out of my chest, worrying about how the next few minutes will go.
I hear a gasp as soon as the door opens, like she’s surprised the key actually worked. I clutch tighter to the edge of the brand-new marble kitchen island with both hands when I hear the echo of soft footsteps moving through the empty house, until they stop in the doorway behind me.
“Why do I have a key to the Gore House?”
With one last deep breath, I turn around to see Sidney standing next to a sample of the black cabinets that are being installed tomorrow. I’m suddenly cursing myself there aren’t any chairs in here I can sit down on. My fucking knees feel like Jell-O, seeing her standing in this house for the first time and how right it looks. She’s wearing a white dress made out of a sweatshirt with black sleeves and a black jack-o-lantern face on the front. The soft cotton material clinging to her curves and stopping at the top of her thighs makes my hands itch to slide it up and off her body. Seeing she has on the same pumpkin headband from the night we met just makes this moment even more perfect than I imagined.
“It was the only thing you ever told me you wanted.”
