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“I wasn’t going to be kissing you anymore if I let that icy touch spread up my body. I would have just been frozen like this.” Violet makes a ridiculous pose, like she’s kissing an invisible statue before she bursts into laughter.
I wrap an arm around her, being careful not to let my icy fingers touch her skin. “Come on, then, princess, get inside so you don’t call HR on your boss for letting you freeze to death.”
CHAPTER 36
VIOLET
Istand at our booth at the fall festival surrounded by all the smells of fall: caramel apples, popcorn, and pumpkin spice everything. Hannah and I have set up a display of homemade crafts and baked goods, and a steady stream of people have been stopping by to browse and chat. Hannah did most of the work here, but I’m happy that she doesn’t point that out to people who stop by and compliment us on being “so talented.”
“I can’t wait to see how much money we’ve made! It’s going to help the homeless population so much.” Hannah ducks back into the money box, and I can hear her counting.
“You know, Hannah, we’ve only been open for an hour. You should probably wait until the afternoon to start counting our riches.”
Hannah laughs. “I just want to get an idea of how much we could make per hour.”
I let her do her counting as I answer a customer’s question about the pumpkin bread. “I’ll take a loaf. No, I better take two if I hope to get any before my husband does.”
I place the two plastic-wrapped loaves in a bag and take her money. “Hey, Money Girl, I need $5 change.”
Hannah appears from the box, her cheeks rosy, and makes the exchange. “You just made me lose my place. Now, I have to start counting from the beginning.”
“I just made you $15, so don’t be complaining.”
I turn back to the woman with her change who is watching our banter with amusement. “Now, hold on a second. You aren’t Caroline Haven’s daughter, are you?”
I freeze, then nod. I don’t recognize this woman.
“I’m in bunco with her.”
I blink, having no idea what this woman just said.
She must see my confusion. “It’s a club. We meet once a month to play bunco on Tuesday nights. It’s a fun game. Wow, you have grown up,” the woman says, her eyes scanning me again. I would feel embarrassed if she were a man, but I’m actually pretty proud of the sexy fox costume I put together.
I’m wearing a tight, brownish red bodysuit that compliments my hair, and I added some cotton balls to the front for the white fur foxes always have on their chests. I’m wearing a headband with little fox ears, and I painted my nose black with mascara.
“Thank you. I figured we should do the fall festival in style.”
“We? Are you and her… together?” the woman asks, eyeing our costumes and trying to figure out how they might fit.
Hannah stands up and swirls around in her pumpkin costume. “No, my boyfriend will be here later. He’s a squash.”
I burst into laughter because Hannah hasn’t mentioned anything about Charlie’s costume until now. The woman laughs as well. “What a good sport he is! Well, have a good rest of the festival.” She wanders off, and Hannah admires my costume as well.
“I bet Jay will like it,” she says, raising an eyebrow. I can tell that she still doesn’t completely approve of our relationship, but at least she’s not trying to tell us what to do.
“I guess we’ll see. He’s supposed to get here soon.”
“Please tell me you made him dress up. I need to make sure I have my camera out if you did.”
“He might have. We talked about it, but I haven’t seen his costume or anything.”
Two girls, maybe eight years old, run by holding hands. They are laughing about something, and it makes me smile.
"This place is amazing. I always loved the fall festival as a kid, but it's even better being part of it."
Hannah leans against the booth. “I seem to remember us coming here at that age. We brought plastic bags to fill with candy, and then you kept losing all the games. I had to give you some of my candy.”
“I try not to remember that part.” I poke Hannah in the ribs.
