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Giggles burst out of her, and she turns to grab Arlow in a hug, then steps back to thrust a gift bag toward him. “Happy birthday, old man. Open mine first.”
There isn’t room for everyone in my kitchen, so the cake gets left on the table while everybody gets comfortable in my living room as Arlow pulls a bottle of whiskey out of the gift bag. “I didn’t know what to get and Lee said that’s your favorite one,” Lacey explains.
Arlow grins at her. “It is. Thank you.”
Silver hands him a white gift box, and he cracks up laughing when he removes the lid to find half a dozen huge apple fritters. “Calli told me you tear through these like a badger so they’re twice the normal size.”
“Fuck yeah,” he exclaims, taking a bite of one. “Thank you.”
Retrieving my gift for him from beside the coffee table, I hand it over. He grins at me from his seat on the couch while I stand nearby, suddenly a little self-conscious. “Is it peaches?” he teases.
“Very funny.”
He pulls out a vinyl record I found at a little music store near the mall. It’s a copy of one of mine that he admired. “Hey, this is great!” He beams at me. “I’ve been looking for this forever.”
“I lucked into it in a little vintage record store in Owensboro.” When he starts to set the bag aside, I add. “There’s something else in there. In my defense, I’d already got the record but once I saw it, I couldn’t pass it up.” It hung on the end of a rack of shirts at the entrance to a novelty shop and it was too perfect.
He bursts out laughing, then holds up the tee shirt for everyone to see. It’s the brightest shade of godawful yellowand dotted with tiny bees that surround the words,WARNING, SEXY BEEKEEPER,scrawled across the front.
“You don’t actually have to wear it,” I assure him as he gets up and catches me in a hug.
“Are you kidding?” He shrugs off his hoodie, turns his back to us, and pulls his shirt off. It’s only a few seconds before his broad back is covered again by the beekeeper shirt, but my eyes stay glued to his skin the entire time. I have to stop lusting after this man because getting turned on over a glimpse of a back is absurd. I feel like some man getting a peek at a Victorian woman’s ankle. So ridiculous.
“You are not wearing that to the festival,” Lacey exclaims with a giggle.
“The hell I’m not.”
We all decide to wait for cake until we return and get ready to go. “Anyone want a shot before we go?” I offer.
“I’m designated driver,” Lacey says, regretfully, glancing at her brother.
“Oh, are we getting fucked up?” Silver looks over at me.
“You know you’re welcome to crash here if you do.”
“There’s supposed to be a beer garden. I’m not going to this thing to browse the pumpkin patch,” Lee replies.
Arlow pulls out a package of edibles and offers them to everyone. Silver and Lee accept one, but I hesitate over the bright, sugar-coated candy being held out to me.
“Are you not an edible girl?” Arlow teases.
My gaze skips up to his. “I mean, I’ve never had any complaints.” Jesus Calli, stop flirting with him. “But they usually hit me hard and make me tired.”
Lee, Silver and Lacey have checked out of the conversation and are heading out my front door.
“These are sativa, energizing. If you want to try one, I’ll keep an eye on you,” he offers.
“It’s your birthday. You’re not supposed to be babysitting.”
“Can’t think of a better way to spend it.” His soft words reach inside of me, driving up hope that doesn’t belong there.
Friends, friends, friends.
I pluck the gummy from his palm, tear it, and chew half. “If I freak out in the haunted house, it’s all your fault.”
“I’ll smash those costumed teenagers out of your way.”
The edible hits me about thirty minutes later, and he was right. Instead of feeling near comatose, a wonderful light euphoric sensation washes over me. We start at the beer garden where Arlow, Lee, and Silver grab drinks. I learned long ago that I can’t mix alcohol and weed in any form. It causes instant puking. It doesn’t matter. I feel great as we listen to a local band play for a while, then laugh our way through the haunted house, and walk around to play some little carnival games.
