Page 81 of Flirty Fall Fling

“Thanks, mister!” He pockets the cash and sets off, then points his flashlight at me. “You’re the witch lady. Why didn’t you magic yourself out? Call your broomstick or something.”

“I wish I could,” I tell him with a laugh. “If only.”

“My mom buys your candles. She lights them at the beginning of every month.” He hangs a hard right at the scarecrow. “This is Stan. You’re supposed to go straight right here at this fork in the road. The other two ways loop you back around to the front.”

“The scarecrow has a name?” Jamie asks.

“Obviously,” the kid says.

He takes us through two lefts and another turn I never saw. Ahead of us is the finish line. He’s gone before we can thank him—off to make some more cash from adults, I’m sure.

The finish line spits us out into a square that’s now twice as packed as when we went in. The maze line wraps as far as the eye can see. Every food truck has lines ten people deep. The bachelorette party has taken over the pumpkin patch photo op, with the girls posing one at a time with a questionably shaped gourd.

Phones and cameras are everywhere. A flash goes off to my left, then one to my right. A woman I sold crystals to last week holds her phone up to film the whole square in one slow pan. There is no privacy here. It’s not safe.

Jamie stiffens and tugs his hat lower on his head. The relaxed version of him that did the maze with me has vanished, and the careful guy is back. He’s at a distance, and we walk out with a single glance at each other. Then we pretend as if we did it alone. The crowd shoves us apart, and I lose sight of him.

I pull out my phone and text him.

Blaire

Meet me at my cabin in the mountains. Tonight.

I find him across the walkway, where he pulls his phone from his pocket and reads the text. My phone vibrates.

Jamie

Now?

Blaire

Yeah.

He stops at the pie table, where Josie is working her line. She hands him his box and says something that I can’t hear. He laughs, gives her a wad of cash, and carries it in the opposite direction of where I’m going. I wait five minutes, then move over to her table.

“Did you get lost?” she asks.

“It’s a hard maze.”

“Yeah, yeah. Did you see Jamie in there?”

I laugh. “Josie, the entire town was in there.”

“Mm-hmm,” she says, but doesn’t push.

“I won’t be home tonight,” I tell her. “Going to the cabin.”

Her whole face lights up. “Meeting the one-night stand from last week?”

“That wouldn’t make it a one-night stand,” I tell her.

“Oh, is it someone different?” she asks. “My lips are sealed,” she promises.

“And I don’t kiss and tell.” I shoot her a wink.

“Have fun! I’ll let Winter know,” she tells me.

“Thank you,” I say, giving her a hug. “You’re the best cousin.”