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Chapter Five

Today was turning out to be the best day ever.

Last night with Callum was surprising, and eye opening, and interesting. That boy was the most attractive man she'd ever met, and she couldn't stop thinking about him. He'd been so cute when she'd handed him the bag of Snickers-infused kettle corn, and had given her a big hug. It was one of those long, rocking hugs that made her feel like he wasn't just interested in fooling around with her in the costume shop dressing room. That part was still confusing, because she had definitely stepped out of her normal with a stranger, but she'd chalked it up to Callum's hotness. She just hadn't been able to resist him, and that was that.

He'd driven Stacia and her piles of fancy costumes back to the hotel in his big fancy pickup truck, and he'd carried it all inside. He'd said he had to go back to work, but he lingered like he didn't want to, and ended up agreeing to hang out for a few minutes on the patio attached to her room. When he'd left, he got her number and squeezed her hand, kissed her knuckles lightly, and told her, "Don't overthink what we did in the costume shop. I've never done that either."

And that was enough to keep her from overthinking last night. In fact, she'd slept like the dead and woken up late this morning to a list of fun stuff to do from Alex on her bedroom floor, and a good morning text from Sexypants Dressing Room Diddler, as she'd labeled Callum in her phone.

She'd grabbed a gourmet sandwich from a deli down the street Alex had added to her list, and was now dressed in a fitted fox costume she'd brought from home, complete with orange sequin bodysuit, a tail, black wedges, ears, and painted- on whiskers. It was the most comfortable costume she had for walking around a pumpkin patch.

She parked in the sprawling dirt lot in front of the pumpkin patch and marveled at all of the people flooding in.

This must've been some event the town had planned!

And she was a part of it!

And Callum was going to be here. That alone had her putting a second coat of mascara on her false lashes.

Her friends back home didn't even realize what they were missing out on. She'd begged them to come for years, but they'd been too busy with work, engagements, marriages, and kids, and this was the year Stacia finally stopped waiting around for a travel partner and took her life by the nuts and made it happen! And now look. She'd had one of the most exciting twenty-four hours of her entire life!

When she got to the end of the line, she got a little worried. It was huge. What if the pumpkin patch stopped taking entries?

"Stacia!" Someone called, and she looked around to find Alex waving to her from the front gate. The dark-haired woman was wearing her hair straight and had a long, black, curve-hugging dress on. Her make-up was very pale with dark accents.

"Morticia Addams?" Stacia asked as she reached her.

Alex put her hands on her hips and posed. "Nailed it."

"I have to wait in line but I'll be in there as soon as possible."

"My brother told me to wait out here and make sure you didn't stand in the line."

"Your brother?"

"Callum."

"Gasp! You're an Ashbrock, too?"

Alex laughed and slipped an entry bracelet around her right wrist. "I sure am."

"Wait, how did you get this bracelet?" she asked, looking guiltily behind her at the long line of waiting patrons.

"Callum pulled some strings."

"Oh. Does he know the people who work here?"

"Yep, every one of them." She waved to a couple of people dressed as Rhinoceroses. "He owns this place."

"He what?" She must've misunderstood over all the noise and people saying hi to Alex. Geez, did she know every single person in town?

Alex gestured all around them. "This is Callum's."

Stacia skittered to a halt. "No. He works at Wendell's Costume Shop. He helped me choose costumes yesterday like my own personal shopper."

"He just did that because he likes you. Come on."

What the heck? she mouthed to herself. He didn't even work at Wendell's? So, he'd just been what? Passing by and saw her in the VIP room and thought that girl looks like she could use some costume advice and a nice finger-bang in the dressing room ?

He really owned all of this? Stacia scanned the pumpkin patch. From here she could see rows and rows and rows of vendor tents, a petting zoo, a train ride, hay rides out to a pumpkin patch that stretched as far as her eyes could see, a corn maze, a creepy, entirely humongous haunted house, and a bunch of buildings that held God-only-knew-what kind of adventures with people scurrying in and out of them like ants. All around her, people were having a blast.

And this was his?

Okay. This was the part that intimidated the hell out of her. He would be very sought after in this town and probably had the attention of every red-blooded woman in a twenty-mile radius, and he would pretend Stacia was just his friend so he didn't mess up with any other little fishies he had on the line.

That happened to her a lot.

"There he is," Alex said.

Near the first vendor's tent, Callum stood talking to a pretty blonde in a sexy vampire costume.

Here we go.

When he saw Stacia, his serious face transformed into a greeting smile, and he gestured them over.

Any insecurities she had were put in the grave when he pulled her in and laid a kiss on her lips right in front of the pretty vamp.

"Della, you know my sister Alex, and this is Stacia. Stacia, Della and her husband Joe are our newest wine makers, and this is their first year here at Boo-zy Trick-Or-Treat. She's nervous."

"Don't be nervous," Stacia told her. Nervousness was an awful feeling. "You're going to do great."

"Thank you. There are just so many vendors here, and it's hard to grab attention."

A new wave of entrants was heading their way. Stacia shoved Callum in front of her, and pulled Alex in line behind her. "Hey, will you come help us out real fast?" Stacia asked a couple of women who were milling around talking.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Will you just come wait in line with us for a minute?"

"What are you doing?" Callum asked.

"There's a fresh crop of newbies headed our way, and everyone pays attention to a line. Means they've got the good stuff."

Della's grin lit up the tent. "Well, now you definitely need samples. We have a dessert wine with candy corn garnishes or a—"

"You had me at candy corn," Stacia assured her.

"Same," Alex called over her shoulder.

Della handed them little plastic glasses with a sip of wine in each and candy corn around the rim. Stacia linked her arm in Alex's and they drank it.

"Okay!" Stacia exclaimed. "Dammmmn, that's really good!"

A trio of ladies got in line behind them, and Stacia stalled a little longer by buying a bottle from Della. It really was to die for.

"Thank you," Della murmured as Stacia handed her cash. "That was awesome."

"Kill it today," she told her with a wink. "By next year you will be a pro."

When she turned to Callum, he had this soft smile on his face that wreaked havoc on the flapping bats in her stomach.

He hooked an arm around her shoulders, pulled her in close, and murmured close to her ear, "I like that you're good."

Flattered, she did a little curtsy and then she and Callum caught up to Alex, who was meandering down the row of Boo-zy Trick-Or-Treat tents.

She spent the next hour and a half getting a complete and personal tour from the man who created all this. He had to stop and answer questions, or delegate tasks to the people who worked for him from time to time, but for the most part, his planning was done and people were just having fun.

He introduced her to everyone. There wasn't a shy bone in his body. Callum was very serious most of the time, but that was okay. It made her feel even better when he smiled or laughed at something she did or said. Outside the haunted house, a tall, handsome man caught up to them. "Hey Cal, the funnel cake truck just flooded. Something about a busted pipe."

He was talking to Callum, but he was staring at Stacia. His eyes were stunningly bright, like Alex and Callum's, but his face wasn't near as friendly.

"Okay, I'll handle it. Liam, this is Stacia."

With a friendly smile, Stacia offered her hand for a shake. "Nice to meet you, Liam."

"She doesn't look anything like Iris," he said.

"Liam," Alex snarled in a gritty voice Stacia didn't recognize.

The man's face twisted with anger for a split second before it morphed into a mask of indifference.

Callum didn't say anything, only watched Liam ignore her offered hand.

"Who is Iris?" she asked, confused as she let her hand drop to her side.

"Liam must've had a long day," Callum rumbled.

Liam canted his head and lowered his bright gaze to the ground. His body posture changed in a second, and the anger left him.

"Sorry," he murmured. "I'll fix the water pipe."

One last glance for Stacia, and then he slunk away. That was weird.

Callum watched him go with a frown and narrowed eyes.

"What was that?" Alex murmured.

"I'll talk to him," Callum said in a steely voice.

"Is he your best friend or something?" she asked, knowing he was important somehow.

"Yeah. We've been friends for a very long time. I was excited for you to meet him."

"Maybe he just doesn't like me?" she asked. "Sometimes that happens. I had three teachers in middle school who thought I was the most annoying student ever, and they would always give me notes to bring home to my mom. They said I was always talking too much, and not paying attention, but I always made A's on their tests so they couldn't do anything but complain to my parents. Then I moved on to high school where I annoyed more teachers. And students. And the janitor. And Vice Principal Markle. And the crossing guards, and also this mean little Chihuahua in one of the yards I walked past on my way home from school every day. So you see, it's okay if Liam doesn't like me right away. It's kind of common."

Alex giggled, and Callum even cracked a smile. "Fuck that Chihuahua," Callum murmured.

"Yeah!" Stacia said, relieved that he didn't look upset anymore. "His name was Beans and he was the meanest."

Alex was laughing harder now. "You made enemies with a dog with the name Beans?"

Stacia nodded magnanimously. "It's a gift I don't take for granted."

Everything went back to being easy after that, but Stacia couldn't shake the feeling that she'd somehow messed up, or that Liam had her confused with someone else—this Iris person.

She did her best to move on and just enjoy the day, and she did, for the most part, but that name kept replaying in her brain.

Iris.

Iris.

Why did that name feel so familiar?

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