Chapter 25

ChapterTwenty-Five

Jeanie had worked in the sometimes cut-throat, always intense, high-stakes finance world for seven years of her life, but nothing had prepared her for Dream Harbor’s Fall Festival costume contest.

Logan sat beside her at the judging table, his face set in an expression of grim determination.

She nudged his leg with hers. ‘Isn’t this supposed to be fun?’ she whispered. Although, at this point even she was beginning to doubt it.

‘According to who?’

Logan had already broken up one almost fist fight between two moms decked out in athleisure, each claiming their little zombie was the most terrifying. The pocket on his flannel hung limply from his chest from where one woman had clawed at him as he removed her from the stage. That little incident was followed by a debate over which version of Batman was the ‘real one’ and then a riot had nearly broken out when Nancy and Jacob took to the stage dressed as their favorite romance-novel cover. Their costumes were deemed ‘too sexy’ for a family event, which led to a rather keyed-up chant about First Amendment rights and a speech from Nancy about raising well-informed, sex-positive kids.

It had been quite the day.

But they’d made it to the end. On the makeshift stage in front of them stood the finalists. A toddler-sized bumblebee who looked to be about five seconds away from wetting their custom; a very convincing Wednesday Addams, made all the more impressive by the fact that Andy was actually a forty-five-year-old Black man; and Jeanie’s personal favorite, Mindy Walsh, deputy mayor, dressed as a perfect Mayor Kelly, right down to the hideous tie and a dream bubble made of posterboard hovering above her head.

A gaggle of witches, Star Wars characters, a baby pumpkin or two, some adorably dressed-up dogs, and the full cast of The Wizard of Oz stood off to the side in the grass, having not made the cut. Jeanie could feel the vengeful looks being sent her way by several sore losers. At this point in the day, she was actually worried about what they might be plotting.

Tammy sat on her other side, acting as the third judge. Apparently, she did this every year and took her job very seriously.

‘A bee won three years ago,’ she whispered now, leaning in toward her fellow judges.

Logan blew out a long sigh on her other side.

‘Does that matter?’ Jeanie asked.

‘It sure does, honey!’ Tammy sounded utterly shocked at her ignorance. ‘People wouldn’t like it if the winner was always a bee.’ Tammy was a transplant, born and raised in Louisiana. It was evident in everything she said.

‘Uh ... right. Of course.’

Tammy scanned the stage again, like maybe she’d pick up on some detail that would make the winner suddenly obvious.

‘Well, I think Andy put in a lot of effort,’ Jeanie said.

Tammy scoffed. ‘It’s not about effort. It’s about the best costume. Objectively speaking.’

Objectively speaking. Sure.

Jeanie could have sworn Logan groaned beside her. He seemed to be slumping further and further down in his chair like the thing was swallowing him alive.

‘So, the winner should obviously be’ Jeanie hesitated, hoping Tammy would fill in the answer for her. And Tammy was more than willing to oblige.

‘Mindy as Mayor Kelly. Gotta be.’

Jeanie grinned. ‘Yes. Gotta be. Agreed.’

‘Logan, do you want to weigh in here?’ Tammy leaned forward to see past Jeanie.

He shook his head so hard that Jeanie worried it would snap from his body and roll away. ‘Nope. You nailed it again, Tammy. Mindy it is.’

Tammy smiled. ‘Great. I will relay the results to Pete.’

‘I hope she hurries,’ Jeanie whispered to Logan. ‘I think the bee is gonna lose it.’

Logan glanced at the stage, where the little bee now had her legs crossed, and then over to where Tammy and Pete were discussing the results. Pete seemed to be shaking his head as though he disagreed with the winner. Tammy glanced back at the judging table gesturing toward Jeanie and Logan.

‘Oh, no, are we going to have to deliberate again? Is there some rule about not dressing up as a real person?’ Jeanie asked. She officially never wanted to see another costumed town resident ever again.

‘Hell, no,’ Logan growled. He stood up from his seat at the judges’ table and cupped his hands around his mouth. ‘Mindy wins, little bee second place, Andy third. Collect your free donut coupon from Pete and clear the stage.’

Groans of dismay mingled with cheers of excitement and if Jeanie wasn’t mistaken, some rather loud ‘boos’ from the back of the crowd. Mindy pumped a fist in the air in a silent gesture of victory and the little bee ran off to the bathroom.

‘Geez, you weren’t kidding,’ Jeanie said with a sigh. ‘That was intense.’ She was actually sweating.

Logan gave her a rueful smile. ‘I told you; this town can be a lot.’

Jeanie twined her fingers with his and Logan’s smile hitched higher. ‘I like it.’

‘How do you feel about haunted houses?’ he asked, mischief glinting in his eyes as the sun sank below the trees. A pleasant thrill raced up Jeanie’s spine.

‘Nothing can be scarier than them.’ Jeanie gestured toward where some of the contest losers gathered ominously. She wouldn’t be surprised if they held pitchforks.

Logan huffed a laugh. ‘Let’s go.’ He tugged her with him, keeping her close by his side as they made their way across the festival.

In fact, Logan kept her there even when they hurried past Kaori and her family; the book club president only had time to raise her eyebrows in surprise. Jeanie grinned back in return. He kept her right beside him as they stopped to say hi to Noah, even as the fisherman’s grin grew bigger and he actually winked at Jeanie. Logan held her hand as they passed the bakery tent and waved to Annie and Hazel inside.

He even brushed a kiss on her cheek as they waited in line for Linda and Nancy to let them into the firehouse-turned-haunted house.

And with every little gesture, with every happy glance from the people around them, some of the nerves, the doubts, the worries eased in Jeanie’s gut. This was her home now, her friends, her customers.

Her Logan.

She liked it.

She wanted to keep him, to keep this, to live in this perfect day for as long as she could.

‘How scared should I be?’ she asked, as they made their way through the spider web-covered entrance. Logan squeezed her hand.

‘Well, the local scouts set this up every year. They tend to go pretty hard––’

Logan had barely finished his sentence before a deranged clown leaped out from the dark. Jeanie shrieked and buried her face in Logan’s sleeve. The clown cackled maniacally and returned to his position to scare the living hell out of the next customers.

‘You okay?’ Logan asked, amusement clear in his voice.

‘Yep, fine. Totally fine,’ she said, her face still pressed against him, her heart racing. He chuckled softly and led her around the next corner. A rather undersized witch stirred a smoking cauldron in the corner, but she recognized Logan and gave him a big grin before remembering her role and fixed her face back into a scowl.

Jeanie stifled a laugh.

Logan tugged her along, the smile clear on his own face even in the dark.

They wound their way through the maze-like interior of the house, with Jeanie clinging to Logan’s hand. If she was honest, after the first scare from the clown she was fine, but any excuse to be this close to Logan was good with her. Maybe they weren’t going to hide anymore, but it was fun to be away from the prying eyes of the town for a few minutes. Especially, when Logan pulled her into a corner, his mouth finding hers in the dark.

‘Hi,’ she whispered against his lips.

‘Hi.’ His voice was a low rumble. ‘Are you enjoying the festival?’ he asked, nipping her bottom lip.

‘Very much.’ His hands traced her hips. He squeezed her ass and tugged her closer. ‘Even more so now.’ She sounded out of breath like they had run through the haunted house.

Logan groaned, nuzzling against her neck. She gasped as he ran his teeth across the sensitive skin there.

‘Hey! Who’s that? I told you kids—’

A bright light flashed in Jeanie’s eyes, and they froze, Logan’s hands still clutching her backside, Jeanie’s leg already hitched over his hip.

‘Logan?’

He groaned and pulled away, and Jeanie knew that had it been light enough she would see the blush creeping up his cheeks. But he didn’t shove her away this time. Just took her hand and faced Linda and her flashlight.

Linda laughed in delight. ‘I thought it was those damn teenagers again! I’ve caught three different couples already making out in here. Guess we need to make it scarier next year.’ She turned, laughing to herself, and made her way back through the maze.

Logan ran a hand down his face. ‘Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have—’

‘Let’s go back to my place.’

‘This obviously isn’t the time or the place, I just ... wait what?’

‘Let’s go. No interruptions this time,’ she said.

Logan’s eyes widened briefly before he dropped his mouth to her ear. ‘No interruptions?’ His breath was warm against her skin and Jeanie leaned into him further.

‘Nope. Just you and me.’

His low groan vibrated through her.

‘I mean, unless you wanted to go to the bonfire instead...’

‘Absolutely not.’ He grabbed her hand, and they raced through the rest of the haunted house leaving a very confused ax murderer and headless horseman in their wake.