Take Three (The Jilted Bride #2)(51)

“Well it is! Do you want to go on a date tonight? How about trick or treating?”

How old are we again?

“I don’t really do trick or treating…And I don’t have a costume so—”

“Excuses! Just wear jeans and a T-shirt. Meet me at Sweet Seasons at nine! Talk to you later!”

“Selena, wait I—”

She hung up.

If she had been any other woman, I would have simply said “no” to trick or treating and that would have been it; but Selena had a way of disarming me and I always found it quite difficult to tell her no.

As a matter of fact, even when I did tell her “no” all she had to do was guilt me with one gray eyed glance to get me to change my mind.

I pulled up to Sweet Seasons at eight forty five and took a seat at the coffee counter. Although the shop was due to close in fifteen minutes, there were a lot of people standing around.

An elderly man handed me a pink flyer and put his hand on my shoulder. “Make sure you come out and support the best bakery in town all next week.”

I looked over the flyer and tried to force the sour taste of guilt back down my throat:

Support Sweet Seasons!

Show Autumn Wonder where the heart of Fayetteville really lies!

Half-priced Sweets and Pies for the next week!

Save Sweet Seasons!

I tried to tune out the conversations that were happening all around me, but it was no use: “Did you hear how Autumn Wonder stole their mile high chocolate pie? They stole the exact ingredients!” “Why do these big companies always come and stomp on us? Don’t they have enough money from the big cities?” “Maybe we could organize a bigger rally.” “We should contact their corporate office and try to talk things out.” “Or maybe we should burn it down!”

I whipped my head around to see where the arson comment had come from—an elderly woman who was standing atop a chair and waving her fork in the air.

“There’s no need for violence, Mrs. Hansen,” Selena’s mom pulled down the window shades. “We just have to keep fighting and hoping for the best.”

There was a collective mumble of “Yeah,” “I guess,” and “She’s right.”

I took several deep breaths and shut my eyes.

I silently repeated the speech I prepared yesterday and promised myself I would speak it aloud by the end of the night: “Selena, I know we haven’t known each other that long and that you have no obligation to stay with me after I tell you this but…I really like you—a lot, and I want to continue dating you, despite the fact that…I’m the CEO of Autumn Wonder. I came to town to stake out the competition and figure out ways to put local competitors out of business. I know it sounds cruel, maybe even cold-hearted, but it’s the truth…I honestly had no idea that you and your mom were connected to Sweet Seasons…If I could take back everything I did—shipping all of your pies to Boston to get the exact ingredients and deliberately underselling your shop’s prices, I would…Please forgive me…I really don’t want to lose—”

“Are you coming Ethan?” Selena shook my shoulder. “Or did you want to continue staring into space?”

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked her up and down—smiling at her sexy Tinker-bell costume.

She could make a potato sack look good…

“I’m coming,” I moved off the stool and followed her out of the store. “We’re going trick or treating in town?”

“No,” she laughed. “I’m going to drive us to my mom’s house. We’re going to trick or treat where people actually live.”

She unlocked the doors to her mother’s white SUV and waited for me to climb inside.

“Before we go I need to tell you something Selena,” I placed my hand over the gears.

“What is it? Are you scared of trick or treating?”

“What? No…Actually, I’ve never been trick or treating so—”

She gasped. “How is that possible? Weren’t you a child once?”

“I’m sure everyone was at some point,” I laughed, “but that’s not what I was going to tell you.”

She revved the car up and smiled. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it can wait. I think getting your first trick or treating experience out of the way is far more important right now.”

I wish I could agree with that…

We pulled up to her mother’s place and she jumped out of the car. She ran over to my side and flung my door open.

“We’re already late. Come on,” she reached for my hand and practically dragged me inside the house.

There were Halloween decorations everywhere: Large cobwebs with plastic spiders hung from the ceiling, dimly lit Jack o’ lanterns sat every few feet, and skeletons dressed in different costumes—Jack Sparrow, Cinderella, Peter Pan—were standing near different doorways.

In the kitchen, a group of twenty kids was sitting quietly on the floor. They were listening to “Pocahontas” read a scary story and eating black and orange pumpkin cookies.

“Is everybody ready?” Selena screamed.

“Yeah! Yes! Selena’s back! Awesome!” the kids screamed back.

“Alright, get your treat bags ready and meet me on the porch! You’ve got two minutes!”