Page 44 of Trick or Treat

The dark leather couch positioned under the front windows was older, but in good condition. A matching chair sat at an angle to the couch facing the television. With the coffee table and two end tables there was no room for additional seating. An average size television sat on a small wood entertainment center with DVDs, a gaming console and some video games on the shelves below it. She also spotted several pictures of Trick and his kids scattered throughout the room. Curious, she got up to check them out a little closer.

Keegan and Reagan were adorable when they were younger. Keegan with his blond hair looked so much like his dad, there was no denying he was Trick’s son. Reagan must look like her mom with the beautiful black hair and brilliant blue eyes. Her heart strings tugged as she spotted a picture of Trick holding a baby Reagan who couldn’t have been more than a month or two old. Even then the little girl’s eyes were amazing. What really got to Lindsey was the look of pure adoration on Trick’s face as he smiled down at his girl as if she held the moon and the stars in her tiny little body. It made Lindsey wonder if she might have been a little hasty in her decision to end things with Trick. Maybe she should have found a way to make things work? A way to have him and keep her job, too? Had she been too much of a coward?

She returned to the couch and got comfortable. She inhaled deeply and was instantly surrounded by Trick’s unique leather and clean soap smell. She’d noticed it immediately upon entering the house, but it was really noticeable here amongst the cushions.

“Do you want some chips or fruit snacks, Miss Hicks?” Keegan yelled from the kitchen. “Or we have grapes, bananas or ice cream!”

She doubted Trick would want the kids eating ice cream before dinner, so she told him she’d take fruit snacks, hoping they would follow her lead.

Reagan came running into the room and jumped up on the couch next to her, Keegan following along at a slower pace. He handed her the small package, then took a seat on her other side. “Cool.Avengers. I like this one.”

Lindsey was surprised that Reagan didn’t cause a fuss that she’d picked one of her brother’s favorite shows and not a princess movie. Instead, she handed her fruit snacks to her and asked her to open them. “Pleeease?

Good God. Who could say no to a pretty little smile like that? The thought of Reagan tying her dad into knots over boys and using that same mile to get her way when she got older had Lindsey smiling and silently chuckling to herself. She would love to be here to see that.

Secretly, she was a big fan of the Marvel superhero movies. Sure, she’d still know the basics, such as the characters as they pertained to the good guys and the bad guys given she worked with third graders, but she couldn’t help it, she loved the movies, too. And the kids were always so shocked when she could carry on a conversation about Iron Man or Thor or the Hulk.

It was almost an hour into the movie when her phone started ringing. She leaned forward and dug it out of her purse. When the phone lit up that it was Trick calling, she got up and went to the kitchen to talk so she wouldn’t interrupt their movie. “Hello?”

“Hey, Linds. I was just calling to let you know we’re heading out now. They finally have the highway clear and I should be home in another hour and a half. Maybe two depending on traffic.”

“Oh, okay. That’s fine.” She was looking out the kitchen window and wondered when it had started snowing. She loved when it snowed. Everything outside always seemed to go so quiet, so peaceful.

“How are the kids doing? They driving you nuts about what movie to watch?”

She could hear the humor in his voice confirming he’d more than likely lived through just that situation too many times to count. “The kids are great. We’re watching anAvengersmovie right now and eating fruit snacks.”

Trick chuckled. “Reagan didn’t bug you for a princess movie?”

“No. Keegan suggested she let me pick what to watch and she was good with it. They’ve both been sitting on the couch next to me. Reagan’s a bit of a snuggler.” The girl was adorable. Lindsey secretly wanted one just like her.

“Yeah. She likes to root around until she’s comfortable. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you’re comfortable or not as long as she is.” She could just picture Reagan on the couch with her dad, rooting around until she had him just the way she wanted him.

“Hey, do you care if I fix them something to eat if they get hungry before you get home?” She didn’t want to presume she had full rein in his kitchen. The last thing she wanted to do was make him mad by snooping around his cabinets without permission.

“Sure. No problem. I’ve got sandwich material in there if they get tired of snacks.” He paused for a moment then it sounded like he was talking to someone with his hand over the phone. “Hey, Linds. We’re heading out now. Gotta go. Call me if there’s any problems or if the two of them can’t get along. I’ll straighten ’em out over the phone.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine. Be careful. See you soon.”

They both hung up and she returned to her spot on the couch between the kids. She snuggled down into the couch again, Reagan wiggling until Lindsey’s arm was around her. She tipped her head back and smiled at her before she went back to the movie. For just a moment she let herself pretend that this was normal, that she came over to Trick’s house all the time to spend time with him and his kids. That they always watched a movie together after school, waiting for Trick to come home. Ugh. Once again, she found herself second-guessing her decision to end things with Trick. Had she messed up?

Twenty minutes later and Lindsey was fighting back tears and ready to be done with the movie. Stupid movie. It was a superhero movie for crying out loud. You weren’t supposed to be crying at a superhero movie. Finally, the movie credits started to roll and she’d never been so happy to end a movie in all her life. She stood up and stretched out her back as a way to hide how close to the surface her tears were.

“I’m hungry,” Reagan got up and headed toward the kitchen.

“Me, too,” Keegan agreed and followed his sister.

Lindsey didn’t have anything better to do, so she followed the kids to the kitchen.

“I want this.” Reagan pulled a box of brownie mix out of the cabinet.

“Reagan, you can’t eat those. Someone has to make them,” Keegan tried to tell her.

“Make them.” She shoved the box at Keegan.

“I don’t know how.” He shoved them back.

“But I want them,” Reagan persisted.

---