Page 122 of The Woman in the Hollow
Five kids.
Only one girl.
Her Aunt Valley was going to have endless advice for her on surviving a house full of boys.
“What do you want to do with our free night? Sleep? Watch a movie?”
“Nope. We need to start planning next year’s Hollows. Grab the catalogs I left on your nightstand. We have a lot of work to do.”
Hazel - 23 years
“This is weird,” I declared as we watched our sons saunter (yep, they were in their sauntering stage of life) away toward the woods, each of them decked out in horror paint.
The next generation of DG Greens haunted woods performers had arrived.
It was an oddly full-circle moment.
We’d watched all the kids practically grow up at the garden center, working with me during the days, or coming after school to help out. And, of course, having fun during all of the seasonal events.
They were finally old enough to actually work there.
And they were stoked about it.
“It really is,” Dante agreed, sliding his arms around me.
“I’m going to have to see thirst trap videos of our sons online in reviews of this place.”
“Maybe we’ll be going on a digital detox until the Christmas season,” he decided as a group of girls, phones out already, started following our boys to the woods.
“I think you might be right,” I agreed.
“Look at this,” Dante said, giving me a squeeze.
“Look at what?” I asked.
“All we created,” he said.
I was helpless but to glance from the maze, to the craft station, the haunted house, the shop, and, yes, the woods where our kids were all gathered.
We really had created something, hadn’t we?
“I love you,” he said, turning me in his arms.
“I love you too. A million apple cider donuts.”
“Not a million slices of pizza?”
“Wow, what an ego you have. Trying to compare yourself to my one true love, pizza.”
“I guess I can settle for being second best,” he agreed, pressing his lips to mine.
“Keep kissing me like that,” I said, breaking off with a panting breath, “and we’re going to have to go lock ourselves in the gardening shed.”
“I don’t see a problem there,” Dante said, eyes full of promise. “Actually, how about you and I get out of here?”
“It’s opening night!”
“We’ve done twenty-three of these. We deserve to take one off.”
