The Fling

48

The doorbell chimed right as I finished getting dressed in my costume. I went downstairs and answered it, finding my boyfriend on the pumpkin-laden porch.

"Happy Halloween," he said cheerfully. "You look adorable, baby."

I was made up to look like 80's era Madonna because we'd decided as a family to go with a music theme. Given that I was born when she was riding her wave to stardom, it felt right to me. I had on black capri leggings with a black mini-skirt over them. I'd found a mesh t-shirt online that I put over a black tank top since a bra was too risqué, and I already had a denim jacket that fit the look perfectly. The only things I had to buy were a short blonde wig, which I'd teased and sprayed the hell out of, and a couple dozen black rubber bangle bracelets which I paired with some black gloves that I cut the fingers off of.

"Thanks, but why aren't you dressed up?" I pouted. The idea was that we all participate, and my boyfriend was currently wearing a white t-shirt and faded jeans- a look I saw him in all the time. Had he not understood that he was included in the family theme?

He winked at me and turned around, revealing a red kerchief shoved in his back pocket. "Get it?"

Thanks to my mom's album collection, I got it instantly. "Bruce Springsteen. Cute, but you get a C for effort."

Shawn looked horrified by my critique. "You are giving me a C?! Seriously? Are you trying to give me high school flashbacks?"

"You shoved a bandana in your pocket. What do you expect?" I laughed.

"Hold up! I have my guitar. That completes the look!" he said as he jogged back to his black SUV and retrieved it from the back seat. "Better?"

"You're up to a C+." This was completely unfair, because this man never was anything below an A+, but he was so fun to mess with.

"I'm accepting nothing less than a B. By the end of the night, I'm getting there!"

I leaned in closer so that I could whisper in his ear, "It's a weeknight, so unfortunately your best shot at raising that grade is out of the question."

His brown eyes grew darker. "You're killing me. Here you are looking sexy as fuck in that costume, and I'm going home without even a-"

I cut him off, "I can put it on another time, Boss. Let go inside. We need to eat before we take the kids trick-or-treating."

"You never told me what Hannah and Bertie decided to wear, by the way," Shawn commented as we entered the house.

"I kept that a secret on purpose because they want to surprise you. They are upstairs finishing their nightly reading homework and will get dressed after we eat so that they don't get food all over their costumes."

I ordered Chinese for tonight because I never cooked on Halloween. My kids liked lo mein and fried rice, but I picked out Szechuan chicken and crispy shredded beef for Shawn and me. I also got soup, steamed dumplings, and egg rolls.

"Is Lizzie here?" Shawn asked.

"Are you still being weird about what happened?"

"No. Just curious."

"She is out with friends tonight, which Bert is not happy about," I shared as I grabbed some plates from the cupboard.

"She'll be safe, right? She's not going to drink or smoke and drive?"

I swiveled to face him. "You sound like a dad."

Shawn shrugged. "I care about your kids, so of course I worry."

My heart skipped a beat because this meant so much to me. Not all men could become so invested in their girlfriend's children, yet he'd adapted to being a part of their lives almost effortlessly. Sometimes this made me wonder if he could be satisfied with only being a stepdad, but usually it hit me that he needed to experience fatherhood from pregnancy onward since he was such a natural. I pushed that thought from my head. "Can you call the kids down for dinner?"