5 Reasons To Love Again

Chapter 78

I was going to sit in the back seat with Lexine but they insisted on me sitting in the front passenger seat. Their chivalry never stopped! Jake drove while Preston and Wyatt sat in the backseat with Lexine. Soon we were on the road headed to Charleston. I felt excited because I hadn't been on an outing with more than one of those guys since the night that we went to Bob's Diner.

Jake took a glance over at me while he drove. "You look happy sweetie. Happy to get out of the house?"

"Just happy to be with you guys." I said smiling big. Jake returned a big smile to me and I felt two different hands patting my shoulders. I lifted both of my hands up and gave each hand a small squeeze. "Plus, I really like to look at Halloween costumes and decorations. It's fun!"

"You like decorating for the holidays?" Preston asked me.

"Yes," I replied turning my head to look at them, "But it's Christmas that I really get into. I love decorating the tree and putting up little things around the house in December."

"We'll have get some decorations then." noted Wyatt and Lexine nodded enthusiastically.

"You want to decorate the house too?" he asked her and she nodded again. "You'll have to show me the things that you like at the store."

Soon Jake pulled the car into a parking lot of a strip mall and came around the car to open my door for me. Preston and Wyatt got Lexine out of the car and held her hand on either side. Jake held mine and he led us to a costume shop. Not the kind with premade cheaply sewn together kits, but a genuine costume store with vintage, used and new actual costumes.

Letting go of Jake's hand, I wandered through the racks of costumes admiring the them. I even saw ballet tutus which brought back memories of being on stage. There was even a lovely costume from Swan Lake! I sighed and brushed my fingers across the black feathers.

I heard a voice behind me, "Did you ever wear that one?" I turned around to face Preston.

"No, I didn't. This is for the lead ballerina. I was only in the corps de ballet. My ankles were never going to be strong enough to be a professional dancer."

"Ah, well.." his voice trailed off as he searched for the right thing to say. He placed a hand at the back of my neck and said, "Everything happens for a reason and for my part, I'm glad that events led you here to me. That probably would not have happened if you had pursued a career in dance."

I smiled up at him. "I'm happy that things brought me here as well." I slipped my hand into his and we went to see what kind of costumes that Lexine was interested in. She was busy looking through racks of kid sized costumes with Wyatt and Jake who alternately held up different costumes to show her and she just kept shaking her head no. I decided to help them out by asking her what she had in mind. I leaned down to her and she whispered in my ear that she wanted to be a scary witch, not a cute one.

I relayed the information to the guys who looked surprised. "She doesn't want to be a fairy or a princess?" Jake asked surprised.

"Nope, she wants to be a scary witch, not a cute one so lets look for a costume in her size." I told them. We went through the racks but I was having a hard time finding a classic witch costume without sparkles, glitter and cuteness. Jake went to the counter to ask about one, the employee went to the back and came back with a the perfect costume for her. It even had a black hat to match and a broomstick. Lexine gave her approval and we were done!

Jake paid for the costume and we all piled into the car to head to our next stop. We went to an arts and crafts store that had a lot of decorations and things for Halloween. I picked out wooden carved words like Boo decorated in orange and black or purple and green. We even found some costume makeup so that she could have darkened eyes and a small plastic cauldron with a handle to collect her candy in. Lexine saw a display that had a haunted village sold in pieces. It was kind of like the Christmas ones except all Halloween with movement and music. She got the guys interested in the display also and before I knew it they had a couple of carts filled with boxes.