Halloween in Avalon. It"s dusk, the sky is filled with pinks and blues as the sun makes its way down the horizon. The younger children are out, bubbling with excitement as they walk with their parents door-to-door, arms outstretched as generous handfuls of candy are dropped into plastic pumpkins and cotton pillowcases.
Generous handfuls of candy, that is, except at the home of Isabel Kidd & Co.
Max and Bettie are stationed at the door, a bowl of candy between them. Max will go out later with Ava, but right now he wants to be there when the first trick-or-treaters arrive. He"s dressed as Batman while Bettie is dressed as . . . well, Isabel"s not too sure what Bettie is dressed as. Imogene had called to warn her that Bettie was heading out the door toward Isabel"s even though Imogene had planned a little Halloween party with some friends of theirs.
"No thank you," Bettie had said when Isabel met her halfway down the block. "I have no intention of sitting around eating canapes with a bunch of grown women dressed like fools." She marched on toward Isabel"s, wearing something that made her look like a cross between a fairy princess and school crossing guard. She managed to sneak Abe"s fire chief hat to boot. She saw Isabel taking in her costume with amus.e.m.e.nt and snapped, "Before you say anything, Isabel Kidd, I am the exception. I always am."
Isabel couldn"t argue with that.
So Max and Bettie are on door duty while Isabel and Ava figure out dinner. Isabel knows they don"t both need to be in the kitchen at the same time, but it"s fun cooking with another person. As odd as it is, what started as a simple spaghetti dinner has turned into spaghetti alla chitarra, one of Bill"s favorite dishes. There"s dough and flour everywhere as Isabel tries to remember how to put the pasta maker together. Yvonne is going to join them, and has said she has big news. Isabel tried to press her for details, but Yvonne wouldn"t say.
Max appears in the doorway, looking sad. "No one"s coming to the house anymore," he tells them. His gla.s.ses shine beneath his mask.
"What? Why?" Isabel gives the pasta maker a crank and grins when it seems to work.
"The candy . . ." Max starts to say, when they all hear a screech from the front door.
"GIVE THAT BACK!"
Ava and Isabel wipe their hands on their ap.r.o.ns as they hurry to the door. Bettie is engaged in a tug-of-war over a plastic trick-or-treat bag with a boy dressed as Superman.
"What"s going on?" Ava asks, bewildered.
"She"s taking my candy!" the boy says, giving one final jerk as the bag breaks free from Bettie"s grasp. He stares at her. "What are you supposed to be, anyway?"
"It"s obvious," Bettie sniffs. "But if you don"t know, I"m not going to tell you." She"s about to reach for his bag again but he puts it behind his back, looking to Isabel for help.
Isabel turns to give him some candy when she sees their bowl is overflowing. In fact, there"s much more candy in there than Isabel had originally bought.
"Here you go," Isabel says, scooping up a handful and dropping it into his bag. "Don"t forget to brush your teeth!" She ushers the boy out the door and closes it quickly. "Um, Bettie?"
Bettie puts her hands on her hips. "What?"
"Is everything all right?"
"Of course. Why wouldn"t it be?" There"s a knock on the door and Bettie"s face brightens. "Duty calls! Max, come on!"
Isabel and Ava watch as Bettie throws open the door. "Happy Halloween!" she sings.
Well, that"s not so bad. A little dramatic, maybe, but not anything that seems problematic. Isabel"s about to turn away when she hears Bettie add, "Now what do we have here? Ooh, Tootsie Rolls! My favorite!" Bettie reaches into the little girl"s pumpkin and comes up with a fistful of candy, which she promptly adds to the candy bowl before closing the front door. She turns to look at them. "This is one of my favorite holidays," she tells them.
"You"re not doing it right," Max says, taking the words right out of Isabel"s mouth.
"He"s right," Isabel says. Ava is giggling, no help at all. "You"re supposed to give the kids candy, not take it."
Bettie looks at them blankly. "But it"s Halloween," she says. "You always get candy on Halloween!"
"Only if you"re the trick-or-treater . . ." Isabel gives Ava a helpless look. "You want to try?"
"I can take them trick-or-treating," Ava suggests. "If you want to man the door. They say exercise is good for dementia, and that way we can get candy, too. We can finish up the pasta when we get back."
"Don"t talk about me like I"m a child," Bettie says, looking hurt for a moment. "I haven"t completely taken leave of my senses." But she looks a little confused.
"I"m sorry," Isabel says. "But Ava"s right-a walk is a good idea."
"I"ll wash my hands and grab my jacket," Ava says.
Bettie sniffs. "Well, hurry up then. The good stuff"s going to be gone if we don"t go soon." She asks Max, "Do you want gum or chocolate? If you had to choose?"
"Gum," Max says instantly.
"Good, because I want chocolate. We can trade later. Promise?"
Max nods solemnly.
Yvonne comes up the walk, a bottle of wine tucked under her arm. She looks more radiant than usual, and she"s beaming.
"Nice gutters," she says with admiration. "So what do you have him working on now?"
"That"s enough from you," Isabel says with a roll of her eyes, but then she grudgingly adds, "He"s going to ramp the steps leading into the house. And I have a few other projects . . ."
Yvonne grins as Ava, Max, and Bettie step out onto the porch. Ava has Max so bundled up that it"s hard to see what he is save the Batman mask and cape. Bettie is wearing one of Isabel"s white fleece jackets and has Abe"s fire chief hat on her head.
"We"re off," Ava says. "Hi, Yvonne!"
"Hi, Ava. All settled in?" Yvonne smiles.
Ava nods. "It"s wonderful," she begins, then glances surrept.i.tiously at Isabel before quickly ushering Max and Bettie down the steps.
"Hey Yvonne!" Bettie calls over her shoulder. "I ordered some new 3-D stickers just for you. It"s the "Home Improvement" line-you can even lift the lid on the toilet! Will you be at the next sc.r.a.pbooking meeting?"
"I wouldn"t miss it." Yvonne gives them a wave as they merge onto the crowded sidewalk.
"What was that?" she asks as she follows Isabel inside. She puts the bottle of wine on the side table. "That look that Ava gave you just now?"
"She"s trying to keep it under wraps because she knows it makes me nuts when she gets all emotional and Pollyanna about everything," Isabel complains. "I threatened to lock my bedroom door and never come out if she says thank you one more time."
Yvonne laughs as the doorbell rings.
Isabel opens the door and a throng of children are on the porch, their pumpkins and treat bags thrust at Isabel. They"re all talking at once and Yvonne has to whistle to get their attention.
"Is she gone?" one kid asks breathlessly. It"s a boy, and he"s dressed like a Dr. Seuss character, a tall red and white striped hat leaning precariously to one side. "I heard she emptied out Stewie Lane"s entire stash!"
"And she yelled at Bernadine Preston," a girl says snootily. She"s wearing an angel costume but hardly looks angelic.
"That"s because Bernadine made fun of her costume," another boy says loudly. Isabel would recognize that shock of red hair anywhere. Jacob Eammons is dressed like Tom Sawyer, which is as perfect a costume for this kid as any. "Bernadine"s mean; she deserved it."
"You kids should consider yourselves lucky," Isabel tells them. "My ex-husband was a dentist and he used to make you brush, spit, and floss before leaving the porch."
There"s a shocked hush as the kids just stare at her.
"Nice way to kill the crowd," Yvonne whispers as she grabs handfuls of candy and starts dropping them into outstretched bags. "Happy Halloween!"
"It was a joke," Isabel mutters. "I stink at this kid stuff."
"You"ll do better next year," Yvonne a.s.sures her as the kids walk away. "Max will make sure of that."
"It"s so different having a kid in the house," Isabel says. "And not just any kid, but Max. He wants to know everything-the questions are never ending. And I don"t have the answers. My favorite was, how big is the sun? I couldn"t tell him to go look it up since he can"t even read yet."
"You don"t have to have the answers," Yvonne says. "But you can help him figure them out. It takes a village, remember?"
Isabel makes a face but then the two burst out laughing. Isabel"s sure there hasn"t been a village quite like hers before.
"I"m glad things are working out for you, Isabel," Yvonne says, giving her a hug. "I know you"re disappointed that Bettie didn"t move in, but this ended up happening instead. You might have gone through with the sale of your house otherwise."
"I know," Isabel says. There"s knocking on the door as little voices call out "trick or treat!" They go to answer it and start pa.s.sing out candy. "And the funny thing is that Bettie is here anyway. Ava and Max still sleep in the same room because he"s not used to the house yet, so the other room is basically a guest room for Bettie to take naps or whatever. She sneaks over all the time, which drives Imogene and Abe crazy, but I think it"s great for them, too, because it gives them a break. During the day Ava and I will both be working, so Bettie"s better off with Imogene during that time. So far we don"t have to hire anyone else to help with her, it seems to be working between our two houses." Isabel looks guilty. "Though I guess it"s lonely for you, since we were going to be housemates for a while there."
Yvonne gives her a big goofy grin. "Oh, I don"t know about that. I think it might work out well for me, too."
"Oh?" Another wave of children heads up the walk. "Are you going to tell me what"s going on?" Their candy supply is depleting quickly, and Isabel"s wondering if maybe Bettie had the right idea after all.
"I"ll tell you later," Yvonne says, smiling at a little girl dressed as a mermaid. "When it"s a good time."
Isabel turns to face her friend. "Yvonne Tate, it"s never a good time," she reminds her. "This is life, remember? Tell me now!"
"Okay, okay." Yvonne clutches the candy bowl in her arm and waits until the last child has disappeared from the porch. "I saw Sam the other day. He came to Avalon."
"Sam?" Isabel is confused at first, and then recognition crosses her face. "But how? Where?"
Yvonne"s eyes are shining. "He"s living in Bangor, Maine. He"s a forest ranger. After this whole thing with Hugh and watching you with Ava . . . I wanted to know, you know? If he was all right, if things had turned out okay for him. I didn"t want any unfinished business between us."
"That was pretty unfinished," Isabel agrees. Then she looks at her friend, eyebrows raised. "But now?"
Yvonne doesn"t say anything, just gives a small nod, her face bursting with happiness. "It"s good. We"re good. Sam"s not married. He thought I was married and living in New York, a socialite, two-point-five kids in private school." Her face clouds for a moment. "My parents and sisters-they didn"t tell me the truth about Sam. And they didn"t tell Sam the truth about me. You"d think after all these years I"d know not to trust them, but for some reason it was all so awful and all so possible that all I could think was that it had to be true. All this time, lost." She looks into the waning night, lit up with lights and laughter.
"I"m sorry, Yvonne," Isabel says, sensing her friend"s sadness.
Yvonne quickly looks back, wipes her eyes. "No, it"s okay, Isabel. Sam and I talked about it and we both feel the same way-we weren"t old enough to know better, and getting married might not have worked out anyway, because I was still listening to my family. My family is all about control, financial and emotional. If we had gone through with it, they would have found a way to sabotage or break up our marriage, I"m sure of it. But now . . ." She smiles. "It"s just us. And I don"t care what they have to say about Sam or my life anymore."
Isabel"s mind is spinning. "If you weren"t standing here in front of me, telling me all this, I wouldn"t believe it."
"I know. I"m waiting for the eyeball roll," Yvonne says, poking her friend.
Isabel shakes her head. "Not this time. I like the idea that two people can find love. It"s nice to know that anything is possible."
"Well, you"re living proof of that."
Isabel grins. "I guess so." She looks at Yvonne. "So what now? If he"s living in Maine and you"re in Avalon . . ." A thought crosses Isabel"s mind and she clutches Yvonne"s arm. "You can"t move!"
"I"m not planning on it . . . yet. He was only here for a day, Isabel, but we"ve been talking and emailing and we"re going to set our schedules so we can see each other every week. He"s flying here again next weekend and you"ll get to meet him then. He"ll also be talking to his boss at work-Illinois has over sixty state parks so he wants to see if there are any opportunities nearby."
"Wow," Isabel says. Things are moving so fast for Yvonne and while Isabel is happy for her, she doesn"t want her to get hurt, either.
"I know it seems fast," Yvonne says, reading her mind. "And while we both agree that we need to spend more time together to get to know each other again, we both also know that this is it. We"ve been waiting for this moment, Isabel, and we aren"t going to sit around asking each other about our favorite movies or our idea for the perfect vacation. We"re past all that. We just want to be together."
"Don"t get angry," Isabel says. "But what if it doesn"t work out? If you move or he moves, what if you do all this and it still doesn"t work out?"
"Then we"ll know. I"m not scared to try, Isabel. I"m more scared not to try." Yvonne continues handing out candy to the kids.
Isabel thinks about this. "Better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all?" she quips.
"Or . . ." Yvonne takes her friend"s hands in her own, gives them a rea.s.suring squeeze. "Maybe it"s better to have loved and lost and then found love again." Yvonne gives her a knowing look and Isabel knows Yvonne"s not talking about herself, but Isabel, too.
"Sheesh, get a room already," comes a call from the walkway. They turn and see Bettie marching toward them, hand in hand with Max, their plastic jack-o"-lanterns already overflowing.
"That was quick," Isabel says, giving Yvonne"s hands a final squeeze before turning to face them.
Ava looks a little dazed. "Bettie knows everyone," she says. "People were very generous with her and Max. I think someone even gave her a ham."
"The Jaffertys. Horace and Aurora owe me big-time for the time I helped them find Chuckles, their pet iguana. It was the day before the state compet.i.tion. Chuckles ended up with a blue ribbon, he did." Bettie nods, satisfied. "I told them we"d pick it up in the morning. It"s frozen, so we can save it for Thanksgiving."
Isabel is staggered by the thought. Thanksgiving already? They haven"t even gotten through Halloween!
And then, of course, the holiday rush won"t end. Christmas, New Year"s, Valentine"s Day, Easter. Max"s birthday, Ava"s birthday. Isabel"s birthday. Bettie"s birthday. Yvonne"s birthday. April Fool"s Day, St. Patrick"s Day. The list goes on and on.
Isabel looks at the people around her, talking and laughing all at once. This is it, she realizes with a smile.
This is my life.
"Trick or treat!" The kids line up outside Frances"s house, clamoring for the apples dipped in caramel and wrapped in an envelope of wax paper.
"I still cannot believe that you did this," Reed says in amazement, looking at the trays and trays of apples. He had to work late at the office and has just arrived home, his tie pulled loose around his shirt collar. "How many did you make?"
"One hundred and fifty," Frances says. "But I took a couple of shortcuts. I used those mini Braeburns and the microwave to melt the caramel." She hands the apples out, making sure each one has a tag with their name on it. She doesn"t want the neighbors worrying about the apples or where they came from, so she included their name and phone number just in case.
Reed looks around. "I think kids from Barrett and Laquin are here," he says. "Word spreads fast."
Frances smiles. "I have extra candy in case we run out."
"Where are the boys?"
"Nick took them out with a couple of his friends. They have a parent with them, so don"t worry."
"I"m not worried," Reed says. There"s a chorus of delighted screams from across the street. "What the . . ."
"Oh, that"s just Ida Church," Frances explains. "She decided to dress up as an alien this year and scare all the kids. She has a fake s.p.a.ceship in the driveway but that"s a decoy. When you walk over to it, she jumps out from behind a tree. The big kids love it, of course, but I told Brady and Noah they can"t go over. I don"t want them having nightmares." There"s another chorus of screams and Frances shakes her head, a smile on her face.
"You"re doing too much," Reed tells her as he watches her unwrap another tray of caramel apples.