“What about the ballroom? I know you don’t want to hold it there because of the murders, but it’s a nice place.” He finished his piece of fudge and eyed the tray.
“It’s booked. The Baptist church has a recreation hall we could use, but it’s small and stuffy. I don’t want to do it there.” It was my fault we didn’t have a place to hold the reception. I hadn’t gotten around to looking into it when like I should have.
His mouth made a straight line. “We’ll have to come up with something.”
“Why don’t you have it in our backyard?” Mom suggested.
“Your backyard?” I asked, turning to her.
She nodded. “Sure, there’s the gazebo back there, and you could rent some tables and chairs, and string some tiny clear lights in the trees. I think it would be sweet.”
As she spoke, I suddenly pictured it. Mom and Dad had a large backyard, and the white wooden gazebo was sitting at the back of the yard. We could set tables with food beneath it, and string the tiny lights all over the yard. It would be beautiful. I looked at Ethan.
“What do you think?”
He grinned. “I think it would be perfect.”
“I think so, too.” I looked at Mom. “Let’s do it. We weren’t planning on having a fancy dinner anyway. We could set the food up buffet style, get some pretty centerpieces, and put everything together without any trouble.”
She nodded. “Let’s do it, then. We can come up with a lot of ideas to make it really pretty.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Mom, you just solved all of my problems.”
She smiled and shook her head as she turned the fire on beneath the saucepan. “I’m not a problem solver by calling, but I can do it when the pressure is on.”
I chuckled and kissed Ethan. Mom and Dad’s backyard would be perfect.
Chapter Two
After Ethan left, Christy and I set about cleaning the candy store and making sure all the shelves were filled. We had extended the front counter when we had moved the kitchen and there were new glass candy dispensers with wrapped candy on the extended front counter. Taffy, striped candy sticks, gumballs, and an assortment of gummy candies and licorice.
We’d also bought a few new decorations for the store, including a life-sized scarecrow that sat on a bale of straw, and a gigantic jack-o’-lantern with a happy grin that sat next to him. Clear twinkle lights were strung around the front window, and we put up fresh spider web in the corners. I glanced around the shop, making sure everything was ready and in its place.
“Looks pretty good, doesn’t it?” Linda Reid asked as she came to stand beside me and look over the shop herself. Linda was one of our part-time employees, and a friend of my mother’s who had proved to be an excellent addition to the staff.
“I think it does. I still need to stop by the gift shop and pick up some blackberry pie and pumpkin spice candles Polly got in. We can burn them and make the place smell even tastier than it already does.”
“Oh, blackberry pie candles? I might need to stop by there myself and pick up a few things for my house.”
“They sound good, don’t they? I want to put some on the front counter, and maybe put some here and there on the shelves.” I stepped forward and straightened a fabric witch that was hanging precariously from a shelf.
“I can hardly wait for the Halloween season. Pumpkin Hollow Days are far too short for my tastes.”
I smiled. “You’re right. I still prefer the Halloween season. The weather is beautiful in the fall, and I get to wear sweaters and boots. We’ll just call Pumpkin Hollow Days a dry run for the big show.”
She chuckled and headed to the kitchen. “I’ll see if your mother needs any help.”
The bell over the door jingled, and I turned toward it. Mary Jones walked through the door and smiled at me. “Hi Mia,” she said. “I was driving by, and I suddenly had a hankering for your mother’s fudge.”
“Well, you came to the right place then.” I went back behind the counter while Mary stepped up to the display case.
“You all did some rearranging in here, didn’t you? I guess I haven’t been in here in a long while.”
“We did. We took over the shop next door and turned it into our kitchen and made the shop a little bigger.”
She looked around, her white curly hair bobbing with the motion. “Well, I like it. It gives you more room to put out more candy. That’s a good thing.” She chuckled.
“We thought it was a good idea with all the Internet sales we’ve been doing. We just didn’t have enough room to pack and ship everything in our former kitchen.”
She looked at me. “The world sure has changed since I was young. I guess just saying something like that makes me sound old.” She chuckled and looked into the display case again.
“Nonsense. You’re only as old as you feel.”
She chuckled again. “The problem is, I feel old.” She shrugged, grinning. “Oh well, I guess if I don’t tell anyone, maybe they won’t notice.”
“That’s right. With tomorrow being the start of Pumpkin Hollow Days, you get a chance to feel like a kid again. You can dress up and go trick or treating with the kids.” On the last Saturday of Pumpkin Hollow Days, the kids would go trick or treating at the businesses. I could hardly wait.
She laughed again. “I have a feeling that will never happen. Do you have some of your mother’s pumpkin spice fudge in yet?”
I eyed her. “Well, it’s not supposed to
