Sapphire Falls: Going Haywire (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Rachelle Ayala

  “No. Stay put. Mattie wants to see the haunted house.” He glanced at his watch. “I’m sure I have a plane to catch.”

  Honey could see from the side of her eyes that her in-laws, or her ex-in-laws, were taking the kids and shepherding them from the living room to give them some privacy.

  “This is exactly why we’re always fighting.” Honey blinked back the tears in her eyes. “You always put your job first. It wouldn’t matter if you were here at the credit union or traveling through the countryside pitching your ideas to the farmers or jetting off to New York for a financial conference.”

  “Honey, you know you and the kids are first. Don’s not sure he knows all the details of the deals I was working on. I need to be there. I’m sure of it. He wouldn’t have called if he didn’t need me.”

  “But, I need you.” The words were out before Honey realized she was being stupid and selfish. “Fine, of course, I don’t need you. I have your family and Mattie and Sara. I’m sure I can enjoy the festival with them.”

  “I’m sorry, Honey.” He kissed her forehead. “But you do have them.”

  Again, he glanced at his watch and Honey knew he was itching to leave. Her Max was addicted to the thrill of business, the negotiations, the problem solving, and ultimately, it would always be more important to him than family. She might as well accept it, or they were already sunk.

  “Go, Max. Go.” She kissed him and gave him a brief hug. “I’ll see you when we get home on Tuesday.”

  “Sure, and I meant everything I said. We’ll move in together and start from there.” He was already halfway out the door.

  Honey stood at the threshold and watching him jog down the driveway and into the rental car. She waved at him, but he never turned around.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Honey held it together while saying goodbye to the Wolffs. She pretended she didn’t care that Max had run back to California at the drop of a hat. After all, his job was important, and he’d already spent almost forty hours with her.

  She took the kids to the square, and Mattie bobbed for apples while Sara got her face painted. She noticed Liz’s red wagon parked under a beautiful oak tree with burnished red-orange leaves, but she didn’t have the heart to visit. The gypsy had said she would give both Honey and Max a fortune if they showed up together.

  Honey was sure whatever fortune she would get now would be bad.

  The haunted house was open, but the lines were long, and Honey knew Mattie wouldn’t take it well without a nap first. He and Sara were definitely drooping, but fighting it and getting cranky.

  That and the cotton candy and soda pop that flooded their veins were enough to make them fly over the moon while exhausted and whiny.

  Honey watched the happy families strolling around the square and said “hi” to a few of the people she’d gotten to know or had seen around, but no one stopped to talk to her. They were either giving her space or no longer considered her one of them.

  “Time for a nap,” she announced to Mattie as they entered their suite, the Elvis Room. The room Max had stayed in had already been cleaned, and Honey supposed someone else would be checking in.

  “I don’t want a nap,” Mattie said, rubbing his eyes. “I want Daddy to take me to the haunted house.”

  “We’ll go after you take a nap.” Honey stayed firm. The haunted house was the only leverage she had left, now that her entire weekend had fallen apart.

  “Mommy?” Mattie looked up at her with his clear blue eyes, so much like Max’s. “What’s a divorce?”

  Sara had already fallen asleep in the stroller, so Honey picked Mattie up and placed him on the bed. She laid him down and rubbed his hair from his face. With luck, she wouldn’t have to answer his question.

  His eyes drooped, but he kept jerking them open. His little eyebrows were creased with worry that a four-year-old shouldn’t have to endure.

  She continued rubbing his silky hair and marveled at what a privilege it was to be the primary caretaker, the person that a child turned to and trusted—mainly because she was the one who was there when he opened his eyes in the morning and the last person he saw at night.

  She was the one who’d taken him to his first day of preschool, jumped into the pool with him for swimming lessons, and held his hand on his first airplane trip. She took out splinters, kissed boo boos, toilet trained him, fed and dressed him, and in return she got the hard questions and the trust, and the slobbery kisses and the grimy hands around her neck.

  She wouldn’t trade it for the world.

  He expected an answer, and he was fighting sleep for it.

  She held his hand, interlocking her fingers with his little ones. “You know what a time out is.”

  He nodded, eyes wide and solemn.

  “A divorce is a big time out for Mommy and Daddy.”

  “Is that why Daddy’s never here?”

  “No, sweetie. Some people’s daddies work in other countries, because their job is important. Your daddy’s job is important, too, because he helps people raise money.”

  “Then what’s a Mommy and Daddy time out?”

  “It means we don’t live in the same house and we don’t do things together, but that we still love you and Sara, so we do things for you and Sara. Like this Halloween trip. We came here together because of you.”

  Mattie blinked and yawned, and then his eyes closed, satisfied with her answer—for now.

  Honey leaned over and kissed his forehead, then tucked the quilt over him. She retrieved a sleeping Sara from the stroller and wrapped her up next to Mattie.

  Usually when they napped, she’d rush to her laptop and write a few words in her manuscript, but she was exhausted, physically and emotionally, and lonely. Isolated.

  Her make believe characters, no matter how smart, how caring, how hip, how full of snark, how independent they were—they weren’t her friends. They could never take the place of a real human relationship.

  Her heroes might be hunky and perfect, accomplished and hot, able to please women and command armies—but they couldn’t hold a candle to a real, living, breathing man—one with flaws, but also one who could make her feel alive, challenged, and yes, frustrated, but still make her laugh and cry, fight and make up, and cover her with his own kind of love—imperfect, but true.

  She didn’t want a hero. She wanted Max. If only he could see that he didn’t have to be a billionaire or a country boy or a cowboy or a vampire or shape-shifter or any of the hero types.

  Honey checked her phone to see if Max had texted.

  He had.

  Honey, I’m sorry I had to leave so quickly, but I need to be there to answer questions. I’ll see you hopefully tomorrow. Can I take a raincheck on the haunted house?

  This was real, and definitely flawed. She shook her head and said out loud to herself, “No, Mattie and I are going today. Not all of life can be rainchecked.”

  Besides, the Monster Mash dance party was happening tonight. The countdown to Halloween would be at midnight at the gazebo. The fireworks on Klein Hill. All were not raincheckable.

  She texted him back.

  Mattie’s taking a nap right now, but I promised him the haunted house tonight. He’ll have a tantrum if I try to delay it.

  He didn’t answer. His text message had been several hours ago, and he was probably in the air at the moment.

  Everything was confusing and weird. That was how real relationships were. Honey needed to talk, so she called her sister, Candi, a dance instructor who had a sculpted body to die for—or at least not eat sweets for.

  “Hey, Honey,” Candi’s sweet voice chirped on the line. “How’s munching with the monsters going? Have you let any of that white poison cross your lips?”

  “I’ll have you know that Sapphire Falls is one of the sweetest, most sugary places, but no, I have not even tasted any of their chocolates, toffee bars, fudge, brownies, muffins, cakes, pies, and cobblers. As for candy corn, yuck.”

  “Good on you!” C
andi said. “I haven’t called you because I thought you’d be busy with ex-Max. How’s that going?”

  “Not going at all.” Honey’s voice drooped. “He’s gone back to California on business.”

  “I won!” Candi squeed. “Didn’t I bet you he wouldn’t last a weekend? So, did you get in a massage and lots of time to write?”

  “Actually, no. I met a lot of townspeople and have been doing a lot of crazy things.”

  “Do tell. Meet any tall, dark, and handsome vampires out roaming the fields?”

  “Nothing of that sort.” Honey leaned back on the bed and kicked up her heels. “But I did go paintballing, went to a bonfire, and took a ride on the haunted hayride. I also had lunch at a diner with a bunch of romance readers.”

  “Wow! Sounds like you’re having a ball. I was worried you and ex-Max would somehow get together, but it looks like you’re safe. I didn’t want you getting hurt again.”

  Honey winced at her sister’s words, but she put on a brave front. “I’m good. The kids are napping and later on, we’re going to the haunted house.”

  “Cool! I thought you were scared of those things. Are you seriously going to go alone with Sara and Mattie?”

  “Sara will be in a stroller and I’ll hold Mattie’s hand. Piece of cake. I’ll be so busy reassuring them, I won’t have time to be scared.”

  “But you’re the most chicken person I know.” Candi laughed. “You hate things that jump out at you.”

  “Yeah, I know …” Honey could feel the creeps running up and down her spine. She glanced around the room and shivered. A cloud had parked itself over Sapphire Falls ever since Max had gone home, and the square had taken on an eerie, foggy appearance. But she could do this. She had to.

  “Hon?” Her sister’s voice intruded into her thoughts. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she answered a little too quickly.

  “You don’t need to prove how independent you are. You know that, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Honey glanced at her sleeping children. Of course she didn’t have to prove anything. She was a single mother. She was handling everything.

  “The haunted house. The weekend with ex-Max, or maybe without him. The entire ‘I’m so independent I don’t need him bit.’”

  Honey’s jaw dropped and she sat up, slapping the bed. “Where’s this coming from? Max was never around anyway. Like now. He promised us four days and we only got two. Even if I needed him, I wasn’t getting any of him.”

  “Admittedly, he’s a jerk,” Candi agreed. “And we’ve all been through the reasons why you served him with divorce papers.”

  To get him back, of course. To slap his face and threaten him, so he’d do what she wanted and pay attention to her—and the kids.

  Aloud, she said, “It hasn’t worked. He was too agreeable to it. Gave me alimony, child support. Everything.”

  “So, you really didn’t want the divorce, did you? You played the gambit and it backfired.”

  A sour feeling pervaded her entire body, and the familiar ache squeezed her insides. “Why are you rehashing all this? Why torture me?”

  Her sister sighed. “I told you not to go on the weekend with him. I even put the sugar bet on you to get you not to go, but you kept saying it’s for the kids. It’s not for the kids, is it? Mattie’s too young to enjoy the haunted house, and Sara only cares about candy in her mouth.”

  “Why are you rubbing it in?” It was true that any haunted house appropriate for Mattie would be populated with Casper-like friendly ghosts with big smiles and cartoon boos, not the bloody freaks and decapitated figures that would jump out at him from the one in the square at Sapphire Falls.

  Why had all of this seemed so important? The festival, the weekend for the kids, the entire Sapphire Falls experience?

  “You secretly wanted to get back together with ex-Max, and I’m sensing he’s disappointed you again.” Candi’s voice was soft and sympathetic—so much that Honey burst into tears.

  “I should have asked him to stay. I should have worked on the marriage instead of asking for the divorce. I’ve been so wrong.” The realization struck her that she’d been equating independence with divorce instead of standing up for herself and working with him, letting him work with her.

  She chose, instead, the exit.

  And now, he’d exited her life for good.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Knock. Knock. Knock.

  Honey opened her eyes and glanced around the darkened room. For a moment there, she wasn’t sure where she was, but as her mental fog receded, she realized it was evening, and she was at a bed and breakfast in Sapphire Falls.

  She’d spoken to her sister, had a good cry, and had fallen asleep beside her two napping children.

  Knock. Knock.

  “Who’s there?” Honey rubbed her eyes. People around here were always dropping in and knocking. Hadn’t anyone heard of calling ahead?

  “Troy Caine.”

  Troy Caine? Max’s friend? Should she let him in when he wasn’t around? Or maybe he was looking for Max.

  “Max has gone home,” Honey said through the door.

  “I know,” Troy’s deep voice boomed. “I’m here to take you to the Monster Mash.”

  He was asking her out on a date? But she was—not married.

  She opened the door. “Troy, I appreciate the sentiment, but I have two toddlers who are going to be very cranky when they wake up. Mattie wants to go to the haunted house, which as you know, isn’t at all age appropriate for him, and they both need to potty and eat. I think I’m going to call room service and have an early night.”

  “Then I’m taking all three of you out to dinner.”

  “Is Max going to be okay with this?” Honey stepped back as he entered.

  “You tell me.” He stood with his hands in his pockets, rocking on his heels. “You seem to be quite single.”

  “Divorced,” she corrected.

  “Same difference.” He shrugged. “I heard you wanted to experience all of Sapphire Falls, so I’m here to help you do it all.”

  “That’s awfully kind of you.” Honey couldn’t help grinning. “I did want to do everything so I can write about it.”

  “Exactly, and there are details you won’t know by looking on google. Feelings and random thoughts you’d only get by being there.”

  “You surprise me,” Honey said, looking at him in a different light. “Are you a writer too?”

  “Unpublished.” He grinned.

  “Same here.” She reached out and shook his hand. “Let’s get together some time and talk shop.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Troy gave her hand a pat with his other one. “How about I give you an hour to get ready. You still have everyone’s wolf costume? It’ll keep them warm.”

  “Yeah, mine’s a little muddy and I’m skipping the mask this time, but it’ll do. Are we going to Dottie’s for dinner?”

  “Is it okay with you?”

  “I kind of want to get lost in the crowd and not answer questions, if you know what I mean.”

  “Gotcha.” Troy turned out the door. “Dottie’s isn’t the only place to eat. Hailey’s brought in monster food trucks. They’re parked by the Sapphire Hills Shops on Teal Street. It’s one of the newer retail areas. Quite nice.”

  “Monster food trucks? Sounds like fun.”

  “Yeah, they’ve got a skeleton crew in one, zombie body parts in another, and the third one is run by vampires, serving blood stew among other things.” Troy’s eyes lit as he grinned. “Stay away from the sausage from the zombie truck, if you know what I mean.”

  Honey tilted her head back, and a giggle rolled through her. “You’re too funny. As long as they have things for the kids, like chicken fingers.”

  “Have you ever seen a chicken with fingers?” Troy smirked and wiggled his fingers in a creepy way. “Don’t worry, they have sticky bones and fingers of all sorts. I’ll see you in a bit.”
>
  Honey closed the door after he stepped out, and for the first time since Max left, she smiled. Max was just going to have to miss out on her and the children experiencing the Halloween Festival for the first time.

  It was what he chose, and she wasn’t going to be a spoilsport because he couldn’t be around to be with them.

  His loss.

  * * *

  “She took the bait.” Max heard his friend, Troy, say over the phone.

  He’d screwed up big time, of course, and he was frantically trying to get back to Sapphire Falls before the festival closed.

  “So, you’ll make sure she experiences everything? The food trucks, the Monster Mash, haunted house. I got the pilot to turn around, but he wasn’t happy.”

  “I’ll make sure she and the kids get their full taste of everything Halloween. You can count on me,” Troy said. “When did you want me to tell her you’re coming back?”

  “I want to surprise her. I’ll text you when I get closer.”

  Max knew that if Troy told her, Honey would spend the rest of the time agitated and upset, and it would ruin her Sapphire Falls experience. She’d likely return to the Rise & Shine and wait for him, and then blame herself for ruining everyone’s fun day.

  “Okay, then I’ll leave a few costumes in my truck for you,” Troy said before signing off.

  Max thanked his lucky stars that Troy was such a loyal friend.

  He had gone to college away from Sapphire Falls and gotten a degree in psychology and was now back working as a social worker for the county. Of course, Sapphire Falls, like anywhere else, had its share of people with problems. No place was perfect, and Max wasn’t going to let a place or a fantasy take the place of working on his relationship with Honey.

  He’d regretted leaving almost immediately, but had to spend time on the phone to fix the problem. His partner had been indecisive, and his wavering had caused a loss of confidence with the company they were investing in. He had to admit that he enjoyed taking charge and doing the negotiations. Once he got the client straightened out and the media in line, he ordered the pilot to turn around in midair. One could do such things with private jets, and it was definitely a perk of having money.