Stuck in the Moment

by Tracie Puckett

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  “Me-ow.”

  “You like it?” I turned in a circle as I exited the back door that Friday night. Jasper had just stepped out from the house next door, and we met at the edge of the field to walk back to The Red Barn.

  “Most beautiful Ally-Cat I’ve ever seen,” he said, taking a full visual assessment of my costume. “I like the painted on nose and whiskers. Cute touch.”

  “Thanks,” I said, eyeing him. “But weren’t you supposed to be in costume tonight?”

  “I’ll get to it. I wanted to show you something first.”

  “Can we make it fast? I’m sorta pressed for time.”

  “I’ve bought us a few minutes. Roz stopped by, so I sent her and Carter out for chocolate. I told them I was low, and I’m making treats for the trick-or-treaters. Wanted to get her out of the house while we’re all moving to and fro.”

  “That’s good, thank you,” I said, breathing deeply. “We still have to wait for the band, bring the food out, and work on the table spreads.” I looked down around my feet, realizing I was walking a path between pumpkins on either side. “Who did this? Why are these out?”

  “I got a head start.”

  “But you were supposed to wait. I was going to help you. We were going to finish that ridiculously long list together.”

  “Okay, but that’s what I wanted to show you,” he said, picking up speed as we got closer to the barn. He stopped just outside the door, taking hold of the handle before turning back to me. “I overstepped some boundaries again, but now there’s nothing left to do. It’s done.”

  “What did you do?” I asked, and he heaved the sliding door open to reveal the interior of the barn.

  It was finished. The lights were glistening. The band was set up. The food was lined up on the serving tables, ending at the gorgeous cake he’d promised me.

  “You did this behind my back?”

  “Give me a facial expression, Al. Is this your mad face? Happy? Flustered? Homicidal? Where’s your head at?”

  “It’s . . . ”

  “Exemplary?” he asked, and I smiled.

  “Yes. That’s exactly what it is. When did you—”

  “While you were at school. I got a little help from Nora. I hope you don’t mind, but she’s not saying anything. She’s over the moon. She can’t believe you guys have been planning this for Carter all this time.”

  I nodded, still lost for words. He’d finished everything. The Red Barn looked haunted and dilapidated, dark and intimidating. Spooky.

  “Do you like it?”

  “I love it,” I said, barely containing a smile. “Thank you.”

  The cake was ready. The spread of food was waiting for consumption. The band was set up, tuning their instruments for the night’s show. And then one by one, the guests started to slowly trickle in. Jasper introduced me to the few of Carter’s friends from Cedar Lake that had made the official guest list—people he knew wanted to see her as much as she’d want to see them. He and Nora were the only two family members who’d made the invite list from what I could tell.

  I wanted to ask why, but I knew that someday Jasper would feel comfortable enough to tell me everything that he’d kept to himself. For now, I had to accept what little he’d shared, knowing that he’d trusted me with a tiny piece of himself, and that alone meant the world.

  Whatever it was, it would come out eventually, when he felt the time was right. In the meantime, I was more than willing to accept that he needed time to find comfort in sharing what he’d worked so hard to protect. If his secrecy meant protecting Carter, then I didn’t need to know anything else.

  An hour later, the band played softly in the background. There were a few familiar faces of other friends in Sutton Woods. Dad had even dropped by to check in, and I smiled as he eased his way deeper into the party space and found a chair. Nora and Mel showed up early to let us know that Roz was bringing Carter down in five minutes for her big surprise.

  Nora couldn’t stop gushing. Jasper wasn’t kidding—she was giddy with shock that we were doing something so sweet for her daughter. She’d even shed a tear as she hugged all of us.

  And when the moment came, and the door slid open, each and every one of Carter’s friends and family were ready to greet her with the surprise of her life.

  “Surprise!” We jumped and yelled, clapped and cheered.

  The shock on Carter’s face was the most genuine reaction I’d ever seen, and she turned to me with a gracious smile.

  “I love it,” she mouthed, and I nodded, because I knew she couldn’t hate a surprise this good. And then I turned to rub that in Jasper’s face—ha, ha, I was right. She loves it!

  “We pulled it off,” Roz yelled.

  She and Mel high-fived. Throughout the night, they were constantly checking in with the guests to make sure everyone was having a great time.

  “I can’t believe you guys did this,” Carter said, wrapping her mummified arms around my neck. In true Carter fashion, she went for something downright creepy for her costume. “And Jasper was in on it, too?”

  “From the very beginning,” Jasper said. He was still the only one of us who hadn’t changed into costume. “It was actually my idea.”

  “Oh, shut up.” I shoved him away.

  “I’ll let you two talk.” He walked away, disappearing out the front door.

  “So what’s going on there?” Carter asked. “You and Jasper?”

  “Is that weird?”

  “No, it kinda works. You two are strangely perfect for each other.”

  I smiled. “I couldn’t have done this without him. He’s been a tremendous help over the last couple weeks. If he hadn’t pitched in so much, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

  “He’s the best,” she said, hugging me again. “You’re the best. Thank you, Ally. I love this.”

  “Even though it was a surprise? I know you wanted to go trick-or-treating.”

  “This beats trick-or-treating any day. It’s perfect. So that said, I’m going to go dance.”

  “Go,” I said, pushing her out to the floor, watching as she joined her friends.

  Roz, Mel, and I stood at the back wall, watching as it all came together. It was all so much better than anything we could’ve ever imagined. I was overjoyed that Dad had come down to observe the festivities, and I knew Mom would’ve appreciated everything about the final product if she could’ve only been there to see it.

  “Thank you, guys,” I said, turning to my friends. “I wish I could’ve been more help these last two weeks. Everything got so chaotic.”

  “Team effort,” Mel said. “We had your back.”

  “Under the supervision of one super-hot Cake Man,” Roz said, nodding over to Jasper, who’d just turned back into the barn—finally under the guise of his chosen persona for the night. “But I don’t understand the costume. I thought the goal was to make you smile.”

  She turned to me, but I couldn’t meet her gaze. I was bent at the hips, laughing so hard that my voice carried upward, echoing louder than the music.

  “I don’t get it, either,” Mel said. “What’s funny about that?”

  “Inside joke,” I said, sobering. I shook my head as Jasper did a celebratory dance near the door. He’d won—I’d laughed.

  Dressed from head to toe in black and white stripes, donning shackles at his feet and handcuffs at his wrist, he looked like the most handsome jailbird I’d ever laid eyes on.

  “So you gonna ask him to dance, or what?” Roz asked.

  “Is that corny?”

  “No cornier than he is.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s hot, but that dude’s a straight-up weirdo.”

  “He’s my weirdo,” I said, smiling as I set across the room, eager to ask him for that dance.