We walked to the car, and Everett drove us towards our destination. We arrived five minutes later. The Pleasant is not a large town. In fact, it is more of a small village. I do love it…
We arrived at what looked like a carnival. We drove underneath a large sign that bridged the turn in to Louis’ Pumpkin Patch. The words were bright and garish, surrounded by pumpkins carved and uncarved that adorned the sign. Bright lights shone ahead, and the sounds of Halloween filled the air. Eerie carnival music blared from some hidden speakers as we pulled the car into an already filled lot.
Everett turned to me. “As I said, this place holds many special memories for me. I hope you find it as fun as I do.”
I reached over and put my hand on his thigh. “I can’t wait, Everett. Let’s make tonight another great memory, okay?”
“Okay.” He grinned sincerely, even if it was a little strained. Everett was an easy book to read; he wore his emotions on the outside for all to see.
“Let’s go.” He opened his door and walked around to the front of the car, waiting for me. I felt the small box in my pocket and took a large breath, slowly letting it out to calm my frazzled nerves. He walked around and opened my door for me.
“Thank you, kind sir,” I said as I slowly got out of the car.
“Are you sure there’s nothing wrong, Evan? You do seem as if something is up.” He asked as he shut the door behind me. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No… I mean, yes. But not right now. It’s nothing to worry about. It’s just… Well, I am in the planning stages of something big, and it’s all I can think about.” I touched his shoulder and quietly massaged it, trying to soothe him and let him know that all was alright in the world, and he didn’t need to worry.
“We can come here another time if you want,” he said, defeated. His face fell, and I could see the hurt behind his eyes.
“Noooooo…,” I tried to brighten my smile. “I need this, and by the end of the night, I think everything will be just fine.”
“Whatever,” he said as he started walking away. “Coming?”
I quickly caught up with him and laced his fingers through mine. We walked into the pumpkin maze together.
Everett
Please do not let Evan tell me he’s moving to Denver tonight.
I have already started to believe that it was happening and what that would mean for us. There would no longer be an us. Evan would go on his way to his new adventure, and I would stay here. Alone… again.
I clasped his hand and led him through the whimsical and wacky world of the Pumpkin Patch maze. Thousands of carved pumpkins glowed with their ghastly light. Faces of every emotion glared at us. Some of the pumpkins were funny and happy, and some were downright scary. Other’s were decorated in different ways. There were landscapes and buildings as well as pop culture pumpkins that sat along the straw-covered path. The Star Wars, death star, was one of my favorites.
I was devastated to learn when I was younger that a lot of the pumpkins used in the maze were not real. Some were plastic, and others were Styrofoam, but you could not tell the difference. They were carved and created by masters who were the finest in the pumpkin carving field.
This was one of my happy places. The Pleasant was filled with them. It was home, and I had never wanted to live anywhere else. If Evan asked me to go with him, I don’t think I could say yes. That thought depressed me. My stomach felt like lead, and I tried to put it out of my mind, at least for tonight and forced a smile onto my face. My mother had always told me to fake it til you make it, and I was giving it the old college try.
We came out of the maze and into the wonderland that was Louis’ Pumpkin Patch. Children ran around playing the games that he had set up. There were photo opportunities for parents to take pictures of their children as they sat on giant pumpkins or decoded to take a photo with Louis’ dancing pumpkin, which was usually the mailman in a giant pumpkin suit.
“Let’s go over and look at the giant pumpkins,” I pulled him towards a row of what had to be the largest pumpkins in the world. A sign read that one of them was over two-thousand pounds. It was cruelly misshapen and almost as tall as a man.
“We have to have our picture taken in front of this. It’s insane!” Evan gasped, his jaw-dropping in awe and wonder at how something could ever grow this large. “Could you imagine carving this into a jack-o-lantern? It would take years.”
“Yeah,” I chuckled hoarsely. “When we walk around, we will see one that he has carved. He uses chainsaws. It’s super cool.”
“Seriously?” Evan said incredulously.
“Have I ever lied to you?” I said coyly.
“Uh… yes. Remember that time that you told me I didn’t have flan on my face? I did.” Evan shook his head. “I had an entire conversation with your mother with it just sitting there. I looked ghastly.”
I glared at him trying to come up with a good answer. “I didn’t… uh… want to embarrass you?” I tried to say seriously and failed miserably.
“Uh-huh… Liar… liar.. pants on fire,” he teased. “Come on. Show me more. This place is awesome.”
I took him to watch the kids bob for apples. We clapped and laughed as the children got sloppy wet. It was actually very hard to do. Those apples did not want to get bit. People cheered whenever someone was actually able to accomplish it.
“Are you going to do it?” Evan asked me, giving me a light nudge.
“Oh, hell, no. Look at how germy that would be. All those little mouths and tongues touching the apples… It’s fun to watch as an adult, but I wouldn’t put my mouth in there for a million dollars.” I laughed.
“You would get your pretty shirt all wet, too,” Evan rubbed my back. God, he always felt so good. It would make our breakup even that much harder if it had to happen.
“Come on,” he pulled me away from the large apple trough filled with apples. “What else is there? Show me.”
“Well. There are pony rides and a corn maze where you ride on a flatbed that’s pulled by a tractor. It’s a haunted corn maze…” I tried to sound eerie and only succeeded in sounding super gay.
“Well… That sounds… terrifying and fun.” He laughed. “What do you want to do next? Whatever you want, Everett.”
“Let’s get our picture taken now. We’ll get dirty in the maze and let’s be honest, we really are too big now for pony rides, don’t you think?”
“Never,” he pulled my hand, and we walked towards the other side of the bright red barn.
“Let’s go see the giant carved pumpkin,” I suggested, our hands clasped together tightly. His palms still a little clammy, but I didn’t mind.
A crowd gathered around something that was truly spectacular. This year, Louis pulled out all the stops. What looked like four large pumpkins sat together creating a cave that you walked through. Plyboards provided a flooring on the bottom, so you didn’t slip on the pumpkin’s insides. Little alcoves were carved into the walls, and candles glowed in them lighting your way through. It was almost like stained glass at times, a truly beautiful and one of a kind experience.
We oohed and aahed our way through. Evan’s hand squeezing mine tightly. Damnit… I really loved him. My mind was spinning with possibilities. I didn’t want to leave my home, but would I if he asked me to. I wasn’t sure anymore.
We walked out of the other side, and there sat a gargantuan pumpkin, carved ever so carefully with the headless horseman on his trusty steed glowing brightly for the world to see. It was gorgeous. I stared at it and could feel a tear slide down my cheek. It was beautiful and… Well, it was a piece of art.
I turned my head to look at Evan, and I noticed my mother standing there in the crowd. She winked at me, and before I could even wrap my head around her presence, I noticed that Evan was no longer standing beside me.
The crowd had grown quiet.
I heard Evan clear his throat below me, and I glanced down.
; “Oh shit,” I whispered. I heard my mother laugh at my words.
“Everett?” Evan said as he held a small box aloft from Puckett’s jewelry, a ring sat within it, the candles glow dancing lightly upon it. “Will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?”
Time stopped.
My heart stopped.
I could feel tears rush down my face. I was on the verge of ugly crying and didn’t really want to do it in front of all these spectators.
“Evan…” I gasped. “I think we have a lot to talk about before I can answer that.” I tried to smile at him. The crowd literally gasped. Getting proposed to with an audience was like a sitcom soundtrack.
“What do you mean,” his voice sounded dejected. He wasn’t expecting this.
“I saw your email the other day. I know that you are moving to Denver.” I shrugged sadly.
“What? How did you… It doesn’t matter, Everett.” He said quickly, trying to wrap his head around the turn the night had taken.
“But it does, Evan. I don’t know if I want to move to Denver.” I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from bursting into tears.
“Who’s moving… What? You think I’m moving to Denver?” He stood up and placed a hand lightly on my shoulder. “I would never move… I love it here.”
“But you got that job,” I began, and he put a finger to my lips, stopping me from saying anything else.
“I didn’t take it. Instead, I was given a new position here. A promotion and… Did you really think I could leave you? That I could leave this place? This is paradise, Everett. Besides, I would never move without discussing it with you first.”
My mouth was agape. “I… I don’t know… Oh shit.”
The crowd laughed again.
“Jesus Christ, Everett! Just say yes,” my mother shouted from the crowd. The rest of our audience thought that was quite funny.
“Can we start again?” I asked breathily, a smile grew upon my face.
He fell back down to his knee and held out the ring once more.
“Everett, will you please marry…”
“YES!” I shouted loudly, falling to my knees and kissing him passionately. “Oh, God, yes.”
We sat there and kissed for what felt like forever as the crowd applauded. Evan slipped the ring on my finger, and it fit perfectly.
My mother came over and hugged both of us, and then she socked me hard in the arm.
“Mom,” I whined.
“You almost gave me a heart attack,” she beamed. “Evan… I am so excited to have a new son. Thank you for letting me know.”
“I can’t believe it,” I stared at the ring around my finger. “Evan, I’m so sorry. I just thought…”
He laughed. “I have to admit you made me panic. So that’s what’s been bothering you all evening?”
“I’m a fool. I guess that’s what I get for reading that email,” I grinned. “I am sorry.”
“Everett, you have made me the happiest man in the world tonight. So when do you think we should do this?”
“Oh, I have that all planned out. I have since I was a kid. I want to get married in the park on the gazebo that I’ve always loved. They say it’s magical. And I want to do it this Halloween.”
“In less than two weeks?” My mother gasped.
“If that is what you want… That is what we will do.” He smiled at me and took my hand in his. “That’s really fast.”
“I know… But, I don’t see any reason to wait. I want to be Mr. Everett Hudson as soon as possible. Okay?”
He nodded. And a plan started to formulate in my head. “Danny will be my best man, and I assume that your brother will be yours?”
“Of course. I mean, since it’s in thirteen days, I will need to call Blake tonight,” he laughed.
“Evan? I think this is going to be the most epic wedding of all time.”
We spent the rest of the night canoodling in the corn maze. It was the best proposal of all time.
THE END
To find out what happens next- read the first book in The Point Pleasant Holiday Series.
Something Borrowed, Something Boo
Available on Amazon
A Pumpkin Patch Proposal Page 2