Текст книги "Shiver : 13 Sexy Tales of Humor and Horror"

Автор книги: Belle Aurora

Соавторы: Penny Reid,Ruth Clampett
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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 39 страниц)

I tried to shake it off as Cora pulled a pen out of her purse. She drew a pumpkin in about ten seconds. She was so self-sufficient.

“Nice!” I commented. I held up my hand for a high-five. She slapped it with zest.

I loved being part of a team. It was that kind of adrenaline that had led me to a career in live TV. Having her there with me, on my team, was such a turn on. I didn’t care about a treasure chest that was probably filled with cheap candy like Smarties and Dum Dums. But I loved it that we had a common goal and a common enemy. The four of us, I had a feeling we could go places. I mean, metaphorically. We could be something.

“A picture of a team member on stage,” she read off the sheet. “The auditorium.”

We jogged down the dark halls toward the auditorium. It was on the opposite end of the school from the gym where we’d started. We were making our way down the hall when I heard a loud bang, like someone was banging on the door of one of the classrooms.

“What is that?” Lucie asked.

“Nothing. Just keep moving,” Cora told her.

A few doors down we heard another bang. Someone was inside the classrooms banging on the doors. Wow. Someone had really gone above and beyond to make this scavenger hunt scary. I wished haunted houses and hayrides put in this much effort.

We walked into the doors of the auditorium and walked past the rows of seats to get to the stage. I lifted Olive up, set her on the stage, and Cora snapped a picture.

We all turned around at once to go. The girls screamed.

There was a person sitting in one of the seats of the auditorium. He or she was wearing black clothes and the Ghostface mask from the movie Scream. The person didn’t move. I would have thought it was a prop if not for the fact that it was not there a minute ago when we came in.

“Just run,” I mumbled to the girls, taking their hands. These people were starting to piss me off. We had six-year-olds with us. They could be seriously scarred by these pranks.

We held hands and ran up the aisle, past Ghostface, and out the doors.

“To the playground,” I ordered as we ran down the hall.

I was sure someone was just trying to trip us up. It wasn’t like there was a serial killer in the auditorium. But that didn’t mean I wanted to sit around and chit chat with the weirdo either. We had a treasure chest to win.

The playground was also pretty dark and empty. I was starting to wonder if we had been given a different list than everyone else. Or maybe every team had a different list.

We took pictures of the girls on the swing set and slide. When we turned to head back toward to school, Pumpkinhead, Ghostface, and a girl with long blonde hair who had on a mask from the movie, The Strangers, were all standing in front of the school. They each stood still with their hands clasped in front of them.

The girls screamed again.

“It’s just a joke,” I said to them quietly as we walked past them. “We have one more picture to get, and then we can go home.”

The last thing on the list was a picture of a team member with a scarecrow.

“There was a scarecrow outside the front door where we first walked in,” Cora whispered.

“Good thing my girls are all so observant,” I said, without thinking first.

She raised her eyebrows.

I could have taken it back. But the truth was I didn’t want to. I liked this foursome we had. I liked thinking of them, both of them, as my girls.

I smiled and hoped she got all that.

We ran around to the front of the school to find the scarecrow dressed in overalls and tied around a pillar. With a quick snap, we got our picture. Then we ran back into the gym.

“Are we going to win this, Daddy?” Olive asked as we ran.

I knew my train of thinking would probably have my man card suspended indefinitely, but I didn’t care if we won this game or not. I already felt like a winner. The most beautiful girls in this place were all on my team. I couldn’t lose.

“We might,” I told her.

We were not the first team to arrive back. We received our treasure map just moments after Vanessa’s team. At this point it was anyone’s game.

We unfolded the map the principal handed to us, and our four heads leaned in to look at it together. The hand-drawn, photocopied map showed the school’s layout. The X was near the front of the school, but it didn’t say which floor. It was either in the welcome office, or upstairs in the auditorium. When I saw Vanessa’s team running towards the office, we had no choice but to face the auditorium again to see if our treasure was there. Nobody argued with me as we ran up the staircase. We wanted to win this thing.

The plastic treasure chest was on the stage – right behind the three tormenters of ours who stood guarding it. Instead of hands clasped, they had arms crossed. It was pretty intimidating. Until one of them started laughing. It was an evil feminine laugh. I recognized it as a sound I heard nearly every time I dropped Olive off at school in the morning. The Mean Moms.

They all three started laughing and removed their masks to reveal their constipated faces. It was Shauna, Tabitha, and Melissa. I felt like I was in a real-life episode of Scooby Doo.

“It’s not as scary if you laugh,” I told them.

“I bet you guys were nearly shitting your pants,” Shauna said, her arms crossed against her chest again.

“Potty mouth!” Olive accused, pointing her finger at them.

There was about to be a standoff. I held up my arms in resignation.

“Thanks for the theatrics, ladies,” I told them. “You really added a nice haunting element to our scavenger hunt.”

“No. Thank you,” Shauna said. “Your pity-date gave us more entertainment than all of the games downstairs. It was so kind of you to take her out tonight.”

“The only people I pity around here are the three of you,” I said.

I heard the pounding of footsteps making their way up the stairs, and I knew we needed to get to the prize before Vanessa’s team arrived. It might turn into a bouquet-toss kind of brawl otherwise.

“I mean the four of you,” I said, gesturing behind me. “Now get out of our way.”

“It’s just a bunch of dollar store candy,” Melissa said with a roll of her eyes. “Have at it.”

I took a girl’s hand in each of mine and we approached the stage.

The Mean Moms scowled in the most exaggerated ways as they scooted over to let us by. I hoped their faces would get stuck that way. Or maybe they already were.

“Does this mean we won?” Lucie asked.

I shrugged. “I guess so,” I said. “Go on,” I told the girls. “Open it up.”

They opened it to find, as I expected, a bunch of candy. They also pulled out some things I wasn’t expecting: a restaurant gift card and a movie theatre gift card. When Olive handed me the cards, I stuck them in my back pocket.

“Should we take this to the car?” I asked.

“Yes!” the girls answered.

I carried the treasure chest as the four of us held our heads high and marched our way past the snotty faces of the Mean Moms. Their cat-eyes turned into angry slits.

“Boots with fringe? That’s funny. Didn’t fringe go out of style like two decades ago?”

“Those poor girls. Someone should seriously introduce them to Etsy before they are forced to wear store-bought costumes another year.”

“Nah. I just donated a bunch of my shoes to the Salvation Army last week. I think that’s enough charity for this year.”

“Oh, snap.”

Speaking of things that were out of style, I was pretty sure no one said, “Oh snap,” anymore.

I looked at Cora to see if she’d heard them. I knew by the expression on her face that she had. I would have taken her hand then, or touched her in some way to comfort her, but both hands were carrying the treasure chest. I did the next best thing and hip-checked her.

* * *

9:06 P.M.

The girls insisted that the treasure chest be strapped into the back seat of the SUV with a seatbelt. Once it was secure, I looked at my watch. It was after nine, late for six-year-olds. We should probably call it a night. But I didn’t want to be away from Cora yet. And wasn’t it okay for kids to stay up a little later on special occasions?

I didn’t want to mention it in front of the kids in case she said no. I pulled out my phone and texted her.

BEN: Pizza?

She checked the phone and nodded. “Sounds great. I’m starving. We forgot to stop by the snack booths inside.”

“Let’s pick up a pizza and then head to my house to eat and divide up our treasure.”

“YAY!” Lucie yelled.

“PIZZA!” I heard from Olive.

“All right girls,” Cora said, “get in and buckle up if you want pizza.”

When I sat down in the passenger seat, I scrolled through the numbers in my phone to find my favorite pizzeria. Yes, I had it saved in my phone. I was a single dad who only knew how to cook about three meals. I had more restaurants than people in my phone’s contacts.

I leaned my head back on the headrest and turned to face Cora. “I have to ask you an important question.”

“Yes?”

“Do you like pineapple on your pizza?”

“Of course.”

“Does Lucie?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

* * *

9:45 P.M.

The four of us sat at my dining room table to eat and sort the candy. The pizza disappeared quickly. We’d all been so hungry after our treasure hunt.

We divided all of the candy into two even piles. When we had an odd number, we compromised with no arguing. We took an extra KitKat, but they got an extra Almond Joy. Everyone was happy and full, and probably pretty candied out since we’d been eating some as we sorted.

When the candy was in order, Olive asked Lucie if she wanted to watch Frozen. Of course she did. The two girls went into the living room. My guess was they’d both be asleep in less than ten minutes.

We were alone. Sort of. But Cora couldn’t seem to look at me. She’d been acting really shy since we’d gotten to my house.

“So,” I asked cautiously, “is there a reason you‘re having a hard time looking at me?”

She looked alarmed at first. Then she just laughed. “No reason,” she answered with a slight smirk.

“You sure?”

She shrugged. “It’s possible that I had a dream about your dining room table once.”

Okay. I wasn’t expecting something that good. But I wasn’t going to complain about it. “Did you want to tell me more about this dream?”

She shook her head and pursed her lips together tightly, probably to keep them from blurting anything out. It was probably for the best. If she said anything naughty I was going to want to bend her over the table. Who was I kidding? I already wanted to. Oh shit. Change of subject needed immediately if I ever wanted to be able to stand up from this table.

“Maybe some other time?” I asked, hopefully.

She nodded firmly. “Yes. Definitely.”

I pulled the two gift cards from my back pocket and held them up. “What about these?” I asked.

“What are they?” Cora asked. “I didn’t get to see them at the school.”

“A restaurant gift card and a movie gift card.”

I was hoping she’d say we should use them together. She didn’t.

“We could each take one,” I suggested. “We could even draw them out of a hat to make it fair.”

She shrugged. “Sure. Whatever you want. We will be fine with either one.”

“What I want… is for us to use them … together.”

She smiled. “We could do that.”

“When?” I asked eagerly. “We could go tomorrow night before I take Olive to her mom’s. Or we could wait until Thursday when she comes back over.”

“Tomorrow is perfect.”

“Good. I really didn’t want to wait until Thursday to see you guys again.”

I heard music coming from the TV in the living room. “For the First Time in Forever.” I could relate.

The kids were asleep. I could hear Olive snoring. Cora got up from the table and took our glasses to the sink to rinse out the Sprite we drank with our pizza. I got up, too, and took the paper plates and napkins to the trash. I set the empty pizza box on the counter and leaned against the stove.

I didn’t want her to go yet.

“Hey, Cora,” I said timidly.

She turned around from the sink. It reminded me of that night, when I came upstairs to find her in the kitchen.

“If you want to stay and hang out for a little while,” I said, “I’ve got some cherry Kool-Aid in the fridge.”

She narrowed her eyes at me for a moment. First I thought she might be pissed, then I realized she was just trying to figure me out.

“You remember,” she said quietly.

I stepped closer to her. I stopped when I our chests were just an inch or two from touching. “Remember?” I repeated. “How could I forget?”

She tried to back away before she remembered her back was already against the counter. “I need to ask you something, Ben.”

That didn’t sound good. It sounded like the beginning of a very serious talk, one that I didn’t think was necessary this early into the game. But it was the first time I’d heard her say my name, and it gave me a chill in the best way. I was curious to hear this question. “What’s that?”

With her hands on the counter behind her, her guard was down, and her body was completely open to me. She didn’t look down the way she had that night long ago, but looked right into my eyes instead. “When you go to the grocery store, do you take a list?”

I smiled, surprised at how flippant the question was after all. “Are there people who don’t?”

“I’m afraid so.”

I laughed at her serious face. “I wouldn’t think of it.”

She nodded. “Good. That’s good.”

I slid my hand under her hair and wrapped it behind her neck. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way,” I said, “I’m going to kiss you.”

Cora

Halloween 2019

Feed the kids a healthy breakfast – Check.

Get Jamin in his Yoda costume without a tantrum – Check.

Look over Lucie’s costume to make sure she isn’t showing too much skin or looking too risqué – Check. P.S. She’s only eleven! Why is this even an issue already? I’m really not ready for this…

Drop Jamin off at preschool – Check.

Get Lucie to school on time – Check.

Get dressed – Check.

Put the turkey chili ingredients into the crock pot – Check.

Make the caramel-dipped green grapes – Check.

Make the seven-layer spider web dip – Check.

Get the spiced cider in the fridge – Check.

Get Jamin from preschool – Check.

Get to the school in time for the Halloween parade – Check.

Get a really nice picture of all three of our kids together – Check.

Go home and get Jamin down for a nap without a tantrum – Check.

Wrap Ben’s anniversary gift – Check.

Get girls from school – Check.

Remind Olive to text her mom to confirm I’ve picked her up – Check.

Feed kids a healthy after-school snack – Check. It really was healthy that time.

Whoa. This wasn’t on my list, I thought, as I was pulled into our bedroom by my husband an hour before he was supposed to be home from work.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

He shrugged and gave me a sneaky grin. “I got off early. I wanted to surprise you.”

“Mission accomplished.”

He unzipped his coat, took it off, and threw it onto the hardwood floor. His t-shirt said, “This is the strangest life I’ve ever known.” He smirked.

“You do not still have that t-shirt.”

“No. I ordered it online. I thought we could recreate a moment.”

“Hmm,” I said, playing along, “I’m pretty sure that moment took place in the dark, and not at four in the afternoon.”

He pushed my t-shirt up, pulled the cup of my bra down, and slid his tongue over my nipple – just like he had that night.

I yelped in surprise. I guess he wasn’t going to waste any time.

He unbuttoned my pants next, slid his hand in my underwear, and leaned in to me so he could whisper in my ear, “This moment will be taking place in the dark. I just wanted to give you something to look forward to.”

He removed his hand, licked his finger, and smirked at me again.

“What? You can’t do that,” I said.

“I can,” he said, smiling. “I did. Happy Anniversary, baby.”

He tried to leave the room, but I grabbed his hand, pushed his body up against our bed, and dropped to my knees.

Give my husband a tiny bit of something that will have him wanting more for the rest of the night – Check. Paybacks are a bitch, Ben.

Put the leaf in the table and set seven settings for our post-trick-or-treat dinner – Check.

I heard the doorbell. They were here. Everything was ready. The kids were in their costumes. Dinner, including drinks and hors d'oeuvres, was prepared. My day off of work was well utilized.

I opened the door to greet our guests – Eliza and her boyfriend, Dan.

I took the apple pie from her hands. The bottom was still warm. I licked my lips. Some might say, and there have been jokes about it in the past, that the reason we invited Eliza over for dinner on holidays and special occasions, was because of her apple pie. I won’t confirm or deny that.

“Happy Anniversary,” Eliza said to me with a sly grin, like she knew there was something else I was waiting for tonight besides her pie. Oh gosh, that didn’t come out right at all.

“Thanks,” I said, as I handed the warm pie to Ben. “Happy Halloween!”

THE END

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I’m a full-time waitress, Chapstick-addict, make-up junkie, and Justin Timberlake fan for life. I’ve been a book nerd since I was a child, and grew up with The Baby-Sitter’s Club and The Sweet Valley Twins. I'm a sucker for the boy-next-door type, and still believe in happy endings. Writing (about the boy-next-door and happy endings) is what I do when I'm avoiding other things… like cleaning.

I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Media Arts, and once had big dreams of being a Hollywood screenwriter. But then I met a boy and got distracted. A few years later, we met another boy, this one even cuter. The three of us are now living (happily ever after!) in the Detroit area. And our house is kind of a mess.

CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR

Facebook – www.facebook.com/sweetbutsnarky

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Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6926288.Jodie_Beau

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Email me at: [email protected]

OTHER WORKS BY THE AUTHOR

Cora and Ben are new characters and do not appear in any of my previous books. But if you liked their story (and I hope you did), check out the two books in my romantic comedy series:

The Good Life

A second-chance romance.

“"I highly recommend this book. I laughed, cried, sighed, gasped, smiled REALLY BIG and truly loved it." – Melissa Brown, author of Wife Number 7

All Good Things

A summer romance.

"If Dawson's Creek and Felicity had a wild night with American Pie while watching John Hughes movies." – Ashley Pullo, author of The Album

Spandex is for Superheroes
by Ruth Clampett

Beware the horror of your Halloween costume not fitting!

Copyright © Ruth Clampett 2014, All rights reserved.

eBook edition

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Edited by Angela Borda

Cover Design: Jada d’Lee

Chapter One

“So Brooke, I have an idea,” Nathan says as he pulls a coffee mug out of the cupboard.

One thing I adore about my boyfriend is that he’s an animator and comic artist with a wild imagination so he always has interesting ideas. I figure this one really must be a doozy if he’s avoiding looking me in the eye.

“Uh oh, an idea?” I tease. “Is this one I need to gird my loins for?”

“Nah. No girding required. It’s an awesome idea…I bet you’re going to love it!”

Still no eye contact…I’m not hedging my bets. “Okay. Hit me with it.”

He finally turns toward me and grins. “I thought we could throw a Halloween party this year!” His voice is unnaturally high and his cheeks color as he waits for my reaction. When I don’t respond he pushes his glasses further up his nose and clears his throat. “Nothing extravagant…just a few of our friends.”

Nothing extravagant? Who’s he kidding? Nathan never does things half way. I know a big party would be a major undertaking and I can’t imagine how we’d fit it into our insane schedule.

“What are you thinking? What about your deadlines? You’re working seven days a week right now as it is.”

He plops down on the chair across from me and bobs his head. “I know, but I have an idea. I’m going to job out the inking and coloring for the B-Girl issue due first week in November.”

Whoa…he must really want to do this party if he’s finally agreeing to job out his precious comic book work. I immediately recognize the potential this provides for future weekend getaways. “…and you know I hate Halloween, handsome.”

“But I thought you liked the decorations and giving out candy to the kids.”

“I do but I always pay a price for the fun. You know my history with those huge Costco bags of mini candy bars when I hand out the treats: one for little Cinderella, one for me, one each for the two pirates, two for me.”

Apparently I have a problem.

He nods. “See that’s another good reason why we should have a party. We’ll be too busy to hand out candy. I’ll pay the neighbor kid to do it for us. He’s too old to trick or treat.”

“You’ve thought of everything.” My smile gives him a false sense of encouragement and he pulls a sketchbook out of the drawer.

“I have! Let me show you.” He flips several pages in and points to an elaborate drawing. “We can convert the garage into the Batcave.”

I lift the drawing up to examine it more closely. It’s got every detail I’d expect from Nathan including a glass case holding a full Batman costume to a simulated mission control desk, and Batphone. “And why a Batcave?”

His eyes grow wide with an expression you’d expect from a six year old. “Because it’d be so cool.”

“Indeed.” Overcome with curiosity I turn the page of the book and the next illustration has the Metropolis tower complete with a globe, rising out of the center of our roof. “Good lord. How are you going to do that?”

“I’ve already talked to Nick’s cousin about it. He does carpentry stuff and can build anything.”

Wow. He’s not joking around. I point to a drawing of what I assume was once our guest bathroom. There are spider webs everywhere. “Is this Spiderman’s bathroom?”

He nods, tapping his fingers on the tabletop as he watches me study the pages.

“I’m seeing a theme here.”

“Yeah. It’s a Superhero party!” His tapping speeds up until he finally stops and grips the edge of the table.

My stomach falls. “Does that mean what I think it does?”

“Everyone has to come dressed as a Superhero!” He says it like it’s the most epic idea ever.

“Even me?” I ask with an arched brow. “Is this some elaborate theme to get me back in that Wonder Woman outfit?”

His eyes narrow and his jaw clenches, giving him that incredibly irresistible sexy look. He gazes longingly at me like he wishes I was wearing that outfit right now. It’s been a while since I’ve worn it and the last time I had it on it didn’t stay on long. We were making Superhero love in record time. I smile at the memory but then snap back to reality. With all the stress eating lately I’m doubtful I’d even fit into that tiny costume now.

I fold my arms across my chest and shake my head. “I think I’ve developed an allergy to spandex.”

I know my man when he gets his mind set on something so I’m not surprised that he immediately disputes my claim. “No you haven’t! You practically live in those yoga pants and I know they have spandex in them.” He grins with a lascivious look. “That’s why they fit so perfectly.”

Busted. I try another tact. “You really want all your animation-comic friends to see me in that outfit? Do you remember how low cut that bustier is?”

He purses his lips together and scratches his head. “Good point.”

“I don’t really think I can take a whole evening of Andy ogling me.”

Nathan’s eyes light up. “But he has a big crush on another girl now. So she’ll be dressed up too for him to ogle! Everyone will be dressed up.”

I frown. That gives me zero comfort. Just imagining all the lumpy body shapes without the camouflaging comfort of clothes makes me want to reinstate my gym membership and share it with the others.

“Please, Brooke, please….will you do it for me?”

He asks me for so little and gives me so much. How can I not do this one thing that means so much to him? Certainly one of my friends can give me a Xanax or something to get me through the party.

“Okay,” I whisper just loud enough for him to hear. But then I wink at him to seal the deal.

He leaps out of his chair and rushes over, pulling me out of my seat. Next thing I know he’s holding me tightly as his hands wander the last places I would expect them to be early on a workday morning. I lean into him enjoying every touch.

“As for that revealing costume…I have to warn you, I’m a little curvier these days.” I slide his hand over my hip and then up to cup my breast, hoping he thinks the idea of that isn’t all bad.

“Are you kidding me? You know how much I love your curves. You’re going to be the sexiest Wonder Woman ever,” he says with a happy sigh. There’s a sincerity in his tone that makes me love him even more.

I lean my cheek against his chest and listen to his heart pound. I love that after all this time I can still get him worked up so easily.

When his hand slides down to my ass and he squeezes it lovingly, I cringe that he has so much to grab onto.

There’s no way around it… Zumba class, here I come.

* * *

Several weeks later I’m returning from my Saturday afternoon errands and grocery run when I notice a collection of neighbors in front of our house. I stop my car and lean my head out the window hoping to see what several of them are pointing at. When my gaze settles on the addition to our roofline I let out a long sigh. Metropolis. I forgot it was being installed today.

I park the car and get out, planning how I’m going to do damage control. Is there some kind of big-brother community policy against adding weird stuff to our house that we didn’t know about? It’s not like we painted the house hot pink or something. I stop and study the addition more thoughtfully. It’s handsome, rather art deco and design-y. Maybe we’ll just leave it up after the party. That’ll show ‘em.

Mr. UCLA guy with his poodle on a leash is scowling. This from the man who hangs school banners all over his house when there’s a big game. I pull back my shoulders and prepare for battle.

When I step up to the group, our next door neighbor Brian grins. “Is someone visiting from Planet Krypton?”

“How’d you guess?” I tease back.

“Planet what?” asks Mrs. Rogerson, the sweet old lady from across the street who now looks a little alarmed.

I give her a warm smile. “He’s joking, Mrs. Rogerson. It’s a reference to Superman.”

“Dearie, is that why there’s a doll hanging off of it?” she asks.

I cup my hand over my brow to shield the sun and look up at the structure. “What doll?”

She hands me her binoculars and points to the right. “The one dangling off the thing in the back.”

I take the binoculars and hold them up, wondering the entire time what else Mrs. Rogerson watches through these things. I have to scan and focus before I see what she’s referring to. A Superman doll the size of a Ken doll is extended from a wire off the main structure. Wow. Nathan isn’t holding back with the decorations…not even a little bit.

“That’s Superman. He’s flying around Metropolis,” I say as I hand the binoculars back.

“I told you!” Brian says, smirking at Mr. UCLA.

“Cool,” says Derek, our teenage neighbor who’s going to pass out the candy at our house Halloween night if he can part from his video games long enough.

I turn to the group. “This is part of our Halloween decorations. We’re having a Superhero party and you’re all invited.” I assume none of them will come but a little goodwill goes a long way.

“How cute,” Mrs. Rogerson says.

“I hope you don’t mind that Nathan got the decorations up a little early.”

“Not at all,” says Brian.

Mr. UCLA walks away with a resigned mutter.

The crowd breaks up. I let out a sigh. Crisis averted. Now let me go find my man.

“Nathan,” I call out after setting the grocery bags on the kitchen counters.

I hear his muffled voice from the garage. “In here.”

I find him sponging paint on crumpled oversized pieces of paper.

“Do I dare ask what you’re doing?”

He pushes his glasses up his nose carefully so he doesn’t get paint on his face. “I’m creating the stone texture so the cave looks more realistic.”

I give him a puzzled look. “The cave? Oh, you mean the Batcave?”

He gives me a bewildered look back.

“Of course the Batcave, Brooke. What other cave would it be?”

“Sorry. I guess I was distracted by the pow-wow of neighbors I found in front of our house when I got home.”

“What were they doing?”

“Looking at the addition to our house.”

He grins widely. “Did they love it?”

My heart melts for the young boy in my grown man who assumes everyone would love having Metropolis on top of their house.

“They were very impressed.”

“I bet! Just wait until they see the Batcave!”

A thought suddenly occurs to me. “Hey you know that package that arrived from that expensive collector doll company? What character was that you bought?”

He turns back and starts sponging the section of construction paper in front of him and mumbles something under his breath.

I put my hands on my hips. “What was that?”

“Superman,” he says quietly.

“And is that Superman now dangling off our roof?”

He huffs and looks up at me with a determined expression. “He’s not dangling! He’s flying!”

I roll my eyes. “How silly of me. Of course he’s flying. We have a two-hundred dollar collectible Superman flying around our roof. Why couldn’t you have used a twenty dollar one? Remember the Superman dolls we saw at Target not long ago?”

He gives me a horrified look like I slapped him in the face. “Are you serious? Brooke, that was the Henry Cavill Superman in that bogus grey blue uniform. I could never have him with our perfectly adapted Metropolis! It had to be an authentic Silver Age Superman and that was the best one I could find.”

“Oh geez, Nathan.”

“What?”

“I guess this is what I get for falling in love with a purist.”