“Because not even you can think of everything, sweetheart,” Dad replied dryly, a smile playing on his lips.
“It’s because you don’t work with the horses,” I told her. “And hadn’t seen that video.”
“Fair.”
“So, we need a route,” Mal stated from the coffee maker.
The planning got started then, and everyone was very enthusiastically on board and coming up with solutions.
“Are you going to tell Payton?” Mom asked Mal and Crew.
“I would like to keep it a secret. He’ll get a kick out of one of the ghost horses being Jaina for sure.” Mal smiled, then frowned. “But if I have to be leading her—”
“No, I think you can be with Payton that night. Jaina will listen to me if we train her. It shouldn’t be hard.”
“I’m volunteering for anything you need with this,” Wyanne said, sipping her coffee. I’d completely forgotten that she was part of the Halloween party planning each year.
“Same. Diana’s coming with Alanah, but they know I might need to work anyway,” Lovett added.
“Okay, so we’ll have enough hands,” I deduced.
We talked about the whole thing and what Fern and Mom had planned for this year. They were the official brains behind the thing; it was the one yearly thing Mom took active part of outside of running the ranch HQ and the kitchen.
Within an hour, we had a solid plan, and everyone vowed not to spoil the surprise for Payton the best we could.
Mal was clearly a bit moved when he and Crew were leaving. Crew shot me a look over his shoulder that was kind of… grateful, maybe? I just nodded at him, and then handed Phinneas back to Demi who had been assigned as one of the people painting the horses as anatomically correct as possible.
By the time I left the house to get back to work, Mom had ordered the paint and Demi was looking at horse anatomy images online while she was nursing Emerson.
As I sat in Carter’s kitchen that evening, having dinner with him, I tried to put into words what I’d been thinking since the afternoon.
“Is it weird that I feel more like part of the family after today? Like… after planning the thing?”
He hummed thoughtfully as he ate a bit more. The fact that he gave it thought was everything to me. He could’ve placated me or given me an off-handed answer, but not this man.
“I think maybe you’ve felt like an outsider in your family sometimes.” When I nodded at his raised brow, he continued, “And you’ve not been part of the Halloween thing even though Blue Creek Ranch has organized it for what, a decade?”
I did some mental math. “I think since I was about… ten, so fourteen years or so.”
“Did you take part then?”
Shaking my head, I grabbed my drink. “Not really. It was too people-y.”
Carter smiled fondly. “I can imagine that. So this has been something that’s a big deal for the ranch, and you have been hiding somewhere while they plan and execute it each year.”
“Pretty much.”
“Halloween isn’t insignificant, right?” He took my hand and squeezed it over the table. “So no, it’s not weird at all.”
I nodded and let that answer percolate.
I loved my family more than life, but they were a lot. There were a lot of them. Add to that a crowd of people from the town? Yeah. Not my favorite.
But this way I’d be taking part in the Halloween celebration in my own way, and I had a feeling it was something that people would be talking about for a while.
Hell, maybe it would even bring more attention to Fern’s business. I just hoped that it would be a positive thing and didn’t bring more weirdos without boundaries onto the property.
After dinner, we watched a couple of episodes ofCriminal Minds, before turning off the TV.
