“I need to go put on pajamas,” Teddy said, walking into her room. But as soon as she shut the door, she pulled the email up on her phone.
Should we meet?
There was no way to respond Nah, I’m good, thanks. And Teddy couldn’t bring herself to say yes, because apparently she wasn’t as bold as Kirsten and Eleanor thought she was. She knew she should say yes. She wanted to say yes. But hiding from Everett just felt so damn comfortable.
She closed the email without responding.
31
Everett sighed. “There’s nothing here, Nat.”
“Then maybe you should actually plan ahead for once,” Natalie said, flipping through several packages of wigs. “What’s wrong with being prepared?”
“But this is the fun part!” Everett insisted. He’d never been that into Halloween, since his job involved a fair degree of transformation. Not that he wore a costume, per se, but changing himself into Television Everett was enough. He didn’t want to spend weeks creating a persona for Halloween.
So instead, he liked to go to Walmart on the morning he needed a costume and choose from whatever was left. This had led to some memorable past costumes, including Princess Leia (but without the hair, because someone had taken it and so the costume was 50 percent off) and something vaguely tigerlike (he’d found a children’s tiger face paint kit and pleaded with Natalie to do it, even though she repeatedly told him she wasn’t an artist, and the result had been both abstract and terrifying).
He usually found the chaos of it inspiring, but today his plan had backfired terribly. All that was left were children’s costumes and wigs.
“What the hell am I supposed to be?” he asked. “A big guy in a wig?”
“Oooh,” Natalie said, picking up a pumpkin costume. “This is cute.”
Everett grabbed it from her and looked at the size. “This is for five-year-olds.”
She pulled it out of his hands. “So I’ll wear it with leggings. Whatever. I’ll make it work.”
“Yeah, well, not all of us can be tiny pumpkins,” Everett grumbled.
Natalie tugged at the sleeve of his T-shirt. “Hey. Don’t you have a red cardigan at home?”
Everett closed his eyes. “Yes, Natalie.”
“Maybe it’s time to be Mr. Rogers,” she said. “Come on. Dress pants. Dress shoes. The cardigan. I know you have a Daniel Striped Tiger somewhere.”
“On a shelf in my apartment, yes. It’s a collectible, not a prop.”
Natalie gestured toward the open shelves. “Well, what are your other options? Tiny train? Tiny elephant? Tiny Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz?”
Everett grimaced. “I’m imagining wearing any of these in public, and every scenario ends with me getting arrested for public exposure and/or being a total creep.”
Natalie shrugged. “I mean, it’s supposed to be cold tonight. Why not be comfortable in your cardigan and pay homage to a hero?”
Everett sighed. “Fine, but I don’t feel great about it. Let’s go.”
“Wait. First I have to go grab a bag of Twix,” Natalie said.
“Why?” Everett asked. “You don’t get trick-or-treaters at your apartment.”
Natalie scowled at him. “These aren’t for trick-or-treaters. These are for me.”
32
It was the first night of HighBall, which always guaranteed a completely bonkers but absolutely fun evening at the shop. The date changed each year, mostly dependent on the Ohio State University football schedule (because even street drinking couldn’t convince central Ohioans to abandon a college football game). This year, HighBall happened just a few days before Halloween.
In years past, Teddy had always been one half of the comforting tradition known as the couples costume. She was the egg to Richard’s bacon. The Rocky to his Bullwinkle. The outlet to his plug. She was, of course, the one who had come up with these ideas, but there was security in being one half of a costume. By yourself, you would look silly—an egg wandering the streets alone. But together? Everyone knew what you were supposed to be, and everyone knew you had bacon who loved you. No one was looking at you by yourself—instead, they were looking at the two of you together.
Now she was on her own, and she wasn’t even going to bother coming up with a solo costume. But then Kirsten had insisted Teddy wear one of her old costumes.
“What is this?” Teddy had asked, pulling the stretchy red fabric out of the box.
“A sexy devil!” Kirsten had said gleefully. “It’s going to look amazing on you.”
It looked more skintight than amazing, but it came with a mask, so Teddy decided to go with it. And so here she was, wearing what was basically a bodysuit, but at least she was behind a counter and no one could tell it was her (well, except for the regular customers, who weren’t exactly fooled by the top half of her face being covered).
“Did you know there’s a Cajun food truck out there?” Josie asked her after she sold a My Little Pony to a man in a startlingly realistic adult-sized Chucky costume. “Carlos was eating some crawfish mac and cheese and it looked amazing. I’m thinking about going to get some.”
Teddy smiled. “If you think you guys can handle it here, I’ll go grab it for you.”
“You’re a sweetheart,” Josie said, patting her on the arm. “Where would I be without you?”
“Certainly not in close proximity to mac and cheese,” Teddy said, then frowned. “I can’t believe I’m voluntarily walking the street in a costume that looks like it was poured onto my body.”
“Pssh.” Josie waved a hand at her. “If I looked like you, I’d walk around in nothing but high heels. Actually, did I ever tell you that’s how I met John?”
“You’re full of baloney,” Teddy said. “I know you two met in high school.”
“You don’t know how I dressed in high school,” Josie pointed out.
Teddy laughed. “Okay, fine, I’m going. I’ll be back in two shakes of a sexy devil’s tail with all the mac and cheese you could ever want.”
“My hero!” Josie called behind her as she walked out the front door.
Teddy smiled at the scene greeting her. It was early, but the street was already bustling with people in costume having fun. She started walking down the street, narrowly avoiding crashing into the cast of The Golden Girls, enjoying the surprisingly mild weather. In October, you never knew what the weather gods would bring down upon HighBall—it could be warm, or snowing, or so rainy that the entire weekend (and everyone’s elaborate hairdos) would be ruined. Teddy was still smiling to herself when she saw him.