Chapter Thirty: Pumpkin Patches

Trick

"All right Sprite, which one are we getting?"

Hadley's let us come hang out at a pumpkin patch while she meets with Rebecca. I'm nervous with her by myself, but I'm grateful Hadley trusts me enough to have alone time with Riley. Halloween is coming up, and we're picking out a couple of pumpkins. I think Sprite's grown a foot since the last time I saw her a few days ago. How can her dad not realize what he's missing out on?

"We need three," she puts her hands out in front, counting on her fingers. "One for me, one for you, and one for Mom."

"Then we'll get three." Damn good thing she rode with her mom, because all those aren't going to fit on my bike. "You ever carved one of these things before?"

"No," she shakes her head. "Last year we painted ours, but this year I wanna carve it. I saw this show on TV where a family got together and did it."

So that's what this is about. She wants something normal, and who doesn't? She's a little kid who hasn't had a normal life in