After Sundown (14 page)

"Daddy, Kit told me to bring an overnight bag to school with my pajamas and some clothes for school
tomorrow
. She said I was spending the night with
Sarah
tonight."
After p
ouring milk over the cereal, Cole placed the
bowl
before his
daughter.
Recalling Brenda's conversation with Kit, he cursed himself for not
clarifying
his plans for Halloween. So as not to
disappoint
Megan, he would let her spend the night at Kit
’
s.

"Daddy, aren't you
g
o
nna
go trick
or
treating with us?" Kit asked between mouthfuls
of cereal
.

"
Sur
e,
pumpkin." Before Cole could elaborate on his promise
, the phone rang, disrupting the conversation.

After school on Wednesday, Kit trailed down the street behind two
rambunctious
pirates, anxious for a night of trick or treat
ing
. Once in the house, Megan and Sarah raced to the kitchen table to claim the afte
rschool snack that awaited them.

"I have a surprise for you two
,
" Kit announced once the girls sat at the table. Bubbling with
anticipation
, the two pair of young eyes looked up eagerly.

"We're going trick or treatin in Uncle Brandon's
neighborhoo
d,
"
Kit told them.

"Oh boy! Megan, every year his
neighbors
fix
the whole street up really spooky!"

"And then Aunt Susan and I are going to take you girls to the movies."

"The movies!" They cried in unison.

"On a school night?" Sarah beamed.

"Sure, why not
?
" Kit forced herself to appear cheerful.
During
the last few days
,
all she wanted to do was cry. Yet she only allowed herself
that luxury
in the dead of night, when Sarah was fast asleep and Kit
laid
alone in her king sized bed.

"Are we waiting for my daddy?" Megan asked anxiously.

"
N
o,
honey, your dad has some other plans for tonight."

"But he said he was going with
us." Megan looked up sadly.

"I'm
sorr
y,
kiddo, I think you misunderstood him. But we're going to have an awful lot of fun
,
" Kit promised with a forced smile.

Enchanted with promises of spooky haunted houses and movies on a school night, Megan soon forgot her
disappointment
over her father's absence. Shortly before dark
,
the threesome climbed into Kit's
dilapidated
station wagon
and headed to
Brandon
's home.

It was just getting dark when Cole parked his car.
He wondered briefly, why there were no lights on at Kit’s house.
After bounding up the front steps, it didn't take him
long
to figure out that no one
was
home. Sitting dejected on the front steps, Cole wondered if perhaps he could
find
the three somewhere nearby, trick or treating in the neighborhood. Hadn't Megan told Kit that he would be
joining
them? He cursed himself for not calling Kit that morning and setting her straight on his Halloween plan. Had she simply ignored Megan and left to spite Cole? He couldn't imagine that Kit Landon would
intentionally
disappoint his daughter just to
punish
him. Or would she?

He had
been sitting on Kit's steps for some ten minutes
when
the street began filling with young goblins. He waited another hour, before giving
up. Heading
for his car
,
he came face to face with Kit's neighbor.
Aggie, wasn't that her name?

"
Wel
l,
hell
o,
Mr.
Taylor
. I thought that was you
,
" Aggie said cheerfully as Cole began to unlock his car door. "You wouldn't be
looking
for Kit
and
the girls would you?"

"As a matter of
fact, I was. Apparently
,
there was a misunderstanding. Have you seen Kit?" Cole leaned against the car door and peered over the hood at Kit's neighbor.

"Kit said something about taking the girls over to her brother's neighborhood.
His
neighbors a
lways get together and decorate
the entire
street. It's really something.
"

"Exactly where does he live?" Cole was determined to track down the threesome.

"I have his address inside. Let me get it for you
,”
Aggie offered.

Less than fifteen
minutes later Cole pulled his car in front of the address Aggie had
given him
. Sure enough, the
ordinary
street had been transformed into a Halloween
fantasy
, complete with
a mock cemetery
and an array of dangling
skeletons
and ghosts hanging from various trees.
Overhea
d,
a wire reached between two houses,
and
at its
mid-point
a
life-sized
witch floated
atop
her broomstick.

Sprinting up the walkway leading to
Brandon
's house, Cole encountered a half
dozen
costumed
children
before reaching the front door.

Brandon
pulled open the front door just as Cole was reaching for the doorbell.

"Cole
,
"
Brandon
startled, surprised to
find
Megan's father standing on his front porch instead of trick or
treaters
.

"Where's Kit and the girls
?
" Cole asked impatiently.

"Susan and Kit took the girls t
o a movie,”
Brandon
explained.

"Tonight? It's a school
nigh
t,
" Cole glowered.

"It's also Halloween. Kit only allows the girls to go to the houses of people she knows. So to compensate for not letting
them
hit every
house
- like most of their friends, she
always
tries to do something special."
Brandon
stepped to the side and opened the door wider. "Do you want to come in?" Cole looked
completely
disgruntled. Combing his
f
in
gers
through his hair
,
he shook his head briefly.

"No thanks
,
"
h
e mumbled absently, then glanced over his shoulder when he heard a new
barrage
of goblins
scurrying
up
the walkway to claim more candy. Standing to one side, Cole watched
Brandon
drop candy into the various
outstretched
Halloween
bags. Once they were alone
agai
n,
Cole stepped up to the door.

"What show did they go to?"

"I thought you were going to a party tonight
,
"
Brandon
asked.

"No, it was all a misunderstanding."

Brandon
lifted his brow at the comment. "Really? Well, I don't know which show they decided on."
Brandon
glanced at his watch. "They left about fifteen minutes ago. Probably won't be
back for two hours."

Another onslaught of costumed children interrupted
Brandon
before he could quiz Cole about his intentions toward Kit. As much as he wanted to grill the man,
Brandon
realized that it would not happen tonight, not with the street filled with children and his doorbell constantly ringing. An uninterrupted conversation between the two would be impossible.

Several minutes later, a
lone and disappointed, Cole left
Brandon
's house and found himself heading his car toward After Sundown. He found the bar noisy and crowded. Making his way to a barstool, he ordered a drink and moved to face the dance floor. Bringing the glass to his
lips,
he recalled his first encounter with Kit Landon.

Had he really managed to bring her to climax as she rode his knee? He could still vividly recall her stunned expression after her body had trembled and q
uak
ed, his hands holding her erect.
Erect,
that was something that woman did to
him.
He downed the contents of his glass and headed home.

By Friday evening
,
Cole was convinced that fate
was conspiring
to keep him from speaking
privately
with Kit. When he went to her house on Thursday evening, she was in the middle of a long distance phone call and
merely
waved a disinterested hello in his direction. Sarah promptly informed him that her mom would probably be on the phone for a long time, as it was a business call. He was tempted to wait it out, yet Megan stood ready at the front door, anxious to return home after spending two full days with Sarah. After returning home, Cole
considered phoning
Kit, yet decided against the idea. He needed to speak with h
er privately, face to face. Yet, he wasn’t certain what he intended to say.

It seemed as if weeks had passed instead of days, since
they had
made love. Cole reluctantly
acknowledged
that the shared
intimacy
had forced a wedge between their friendship.
Since their night together,
he and Kit had not shared a single real conversation. He missed their evening chats when he
pic
ked
up Megan
, s
itting by the
fire
, sharing a meal
and laughing.

The unexpected realization hit Cole – he missed Kit the person. She was more than a sexual conquest or a caregiver to his daughter. She had become even more than a friend. In some ways, she felt like family.

Even more confused than before, Cole found him
self on Kit's doorstep at seven-
thirty, Friday evening. While walking up her front
step
s,
he noticed two strange cars parked by her house. Sarah opened the front door and he followed her into the living room. Perched on the arm of the
small sofa was Kit's sister-in-
law, Susan. Cole had met her once before. She greeted him with a cheerful hello and quickly introduced the stranger who stood to her right. The man w
as wearing a three-
piece grey suit and appeared to be either on his way in or out.

"Cole, this is Andrew Jameson. Andrew," Susan turned to the tall, dark
haired man, "This is Megan's father." The two men briefly shook hands.