I opened a bag of salad and tossed it together while I watched the news. I wanted to catch the weather report. I could recall only two times since we’d moved to Ivy Woods that it had rained on Halloween, and they’d both been before we started the block parties. One had been when Sam was so young he didn’t really comprehend trick-or-treating, and on the other, the families on the cul-de-sac had all parked our cars on the street and sat in our garages drinking and handing out candy, dumping extra chocolate bars in the kids’ buckets for their courage to go out in the weather. That had been the year Pia and her husband, Marlon, had dragged their ping-pong table to Bettina’s garage and we’d had an epic tournament, doing shots of pumpkin-flavored liqueur Pia’s sister made until we were all so drunk it was a wonder we were able to stumble home.

I missed those days. Everything had been easier then.

“How was your calculus test?” I asked Cole.

“Okay.”

Sam had excelled at math and science. They were his favorite subjects. He used to put himself to sleep thinking up complicated multiplication problems and solving them in his head. Cole, not so much.

“Did you do alright with the graphing stuff?”

He took a sip of soda. “Yep. Got them all right. And I ate all of my veggies. And I’m wearing clean underwear. Want to see?”

He turned around, started to pull down his jeans.

“No need to be vulgar,” I said. “You’re in a special mood.”

“Just happy to see you, my dear mother.” He drew close, kissed me on the cheek. I could smell the meat on his breath.

“And?”

“And nothing. Can’t a son just love his mother?”

I moved past him, opened the door, and let Barney into the backyard. He ran out, barking into the darkening skies.

“No,” I said. “Does this have anything to do with Lily Pressley?” I’d seen him and Lily through the window as he’d come home from school yesterday. Their heads were close—not touching, but in an intimate little conversation—and she’d thrown him a wiggly finger wave before heading inside.

He laughed. “Uh, no.”

“You sure?” I cocked my head. “You two seem pretty chummy. Just be careful. She’s the principal’s daughter.” And her mother’s a liar. “And too young for you anyway.”

“She’s too young. Ellen’s too weird. How am I ever going to find a girl to please you, Mother?” He batted his eyelashes.

“You can joke all you want, but you know you can’t mess up this year.”