Always (Spiral of Bliss #5) Read Online Free Page B

Mirror Lake Railway depot is awash in orange lights for the haunted train rides. Dean and I find Kelsey on a bench, trying her best to ration Nicholas and Bella’s candy, even though their plastic pumpkins are half-filled with empty wrappers.
    “Sorry,” Kelsey says wryly. “But Nicholas did share his M&M’s with Archer.”
    “Ah, well.” Dean shrugs. “This is the night for treats, isn’t it?”
    He catches my eye and winks. I smile.
    “Thanks, Kels.” I pick up a few wrappers littering the ground. “Nicholas, do you have all your stuff?”
    “My sword is in Aunt Kelsey’s car.”
    “Come on, Snowbell.” Dean hauls Bella into his arms and rubs his nose against hers. “Way past your bedtime.”
    Dean and I load up with our children, their pumpkins, coats, gloves, and bits and pieces of their costumes. After saying goodbye to Kelsey, we walk back to the car and buckle the kids into their seats.
    “Halloween candy,” Nicholas says as Dean maneuvers out of the crowded parking lot. “That’s an Important Thing.”
    “True,” Dean agrees. “And town bonfires.”
    “Jack-o’-lanterns,” I say.
    “Ghosts,” Bella adds. “They were on train.”
    “Yeah, but they’re not
Important
,” Nicholas says, his mouth sounding suspiciously stuffed with chocolate.
    “On Halloween night, I think they are,” Dean says. “Along with witches, goblins, and monsters.”
    “And angels and devils,” I point out.
    “Devils aren’t Important Things,” Bella remarks.
    “Sure they are. If there were no devils, there wouldn’t be any angels. You can’t have the good without the bad.”
    “Or the sad without the glad,” Nicholas says. “Or the best without the rest.”
    “Or the dad without the plaid,” Dean suggests.
    We all chuckle.
    I look out the window as we pass our former apartment on Avalon Street, remembering the fall mornings when Dean would sit on the balcony in jeans and a plaid flannel shirt, the sleeves rolled up to reveal his muscular forearms. I remember pushing aside the blue curtains and joining him with a tray of coffee and muffins.
    Now the French doors of the apartment are closed, the balcony empty. I don’t think anyone has lived there since Dean and I left, and the thought elicits a twinge of sorrow. That apartment was where Dean and I began our lives in Mirror Lake. The home where we both loved wildly and overcame so much. It’s a place that should still be filled with
life.
It’s an Important Thing.
    I glance into the backseat of the car. Bella is already asleep, and Nicholas is struggling to stay awake. There’s a smear of chocolate on Nicholas’s face, and Bella’s hair is a mess from the cupcake hat.
    Important Things, indeed.
    I turn back around, my heart feeling both rock-solid and unbearably fragile. Nicholas was the one who started the Important Things family game, after he and I read
Stuart Little
and Stuart asks a classroom to name some very important things, like a note of music and ice cream with chocolate sauce.
    “What do you think are Important Things?” Nicholas had asked me.
    After he and I had listed all the Most Important Things—our family and friends, love, our house, our good health, the café, Nicholas’s and Bella’s schools and teachers, and Dad’s work—Nicholas thought we should keep an eye out for other Important Things and keep lists. The only rule is that we can’t repeat the same thing twice, but it’s okay if we forget that we already named it.
    So our basket of Important Things gets fuller every day, and we keep track on our individual lists.
     
    NICHOLAS
    Star Wars.
Bugs. Legos. Cartoons. Learning to ride my bike without training wheels. Reading with Mom. My best friend Henry. Playing baseball with Dad. Pirate sloops. Hamburgers.
     
    BELLA
    Flowers. Hoot the Owl. Crayons. Cupcakes. Hedgehogs.
     
    LIV
    Twelve Oaks. Good books. Clear fall days when the leaves are red and gold. Sailboats on the lake. The bouquinistes along the Seine.