“Fall out!” Solana unlocked the doors to the borrowed van and opened the back door to help Rosalie unbuckle. But, Jack already had her undone and she climbed over Ben to get to her mother.

“We gonna go buy Nicky?”

“Yep…let’s go buy Nicky. Liz, grab someone’s hand.”

She angrily grabbed Ben’s hand, tired of still being one of the little kids. Jack didn’t have to hold a hand any more…why did she?

Ben leaned down to her and whispered, “just grab my pinky…it’ll just be for show, okay?”

She gave him a shy smile and slipped her hand out of his, taking hold of his pinky. “Thanks.”

“Okay, everyone stay near the cart.” Solana slid Rosalie in and gave her a kiss. “You stay in it.”

“I wanna walk.” Rosalie crossed her arms in front of her and pouted. Big.

“Nope. Too many of us. You ride. Then you can hold all of Nicky, okay?”

“Okay…I hold Nicky.”

Just as they made their way through the store, Solana’s purse rang. “Oh crap…Ben, can you find my cell in there?”

“Yep.” As they walked, he dug through her purse, finally pulling out the ringing phone and handing it to her.

“Hello?”

“Lani? Nick.”

“Hey you! What are you doing calling today…it’s your big day!”

“I wanted to share it with you…”

“Aw, well, your timing’s perfect. Guess where we are?”

“No idea…”

“Walmart. Me and…god, how many of us are here?” She quickly counted to herself and shook her head. How cool. “Seven of us here…all buying our own copies of this new album out today…well, Rosalie and I will share.”

“Oh yeah? Wait. Justin’s isn’t out ‘til NEXT week!”

“Oh, shoot. We’re early…smart ass.”

“Wait a minute…everyone’s buying their own? Who’s all there with you?”

“Ben, Kitty, Jack, Liz, me, Rosalie and…you’ll never guess.”

“Who?”

“Ron.”

“No fuckin’ way.”

“Yep. He finally pulled away from Steve seeing how impatient he is with the kids at the center…heard me playin’ the single in my office and decided he wants his own copy.”

“You know, I have copies set aside for you.”

“I know, but Nick…they want to do this. They’ve all earned their own money and want to help your numbers.”

“Well, I’ll keep these and give them to the center or something.”

“Oooh, yeah. Incentives. Autograph them, huh?”

“Sure…not a problem. This is too cool. Lemme talk to Ben.”

“Ben…for you, bud.” Solana handed him the phone and made a quick head count. How did mom’s with so many kids do this? She was already exhausted.

“Hey, man…what’s up?”

“It’s crazy, man. Just had a break and thought I’d call. I got the pictures back from this weekend already.”

“Oh yeah? How’d they come out?”

“They’re incredible. And the stuff you guys did with the disposables was great too. When did you sneak in when I was getting dressed?”

“About the time you had your hand down your shirt adjusting the left one, I think. Just like the picture.”

“You’re lucky I have it now. This thing better never get out.”

“Never know. Might help the record sales.”

“I’d rather not sell any if it’s all the same. So, how’d you all get enough money for your own copies?”

“Well, Mom’s been giving us allowance since she started working and Liz and Jack have been doing over time…Liz makes everyone’s beds and cleans up dinner. Jack cooked for like a week.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Nope. Little brat’s good too.” He felt a hand meet up with the back of his head. Jack’s.

“I’m not a brat.”

“Yeah, you are, man…but you can cook, so it’s all good.”

“That’s cool.”

“Yeah…and Kitty did a bunch of babysitting for our neighbor and you’ll never guess how I got the extra money.”

“You’re right…I’m too tired to guess.”

“Your neighbor’s been watchin’ me workin’ on your lawn…he hired me to do his too.”

“No way…grumpy old Mr. Wilkins?”

“Yep…his wife likes me anyway.”

“She make you lemonade?”

“Yes…how’d you know?”

“Cuz she does for me all the time. I’ll come home from tour or something, go out on my boat and she’ll be there greeting me with lemonade and cookies.”

“That sounds about right. So anyway, yeah…we’re here and…oh wow. There you are. Nick, this is cool.” Ben picked up the CD, staring at the cardboard display…a life sized stand up of Nick. Ordinary, goofy Nick and here he was in the middle of Walmart. Too weird.

“Yeah, it is, isn’t it? I can’t believe it either.”

“I can’t wait to hear this thing.”

“I hope you like it. Hey, lemme talk to Miss Romero again.”

“Yep. Here she is.”

Ben handed the phone back to Solana and plunked his CD into the cart.

“I hold all the Nicky’s, Ben…gimme.” Rosalie twisted herself around in the cart…as much as she could and tried to clamor for the case.

“Woah…hang on, girlie. I’ll get it. Dang.” Ben retrieved it back out and gave it to her. “There you go.”

Solana looked up to Ben and Kitty to make sure they had their hands on all of the kids and disappeared down another aisle so she could speak more privately.

“They’re so excited, Nick. They worked hard for this.”

“I don’t even know what to say, Lani. It means more to me than…” He sighed wishing he could see the dance in her eyes, the dance he could hear in her voice. “…more than I can say.”

“Yeah…I know.”

“So how is Ben, really?”

“Really…he’s okay, Nick. I mean, his heart is broken. He knows Erin still cares about him, but she just gave into Steve. She looks miserable too…comes to the center now and again to help him out. He’s not such a putz with her around though, so…I guess it’s okay.”

“I know it’s just puppy love, but I have such a bad feeling about it all.”

“Yeah, something’s not sitting right with me either. But, Ben’s okay. Grades come out tomorrow and he thinks he might actually be on the honor roll.”

“No kidding…first time for him?”

“Probably, yeah. He’ll be okay.”

“Okay…well, I gotta run. Another string of interviews and stuff.”

“Okay. When will we see you again?”

“Um, I’m not sure. My schedule’s in my room…I’ll call tomorrow and let you know, okay?”

“You don’t have to…I was just curious.” Truth was, she missed him like mad. More than she should. More than she wanted to. More than she could let on. She just wanted him home. It was almost easier to control her feelings for him when he was around than when he was away…her imagination could take off without him there. And it went to some wonderful places.

“Lani…you there?”

“Huh? Did you say something?”

“Yeah…I asked you to give Rosalie a kiss for me.”

“Oh…sorry. I, uh…saw some really…cool, uh. You know, this place is bazaar.”

“What place?”

“Walmart. You can buy pacifiers and rifles all in the same store.”

Nick had to laugh, imagining her looking up and being surrounded by rifles, camouflage outfits and binoculars. “Yeah, well…if the pacifier doesn’t shut the kid up, you can shoot it.”

“Nice…although, I remember that thought crossing my mind now and again.”

“I can imagine. Okay, I really gotta go.”

“Sorry…and I’ll kiss Rosalie for you.”

“Okay.” He stopped, wanting to say something else. Not sure what it was, but not feeling quite ready to hang up. “Lani?”

“Yeah…”

“I…” No. He could not. How could he? But…Ben was right. No. He couldn’t allow it. He had to change his thinking and quick.

“What, Nick?”

“Th-…thank you. This means a lot to me.”

She knew he censored himself. She felt the tension through the phone. She felt the heart through the phone and she knew that he was feeling things he shouldn’t be feeling…because she was too. It made no sense. None whatsoever. How could their hearts go places their relationship couldn’t go? It wasn’t right. But…there it was.

“No problem. You mean a lot to them.”

“Good.”

“And Nick?”

“Yeah?”

She took a deep breath and risked it. She wanted him to know that they were on the same page. The wrong page. The forbidden page. The tempting page. But they were there together.

“Me too.” She stopped breathing as she said those two words, not knowing what she’d hear next. And she heard nothing. “I’ll…talk to you soon.”

As she clicked off her phone, she looked up to find two blue eyes staring at her with equal parts questions and answers. Ben.

“We’re ready to go, Miss Romero. You okay?”

“Yeah, Ben. I’m good. Let’s go.”

“Rosalie, girl. If you don’t settle down, we’re going to have to get another stroller for you. Hold my hand, please.” Kitty reached for her hand, only to have it jerked away…for the millionth time in the last hour.

“I’m a flamenco dancer! I dance!” Rosalie continued spinning and clicking and bopping all over the sidewalk, making the Casey’s heads spin. All but Amy’s. She loved to watch Rosalie dance around.

“Rosalie. Flamenco’s rest too. It’s time to rest.” Ben scooped her up and giggled as she turned her face away from his. He’d done his own make-up for trick or treating, closely mimicking the work Nick had done on it the weekend before for the photo session. “If you don’t rest, I’ll eat you.”

“Monsters no like dancers. We taste funny.”

“I don’t doubt that at all…will you stop dancing at this next house?”

“Yes…I be good.”

He gave her one more stern look before lowering her back to the sidewalk and handing her the pillow case she’d brought to collect all of her goodies. “I think Miss Romero got an easy out tonight…we’ve been had.”

“No kidding. She sits on the porch and hands out candy and we deal with the whirling dervish.” Kitty held back from the next driveway, letting Liz, Jack and Rosalie go up first…the night was for them anyway. As it should be.

“Trick or treat!”

“She’s having fun anyway.”

“Yep. And she said she’d share her candy with me.”

“What!? You’re stealing candy from a little girl!?” Kitty slugged Ben in the arm and shook her head. What a twit.

“Ow! I’m not stealing” Ben rubbed his arm and gently slugged her back. “…just…whining. And you know, she loves me, so…she’s gonna share.”

“You are lower than low, I swear.”

“And how much of Liz’s are you planning on eating?”

“Shut up.”

“Uh-huh…don’t even talk to me about stealing. At least I’m not taking from my own sister.”

The trick or treaters returned, and they finished up the final street in Miss Romero’s neighborhood. By the time they’d made it back to her house, the little flamenco dancer and the littlest lady bug were totally sacked out.

Patty picked up her brigade, quickly snooping through their takes to make sure everything looked safe. When they got home, Kitty took Amy in and put her to bed, while Liz and Jack stumbled in to their own beds, falling quickly asleep in a chocolate haze.

Ben was feeling melancholy, remembering how he and Erin had joked about matching costumes they could sport while they stayed home and handed out candy. But, it never happened of course. As he got out of the car, he saw movement over at Erin’s house and was stupid enough to look.

Steve and Erin stood on her porch talking for a few minutes, her looking down and he lifting her chin with his finger. It made Ben’s blood run cold. Finally, he saw what he’d hoped he’d never have to see. Steve bent down and kissed her…and she kissed him back. And Ben’s heart broke. It wasn’t supposed to end up this way.

Just as he dragged himself up his porch, he heard someone call his name. He was not in the mood to be social.

“Ben!”

Turning around, he fought every urge to scream and calmly answered. It was Steve. “Yeah?”

“Come here for a minute, man.”

Ben lifted the hem of his shirt and wiped as much make up from his face as he could. He didn’t need any tormenting about going out trick or treating, no less going out dressed up. “What do you need?”

“Just come here, stupid. I’ve uh…I’ve got something for you.”

“You don’t have anything I want, Steve…I’m going in.” Steve started walking across the street, making Ben’s heart race. He did not want a confrontation. Not now…not ever.

“You know full well I have something you want.”

“Steve, please. You won, okay? Just leave me alone now.”

“Ah, but see, Benny…”

“Do not call me, Benny…asshole.” Ben had now turned and was face to face with his nemesis.

“Calm down man…”

“What, Steve? What could you possibly have that I want?”

“Well, for one…a way for you to get it back…”