James nodded. “Okay, then. How about you, Connor? You’re joining us, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, sure…oh, wait.” He looked down at his watch. “No, I can’t. I’ve got to get home.”
“Babysitting tonight?” Ron asked.
“Trick-or-treating. Alexis wants me to go with her.”
Haley smiled. “That’s sweet. It’ll be fun trick-or-treating with her for the first time.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Typically, Anne only looked more worried. “It must be so difficult for you trying to keep up with your studies and take care of your daughter.”
“There are other parents in our class,” he pointed out, trying not to let her angst rouse an answering panic in him. A few hours wouldn’t hurt, he reminded himself again. Half the rest of the class would be at the party tonight, drinking and carousing. They certainly wouldn’t be going over histology notes between beers. Maybe the study group would get a little ahead of him this evening, but he’d study on his own after Alexis was in bed. He’d catch up.
“Of course there are.” Haley gave Anne a faintly chiding look. “You’re doing great, Connor. You’re balancing everything very well.”
“Thanks to Mia,” he admitted. “I couldn’t have done this without her.”
“You’re lucky to have her. Better not let her get away,” Ron advised with a grin.
Connor started to remind his friends that he and Mia weren’t a couple, but it just seemed like too much effort to repeat the usual explanations just then. He started to gather his things. “I’d better go. You guys have a good session tonight and I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon at the library.”
Mia made a deliberate effort to stay in the background that evening, letting Connor and Alexis interact as much as possible. She was glad Connor had made an effort to join them this evening. She’d worried that he’d be late, but he’d shown up a few minutes early, giving him time to freshen up and drink a cup of coffee while he had admired Alexis’s costume and sparkly makeup.
They’d taken pictures before heading out. Photos of Alexis alone, then posed with Connor and with Mia. Alexis had insisted on taking a picture of Connor and Mia together and they’d smiled obligingly through three attempts until she was satisfied with the image on the digital camera’s small screen.
If Connor was thinking about his studies, he was doing a good job of hiding it, she decided in approval. He seemed to be enjoying the outing on this clear, comfortably temperate autumn evening. Alexis skipped between them as they moved from house to house in the family-friendly, working-class neighborhood. Quite a few other families were out, costumed kids running and chattering, parents lagging behind but still on guard over their charges.
Most of the houses on the street had porch lights burning, a sign that trick-or-treaters were welcome. Alexis elicited quite a few indulgent smiles from the adults handing out candy at the doors. She really was adorable, Mia thought with a surge of pride that felt almost maternal. And so polite, always careful to say thank you for the treats she received.
Connor smiled at Mia over his daughter’s head, his eyes gleaming in the glow of the street lamps. She returned the smile, enjoying the intimacy of the moment. This, she thought, would be a special memory she would treasure in years to come. She hoped Connor and Alexis felt the same way.
Her bag was bulging with candy by the time Alexis walked away from the house Mia had declared to be the last. Mia smiled wryly at the sight of it, thinking she’d have to ration all that candy over a period of several weeks.
“I got lots of treats,” Alexis crowed, holding up her bag for them to admire. “You can both have some, if you want.”
“That’s very generous of you, princess,” Connor replied. “I happen to like any kind of candy, so if there’s anything in there you don’t like, you don’t have to worry about it going to waste.”
She laughed. “You can have the sour ones. They make my mouth pucker up.”
“I like sour candy. And I don’t mind a good mouth pucker every once in a while,” he joked, looking at Mia.
She felt her cheeks go hot as an unbidden image of Connor’s nice lips puckered for a kiss poppe
d into her mind. Hoping the darkness concealed her inconvenient blush, she looked around quickly to admire a little mermaid waddling past them in a long, sparkly dress with fins sewn to the hem.
Because she was looking away, she didn’t see Alexis trip over a raised section of the sidewalk. But she heard the jarring fall.
Her candy scattered around her, Alexis lay sprawled on the concrete, her glittering fairy wings knocked lopsided, her tiara half off her head. Too winded to cry for a moment, she simply lay there while Connor and Mia both gasped and reached down for her.
“Alexis! Sweetie, are you okay?” Mia asked urgently, kneeling beside her.
Connor was on his knees on the child’s other side. “Are you hurt? Can you say anything?”
Her breath returning in catches, Alexis whimpered. “I hurt my knees.”
A street lamp overhead let them see the extent of the damage when they helped her sit upright. Both legs of her sparkly tights were torn and her exposed knees were scraped and oozing blood. Neither looked badly hurt, Mia noted in relief, but it had to sting like crazy. “Let me see your hands.”