“Mom, what the hell is this?”

Gabriella stepped back with her hands on her hips as her mother, laughing slightly, walked out of her farmhouse. “What do you mean, what is it?” she said. “It’s beautiful is what it is.”

Gabriella looked up at the eerily lifelike scarecrow displayed outside of her mom’s new home. It was a beautiful old house with a wraparound porch that was currently covered in blinking orange and purple lights for Halloween. Light green shutters surrounded the large windows on both floors and if Gabriella looked up, she knew she’d see a friendly monster’s face stuck to one of the top windows while more lights traced the window frame. The lights were still on in the daylight, even though the neighborhood wasn’t on any major road where people might see them as they passed by.

“I think it’s cute,” Mom said as she stood beside Gabriella and looked at the scarecrow.

The scarecrow was leaning casually against the railing of the wide stairway leading up to the porch. Instead of a pumpkin, it had a face made out of fabric. It wore jeans and a flannel shirt and some kind of stuffing was poking out above the worn boots it wore. Even after months of working with the paranormal, this thing still creeped her out.

“Where did you find it?” Gabriella asked.

“At the farmer’s market,” Mom replied, straightening out the collar on the scarecrow’s flannel shirt. “It’s cute!”

“No, it’s not,” Gabriella argued. “It’s creepy!”

“I guess so. But I like it. And besides, it’s not like you wouldn’t see something similar strolling around at your job anyway,” Mom said with a laugh.

“No, but it’s still so creepy!”

Mom laughed and leaned in for a hug, which Gabriella gladly accepted. The fall air here in New Hampshire was crisp, chilled, and smelled like burning leaves and cold. As beautiful as home could be in the autumn, this felt like something out of a storybook. When her mother had told her she planned to move to New Hampshire after finishing her MBA, Gabriella had been a little uneasy about it. Her mom had lived near her expansive family her whole life, spending most of it in the same town in Central Massachusetts. She’d said she needed a change, which Gabriella had assumed meant a different job. It had, but it had also meant buying a beautiful old New Hampshire home with the last of the insurance money that she still had from Gabriella’s father’s death a decade earlier.

“So where’s this broken window?” Gabriella asked as her mother steered her onto the porch.

“We’ll get to that,” Mom said. “But first, have some coffee with me. It’s been a few weeks. How are you?”

Gabriella followed her into the house. The antique wooden door opened into a large, sunny kitchen and the smell of coffee – good coffee, not the shit they drank at work – made the atmosphere even more festive. A gleaming wooden table sat in the middle of the room with a vase of mums sitting in the center.

“I’m good,” she said, going to the fridge to pull out creamer as Mom poured their coffee into festive mugs. “It’s been so busy so the day off is nice.”

“Are they still over-scheduling you?” Mom asked as she handed Gabriella a mug.

Gabriella poured some pumpkin spice creamer into it, then stirred with a pumpkin-decorated spoon. “Yeah, but it’s not James’s fault,” she said.

“Of course not,” Mom said, pouring cream into her own coffee. “I still worry about you, though. Both of you. That’s dangerous work to be doing understaffed.”

This was a familiar argument and one that Gabriella would not win. While her mother hadn’t been thrilled about Gabriella joining the Foundation for Paranormal Studies, she’d warmed up to it as Gabriella had settled into the job. She knew about Gabriella’s passion for research, so the fact that James had made her the unofficial team researcher helped too. But she was right. They were overworked and understaffed, and there wasn’t a solution readily available. So instead of arguing, even a little, Gabriella just changed the subject.

“How about you?” she asked as she picked up her mug. “How are you doing?”

She followed her mother back out onto the porch, where they sat down in old wooden rockers she recognized from Gran’s house years earlier. From here, she could see the woods surrounding the house beyond her mother’s yard. The leaves had all changed into an array of bright colors, though some were turning brown and crispy. In the space where some leaves had already fallen, Gabriella could see another house a ways down the street, but it was far enough away to make them feel almost truly alone here.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Mom said. “Buying this house was one of the best decisions I ever made.”

“It looks beautiful,” she said. “And the yard is so nice. Did you do all of this?”

“No,” her mother said, taking a sip of her coffee. “The neighbors up the street own a landscaping business. They gave me a cheap rate as a welcome to the neighborhood deal.”

She laughed, looking around. “They’re good though,” she continued. “I’ll hire them again, full rate, in the spring. It’s a man and his four sons. Nice boys. They’ve checked in on me multiple times since they finished the work and I have a feeling I’m going to have to fight them to take payment for the tasks they ‘just happen’ to realize they forgot to do each time they’re here.”

Gabriella imagined a bunch of skinny teenage boys raking leaves for her mother and smiled. It was nice to know that she had good neighbors up here, even when she wanted her privacy. As much as she chafed against her mother worrying about her, Gabriella had to admit she worried just as much.

They chatted a few more minutes, going over some of the tasks that Gabriella had come up to help with. They were all fairly simple things, like changing out screens and painting the guest bedroom. She had a feeling that the chores were a bit of a pretense to get her to visit, but she couldn’t blame her mom for it. They both worked long hours and maybe she thought that Gabriella wouldn’t want to come over and hang out with her mom during her days off. It was only a half an hour drive though, so she would, if she could find the time. That was the only obstacle.

They were interrupted a little while later by the sound of a pickup truck pulling into the long driveway. A moment later, an old blue Ford was pulling up in front of the house. Mom stood up and winked at Gabriella.

“These are the boys from the landscaping business,” she said. “Like I said, they’ll find some other task to pretend I already paid for. I’m sure their dad puts them up to it. Come on and say hi, they’re cute.”

“Mom!”

Mom laughed and walked off the porch, still holding her mug. Rolling her eyes, Gabriella put hers down and followed.

Only one man got out of the truck and she had to admit her mom was right. He was tall and thin, wearing an old flannel shirt and jeans, like the scarecrow. But unlike the scarecrow, he had a round face and warm brown eyes that crinkled as he smiled at them from under his baseball cap.

“Hi, Mrs. McManus,” he said. “My dad asked me to stop by on my way home and make sure that everything was still holding up.”

“It’s fine, Elliot,” Mom said. “Everything looks great. Oh, this is my daughter, Gabriella. Gabriella, this is Elliot, one of the landscapers I was just telling you about.”

Elliot smiled at her and Gabriella felt her cheeks get hot in the cold air. “Nice to meet you,” he said with a jerking wave.

“You too.”

“You two are probably about the same age,” Mom said, ignoring the glare that Gabriella sent her. “She’s up visiting for the day.”

“Nice. It’s a beautiful day for it!”

He was so enthusiastic about talking with her mom without being weird about it. Gabriella was almost disappointed when he turned and went back to his truck a moment later, after confirming that her mom didn’t need anything done in the yard right now. As he pulled out of the driveway, her mother turned to her with a satisfied expression. “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“What did you think?”

“Are you really trying to set me up with your neighbor who you barely know?”

Mom laughed and shrugged, then turned and walked back into the house. “Finish your coffee and then I’ll show you the broken window.”

Gabriella laughed and shook her head as she followed. But she couldn’t help looking back to see Elliot wave as he pulled onto the road and drove away. She held up a hand and waved back, then hurried to catch up with her mom.

---

Gabriella didn’t have work until noon the next day, so she ended up spending the night painting the guest room and splitting a bottle of wine with her mom. She woke up early the next morning with a slight headache, but the crisp air soothed it as she slipped on one of her mother’s cardigans and walked out onto the porch.

It was even more beautiful here first thing in the morning. The fog was still rising, so traces of it swirled around the tops of the brightly colored trees surrounding the yard. New leaves had fallen overnight, blanketing the dying grass with a mass of brown, gold, and red that sparkled in the early morning frost. She couldn’t see the backyard from here, but she knew the layer of leaves would be just as thick out there.

It was so early that her mom wasn’t up yet. But the sound of a truck pulling into the short driveway broke the silence. Gabriella’s heart picked up a little as she realized it was Elliot again. And then she realized she was still in her worn-out pajamas.

She pulled her sweater tightly over her thin pajama shirt and waved as he pulled up in front of the house. “My mom’s still in bed, but I can go get her if you need me to,” she said as Elliot got out of the truck.

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Elliot said with a shy smile. “I left a rake here the other day and forgot about it until last night. Your mom said she’d leave it on the porch.”

Gabriella glanced around and immediately spotted the rake leaning against the wall. She picked it up and brought it down the stairs to him.

“So you’re visiting?” Elliot said as he took the rake, fingers brushing hers. “From where?”

She laughed. “Just Massachusetts, it’s not that far.”

“No, it’s not.”

There was a pause, and she noticed that his face was tinged a little red as he looked at her and smiled. Then he seemed to shake himself. “I have to go,” he said. “We’ve got a job a couple towns over and my brothers will kick my ass if I’m late. But hopefully I’ll see you next time you’re visiting. I live right up the street.”

He gestured toward the wooded road behind him. “That sounds great,” Gabriella said, sure that she was blushing now too.

Elliot nodded again, then turned and hurried to his truck. Gabriella stayed where she was as he pulled out, then sat down on the rocking chair and tried to suppress the silly smile she could feel coming over her face.

Goddammit, her mom had been right. He was cute. And apparently interested. And she was a weirdo who fought monsters with other weirdos. So it couldn’t happen.

But she could enjoy the fantasy out here in the chilly morning air for a few minutes, so she sat down in the rocking chair and took a deep breath, letting it out in a sparkling cloud. The scarecrow seemed to watch approvingly under its glaze of frost.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 4