Acknowledgments
This book would not have been possible without the unwavering support of my critique partners, Susan Bischoff and Claire Legrand. They gave me encouragement and butt kicking as necessary to get me from my “Once upon a time…” to “The end” and were completely supportive of my jumping ship from my paranormal roots to try something new.
Thanks to my cover artist, Robin Ludwig, who regularly amazes me by taking images straight out of my brain and putting them together for the rest of the world to enjoy.
I would also like to offer up special thanks to the baristas at 929 Coffee, who provided smiles, fabulous biscuits, and endless cups of tea to fuel my creative drive. Y’all are the best!
Casting Call
“I really appreciate your help with this, Tyler.” Norah Burke passed over the caramel macchiato she’d brought as bribery. “It’s so last minute, and I’m going to need all the hands I can get to pull it off.”
“It’s a whole month away,” said Tyler, setting down the coffee and cutting open a box of new cabinet hardware. “We’ve got time.”
“A month in city event planning language is, like, tomorrow. But it’s so rare Halloween falls on a weekend and I can’t pass up the opportunity to do something.”
Sipping the coffee and slipping the knobs and drawer pulls into bins, Tyler listened as her friend laid out the concept she’d developed for a new fall festival.
“It’ll be an all-day event. A 5k run/walk in the morning to kick things off—I’ll need to come up with some catchy name that will look good on T-shirts, and get sponsors.” She made another note. “Then maybe a combination harvest and arts festival on the green. Something that’ll bring out the local artisans and farmers. We’ll get the businesses around the square to host trick or treating for the kids—which will make the parents happy since it’ll be well lit and centralized.”
“You should have a station set up for fall pictures,” said Tyler. “Something with hay bales and pumpkins so the parents can plunk down their kiddos and get quick pictures. Zach Warren can set up a booth. You could call it Pumpkinpalooza.”
“Oh, that’s good!” Norah made more notes. “It’ll appeal to everybody, even those super religious folks who have some conscientious objection to Halloween.”
“I’ll be getting in my stock of hay bales and pumpkins next week. I’ll talk to Logan to make sure there’s plenty fresh for that weekend.” Tyler scribbled a reminder for herself as the bell above the door jangled and Lorna Van Buren walked in. “Afternoon, Mrs. Van Buren. Let me know if I can help you with anything.”
The older woman waved and headed for the paint section.
“Now here’s the part I’m really going to need help with,” said Norah. “The old department store is empty. On the market, of course, but it’s a huge space and nobody’s biting yet. I got the owner to let us use the first floor to make a haunted house. We’ll charge a cover to get in and I’m planning to talk each of the main businesses in town into sponsoring a room, so to speak. Then we’ll have the people vote for whichever room is scariest. They’ll be responsible for their own costs and materials, but we’ll still need to build something to divide up the space.”
“The most economical way to do it would be to set up giant fabric partitions. It’d be pretty cheap to do it with PVC. You don’t want to create anything permanent, unless you’ve got some future uses in mind.”
“Good point. See, this is why I needed another brain to bounce ideas off of.”
Mrs. Van Buren stepped up, several paint brushes in hand. “Oh, I love a good haunted house! Camilla Dixon at The Calico Cottage can order you the fabric. Something black, I’d think. And I bet the Quilting Queens would volunteer to sew them up.”
“The Quilting Queens?” asked Norah.
“It’s this big inter-church group of ladies who quilt. Nobody has room in their house to host that big a group, so they rotate through the fellowship halls of all the churches in town. They meet once a week and make quilts to donate to folks. You should talk to Nancy McAlipin. She’s their current president.”
“Come to think of it, they have a lot of PVC frames for their annual show. They might be willing to loan them out,” said Tyler.
Norah grinned as she scribbled. “God, I love this town.”
Lorna shifted her attention to Tyler. “I wanted to pick your brain. See I have this dresser I want to refinish. Hank already stripped it for me, and I’ve picked out the color stain I want, but I don’t know what kind of brushes I need or what supplies I might be forgetting.”
“Let me help you with that.” Tyler rose and led her back to the paint supplies.
Ten minutes later she was ringing up Lorna’s purchases.
The bell rang again as a brunette whirlwind bounced through the door, singing, “Dust off your dancing shoes, we have a mission.”
Tyler barely spared her best friend a glance as she continued to bag up Lorna’s varnish, stain, lint-free cloths, and new paint brushes. “Now remember, the natural bristle brushes are for oil-based paint only. These synthetic ones you bought can go for oil or water-based, but for the varnish you’re going to use on that dresser, the natural bristles will give you a smoother finish.”
The older woman grinned. “This is going to look so good! I’ll be sure to take pictures.”
“You do that. Be sure to tag us on Facebook!” Tyler called.