5-minute romance
When a fortune cookie foretold that Callie would meet the man of her dreams on Halloween, she spent years secretly hoping the prediction would come true. But just when she’d given up on ever finding love, she meets a handsome stranger…on All Hallows Eve.
F
rom the age of 8, Callie Emerson had known she would meet the man of her dreams on Halloween. It had been foretold in a fortune cookie, so it must be true.
You will find your forever love on All Hallows Eve.
For years she’d believed it, but now at 33, she was starting to doubt the wisdom of putting her faith in mass-produced fortunes.
As she helped her twin 5-year-old niece and nephew get ready for trick-or-treating, she wondered if tonight would be the night. After all, everything else in her life was set. She had a good job, a car and mortgage, and she lived next door to her sister, which meant she saw the twins every day. She didn’t need a man to complete her life, to make her happy. She was happy. But was it so wrong to want someone special to share her life with? “Where’s your tuffet?” Alfie asked. Alfie was dressed as Jack and his sister, Lulu, as Jill. Callie was Little Miss Muffet because it’d been the only costume left in the store, and beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“It’s near the door,” Callie said. “We’ll use it for the candy.”
“But what will you do if a spider sits down beside you?” Lulu asked as Callie suppressed a shudder. Her terror of spiders was so well known in the family that even the twins knew exactly how to push her buttons. “I shall swat it with your pail,” she said, playfully poking her finger at Lulu’s nose, causing a girlish giggle. “Are we ready?” The twins happily rushed to the front door, and Callie breathed a sigh of relief that they didn’t seem remotely affected that their parents were out of town on a business trip and couldn’t take them trick-or-treating. “C’mon, Auntie Callie!” Callie smiled, snapped a pic of the twins, texted it quickly to her sister and said, “Let’s go!” Maybe this Halloween will be the one… Two hours later, the tuffet full, the twins raced up to the last house while Callie waited at the gate at the end of the path. Something bumped her from behind, and she turned as a deep,
masculine voice said, “I’’m sorry!” The first thing Callie saw was eight hairy legs. She gasped and leapt away, stumbling slightly. She would’ve fallen had it not been for the steadying hand on her elbow.
“Sorry,” he said again. “These stupid legs are messing with my spatial awareness.”
Callie’s initial arachnid-induced fright response settled, leaving something very different in its wake. The man was the original tall, dark and handsome with thick wavy hair, warm brown eyes and a seductive smile.
“It’s fine,” she said, even though her heart was thumping in an exceedingly irregular fashion. She saluted him. “Miss Muffet was expecting you.”
He laughed, and the sound settled into her bones with lightness and certainty.
“I’m Itsy Bitsy, actually,” he grinned. “But I’ll be any spider you want me to be.”
Callie’s breath caught, and for a beat or two their eyes locked.
“Uncle Mal, Uncle Mal, look at what we got.” He broke eye contact and smiled at a boy and a girl charging toward him. They didn’t look that much older than the twins.
“Show me,” he said. The kids pulled up breathless in front of their uncle and excitedly presented their hands, unfurling their fingers from around their treats. Fortune cookies. Callie almost swayed as a wave of prickles swept her from head to toe.
“That’s a weird Halloween treat,” Mal said with a laugh. “But they’re my favorite!” He grabbed a cookie from each little palm, turned and offered one to Callie. “Want one?” A fortune cookie from a spider on Halloween? She doubted she could get a clearer sign. Her fingers trembled as she took the cookie, unwrapped it, cracked it open. Callie’s heart leapt and filled with hope as she read the strip of paper.
Your search is over.