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Joel didn't forget it was Halloween, really; he had just put it out of his head. He had been purposely trying not to think about it for almost 2 weeks since he'd found out that his kids had made plans that didn't include him.
It all started when he asked Sarah if she was going to help him hand out Halloween candy or accompany her sister trick-or-treating. Ellie didn't really need a chaperone for trick-or-treating in the neighborhood at 12, but Sarah had gone with her and her neighborhood posse the year before, and they both seemed to have enjoyed it. They'd followed it up with treats at Bill and Frank's and been back home by 10.
When he asked this year, though, Sarah gave him a strange look, a mix of surprise and pity: "Halloween is a Friday this year, so… I'm probably going to a party. I know several people throwing them."
Joel must have let the disappointment show on his face because she quickly followed up with, "I am 17, so it's not like I'm going trick or treating."
"No, of course not." Joel had worked to recover quickly and went into strict dad mode. "You know the rules; let me know where you'll be, and don't drive if you drink." Sarah had given him a knowing smile, leaned over to kiss his cheek, and promised.
At least he still has Ellie, his youngest, his baby, and his little shadow. A couple of nights later, when tucking Ellie into bed, he casually asked if she had thought about what time she wants to go out trick-or-treating. "I was thinking afterward we can watch a couple scary movies together, make some popcorn, and sort your candy?"
He felt his heart sink when an all-too-familiar look crossed her face—much too similar to the one Sarah had given him earlier in the week.
The girls don't look very similar; most people are shocked to learn they're related, let alone sisters, but they share a few identical facial expressions. Their please dad puppy dog face, their it's cool, you haven't disappointed me, again face and their conspiratorial we got this face when they're teaming up against him. It seems that Joel has found one more to add to that list, one that will most likely get a lot of use in years to come; their oh poor dad, he thinks we still want to hang out with him face.
"Um, well, Harper's parents said she could do a haunted house in their garage to scare trick-or-treaters. She asked me an' Clara an' Hailey to help her. Her mom can pick us up after school and we can sleep over after. Can I, Dad, please?"
For a second, Joel had been tempted to tell her no, tell her she needed to spend the holiday with her family, but he caught himself in time and told himself to get a grip. It's Halloween, not Christmas, and Ellie's 12. Of course, she wants to hang out with her friends. It's about the same age Sarah started trick-or-treating with friends, but Joel still had a 7-year-old to help soothe the sting of one kid starting to break away.
He once again found himself trying to cover his disappointment: "Of course, kiddo. It sounds like a fun night."
Ellie looked relieved and reached up to squish his cheeks together and pull his forehead down to hers: " Don't worry. I'll watch movies with you Saturday night—a November scary movie night!"
"It's a plan." He promised, pulling away just enough to kiss the top of her head, internally melting down at the concept that neither of his kids wanted to hang out with him on Halloween.
He isn't sure why it hit him so hard; he's not like a Halloween person, and there had been plenty of years when he felt frustrated over the whole thing as he tried to track down costumes, remember class parties, and get overstimulated little girls on a sugar high to go to sleep.
It wasn't about Halloween; it was about another chapter closing, another marker of his kids growing up. He no longer has a kid in elementary school, Sarah is in her last year of high school, which takes his breath away to think about, and Ellie has mostly outgrown her sleep issues and rarely ends up in his bed anymore. The last time she'd slept in his bed was about 2 weeks ago, and that was only because she'd fallen asleep there while getting her required reading done for the night. Joel hadn't had the heart to move her; he'd been missing his little beg bug, so he'd left her in his bed for the night.
(He'd been rewarded by being kicked awake twice, but when the alarm went off and her head was pressed against his shoulder, he considered it worth it.)
Joel has been so diligently trying to avoid thinking about Halloween that it doesn't occur to him immediately what day it is when he wakes up Halloween morning and hears both girls down in the kitchen already. Sarah is usually up early, but Ellie likes to sleep in as much as Joel does and requires some coercion to get her out of bed. Sarah leaves that task to Joel; "you created that mess; go deal with it." she tells him when it's 15 minutes before the bus arrives, and Ellie is still in bed throwing stuffed animals at anyone who tries to get her up. It's frustrating as hell, but after years of Ellie not sleeping, Joel's honestly a little relieved that she finally seems to have picked up that particular life skill.
This morning, though, both girls are up and dressed when Joel makes it downstairs. Sarah is heating up breakfast, and Ellie is standing in front of the open fridge, holding an unopened can of Dr. Pepper. She immediately puts it back when she sees Joel come in, grabbing the orange juice instead and not meeting his gaze. She is not allowed to have a soda for breakfast, something they have discussed multiple times, and he shakes his head at her before doing a quick double-take when he sees how both girls are dressed.
Sarah is in a pale pink t-shirt and denim shorts, which, despite the shorts being a little shorter than he thinks she should wear to school, isn't too strange, but the ends of her curls, which she'd let grow out, are dyed blue and pink. A rhinestone heart is around one eye.
Ellie appears to be dressed fairly normally, but he doesn't recognize the green T-shirt she's wearing, or her jeans and her hair looks just slightly different. It's still pulled back in a ponytail, but it's neater, he decides, compared to the messy one she usually does as she races out the door to catch the bus.
Before he can comment, Ellie calls out from across the kitchen, "Dad, when do zombies finish trick or treating? When they're dead tired! Get it?? Dead tired!"
Oh, right, Halloween. "Nice one, baby. Happy Halloween…hippie chick and…”
"Dad! I'm Taylor Swift's Lover album". Sarah pauses, pulling breakfast tacos out of the microwave to give a hand under the chin pose.
Joel doesn't really understand what that means. "Oh, yeah… you make a great Taylor Swift, honey."
"No, I'm not Taylor Swift, I'm her Lover album."
Joel tries not to look as confused as he feels by this statement, and Sarah gives up with a groan and a dismissive hand wave, "Trust me, I'm making it work."
"I'm Cassie Lang!" Ellie announces as if he knows what that means. "Well, Cassie Lang in normal clothes. I didn't feel like trying to find a spandex suit to wear". Joel nods his head seriously, and Ellie rolls her eyes. "You know, from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantomania?" She nods her head slowly at him and continues, "We watched it in the theater… Ant-Man has a daughter he teams up with; you liked that...ugh, never mind, you're getting senile, old man."
"Can I at least get some coffee in before the insults start, Ant Woman?" he asks, flicking her ponytail and kissing Sarah's head as he makes a beeline for the coffee maker.
He isn't the only coffee drinker anymore; Sarah picked it up over the summer when she was dating (or not dating, Joel was never sure) a guy who worked at a nearby coffee shop. He didn't love her picking up the habit so young, or dating a 19-year-old for that matter, but it did mean her coffee-making skills had improved, so once whatever they had ended, he grudgingly considered it a win.
"I'm not Ant Woman; there is no Ant Woman. I'm Cassie Lang. Later, she becomes Stature and then Stinger, but I'm dressed as her from the movie." Ellie, realizing she's not getting anywhere, grabs her plate of breakfast and sits down at the table.
Sarah shakes her head sadly as she hands Joel a plate. "I tried to get her to dress up with me, but nooo, someone didn't want to be a team player."
Ellie lets out a frustrated groan; "Sarah, I'm not dressing up as Evermore just because my hair is long enough for a braid."
"I said you could also pull off Red."
"It's 90 degrees, man. I'm not wearing a jacket, and that's the costume for both! AND we don't even go to the same school. Who would see us?"
"We would ta-"
"Besides your Instagram followers?" Ellie cuts her off, obviously having had this argument before.
The only thing Joel understands about this conversation is the name Taylor Swift.
Joel changes the subject; "The breakfast tacos look good, Sarah; did you make them?"
Sarah mouths a final "please" to Ellie, apparently hoping for a last-minute costume change agreement, and responds to the firm head shake she gets in response by sticking her tongue out at her sister.
Finally, she admits defeat and turns to Joel. "No, I ordered them from Tacodeli when we got dinner last night; I knew they'd be easy to reheat for breakfast."
Joel nods appreciatively and grabs the salsa from the fridge; Sarah's good at thinking of things like that.
"Glad you like it," she continues. "I'm adding it to the How to Live Without Sarah list for next year under easy breakfast options. Can't let y'all starve."
Joel winces slightly; Sarah has spent the last couple of months starting to "prepare" him and Ellie for her to be away at college next year. He doesn't like thinking about Sarah being gone or how empty their house will feel without her. Even though she's not home much between school and friends, sometimes boyfriends, soccer games, or babysitting, she's still here. Her purple fuzzy socks are usually stuffed in the couch cushions, a pink hoodie hangs by the door, bottles of sparkly nail polish sit on the coffee table, notes and reminders written in her neat, precise print on colorful post-its are stuck to the fridge, and on the front door, soccer jerseys with a #9 on the back hang in the laundry room. Sarah is home even if she's not, filling up the house, and the thought of her not being here, even if she's just in college and coming back, makes Joel's chest physically hurt.
Joel's not the only one having a tough time accepting that Sarah may be gone next year; he notices Ellie freeze and her face drop when Sarah mentions college, and he presses a kiss to the top of her head before sitting down next to her.
"I think we can manage breakfast, right, Ellie?"
"Really?" Sarah pauses from pouring her coffee into a travel mug, her eyebrows raised; "which one of you is going to get up and make breakfast when I'm not here?"
Ellie shoots him a "not it" look and takes a bite of her taco; "You're the parent. I can offer you an untoasted pop tart or a granola bar." Joel scowls at her for talking with her mouth full of food, and she responds by opening her mouth wider.
"We'll be fine. If I haven't kicked Ellie out for having atrocious table manners, I'll make sure she has breakfast."
Ellie giggles, not concerned by his threat, and he gives her a little wink. Happy to see her relax, fears of her sister being gone forgotten for now.
"You sure you don't want to go trick or treating baby girl? The weather's going to be nice; we can even go over to the Villas; the rich people always give out full-size candy bars?" Last ditch ploy to entice Ellie into changing her plans. Ellie is a hard-core trick-or-treater; she's drug him all over their neighborhood and the more upscale one a few streets over in previous years. She only stops when her bag is too full to go on or her feet start giving out on her.
"Dad, I'm sure. I'm 12; I don't have to trick or treat. Making a haunted house to scare the little kids will be much more fun. And Harper's mom said we can have their leftover candy."
"Ok, if you're sure." Joel stares down into his coffee mug, feeling oddly bereft and trying not to let it show.
Sarah gives him a funny look, sitting across from him with her breakfast; "You good, Dad? I already got the candy for the trick-or-treaters, and it's the good stuff; we won't embarrass ourselves with like cheap suckers. I'll come home before the party and grab pizza. We can eat, and I'll make sure everything is set up for you. You'll just have to hand it out."
He gives her what he hopes is a convincing smile: "Sounds good, baby. Thank you."
He notices her biting the inside of her cheek, still feeling a bit unsure, and he feels guilty; it isn't their fault he's having trouble letting go; they both deserve to grow up and prefer time with their friends over hanging out with him.
"I think Uncle Tommy is going to come watch the baseball game here tonight. It's been years since I've managed to watch a World Series game with the remote gremlins that live here."
He hasn't actually said anything to Tommy yet, but as long as he doesn't have plans with his girlfriend Maria, he's sure he can get him to come over.
Sarah smiles and nods her head one final time. She turns to Ellie, who has been playing on her phone while eating, something else she's not supposed to do, but he doesn't feel like getting on her today.
"C'mon, Ellie. If you're ready, I'll give you a ride. I need to get to school early for a student council meeting, and we're finalizing Homecoming details."
Ellie nods, excited to get a ride from Sarah and not have to take the bus, and jumps up to grab her backpack from the floor by her chair but stops upon seeing the look Joel gives her to grab her plate and put it in the dishwasher along with Sarah's plate.
She then grabs her backpack, stopping to kiss Joel on the head as she squeezes past him.
"Bye, old man. Don't get too crazy tonight without us here; you might break a bone."
Joel snorts but puts his arm around her waist and pulls her back for a hug. Ellie obliges, resting her cheek against his head. "Be good," he says into her shoulder, wishing he could just hold her there against him like he used to when she was younger. He suddenly wished again for her infant days when she practically lived on his shoulder, screaming anytime he tried to put her down.
"Yeah, yeah," she sighs, wiggling out of his embrace and rushing out. "I'll be a perfect Halloween angel."
Sarah smiles as she starts to follow Ellie out but turns at the last minute to lean down and give him a hug and kiss on his cheek. He pulls her in for a longer hug until she gently pulls away; I'll see you after school," she promises, throwing him a bone.
Joel finally gets up and follows them to lean in the doorway when he hears his brother's truck pull up.
Tommy walks in as they're walking out and stops to comment on the costumes.
"Lover? Nice and, may I say, underrated album!"
Sarah nods triumphantly, "This is what I've been saying!" She kisses him on the cheek and heads for the car.
"Cassie Lang?" Tommy asks, pulling Ellie in for a hug. "Very cool, and I'm still holding out hope for the Young Avengers movie!"
"Me too!" Ellie exclaims, pulling away to give him a fist bump and chase after her sister.
Joel shakes his head in disbelief and calls out to his usual "drive safely and make good decisions!" Tommy snickers, and neither girl turns around; they just wave a hand as they throw backpacks into Sarah's car.
"How the hell did you know those costumes?" Joel demands in lieu of a hello when his brother reaches the door, "Did you talk to them beforehand?"
"I'm just cooler than you, Joel, don't act surprised."
Joel rolls his eyes and lets him pass, pausing briefly to watch Sarah back out and drive away before going back in and closing the door.
The first time both girls had driven away with Sarah driving, he'd almost had to go lie down from the overwhelming anxiety. He'd heard people say having kids was like having your heart walking around outside of your body. Having his heart then drive away in what seemed like a death machine and not a used Toyota Corolla was almost unbearable.
Bill and Frank had been standing outside with him, having come out to congratulate the newest licensed driver in Austin. Bill saw the look on his face and told him, "Somehow, you've managed to raise two children who are smarter than you; they'll be fine." Even if it was meant as a slight, he had to agree with him, and that had been the only thing keeping him from having a panic attack right then and there.
(The girls were gone 15 minutes total having just used Sarah's new found freedom to get ice cream from the nearby Sonic.)
He motions for Tommy to follow him to his office, where the paperwork he knows Tommy is looking for is located. They have two projects going on right now, and Tommy is in charge of one crew while Joel handles the other.
As he digs through the files on his desk, he casually asks, "Hey, what are you doing tonight? I actually have a free night."
"You don't have to oversee trick or treating?"
"Nah, Ellie is going to a friend's house to make a haunted house or something, and Sarah hasn't trick-or-treated in years, and she has a party to go to."
A slow grin of understanding spreads across Tommy face, "Awww, did your kids grow up and get cooler than you? I warned you about that."
Joel rolls his eyes; "Fuck off, Tommy. Are you free or not? You can hand out candy with me while we watch the game."
"Maybe. It depends on when Maria gets done with work. She's been working on some big cases, but it is a Friday, so she may wrap up early." He glances over at Joel and continues, "I may know someone-"
"No, stop. I told you no set-ups, Tommy. The last time—"Joel doesn't even finish; he just pinches the bridge of his nose at the memory.
"That was 2 years ago; the girls are older and obviously have their own stuff-"
"Just stop. Come and hang out later, or don't, but you're not setting me up. Here." He shoves a couple file folders at Tommy, "the plans for the second floor and the estimates I was given. Let me know if you need me to come by and help get the guys started."
Tommy nods, takes the paperwork, and claps Joel on the back as he turns to leave. "Let me know if you change your mind. Your kids have their own lives; you should get one, too."
Joel purposely ignores him and goes to finish getting ready for work.
Joel typically works a short day on Fridays, having been diligent in delegating more to Tommy and his foreman, Matt, over the last couple of years. He picks up Ellie from school and spends the afternoon with her. Usually, they get an after-school treat and then run errands or find something entertaining to do. On the rare day he has to head back to the job site for a while, she likes to tag along and either play on his laptop in the trailer or follow him around with her own little hard hat on. If he has paperwork he can do at home, she'll happily curl up in his office and read or get a jump on weekend homework while he works.
(Sarah has Wednesday afternoons designated as her solo dad time. Ellie still has Wednesdays with Bill and Frank, so he uses that time to meet Sarah after school for coffee or dinner. It's their time to touch base and focus on what Sarah has going on or needs from him without little sister around.)
Sarah usually has plans on Friday evenings, so Joel and Ellie meet up with Tommy and Maria or Bill and Frank for dinner, or they'll order in and watch movies. Anytime Sarah does join them, Ellie jokes it's like having the queen for dinner. They let her pick the restaurant and do whatever she wants, both so eager to soak up Sarah time.
Without having to pick up Ellie, Joel stays late at work today, earning some strange looks from the crew, who are used to him heading out at 3 on Fridays. They don't ask too many questions, though, especially not after he lets them go early to start trick-or-treating with their own kids or whatever other plans they have. Joel heads home at about 5 to meet Sarah.
True to her word, Sarah comes home before her party and brings a pizza they eat while she sets up. She pulls out the Halloween candy she had hidden from Ellie and Joel, fills the orange bowl they always use on Halloween, and sets it by the door on a folding TV tray so it's easily accessible.
"Hey," Joel calls to her as she heads out the door for the evening. "Will there be any alcohol at this party?"
Sarah gives him a look. "A party with mostly high school seniors? Um, I don't know. What do you think?"
Joel returns her look with his own serious dad look, "What's the rule?"
Sarah groans and types into her phone briefly before looking back at him. "Do not get in any car or other moving vehicle with a driver who's had any alcohol. I can call you for anything, no questions asked, and if I need to call an Uber, I can do that no matter the cost. And…" she dangles her small wristlet in front of him, "I have my pepper spray, my alarm, and a condom in case I decide to do something… how did you put it…extremely stupid." She smiles at him. "We go through this like every other week, dude. I'll be fine."
Joel leans over to kiss her forehead, "Thank you for humoring me. Someday, you'll have a kid, and you'll understand. Go. Have fun. Make good decisions, and let me know whose house you decide to spend the night."
Sarah gives him a mock salute and runs out the door, getting into a waiting car driven by her friend Maddie. It had taken a long time for Joel to be even a tiny bit okay with her riding in cars driven by other teens, but at some point, he had to start letting go. She's a responsible kid with a good head on her shoulders, and he finally had to start treating her as such.
Tommy texts a few minutes later, letting him know Maria got done early, so they're going out. He invites Joel and not so subtly hints that several single women will be there, and Joel leaves that message unread.
(For the record, he had texted Tess, who was currently not seeing anyone, to see if she was kid-free, but she was hosting her son's friends for post-trick-or-treating video games. They agreed to try finding time to meet up in a couple of weeks when her son was with his dad, and he could find someone to watch Ellie.)
Left alone in a much too quiet house, Joel turns on the TV and then fumbles around to figure out which streaming service has live sports. This involves texting with both Sarah and Ellie, but he finds the baseball game just as the doorbell starts ringing.
(He also starts and then deletes a warning message to both girls and Tommy about the number of streaming services they have subscribed to, which he is paying for. He decides that conversation can be had another day but promises himself that an audit is coming)
Thankfully, he stays busy for the next two hours or so with a steady stream of neighborhood kids. He ends up moving outside and handing out the candy from the driveway to save himself from getting up and down.
As the number of kids slows down, Frank calls out to him and invites him over for a drink. He has a beer with them on their patio and takes some gentle teasing about his kids having big plans without him, even though they both look a little wistful as they think back on past Halloweens.
"Remember the year Ellie decided to go as Van Gogh and carried a fake ear all evening?" Frank asks, and they chuckle at the memory. Frank had helped her make her own version of Starry Night, which she carried around along with the fake bloody ear.
"That was a surprisingly easy costume to pull together; a trip to Goodwill and the craft store were all we needed." Joel mused, thinking back. "Last year she was Doctor Who, and it took forever to get that costume put together, so many damn pieces." He smiles now at how excited she had been when it had all come together. They chat a little longer, and he is sent home with baked goods for the girls that he has to swear he won't eat all himself.
He walks back into the house at about 9:30, checking his phone for updates from the girls, and settles on the couch, feeling at a loss. He pulls out his phone and opens the cloud backup app or whatever it is that Sarah set up to back up his photos. It has a feature that shows him photos from the same date in previous years, and he lets himself wallow in nostalgia for a few minutes, looking at past Halloweens.
For Ellie's first Halloween, she was a caterpillar, and Sarah was a butterfly. Anna had left the first time just a couple weeks prior. Joel was very much in over his head with a 4-month-old struggling to gain weight after being 7 weeks early and a 5-year-old trying to be very brave and helpful but was also incredibly anxious about what would happen now. Their costumes had been a minor miracle pulled off by Denise, across the street, who had just started watching Ellie during the day and Sarah after school. Sarah had some butterfly wings left from a previous Halloween that they paired with a leotard from her brief stint in dance class. Sarah then requested that her baby have a costume to match. Denise had taken one of Ellie's sleep sacks, worked a little magic on it, and made it into a caterpillar costume. Ellie was so tiny, having just hit 8lbs a week earlier, and you can barely make her out in the photos, tucked into her baby carrier, but Sarah was beaming, so proud to have a little sister to dress up with her.
(Sorry Sarah, he thinks remembering the argument that morning, it won't last.)
The following year, the Adlers had produced an old pumpkin costume their younger son had worn, for Ellie and Sarah had found a sparkly witch costume at Target and had gotten Denise to paint her fingernails a sparkly purple when she was there after school. Ellie had lasted approximately 30 seconds and 2 photos in the full pumpkin costume. In the second photo, she was already reaching for the little pumpkin stem hat, ready to fling it off her head. Joel's favorite photo is the 3rd one in the set; Sarah trying to put the hat back on Ellie's head, and Ellie's little hands are on her head, yelling, "Nooooo." There were no hats for Ellie after that.
The next year Ellie's hair had grown out, and they realized with little pigtails, she looked like Boo from Monsters, Inc, so of course, that was her costume. Tommy found Joel a t-shirt with Sully on it and Sarah guilted him into wearing it while they trick or treated. Sarah had no interest in any other Monsters, Inc. characters, but agreed to stick to a Pixar theme when she found a Disgust costume from Inside Out. Joel spent 2 days convincing her that she didn't need to paint her face green; the costume was enough. That was also the last year they had any say over Ellie's costume; she very vocally made her feelings known after that.
There was the year Ellie was 5 and had just seen Jurassic Park and insisted on being Dr. Ellie Sattler. She looked adorable and carried a little stuffed dinosaur with her. Sarah, who was 9 that year, was a fairy with purple wings and body glitter she got from somewhere, probably Tommy, and that Joel found stuck to the furniture and walls until Thanksgiving.
For most of middle school, whatever Sarah went as had to be a zombie, so she was a zombie butterfly, zombie soccer player, and finally a zombie princess.
Ellie cycled through an astronaut costume, Super Ellie, with a cape Denise made, and recently her Van Gogh costume and then Doctor Who.
Joel scrolls through the photos, letting himself get lost in the memories of giggling girls pulling him down the street, excited screams of "trick or treat," and nights that usually ended with all of them crashing on the couch, exhausted and happy.
"Enough," Joel thinks when his eyes start to sting, and the house starts to feel too quiet. He's about to grab his laptop and work on a couple of proposals when he hears a car door slam. The front door opens, and Sarah walks in, drops her bag, kicks off her shoes, lets out a sigh, and flops on the other side of the couch, settling with her feet in his lap. Joel stares at her in confusion.
"What?" She asks, "I still live here, right?"
"I thought you were at a party?" Joel asks and then narrows his eyes, "Did something happen? Are you okay?"
Sarah waves her hand, "I'm fine. Some kids who weren't invited showed up, and people were getting annoyingly drunk, so I just called an Uber and came home."
Joel eyes her suspiciously, "What did you drink?"
Sarah rolls her eyes. "Calm down. A couple of White Claws, and then it started getting out of hand."
Joel grumbles and shakes his head but lets it go at that. She's being honest, and she's home well before midnight; he can let this go.
She looks around, "Uncle Tommy didn't come over?"
"Nah, he ended up having plans with Maria.
She looks worried; "you've been here by yourself all evening?"
I handed out candy and then went over to Bill and Franks for a while to have a drink. They sent back some of Bill's pumpkin cookies for y'all. They're in the kitchen."
Sarah's eyes light up, and she eyes the kitchen; before she can make her move, another car door slams, and a few seconds later, Ellie bounds in, dragging her backpack and a very full reusable HEB bag.
"Hey." She says, dropping her backpack and looking at Sarah. "What are you doing here?"
Joel jumps in before Sarah can answer, "I thought you were staying at Harper's tonight."
"Eh, her brother Jack got busted at some high school party where the cops got called. Her parents have to go pick him up, and they're pretty mad, so they said we could sleep over another time."
Sarah sits up, "Wait, Jack Mitchell?" Ellie nods. "Um, I need to text a couple of people."
Ellie looks confused for a minute before her eyes light up; "oh shit, were you at THAT party? Were you there when the cops came? Are you in trouble?" Her eyes light up at the thought of seeing her big sister get busted.
"Shut up, I left before that happened."
"Dad, is she in trouble for being at a party that cops got called to?"
Joel sighs, "You know that's between me and Sarah... but no, she's home now." Ellie groans a little, and now that punishment isn't imminent, she begins to pick through her bag.
"What's in the bag?"
Ellie gives him a sneaky smile. "Candy!"
"I thought you were too old for trick or treating?"
"Well, we started taking the haunted house down early because we made some 5-year-olds cry, and her mom said we had to tone it down or take it down. We were bored by then anyway, and we saw some teenagers out getting tons of candy and decided we wanted some, so we grabbed some masks from her brother's room and headed out. Did you know if you wait until the end of the evening, people will just dump everything they have left in your bag so they can be done? It's awesome!"
Joel chuckles. He himself had given the last handfuls of candy to a small group of neighborhood teens when he was ready to go have a drink. "You've learned one of Halloween's biggest secrets. Use it wisely."
Ellie starts taking inventory of her candy, pulling it out, and making stacks next to her on the couch.
"Snickers, nice." Joel plucks a piece from one of the piles, and Sarah leans over him and grabs a pack of Smarties; "my favorite," she exclaims, settling back.
"Hey, that's my candy," Ellie cries, trying to throw her hands over her loot.
Joel laughs and pops the Snickers in his mouth in one bite. "Dad tax," he says. At the same time, Sarah starts opening her treat and adds, "Big sister tax."
Ellie glares at her sister. "What the fuck-"
"Ellie, language."
"Fine, what the heck is a big sister tax? I know a dad tax is—" she lowers her voice into her version of a dad voice—"the Halloween candy I get in exchange for helping create you and changing your diaper for almost three years."
Joel smiles as he reaches across Ellie into her bag for to get a second piece, an Almond Joy. Ellie doesn't like those anyway, so she only gives a half hearted swipe at his hand. "You need to let that go, dude. It's been almost 10 years since you've changed a diaper."
"I'm still feeding you and housing you. The candy tax may determine for how much longer."
Ellie rolls her eyes and gives him an elbow in the side: "Whatever, man, you'd go crazy without me. I'm like your best friend." He laughs but pulls her over to him and kisses her temple. Yeah, you are," he agrees, and she leans against him with her head on his shoulder.
"Y'all need to get out more." Sarah teases, leaning over again to try and see in the candy bag still in Ellie's lap; Ellie tries to scooch it away without moving from her spot tucked against Joel.
Sarah whines, "I've helped make most of the food you've eaten and made sure your homework got done for years, so.." she smirks as she finally wiggles her hand in the bag and snags a pack of M&M's. "Big sister tax."
Ellie moves to sit up and looks about ready to fight back, so Joel jumps in to change the subject; "Since you're both home, how about a scary move? Anything you want within reason; I'm not watching something like Saw again."
He gives Sarah a pointed look, and she shrugs, "We taught you how to use IMDB; it's not my fault that you didn't. Now, let me take off my makeup and get in my cozies, and I'm in."
Ellie nods, "Let me get cozy, and I'm in, too." She gets up to go upstairs and turns back to Joel, "DON'T. Touch my Candy."
Joel waves her away; I don't need your candy; go change, you sugar fiend. As soon as she's out of the room, he peeks in her bag and grabs a Milky Way; his kid left him alone and then trick-or-treated without him, he gets some candy.
While the girls are upstairs, Joel warms up some leftover pizza and makes a bowl of popcorn, thinking both kids could use something not 100% sugar, and warms himself up some coffee to ensure he doesn't fall asleep and earn himself a good mocking.
Ellie comes back down first in flannel PJ pants and an old UT shirt that he's pretty sure was in his closet earlier today. She leaps onto the couch next to him, grabs a handful of popcorn in one hand, and digs through her candy with the other. She notices him eying her shirt and shrugs. "It's nice and soft, and you have others." Joel can't find it in himself to be mad. It is a nice, worn-in shirt, and she looks adorable being swallowed in it, so he just plucks a Hershey bar from her lap. "T-shirt tax," he tells her as she protests in outrage.
Sarah comes down a few minutes later, face scrubbed of the jeweled heart, curls piled on top of her head with bits of pink and blue sticking out here and there, and in sleep shorts, a tank top, hoodie, and fuzzy socks.
Ellie glances up as Sarah heads for the couch and gasps dramatically.
Sarah stops dead, and Joel flinches and looks down at her. Ellie points a shaky finger at Sarah, "God, Sarah, take that hideous mask off; Halloween is over!"
Sarah's face transitions from confusion into a murderous glare, and she flips her sister off, which makes Ellie throw back her head and laugh.
"HA HA, you're so witty." Sarah snarks as she storms past her sister, swiping at the top of her head with one hand while grabbing a handful of candy with the other. She squeezes past Joel to curl up in the corner of the couch, and Ellie yelps when she realizes what just happened.
"Daaaad," she whines, "Sarah stole my candy."
Joel shakes his head, "Sorry, kiddo. You brought that one on yourself," and proceeds to steal a Kit Kat from her bag.
"Seriously?? Y'all suck." She furrows her brow, opens a pack of Skittles, and shoves a handful in her mouth at one.
Sarah wrinkles her nose when Ellie opens her mouth, revealing her rainbow of half-chewed candy; "you're so gross."
"How much candy have you had tonight?" Joel asks, looking over at Ellie. He's been down this road before.
"Heh, wouldn't you like to know?"
"Well, I'd rather not find out when you're throwing it back up later."
"That happened ONE time, like years ago, and that was Uncle Tommy's fault; he kept giving it to me."
Sarah snorts, "Yeah because Uncle Tommy held you down and force-fed you candy."
Ellie glares at her sister and then smirks. "Was someone force-feeding you beer when you came home throwing up? After curfew? Hmmm?"
"What movie should we watch?" Joel asks, hoping to both keep the harmless bickering from escalating and not wanting to relieve the night last summer when Sarah had her first experience coming home drunk. Joel had plenty of experience with Tommy doing the same thing at the same age, but it turns out it's a little different when it's your own kid. He'd spent the night holding her hair back while she threw up, filled her with Gatorade and ibuprofen, and then grounded her for 2 weeks. Luckily, she'd felt so awful afterward that she seems to have become much smarter when she does decide to drink at a party.
"Ooh, something old," Sarah says, also eager to change the subject, "like a vintage scary movie."
"Cool," Joel agrees as he starts scrolling through the various apps on the TV. " Maybe the original Halloween?"
Sarah looks surprised, "I was thinking Scream, the first one."
Now Joel looks surprised; "You think that's vintage? I was in, like, high school when Scream came out!"
"Yeah…I know, I said old." Ellie giggles from her corner, where she's given up on her candy and is stuffing it all back in her bag.
Joel picks up a piece of popcorn and flicks it at Sarah, eliciting a laugh. She flicks it back and settles, her legs hanging over the arm of the couch and her head on his thigh. She takes the remote from him, expertly navigates through the apps, finds the movie, and presses start. She turns on her side to see the TV better, and Joel rubs his hand over her arm until she catches it and holds it to her cheek, and he runs his thumb over her cheekbone.
Ellie moves to push herself under his arm and lays her head on his chest same as always. Joel has a moment of total happiness followed by a wave of sadness; a year from now, Sarah will be away at college, and his right side will be empty. For 12 years, it's been 2 kids, one on each side, pinning him with their warm weight.
He closes his eyes for a second, takes a deep breath, and decides to enjoy the rest of the night with his girls. He won't focus on the nostalgia of the past or the fear of the future. He will enjoy this moment, this night, when both girls came home and chose to hang out with him.
"Dad?" Ellie asks quietly.
Joel looks down and presses his nose into her hair; "Yeah, baby?"
Ellie nods towards Drew Barrymore, gripping the cordless phone as the killer taunts her. "Did you have those types of phones when you were a kid or were phones not invented yet? Because you're old."
She puts her hand over her mouth and lets out a little laugh and he feels Sarah giggle under his hand and turn to press her face in his thigh to hide her laughter, her shoulders shaking.
Nope, never mind, they're both out of the house tomorrow.