All or Nothing

Chapter 14

Lauren's Instagram feed was filled with pictures of other people's kids decked out in Halloween costumes. She hated that Hattie was with John; he hadn't even bothered to send her a picture of what she was wearing. She wanted to be the one to help her pick out a costume, take her Trick or Treating and see her face light up at the sight of all the sweets she would undoubtedly collect. John would be dropping Hattie home later, and maybe he would have had the sense to get her to keep her costume on so she could at least see it. She had quizzed Hattie on the phone every day this week over what she would be wearing, but Hattie had insisted it was a surprise. Lauren just hoped that John had had the sense to pre-plan something and hadn't just been fobbing Hattie off all week and gone to ASDA hoping for the best this morning.

Lauren tried her best to force a smile for the stream of children at her door. She fussed over their costumes and handed out so many treats that she had to refill the bowl three times before it was even six o'clock. It was tradition in the village that the children only knocked at the doors of houses with decorations up and as the night wore on Lauren debated removing the pumpkin from the doorstep so she could have some peace, but she knew Hattie would be despondent to find their 'carefully' carved pumpkin missing when she got home so she left it where it was.

Lauren opened the door for what felt like the hundredth time to find Hattie and Rosie smiling up at her, holding out their buckets expectantly, with John and Aimee lingering a few feet behind them. 

"TRICK OR TREAT!" the girls called in unison.

"Baby, you look amazing!" Lauren enthused over Hattie's unicorn costume. It was clearly homemade, a white hoodie with rainbow toile sewn along the hood and trailing down Hattie's spine to create a mane, a rainbow pastel tutu, sparkly white tights and pink Ugg boots. On the top of Hattie's head was a silver glittery headband with ears and a unicorn horn, Hattie had had this for years, it used to have a veil, but whoever had made the costume had tweaked it slightly.

"Megan made it!" Hattie twirled proudly, her skirt fluttering as she did. Lauren tried hard to hide her distaste for Megan and turned her attention to Rosie, who was looking at her expectantly. 

"And Rosie, you're such a cute witch..." Lauren trailed off mid-sentence as John caught her eye, shook his head, and mouthed 'she's a scary witch.'

"I mean," Lauren quickly corrected herself as she saw Rosie's face fall. "You're a very scary witch! Please don't put a spell on me." Rosie beamed and Lauren sent John a grateful smile. The fact that they were getting along so much better recently hadn't gone unnoticed by her, she did not think it was a coincidence that ever since Aimee had been on the scene John had seemed different, more easy-going, less defensive.

"Nice pumpkin, Loz," John's face was full of amusement as he looked at Lauren and Hattie's terribly carved pumpkin. Hattie had gotten a bit heavy handed with the carving knife and the pumpkin's facial features were more reminiscent of Quasimodo than anything else.

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes, she knew it was terrible but if she had thrown it out Hattie would have been crushed.

"It's my pumpkin Daddy!" Hattie glanced over her shoulder.

"I know babe, you did a great job," he lied. When Hattie turned back around, John and Lauren shared a smile. Lauren dared to think that this was the last year either of them would have to miss out on a special occasion with Hattie. If this ceasefire continued, they would be able to do things like this together in future.

She filled the girls' buckets generously, gave Hattie a quick kiss then looked back at John and Aimee. "Thanks for bringing her," she said gratefully.

"No problem," John shrugged, as if this display of civility was not something completely alien to them. "We're nearly finished. I'll bring her back soon."