My ex-husband invited me to his Halloween party solely to remind me that no man would ever desire me again, so I asked an old friend to pose as my boyfriend. He showed up wearing a mask, and Jason chuckled when he saw us together, but when my date took off his mask, Jason and his new wife turned pale.
A week prior to Halloween, my ex-husband invited me to a gathering and managed to offend me in the process.
“Christy and I are hosting a Halloween party at our new home,” Jason declared.
“Sounds enjoyable.”
“All the parents are coming as couples. But don’t worry, you can come alone. No one expects you to have someone anyway.”
I stared at the pumpkin sitting on my counter.
“Was that meant to be kind?”
“Christy mentioned you’re sensitive about these matters. I’m trying to make it easier.”
After fifteen years, I recognized an insult disguised as a favor.
We had been divorced for six months. I discovered his affair with Christy, his younger secretary, the previous winter. He never apologized.
“I told you to lose the baby weight quicker,” he remarked. “Men are visual. I want an attractive woman at my side, and you’re not that anymore.”
With two children and a full-time job, apparently, I was also expected to look twenty-five forever.
I didn’t miss him. I missed the person I thought he had been.
Jason told others we’d “grown apart.” Whenever I disagreed, he warned against upsetting the kids. Our daughter, Ava, began anxiously observing our expressions.
“Mom?” Ava asked from the doorway. “Was that Dad?”
“Yep.”
“Are you coming to our Halloween party?”
Ben, her younger brother, appeared wearing a pirate hat.
“Please come. Christy’s organizing a haunted maze. Ava says I’ll cry, but I won’t.”
“You cried when the toaster popped,” Ava pointed out.
“It startled me!”
They both looked at me.
“Of course I’ll come,” I replied.
They cheered. I dreaded going to Jason’s new home.
Jason and Christy had bought the place that autumn. Ava and Ben couldn’t stop raving about their new bedrooms.
Christy had a son I had never met. They were still living near his school until the renovations were complete.
Jason sent me renovation pictures. Christy once suggested erasing my wrinkles so someone might notice me.
I ignored the barbs for the kids’ sake.
Still, I dreaded arriving alone. Then I realized I didn’t have to.
Two days later, my friend Nina showed up with candy and a suggestion.
“Bring a date,” she said.
“From where? The produce aisle?”
Nina glanced at my phone when it buzzed.
“Who’s Daniel?”
“An old friend. We knew each other in college and recently reconnected.”
“Is he single?”
“Yes.”
“Then ask him.”
I nearly spilled my tea.
Daniel and I talked about literature and starting anew. Sometimes we met for coffee. He listened without trying to fix things.
He had a son, Oliver, and a challenging divorce behind him. He picked Oliver up from school, but his ex-wife contested visitations.
Neither of us liked discussing our exes, and I had never asked her name.
“I don’t want to involve him in this,” I said.
“Let him decide.”
That evening, I called him.
“Can I ask you something ridiculous?”
“Depends. Does it involve moving furniture?”
“Worse. A Halloween party.”
I mentioned my ex, Jason, had dared me to show up alone. I didn’t mention Christy.
Daniel was silent.
“You’re asking me to pretend we’re dating?”
“Just for one night.”
“Actually, it sounds fun.”
“Really?”
“Oliver convinced me to buy a costume.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I’ll pick you up at six.”
He refused to reveal his costume.
Jason called again to remind me about the party, sounding almost let down that I still hadn’t canceled.
On Halloween afternoon, Ava helped me with my outfit. I wore a fitted black dress, boots, and a velvet cape. She drew tiny stars near my eyes.
“You look like a queen,” she said.
“A witch, actually.”
“A queen witch.”
Ben dashed into the room with his pirate sword.
“Can you make Dad walk the plank?”
“Not tonight, sweetie.”
Jason picked up the kids at five. We had agreed I would take them home after the party. An hour later, my doorbell rang.
Daniel stood outside dressed in a dark suit, gloves, and a silver mask that concealed most of his face.
“Who are you supposed to be?” I asked.
“A mysterious guest.”
“Very specific.”
He offered me his arm.
“You look wonderful, by the way.”
It was such a simple yet unexpected compliment that it completely caught me off guard.
At the party, the driveway was packed with cars. Music floated from the backyard. Paper bats adorned the windows.
Daniel reached for my hand before we entered.
“Still comfortable with this?”
“Ask me again in ten minutes.”
We stepped inside.
Ava spotted us first.
“Mom! You came!”
She hugged me, then examined Daniel’s mask.
“Cool costume.”
“Thank you,” he replied.
Ben challenged him to a sword fight and immediately declared victory.
For five minutes, everything was delightful.
Then Jason noticed us and approached with Christy on his arm.
He looked me over.
“Well, that’s unexpected.”
“Happy Halloween, Jason.”
Christy’s smile tightened.
“Nice dress, Sarah. Very bold.”
She only used my name like that when she wanted an audience.
As they neared, Daniel’s hand briefly stiffened around mine. I assumed he was reacting to Jason’s expression.
Jason saw Daniel holding my hand.
“Wait. What is this? Your boyfriend?”
I nodded hesitantly.
Jason laughed.
“Oh, please. You expect me to believe that? No man would ever date someone like you. What, did you pay him?”
A few guests turned toward us.
My face flushed. I felt the familiar urge to shrink away, apologize, and make everyone comfortable.
Daniel squeezed my hand.
“That’s an interesting way to greet the mother of your children.”
Jason frowned.
“Who are you?”
Daniel smiled faintly and lifted his mask.
“Well, hello, Jason.”
Jason’s eyes darted from Daniel to Christy, then back to me. His laughter faded, and he stumbled backward, nearly colliding with the punch table.
Christy’s face turned white. Her plastic cup slipped from her grip.
“No… No, this can’t be happening! Not you!”
I couldn’t help but smile. For once, Jason was left speechless.
Then I looked at Daniel.
Why did they both recognize him?
Christy grabbed Jason’s sleeve.
“You need to leave.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I didn’t know you’d be here, Christy.”
Jason shook his head, still staring at him.
“What are you doing with Sarah?”
“I came with her.”
Daniel’s gaze shifted toward the children playing in the next room.
“Oliver’s here tonight, isn’t he?”
Her eyes flashed.
“Don’t involve him in this.”
Before I could inquire what was happening, a boy dressed as an astronaut raced around the corner.
“Dad!”
Oliver threw himself at Daniel so forcefully they nearly toppled over.
Daniel caught him.
“Hey, buddy.”
“You came! Mom said you were working!”
Christy moved toward them.
“Oliver, go play with your friends.”
“But Dad’s here!”
“I can see that.”
Daniel crouched. “Great costume, buddy. Go play. We’ll talk soon.”
Oliver dashed toward a vampire-costumed classmate. His friend’s mother stood beside the dessert table.
My smile quickly faded.
Oliver’s mother and, coincidentally, Daniel’s ex-wife.
Christy.
I had never anticipated Daniel to be her ex, as he hadn’t mentioned her new relationship.
Daniel leaned toward me.
“I recognized Christy when she approached,” he whispered. “I should’ve warned you, but Jason started insulting you. I wasn’t hiding behind a mask.”
“You didn’t know she was with Jason?”
“Not until I saw them together. She and Oliver still live near his school. I’d never been here.”
He appeared as shocked as I was.
Jason stared. “Christy showed me photos of you with Oliver.”
Daniel remained silent.
“She told me you walked out on them.”
“I didn’t abandon my son.”
Christy stepped forward.
“Don’t start telling lies in front of my friends.”
Daniel glanced toward Oliver. “I’m not discussing this while he can hear.”
“Enough,” Christy snapped.
“This isn’t the place,” Daniel agreed. He turned to me. “I’m sorry, Sarah.”
“You don’t have to apologize.”
We moved toward the children, leaving Jason and Christy by the punch bowl.
The party continued, though the atmosphere had shifted.
I assisted Ava with a game while Ben attempted to convince another child that his pirate sword was enchanted. Across the room, Oliver kept finding reasons to approach Daniel.
“Remember my science project?”
“I do.”
“I got an A!”
“I knew you would.”
Oliver beamed.
“I wish you’d seen it at the school fair.”
Daniel crouched beside him.
“I wanted to, buddy.”
Oliver frowned.
“Mom said you didn’t want to come.”
Daniel glanced at Christy, who was standing nearby.
“I did want to be there,” he said gently.
Oliver’s expression changed.
“Then why didn’t you come?”
Christy stepped forward.
“Oliver, that’s enough.”
“But you told me Dad didn’t want to see me there.”
Several parents near the dessert table turned.
“Your father is putting ideas in your head,” Christy snapped.
Daniel remained beside Oliver.
“I haven’t told him anything except that I wanted to attend.”
Oliver looked from one parent to the other.
“I don’t understand.”
I noticed Ava standing in the doorway, observing the adults instead of the game she had been playing. It was the same anxious look I had seen whenever Jason and I argued.
I wasn’t going to let another evening turn into something the kids felt responsible for fixing.
“Hey,” I said, crouching beside Oliver. “Ben needs someone brave enough to help him through the haunted maze. Want to assist him?”
Oliver hesitated, then nodded.
I gathered Ava and Ben and took the three of them outside, where another parent was supervising the maze. Once they were engaged, I returned to the adults.
Christy was still arguing with Daniel.
“You have no right to come here and make me look bad!”
“I’m not trying to make you look bad,” he replied. “I’m asking why Oliver thinks I didn’t want to attend his fair.”
Jason shook his head.
“You didn’t even try, according to Christy.”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
“I did. Here.”
He opened their message thread and held the screen toward Jason.
“I asked whether I could attend. Christy told me Oliver didn’t want me there. Then she canceled three visits in September and October and refused the dates I suggested to make them up.”
Jason scrolled through the messages.
“You told me he never asked to see Oliver.”
Christy reached for the phone.
“Those messages don’t show everything!”
Jason moved it away.
“Then show me what I’m missing.”
She didn’t respond.
The mother of Oliver’s classmate, who had been standing by the dessert table, spoke up.
Christy turned toward her.
“I was protecting my son.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Telling Oliver I don’t want to see him isn’t protecting him.”
Nobody contradicted him.
Christy looked around the room. Several guests who had been laughing with her earlier were now avoiding her gaze.
Jason lowered the phone.
“You lied to me about him.”
“Jason, please.”
“You said he didn’t care about Oliver.”
Christy glanced toward the guests.
“Can we not do this here?”
Jason turned toward me, his face flushed. Whether it was from shame or anger, I couldn’t tell.
“You brought him here to humiliate us, didn’t you?”
For a moment, I felt the old instinct to apologize, to explain myself until he stopped looking furious.
Then I remembered Ava observing the adults’ faces, and I recalled how Jason had always looked for someone else to shift the blame to.
“No, Jason. I came because our children wanted me here.”
He opened his mouth, but I continued.
“You mocked me for coming alone, then you ridiculed how I looked when I arrived with someone. And now, after all that, you think I’m here for some petty revenge?”
A few guests glanced toward Jason.
“I don’t need your approval to attend my children’s party, and I won’t apologize for moving on. Who it’s with is none of your business, you selfish man.”
Jason stared at me.
This time, I didn’t look away.
Christy clapped her hands.
“Party’s over. Everybody out.”
“No,” I said. “The children haven’t done anything wrong. Let them finish Halloween.”
Jason glanced toward the backyard, where the kids were laughing inside the maze.
“They can finish the last game,” he said quietly.
Christy stared at him.
“You’re taking her side?”
“I’m thinking about the kids.”
Daniel put away his phone.
“We’ll handle the missed visits through our lawyers and the parenting coordinator,” he told Christy. “Not here.”
On the drive home, Ava asked why everyone had become so quiet.
She turned away.
The last game was awkward, but Ava won a bag of candy, and Ben proudly declared that he had survived the haunted maze without crying.
When it concluded, I gathered their belongings. Oliver hugged Daniel goodbye, already asking when they’d see each other again.
“We’ll talk soon, buddy,” Daniel promised.
On the way home, my daughter inquired why everyone had gotten so quiet.
“The grown-ups had a disagreement,” I explained. “But none of you did anything wrong.”
Ben leaned forward.
“Is Daniel coming over again?”
I glanced at Daniel, who smiled without taking his eyes off the road.
“I hope so.”
Three weeks later, Daniel informed me that both visits he had arranged through the parenting coordinator had taken place.
He and I were still seeing each other as well.
One evening, after dinner, he kissed me outside my door.
“So we’re a thing now?” he asked.
I smiled.
“I think it’s about time we both get to have a good relationship.”