I laughed as I followed Justin and Brayden into the

huge Halloween store Justin had drug us too after

listening to him and Brayden excitedly discuss

different costume ideas all morning. The boys ran

in front of me and I shook my head as I took off in

a jog to catch up with them. Finally catching up to

them I giggled watching them “Justin I think you’re

more excited than Brayden.”I giggled. Justin slowly

turned to glare at me with an evil grin on his face

and I started to slowly back up. Justin was quicker

however and caught me around the waist and

started to tickle me as I started to laugh and

Brayden watched us giggling. “Justin stop!”I yelled

in between laughter squirming in his arms trying to

break free. Finally Justin stopped tickling me but

refused to let me out of his grip, and I couldn’t help

but smile listening to Justin and Brayden’s laughter.

Justin leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my

lips before saying “So? I happen to like Halloween.”

I just laughed as I pulled away from him and went

to search through some of the costumes with

Brayden.Brayden found a ninja costume that he was

really excited about, and although Justin didn’t out

rule it right away he did insist that Brayden keep

looking until he found one he was 100% sure

about. I just laughed as I followed them around

watching their enthusiasm. Granted Halloween was

probably my favorite holiday, but I did not see any

sense in me getting dressed up for the occasion.

“Come on Abs I’m telling you, you have to find a

costume or you’re not allowed coming to our

party.”Justin teased as he continued to browse

through racks and racks of costumes. “Yeah

momma.”Brayden piped still clutching his ninja

costume, but also now holding a batman one as

well. “We’ll see.”I sighed not really having any

intention of getting a costume, and then I suddenly

came upon a yellow gown that was the exact replica

of the dress Belle wore in the end of Beauty and the

Beast and immediately fell in love with it. I studied

it in awe for a minute thinking it over. I would have

to get a brunette wig, but I mean it was Halloween

so why not?  By the time I was done marveling at

the dress and thinking it over Justin and Brayden

had made their way all the way down the aisle.

“Justin, would you be opposed to dressing up as a

couple?”I asked as I approached them dress in

hand. “Nah, that could be cool. What’d you have in

mind? Something like Adam and Eve, Tarzan and

Jane?”Justin asked wiggling his eyebrows at me.

“No.”I laughed as I held up the dress “how about

Belle and the Beast?”I asked looking up at him.

“Well it definitely involves more clothes than I

thought….”Justin started stopping when he saw the

look I was giving him. “Do I really have to dress up

as a hairy monster?”Justin whined. “I mean not if

you don’t want to, but I think it’s romantic and I

LOVE this dress.”I said admiring it again. “Well I

mean I guess if you really want to.”Justin said as I

just grinned at him. I went to show Justin the

costume they had for the beast and realized that

they had a whole set of different costumes from the

movie. As Justin was looking at his costume I

happened to stumble across a little Chip costume

and immediately got an idea. “Hey Brayden, How

would you like to dress up with mommy and daddy

and be Chip?”I asked holding up the teacup outfit

for him to see. “Oh NO way! My son is NOT dressing

up like a teacup!”Justin exclaimed looking at me

like I was crazy. “What’s wrong with it? I think it’d

be cute.”I said turning to look at him. “Cute? Oh

yeah real cute. The boy’s going to look like a

fruitcake!”Justin exclaimed as I giggled. “Jus, he’s

four it’s okay for him to dress up like a teacup. Plus

I think it’d be cute if we all dress up together like a

family.”I said my voice trailing off at the end. “I…

Well…Okay, BUT only if he wants to.”Justin said

instantly agreeing. I looked at Brayden waiting on

approval and he just shrugged and said “Sure.” as I

smiled. It was amazing how easy this boy was to

get along with at times. Justin just shook his head

as he grabbed all three of our costumes and we

made our way to the front of the store to pay for

them.           We paid for the costumes and made

our way back to the car at a much slower pace than

we had when we entered the store. Justin strapped

Brayden into his car seat before getting into the

driver’s seat and saying “So I was thinking I would

take you guys out to dinner? I mean if you don’t

have anything else to do.”Justin quickly added

turning to look at me. “I would love that.”I smiled

at him as he just grinned back. Things were

definitely starting to fall into place with Justin. I

never dreamed in a million years that I would be

here with him acting like a family, but I definitely

was not going to complain about it. Brayden adored

him and it was obvious that Justin had instantly fell

in love with Brayden as soon as he met him. I

smiled as I listened to them bicker back and forth

about where to go for dinner happy that there was

finally some normalcy in my life. This is the way

things were supposed to be and I couldn’t be

happier. We pulled into the restaurant and I looked

back to see Brayden with his arms folded across his

chest pouting because we weren’t eating at

McDonalds and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Come on

and stop pouting or you’ll go to bed as soon as we

get home.”I said getting Brayden out of the car and

setting him on the ground. “Fine.”He grumbled as

he started to slowly walk toward the entrance.

            Out of nowhere Justin ran up and picked

Brayden up spinning him around and making him

giggle uncontrollably and complete forget why he

was pouting in the first place. I smiled at how easily

Justin got along with Brayden. Most guys our age

had no clue how to act around little kids, let alone

be so at ease after finding out that they had a four

year old. Maybe things were meant to work out with

us after all. I just grinned at Justin as he walked

over carrying Brayden in one arm and wrapping the

other around me as we entered the restaurant.