If It Makes You Happy

by Julie Olivia

Copper Run’s square is decorated for the Harvest Festival.

Haystacks line the walkways, scarecrows stand erect beside the white gazebo, and crowds of pumpkins form a small patch in the corner of the park. I need to decide what I’ll bring to my booth this year. Last year, Burke’s Bakery sold out

Stars Hallow?!

My ex-wife makes weekly calls from New York to our daughters, but it’s not uncommon if she misses one. I’ve called her twice since Sunday, but I reached her answering machine both times. It’s been two years since Tracy left Copper Run, and I worry about her, but I worry about her relationship with our daughters more.

but she’s always been a little defiant, and I love that about her.

got her hooked on Steve Austin—of all people, Christ—and he’s edging higher on my six-year-old’s list of admirable men, right over those Backstreet Boys. Either way, her mother would kill me if she knew. If she ever called on time.

she mentioned that her daughter Sara would take over the inn.

tip my head to the side. “Did D.A.R.E. teach you nothing?” Emily shrugs. “It made smoking sound cool actually.”

Emily can’t resist slapping it before pulling out her Discman from her jean jacket pocket, pressing play, and trudging down the sidewalk,

“Her lipstick was smeared,”

Inside, a stiff border collie watches the town square buildings pass. And beside the dog, a beautiful, familiar woman flips over a map.