Free Halloween In Paradise by Tianna Xander

Chapter One
     
     
    Gabrielle stared out at the forest beyond her office window and sighed. When she headed out this way, she had fully intended to write a piece about Paradise. Shifting her gaze back to her screen, she sighed again. The blank page stared back at her, the cursor blinking as though mocking her inability to come up with something different, something more than ruining this town with her original tell-all idea. Now that she knew these people, she couldn’t just throw them under the bus like that.
    Reaching down, she rubbed her leg. It didn’t hurt. It just ached on occasion. It was just enough to remind her that she owed them for a lot more than giving her a place to stay. They had saved her life. Gunter and Quinn, the two men who had pulled her out of a burning aircraft that had just crashed to the ground, could have left her to burn. Instead, they pulled her out, saving her life while risking their own and risking the exposure of Paradise.
    No. She refused to do that to this town. If there was one thing she had learned since she moved here, it was that this really was a paradise.
    Besides, where would she go once she wrote a story exposing this town and the people who lived here? No one would take her seriously. It would end her career because, she was certain, everyone would think she had lost her mind.
    Who in their right minds would believe that there really was a town full of shape shifters almost smack dab in the middle of the country?
    No one would. A story like that would end her career. That was when Gabby finally decided that if she planned to write stories on fantastic things, she should call it fiction and write a novel.
    She stared back at the blank screen. “Argh! I can’t take this anymore.” Standing, she grabbed her purse and headed for the front door. If she couldn’t write, she could go into town. She needed milk and bread anyway. Maybe something would spark while she was out and give her an idea. “A girl can dream, can’t she?”
     
    Ten minutes later, Gabby found herself wandering into the local diner. She needed coffee, and lots of it. If she was lucky, the manager, Sarah Browning, would have a fresh pot on and she could suck it down and feel sorry for herself all at the same time.
    She didn’t wait for Sarah to acknowledge her. She simply slid into her favorite booth, pulled a menu out from behind the sugar and opened it to the lunch menu.
    “How are you doing today, Gabby?” Sarah asked as she pulled a pencil from her tight bun and licked the lead.
    “I’m fine.” Gabby gave the older woman a smile. “I just can’t seem to come up with an opening hook.”
    “Opening hook?” Sarah gave her a quizzical look.
    “It’s the first few lines of a story that grabs the attention of your reader. They say—whoever they are,” Gabby said as she rolled her eyes, “that you have to grab your reader by the first few lines, or they move on.” She made a face. “I don’t see anyone ever reading a book I wrote.”
    “I would dear,” Sarah said, reaching down to pat her hand. “Most of us here in Paradise would read it. Don’t you let that blank screen discourage you. You’ll find your opening hook and when you do, nothing will stop you from writing that book. Now…are you ready to order, or do you need a minute?”
    Gabby almost laughed at that. Leave it to the Colorful Sarah Browning to put things into perspective. Nothing was too difficult and nothing would stop Sarah from helping her next customers, who had just walked through the door.
    “I need a minute. Oh, and Sarah?” Gabby bit her lip as the older woman stopped to look at her. “I don’t know who did it, but someone’s been messing with the sign again.”
    Sarah’s brows turned down. “I’ll get those Gibson boys if they don’t stop changing the name of this diner.” She leaned down with a grin, looking just like a proud mama. “What did they change it to this time?”

Chapter Two
     
     
    “Now