"You nervous?" Sven asked.
Kristoff was just a shy, nerdy kid with a huge crush the last time he saw Anna, and she had just gotten engaged to her high school sweetheart. He still had a huge crush, though, and in all that time it never went away. He tried to make it go away by pursuing other people, by absorbing himself in school and work, and by traveling across the globe. But Anna had been imprinted on his hippocampus in such a way that he'd never be able to forget her.
"That's an understatement," he said a little more readily than he intended.
"At least you don't have to worry about Hans anymore."
Kristoff slitted his eyes, and scolded, "What? How could you even say something like that?"
Sven laughed, and said, "What? Five years is too soon? He would have found that hilarious, and you know it."
Kristoff rolled his eyes. It was never a competition. Hans was always the clear choice and Anna hardly noticed Kristoff at all. And there was no guarantee she was going to notice him tonight either, even with his now bulging biceps and impressive job.
"You know she has a kid, though, right?" Sven asked.
"Yeah," Kristoff sighed and scratched his head. "Do you think he looks like Hans?"
Sven's deep roaring laughter filled the truck, and Kristoff did his best to get away from it.
"Hey, come on, it's not funny!" Kristoff said as he failed to hold in his own laughter. "Focus on the road! And turn on the windshield wipers."
"Oh, it's a little funny," Sven said, and shook his head in mockery. "Hey, maybe I'll ask Anna what she thinks!"
Kristoff covered his face with his hands, and asked in a new tone of horror, "Sven, what if she's already moved on?"
"First things first," he instructed. "I'm gonna just pull over here. And you're gonna pick something out to bring to the party."
"Something chocolate," Kristoff said without hesitation.
"Uh… good luck," Sven chuckled. "It's Halloween. They're going to be completely sold out."
Kristoff frowned, and shrugged his shoulders. "Never know unless you try, right?"
"That's the spirit!" Sven said, while Kristoff smiled. "You never know."
Anna laid out an orange table cloth, then a decorative, lacy black table runner with fringe hanging over the ends of the table, and placed a huge jack-o-lantern Elsa and Olaf carved together at the center, along with two medium sized pumpkins on either side, one painted by Olaf, and one by her, and two smaller pumpkins, which Elsa had drawn on funny faces with a Sharpie, at the ends of the table. She placed a few black and orange pedestal candles between the pumpkins. Then she sprinkled acorns, which she and Olaf collected from the oak tree in the backyard. That was something she and Hans did together every year when they lived in the Southern Isles, and the memory almost made her feel guilty for looking forward to seeing another man.
Anna raced to the door each time the bell rang to hand out candy to the younger kids and wave at their parents, and to welcome her old friends as they trickled in. Each time Anna's anxiety increased, knowing there was both more and less chance that the next chime would be him. She did her best to spend a few minutes talking to each of her friends, and to make sure all of the kids got enough candy, really trying not to think about what she would say if he did show up.
"You know, Sis, we should probably get started," Elsa suggested.
"Oh, I think we can wait a little longer," Anna said nonchalantly. "They'll be here any minute. You know, there's so much traffic on Halloween. Plus it's raining."
Anna didn't quite believe her words until the doorbell rang a few seconds later.
She ran to the door so fast she tripped over the rug, and narrowly recovered so she didn't fall on her face. She hesitated with her hand on the doorknob and closed her eyes tight. Then she took a few breaths. It's probably just trick-r-treaters, she told herself, and opened the door.
She froze as though a ghost with eyes the color of chocolate peered at her under the orange glow of the Halloween lights.
"Kristoff?" she asked in astonishment.
"Hey," he said simply, then shrugged his shoulders.
It was as though time stood still, but Anna suddenly came to terms with the fact that he was actually there, when Sven joked, "Yeah. I'm here, too!" "Oh, hi, Sven. Yeah, it's good to see you."
"Hey, Sweetie, thanks for having us," he said with a hug and kiss on her cheek.
"Kristoff?" Sven said, then motioned with his head in a way that Anna wasn't supposed to know about.
"Oh! Right. Um, we brought this for you." Kristoff presented the beat-up box of chocolates to her.
"Thanks, Kristoff!" she said with softened eyes as she swayed side-to-side.
Elsa interrupted to greet them, and they forgot about Anna. Then she realized she was still wearing her apron, so she tossed it behind a sitting chair, hoping Kristoff hadn't noticed, then smoothed out her hair, adjusted her cat ears, and made sure her clip-on tail was still there before they came into the house.
Anna hadn't really noticed much about Kristoff other than his eyes, but she quickly noticed how much his physique had changed as she helped him with his coat. He was always tall, but he was never this full. He's changed, she thought, and she grew weary. It wasn't that she didn't like his biceps. She just wasn't sure what the time and energy he had to put into looking that way said about this version of him.
Kristoff didn't even crack a smile, though she felt him watch her as she hung his coat on the coat rack. Anna's heart sank when he immediately excused himself to the bathroom, though, leaving her alone in the living room staring after him, mouth agape, while everyone else gathered around the table.
Kristoff splashed some cool water on his face. Anna had lost a husband she loved and raised a child practically on her own, but he expected her to be a little more worn and weary. Yet somehow she was even more beautiful than she was the last time he'd seen her. He placed his hands on the sides of the sink and leaned forward, dropping his head, waiting for his heart rate to level out. He stood back up and took a deep breath. There was no way he was going to screw this up again.
On his way to the dining room he noticed a fully stocked wall of books, with a ladder leaning against one of the bookshelves so Anna could reach the top rows, he assumed. He smiled and perused some of the titles.
He came across a series of books, untouched like the rest, so he pulled one out and looked at the back cover. Anna was wearing a knitted cap and mittens, holding a mug of hot chocolate, most likely. Not quite as cute as the drawn on pink nose and black whiskers he couldn't even bear to look at, but close. He studied it for a beat before flipping to the front. Veronica Mars: Blast from the Past by Kristin Bell. That's why he couldn't ever find her books. A whole shelf, maybe 15 books, were taken up by Veronica Mars, which Kristoff gathered was a young adult series about a teenage detective. Then he plucked one from another shelf called The Good Place: Don't Let the Good Life Pass You By, also by Kristin Bell, which appeared to be a dark comedy with 4 titles, with likely more on the way. Anna was a bit older in the photo on the back cover of that book, but his finger curved around her face, and he remembered the first time she went from the being the girl he always tried to sit next to in the cafeteria and on the bus to the one he couldn't stop thinking about.
Sven danced every dance so easily, never having any trouble finding a partner, and enjoying the entire evening. But Kristoff, who only went to the school dance because his mom made him, spent most of the night standing by the punch bowl while everyone ignored him. He was mentally preparing for his geography test when Anna tapped on his shoulder from behind. "Hi, Kristoff!" she said cheerfully. Her hair was pulled into a complicated bun, and she was wearing an off-the-shoulder dress. He could see all the freckles on her shoulders, and her graceful neck that always seemed to be hidden by her hair. And there was something different about her eyes because they seemed to be bigger and more blue than usual. And on top of that she smelled like cinnamon and vanilla. Her shampoo always smelled good, but this was new, and his nostrils flared to take in as much as possible. His serotonin receptors were overstimulated by her. He wanted to ask her to dance, even though he didn't know what he was doing, but he found himself barely able to say anything to her. Then he felt his knees weaken as he tried to get the words out, so braced himself against the table. "Do you want to dance?" she asked. He panicked, and lifted his hand off the table, knocking the punch bowl over. Fortunately, most of it landed on him, but some of it landed on her beautiful dress. He was horrified until she broke out into laughter. He couldn't help laughing a little, too. He picked up the punch bowl and they cleaned as much of the punch as they could from the gym floor. Then she took his hand and led him outside to the blacktop. "You owe me a dance," she said, then wrapped her arms around his neck. His field of vision narrowed until she was the only thing he could see."Can I help you?" a young voice asked.
"What? Oh, nothing, um." Kristoff scrambled. He quickly shoved the book back in its place, hoping the boy didn't notice it was upside down.
He was struck by the boy's blue eyes, bright red cheeks, and easy smile. Kristoff instantly recognized him as Anna's son.
"I saw that," he said as though he had just caught Kristoff's hand in the cookie jar.
"Oh, sorry, um, I was just…"
"Looking at my mom's books?"
"Yeah," he chuckled nervously and ran a hand behind his neck. "You got me. I… I didn't know she used a pseudonym."
"I helped pick the name for her!"
"Well, you picked a good one," Kristoff said. "What's your name?"
"Olaf. What's yours?"
"I'm Kristoff. Nice to meet you." He held out a completely relaxed hand for Olaf to proudly grip as firmly as he could.
"Come on! We're so hungry and Mom won't let us start without you."
Kristoff's cheeks flushed a little, then he asked, "Do you know if she made any pie?"
