"Exactly how many cans of pumpkin do we need?" Olaf teased his mom after pulling yet another bag with cans out of the cart.

"I just want to be prepared. You know, in case my Peter Pumpkin Pie comes out burnt. I might just spoil the compost pile tonight!" She threw a large bag of candy into the trunk, and before she could toss the next bag, Olaf wrapped his arm around her waist and rested his head under her chin.

"Why are you so nervous, Mom? It's just your Halloween/Friendsgiving party."

"I don't know," she lied with a heavy sigh, and hugged him closer.

She kept in touch with each of her friends from their neighborhood, at least enough to wish them a happy birthday and to congratulate them on milestones, and they got together every year for Halloween/Friendsgiving. Most of them came to her wedding-–and her husband's funeral-–except Kristoff. He stayed on her Yuletide and Midsommar card list anyway, even though he never thanked her or reciprocated. If he even got her cards, he'd at least know that someone cared about him.

But Sven told her Kristoff would be visiting him in North Mountain this year, which meant he might actually show up. And Anna did her best not to get ahead of herself, but she couldn't help being excited to see him after so long.

Olaf broke free from Anna's hold and grabbed the carrots out of the bag.

"Those are for dinner!" she scolded just as he was about to bite down on the end of one. Then she wiggled ruthless fingers in the air to threaten a tickle, and Olaf laughed as he hopped backwards to get away from her.

"Sorry!" he said, and dumped the bag in the trunk.

She slid on her new cat ears, tags still attached, and gave him a raised eyebrow and knowing smirk.

Olaf held his hands together and wiggled his fingers against each other like an evil mastermind trying to take over the world. "Oooh! You're making honey ginger carrots!? Mwahaha!"

Anna laughed at his excitement, and she shook her head. She decided she was going to have a great time at her Halloween/Friendsgiving party with the rest of her friends whether Kristoff was there or not.

"You'll see," Anna winked at him as she slammed the trunk. "It'll be worth the wait."

"Meow!" Elsa said as she wiggled Anna's cat ears side to side.

Then she asked playfully, "Where's Olaf?"

He wrapped his arms around her waist, and said, "Boo!"

"Olaf, can you get the other bags from the trunk?" Anna asked.

"Exactly how many cans of pumpkin do we need, Sis?" Elsa asked incredulously as she began unpacking the groceries. "You making pie for the entire Arendelle army?"

Olaf singgered as he set the next bag down on the counter, and answered, "Mom bought seven cans of pumpkin pie. Sev-en!" he mouthed as he held seven widespread fingers up.

With a completely straight face that was just for show, Elsa asked, "Sis, don't you know that ghosts can't eat pumpkin pies?"

"Hey!" Olaf protested.

"Just goes right through them!" Elsa said with a wink for Anna's benefit.

Olaf removed the white hood from his head, and Elsa made an exaggerated expression of shock, and said, "It's alive!"

"Oh, I don't know!" Anna said with reddening cheeks, completely oblivious to Olaf's transformation. "Just in case, I guess!"

Then she ripped the chocolate whipped cream from Elsa's hand, and said, "If you're gonna make fun, you can't have any of this!"

"Come on! I was just joking!" Elsa pouted. Anna had already popped the top and held it upside down and sprayed into Elsa's mouth until she lowered her head to savor the sweet chocolate flavor as it completely melted onto her tongue. Then she did the same for Olaf and herself.

Anna's whipped cream got all over her face, and Elsa and Olaf laughed uncontrollably until Anna squirted whip cream at them both, no longer aiming for their mouths.

"Hey! You're making a mess!" said Elsa, this time completely serious.

Anna stuck her tongue out at her, and Elsa said, this time with a smile, "And you're gonna waste it!"

Anna giggled. "Check the bag, Els!"

There were four more cans, along with a couple more cans of pumpkin that Olaf hadn't already counted, four cans of cranberry sauce, and three bags of marshmallows.

Anna and Olaf started to unpack the rest of the groceries while Elsa leaned against the door frame and shook her head before intervening. Anna and Olaf gladly stepped back to watch Elsa put everything exactly where it was supposed to go.

Anna and Olaf shared a discreet high five, and Elsa turned around and raised a stern eyebrow at them. Then Anna felt a pang of sadness as she remembered the way Hans always used to put the groceries away for her while teasing her about her poor organizational skills. And then he'd find whatever chocolate thing she bought and pop a piece of it into her mouth, followed by a kiss to share it with her. Anna closed her eyes for a second to savor one of her favorite memories.

Once everything was put away according to Elsa's standards, Anna had the kitchen to herself. She leaned over the counter and turned one of the cans of pumpkin in her hand.

"Their recipes never call for enough ginger," she mused aloud before presetting the oven.

The last time she'd seen Kristoff was graduation. And her sadness over the loss of his friendship was a sore point with Hans, too. She could almost hear him asking her why she was going to so much trouble as she rolled out the pie dough and lined the pie pan.

Then she swatted at the memory and zipped the can opener around the edge so she could dump the contents into a large bowl. And her memory drifted further back to the moment everything changed with Kristoff.

Anna sat at an empty lab table in the biology classroom, watching all the students file in and sit at the other empty tables, and then at other people's tables. She watched the seats get filled while her partner's seat was left cold and unwanted, which was a little how she felt ever since her parents died, and even more now that Elsa had gone away to college. She wiped her eyes dry and shook the hair out of her face to find Kristoff standing next to her table. And her day instantly brightened. "Hi, Kristoff," she said with an embarrassingly giddy smile. He scanned the room while he rested his hands on the back of the chair and the top of the table, and he leaned in. And Anna's heart beat faster the closer he got to not just sitting next to her, but also committing to sit next to her for the entire semester. But he hesitated, opened his mouth to speak, then seemed to forget that he was going to say something. He finally shrugged his shoulders, and said, "Hey." Anna giggled, and asked, "Do you want to be my lab partner?" He immediately sat down and let out a deep exhale. Then he nodded his head without looking at her, as though she'd done him a huge favor by asking. Anna leaned closer to him, and whispered, "This is going to be so fun!" Kristoff opened his book and set his notebook on the table while Anna watched the corners of his cheeks tease apart. Then his lips gradually parted for a toothy grin, and he darted his eyes towards her for a moment, before returning them to page 1 of the textbook, saying, "Probably."

"That's a lot of ginger," Elsa said, breaking Anna's trance.

"What?" she asked. She looked down at the heaping pile of freshly ground ginger that began sinking into the pumpkin mix.

The oven dinged and she groaned. Then she handed the bowl to Elsa to dump in the compost pile out back.

"You know, he's not going to come," Elsa said as the back door swung shut.

Anna pursed her lips and scrunched up her face because she knew Elsa was probably right.

"Who's not going to come?" she asked in a vain effort to hide her feelings.

Elsa gave her a sympathetic look as she cracked and stirred a couple of eggs into the now empty bowl.

"Oh. You mean Kristoff?" She pried open the metal top and worked against the whoosh of the pumpkin slipping out of the can while Elsa opened the can of condensed milk and added it to the orange mixture Anna was diligently stirring. "Why would I care if Kristoff was coming? I haven't even talked to him in, like, forever."

Anna turned around to pull the sugar from the cabinet, and hide the pain of Elsa's truthful words.

"Hey, Kristoff," Anna said one day, "There's going to be a bake sale next week. Anyway, here's the flier." Anna put her elbow on the table, and casually rested her head in her hand, watching Kristoff examine the pink piece of paper as though he were scanning every word carefully before responding. He knitted his eyebrows, and asked, "Are you bringing anything?" Anna smiled, and sat up proudly. "I might have something up my sleeve." Kristoff shrugged, and said with a smile, "I wouldn't be surprised." To Anna, that tiny seal of approval felt like fireworks exploding in the sky above them. She couldn't wait to watch him taste her dessert. And her mother would have been proud that her recipe was being used for such a noble cause.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because of all the K+A hearts scribbled into the margins of your middle school notebooks?" Elsa rolled her eyes and tilted her head to the side, then added, "And some of your high school notebooks."

"Oh, that? Pfft." Anna threw her hand to the side to emphasize her nonchalance. "That was just a stupid crush. And it was so long ago! Obviously, I moved on."

"Whatever you say, Sis!" Elsa said as she left the room. Then she doubled back, and added in a less teasing voice, "And if he does decide to grace us with his presence, and he actually says more than one or two words to you at a time, it won't be because of your pie. So, maybe just stick with one this time?"

Anna pretended to ignore her so she could concentrate on measuring the sugar. Elsa didn't even know what she was talking about. If Kristoff, by some miracle, showed up, her pie could literally make or break things. It would be the difference between seeing Kristoff smile or seeing the wind at his back before they even got a chance to reconnect. So it had to be perfect.