Friends & Fortune Cookies: A Sudden Falls Romance (19 page)

“Nice to meet you. I’ve heard good things.”

“Likewise.”

My gaze snapped to Gracie and then to her sister. I wondered about the conversations in which I might have been the main topic.

“Can I help?” Katherine asked, grabbing another knife from the wood block at the end of the island.

“Matchsticks,” was all Gracie said, indicating the row of vegetables which I’d slowly been working my way through while carefully avoiding lopping off a finger.

Shocking to see how quickly Katherine turned the pile of whole vegetables into tiny, even matchsticks. Now I understood how Gracie’s family’s innate perfection and skill might become really tedious very quickly.

Although, I couldn’t complain since it got me out of kitchen duty much faster.

Gracie mixed the bread starter—which did indeed look like brains—and cooked the dinner-plate-sized, crepe-like flatbreads in a large frying pan before rolling them up and placing them on a serving dish. Inky came in and put salad into a large serving bowl, while Gracie shredded the chicken in the pot and put the stew into a tureen.

“Everyone ready to eat?”

We retired to the dining room, and I suddenly found myself at the center of conversation. Gracie’s mom shoved us right into the deep end of conversational quagmires. “Joe, tell us what you’ve been up to. Are you back in town permanently?”

I caught Gracie’s gaze and avoided answer that last question directly. “I’ve been working for a security company an Army buddy of mine started. It’s doing really well. More work than we can handle, which is always a nice problem to have.”

“Indeed. Do you have profit-sharing?” Trust Mike to get to the heart of the matter.

“Yes. The company has been very good to me.”

He nodded slowly. “So you’re in town on vacation?”

“Sort of. Baker Restoration has been struggling. I promised Alex I’d come out and lend him a hand for a bit. We’re remodeling a house for
Rehab-a-rama
.” I took a bite of the fragrant stew. “Wow, Gracie. This is amazing.” It really was, but I’ll admit I picked that moment to comment on it as a means of changing the subject.

“Thanks.”

“So Grace, how are your articles coming?” Katherine asked.

Before Gracie could answer, her mom joined in. “What are you working on now? I haven’t caught up with my reading since your dad and I got back from our cruise.”

Gracie passed a glare directly to her sister. My guess was the parentals were not aware of her current assignment and she’d been happy to keep it that way.

“What did I miss?” Mike asked.

Gracie sighed in resignation and spilled the beans.

“You’re going on dates with people you meet on the Internet?” Mike semi-bellowed. I kind of understood why she hadn’t mentioned it.

“Joe’s been acting as my security detail,” she said.

“You approve of this?” Mike said to me.

Hell, no.
Of course, I couldn’t relate my feelings on that subject for multiple reasons. I put my hands up. “I have no personal opinion.”

Katherine snorted, and I chanced a quick look in her direction.

“I’ve made sure she stayed safe.”

“You aren’t doing Tinder, are you?” Mike asked.

“How do
you
know about Tinder?” All three of his daughters had nearly identical looks of incredulity on their face, but Katherine was the inquisitor.

“I know stuff,” he said.

“I haven’t met anyone that way,” Gracie said.

It took everything in me not to say, “Nor will she be meeting anyone else by
any
means.”

“The articles are a means to an end. There’s a possible syndication deal in the works.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Melodie said.

Gracie basked in the warmth of her mother’s glow. “And I’m working on a book.”

News to me. “You are? Since when?”

Gracie winced.

“Uh oh.”
That came from either Katherine or Inky. I wasn’t sure.

“It’s kind of a more expansive version of my columns,” she said, shrugging. “It may not turn into anything.” She took a sip of her water, and everyone turned back to their meals.

How could she keep something that big from me? I mean, she’d talked about writing a book off and on for years. Hell, half the population talked about writing a book at some point in time or another. But until you started putting words to paper, it was all talk. Gracie had apparently started putting words to paper but didn’t think it was worth sharing with me. And I had to admit, that stung a little.

After what was possibly the longest conversation lull in Mendoza history, Katherine broke the silence. “That’s really amazing, Grace. I can’t wait to read it.”

“Thanks, Kath,” she said a bit more quietly. “I brought it on a thumb drive. I know you’re shocked to hear this, but I’m having a technical problem with the formatting. Would you mind giving me a hand after dinner?”

“Absolutely.”

And that also hurt a little. I was apparently tech-savvy enough to help her set up her phone but not enough to help her format a document. I was tasked with breaking into top-secret government networks as part of my job. I could handle
Word
for crying out loud.

I tried to keep my hurt to myself. At least during dinner. But I quickly volunteered to help clear the dishes and shot down Quinn’s offer to help. “Thanks, man. We’ve got it.”

I helped Gracie take the first load of dishes to the kitchen, set them in the sink, and then propped my hip against counter to block her egress back to the dining room. “Is there any reason you didn’t tell me about your book?”

“Prior to my little slip up in the dining room, the only person who knew was my editor. And only because I thought it might help my chances with the syndication. I didn’t want to broadcast it until I knew whether I was capable. As we have discussed, I prefer falling on my face in private and not with an audience.”

I sighed. “I guess I thought I was more than just an audience.”

“Joe…”

I was saved from having to answer by Katherine and Quinn. “Hey, Quinn’s going to help you finish up. Inky and I need Grace.”

Gracie didn’t put up much of a fight as her sisters dragged her out to the porch, where I could see them talking in a tight circle. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear what they said because the windows were closed against the heat.

“I’ve found it’s best not to get in her way when she’s on a mission,” Quinn said of Katherine.

“I think that applies to all three of them.”

Chapter 31 — Grace

“Playing dumb with a pair geniuses is rarely a wise move.”
~ Luddite in Love: A Cautionary Tale of Dating in the Modern Age,
Grace Mendoza

“Okay, what gives?” Inky asked.

“What do you mean?”

“What’s with all the long looks between you and Joe,” Katie asked. “I swear to God, the table was about to combust.”

“Oh, God. Do you think Mom and Dad noticed?”

“Really? That’s all you’ve got?”

I didn’t really have an answer.

“Did you guys do it?” Inky asked.

I looked at her. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-two… so?”

“So, only teenagers ask if someone
‘did it’
.” I rolled my eyes. “You have to keep this under your hats.”

Katie leaned in, a little too eager to hear whatever I was about to say.

“Things have gotten…
complicated
with Joe.”

“How complicated?”

“Very.”

“Thank God!” Katie said.

At the same time, Inky replied, “About time!”

They paused and looked at me. I just blinked in their general direction.

“Isn’t this a good thing?” Inky asked.

“Yes… No…
I don’t know.”

“Was it good?” This from Inky.

“Is that really the point?”

“Well, was it?” Katherine asked.

I couldn’t lie. Not that I even wanted to. “Holy God, yes!”

Inky giggled, but Katie asked, “So what’s the problem?”

I took a deep breath. “His job is in Denver. He’s returning to it in four weeks. We’ve annihilated each other rather routinely since high school. The blowups to our relationship have been proportional to how far outside of the bounds of platonic friendship we’ve gotten. And believe me, this is as far away from platonic friendship as you can get. I don’t want to lose his friendship. And, I don’t want to get my heart trampled on. Part of me fears the whole thing might have been a huge mistake.”

Inky started shaking her head. When I didn’t get the point, she shushed and pointed behind me.

Dread slid down my back and buried itself deep in my stomach.

I turned around and found Joe in the doorway. I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that he looked crushed.

“Oh, God,” Katie said.

He started to back away.

“Joe. Wait!”

“I really thought we were going to give this a shot,” he said.

Katie and Inky faded away, but I suspected they were around the corner eavesdropping. I felt certain they weren’t offering us a moment of privacy. That happened to be something this family—heck, this whole
town
was extraordinarily bad at.

“And we are.”

“Except you think the whole thing was a big mistake.”

“I said
part
of me
fears
that it was a mistake. Forgive me for being semantical, but there
is
a difference. Please give me half a second to get my bearings here. A lot has happened in the last twenty-four hours.” God, had it been yesterday that we were sitting on my couch watching romcoms and sitting slightly closer than was strictly proper?

I shook my head and continued. “That doesn’t mean I’m not really scared about how this is going to turn out. Remember all of those flags we planted? The big one is…
Joe is leaving town in four weeks.
And there’s not much of a way we can talk ourselves around that. I can only see about four outcomes here. We call it quits. You quit your job and move back here, or I quit my job and move to Denver. Or we try some drawn-out, long-distance thing that will eventually end in one of the previous three. None of those options are ideal.”

I tentatively reached a hand out for him. Miraculously, he came toward it, took it, and then pulled me into his arms. “You’re not going to slug me for this public display of affection, are you?”

I buried my face in his chest. I could smell his fabric softener and his aftershave and the scent that was uniquely Joe. “You’re safe… for the moment.”

He chuckled, and I heard him release a breath, which I suspected he’d been holding. I released one of my own.

Finally, we parted and went back into the house. Katie and Inky must have used the side door as they were already inside.

My father gave Joe a hard look and then turned his gaze on me. I avoided it and aimed for the kitchen. “We have dessert!”

My mom followed along to start to protest.

“Don’t worry. Just fortune cookies.”

“Good girl!”

“Credit Joe. They were his idea.”

She hesitated, putting a hand on my arm. “Everything okay there?”

“Yeah. We’re good.” I didn’t know if that was true, but my parents had always loved Joe, and I wasn’t going to cause any friction for him there. “I’ve got this. Go hang out in the dining room. I’ll be right there.”

I stacked seven dessert plates, cups, and saucers then put the fortune cookies in a small bowl while the coffee brewed.

“You need any help?” Joe asked from the kitchen doorway.

“You want to help me carry this in?”

He nodded.

“How’s everything out there?”

“I think your dad is on to us. If looks could kill…”

“You’ll be fine.” I handed him the stack of plates and cups. “He’s mostly bark.”

I grabbed the coffee carafe, and we went back to the dining room. When we got there, I handed the bowl to Mom. “Take a cookie and pass the bowl. It’s only fun if everyone reads their fortune aloud.”

Mom dutifully took one from the bowl, opened the cellophane wrapper, broke the cookie, and studied the fortune for a long moment before reading it aloud. “Life isn’t a struggle; it’s a wiggle.” She paused for a long moment. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

My Dad leaned over to her and said in a stage whisper, “Add ‘in bed’ at the end.”

“Oh my God, Dad!” This from Inky. “How do you know that?”

“I keep telling you girls,
I know stuff.”

The whole table erupted in laughter.

“I’ve always said, ‘between the sheets’,” I volunteered.

Dad gave me a raised-eyebrow, before breaking open his cookie. “Flattery will go far tonight.” He paused for effect and waggled his eyebrows at Mom. “
Between the sheets.”

A couple of wolf whistles, and my mom turned bright red. My parents were still genuinely in love with one another, and it warmed my heart.

Dad passed the bowl to Inky. “Do not mistake temptation for opportunity.”

“I don’t think you even need to tack anything onto the end of that one,” Katie said.

Inky tucked her head and murmured, “If only.”

Dad gave her a quick look before she passed the bowl onto Katie.

“You will get lucky tonight.” She and Quinn exchanged a heated look. “Speaking of fortunes that don’t need a suffix.”

She handed the bowl to her fiancé. “Years of treating your body like a temple will backfire this Thursday.”

Quinn was a health nut and owned the largest chain of fitness centers in the area, which made it funnier.

“That is oddly specific,” he said. “And yet completely vague at the same time.”

Joe got the bowl next. “The one you love is closer than you think.”

He leaned in close as he passed the bowl and dropped his cookie pieces on my plate. “I know exactly how close she is,” he whispered in my ear.

My breath caught. To the best of my recollection, neither Joe nor I had never said “I love you,” even in the context of pure platonic friendship. Although I’m sure at some point over the years, I’d probably signed a letter or card, “Love, Gracie”. Now Joe had just upped the stakes yet again, and I didn’t know how to handle that.