miss fortune mystery (ff) - my sinful valentine (5 page)

I laughed. “I guess you’re right, but they were a huge help today. I couldn’t have gotten this far without them. You would’ve ended up eating Top Ramen if I’d had to have done this on my own. I didn’t even know what a slow cooker was or that I even owned one.”

“They are something special, aren’t they?”

They were clumsy, hilarious, a hazard to my, and their own, health, and could oftentimes be a real pain in the rear, but above all of that, Carter was right. They were special. They were my friends. The only real friends I’d ever had in my life and I knew without a doubt that I’d never find any better, nor did I want to.

I nodded. “Yes, they certainly are.”

In all honesty, I’d be lost without them. What would I do when the time came that I had to leave Sinful, and my friends behind. I felt an unexpected swell of emotion knot in my throat at the thought and swallowed it down.

I wasn’t a crier.

Carter looked at me thoughtfully for a long moment then kissed my lips quickly and grinned.

“I have a plan.”

Chapter Six

“This is weird. I mean, who does this?”

“Shut your cake hole, Gertie. It isn’t weird at all.” Ida Bell grumped. “It’s thoughtful.”

“Well, I thought we were helping Fortune make this dinner for her and Carter to have a romantic night together, not for us. Who invites extra people to their Valentine’s dinner?”

Carter shook his head and I rolled my eyes.

When he’d suggested that we gather Ida Bell, Gertie, and Ally to join us I’d thought it was a great idea, but now that they were here, and arguing, I was beginning to think we should’ve just stepped out to the bayou behind my house and invited a couple of alligators instead.

“It was quite thoughtful of Fortune and Carter to invites us over.” Ally chimed in. “Thank you.” She smiled at Carter and me.

“You’re welcome.” I answered.

“We thought that since you three spent all day helping make this night possible that you might like to share it with us. After all,” Carter smiled, “Isn’t Valentine’s Day about sharing time with the people you care about the most?”

“Well, who knew? Our Carter has a romantic streak a mile wide running through him.” Gertie teased, then laughed when Carter blushed and concentrated on his food.

“The roast is delicious, Fortune. You should cook more often.”

I looked at him and shook my head. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“You really did do this on your own, Fortune. All I did was give direction.” Ally said, then took a bite of a potato.

“I guess that’ll show Celia that our girl here can do anything.” Ida Bell said with a laugh.

“Well, it certainly taught me a lesson.” I said as I sat down my wine glass. “I’ll never let Celia get under my skin like that again.”

“That’s going to prove a chore now that she knows exactly how to goad you.” Gertie said around a mouthful of roast.

“And if she ever finds out about the cupcake attempt and resulting mixer disaster, she’ll never let you live it down.” Ally sighed.

“Let’s just hope she never finds out.” Ida Bell took the words right out of my mouth.

“Those cupcakes did sound delicious though.” Gertie said.

“They did,” I agreed. “Was that your special recipe that you were going to teach me?”

“It was.” Ally nodded.

“Well then, I’m doubly bummed that we didn’t get them made. Ally, your cupcakes are the absolute best.” Gertie shook her head.

The rest of us nodded our agreement.

“Well, don’t look so sad, ladies.” Carter said.

He reached beneath the table and pulled out a square, white box. “I didn’t know if Fortune had plans to make a dessert or not, so I ordered a dozen red velvet cupcakes with buttercream frosting from Francine’s this morning.”

He opened the box and sure enough there were one dozen of the prettiest cupcakes with heart shaped sprinkles and sparkling sugar I think I’d ever seen. The frosting was twisted in the perfect spiral, and smelled delicious.

“I made five dozen cupcakes for Francine yesterday for the holiday.” Ally laughed.

“It looks like we’ll be having some of Ally’s treats after all.” Gertie grinned. “Carter saves the day again.” She laughed and removed a cupcake from the box.

I laughed, and removed a cupcake for myself.

“My hero.”

Chapter Seven

“I’m not comfortable being around the stove and Gertie at the same time. The last time we were close to one, she was trying to fry bacon and nearly set my hair on fire.”

“That’s not hard to believe.” I laughed and handed her a plate as she moved away from the stove to the other side of the dishwasher.

“That was an accident and you know it.” Gertie defended herself. “It’s not my fault you leaned down to check the biscuits about the time I lit the burner. You should’ve been paying attention.”

Carter met my gaze and shook his head. Neither one of us knew how those two were still alive.

We finished loading the dishwasher without incident and divided up the leftovers. Ally was the first to leave, followed by Ida Bell and Gertie.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Gertie grinned back at us as she made her way down the steps to the driveway.

“Come on you old coot and leave those two alone. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do? Better advice would be don’t do anything you
would
do.”
Ida Bell grumbled as she followed Gertie down the steps and to her car. “Past experience proves that there’s not much you
wouldn’t
do.”

Carter and I laughed at the pair as we watched them drive away, obviously arguing the entire time.

“I hope they make it home before they kill each other.” Carter laughed.

“I’m with you on that one.” I agreed.

Carter followed me back into the house and closed the door behind him.

I looked around at the remaining evidence of Gertie, Ida Bell, and Ally’s visit and couldn’t help but to smile. I’d never really had a family, so family parties were a thing that I’d never had the opportunity to experience. This must be what it felt like to have a family.

I stood in the doorway of my kitchen and smiled. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Carter asked as he pressed his chest against my back and pulled me close against him.

“For this. For sharing this night with the people who are most important to me. I’ve never really known this, Carter. Family, that is. So, what happened here tonight was…special.”

He kissed the side of my neck. “You’re more than welcome. What’s important to you is important to me.”

I bit my bottom lip. I wanted to tell Carter who I really was, but there was no way I could, and it hurt.

“Come with me. I have a surprise for you.”

He released me, took my hand, and pulled me along behind him out onto the patio once again, only we didn’t stop there. He led me across the lawn to the hammock I loved to read and laze in when I wasn’t getting into precarious situations with Ida Bell and Gertie.

Sitting in the hammock was a bright red box with an ivory colored ribbon tied into a bow, and next to it sat another box reverse in color.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Open it and find out.” His grin was infectious but I wasn’t a jewelry type of girl and from what I understood, jewelry was what men gave women on Valentine’s Day. My palms immediately began to sweat.

I opened the red box first and let out a burst of laughter when I pulled out a Fitness Tracker watch.

“I know you like to run and I thought that you might like to keep track of your mileage and everything. You don’t wear a lot of jewelry so I thought that thing made more sense.” He rambled.

“I love it.” I said honestly, and not just because it would keep track of my mileage or lack thereof as of late, but because it also had a timer and stopwatch so should the gals and I needed to make a speedy getaway, I had our time covered.

“Really?”

“Absolutely. I love it, Carter.” I unsnapped the band and secured it to my wrist. It was black, set to the proper time, and I was already in love with the thing.