Chapter 12
Carter texted me late that evening asking if he could drop by for an hour or so.
I figured that translated to, he was going to have to work that night, was hungry, and didn’t have anything at his house to eat.
Between Ally and Gertie, I was usually stocked with something good, and worst case, I could fix up a decent sandwich and throw in some cookies and a couple of beers.
I walked outside to let Gertie know that Carter was on his way.
As soon as we had returned from my jailbreaking escapade and Gertie’s running of the dogs, she’d headed out back to the bayou.
She’d been out there ever since, waving a bag of cookies at the water and calling for Godzilla.
So far, I’d lucked out and he hadn’t made an appearance.
I hoped that streak continued for our trip to the Swamp Bar.
“I’ll give you two lovebirds some alone time,” Gertie said. “I’ll go home and pack clothes and supplies for tonight.”
I had a brief flicker of fear over the word “supplies.” I hoped she meant a toothbrush and whatever else she needed to stay the night, but I had a feeling the supplies she spoke of were for our Swamp Bar excursion, and I wouldn’t find out about them until they were already in play.
I made a mental note to do an audit of her purse before we left.
“Remember,” I said, “we’re concentrating on blending.”
She waved a hand in dismissal. “Why don’t you stop wasting time worrying about what I’m going to wear tonight and take a minute to consider what you’re wearing now?”
I looked down at the yoga pants and tank top I’d changed into after my shower. “What’s wrong with what I have on? This is what I always wear around the house.”
And around town, but I didn’t figure I needed to expand on my point.
“Exactly,” Gertie said. “You haven’t ever considered fixing yourself up a little?”
“I have to do that tonight. I see no point in playing dress-up for Carter to come by and bum food off of me.”
Gertie sighed. “I am really failing you. You can give the man a sandwich to go, but sometimes dessert first is the best meal.”
“You want me to be dessert?” Something about that statement made me more than a little uncomfortable. “Like wear food or something? Is that supposed to be sexy?”
“I don’t want you to layer your chest with lunch meat, if that’s what you’re asking, but a little whipped cream never hurt anyone. You could at least put on a push-up bra. Let the girls peek out of that tank top a bit.”
I waved her toward the front door. “I’m not going to show up at the door wearing whipped cream. Sure as shooting if I did that, it would be the UPS man standing there. I will consider the push-up bra if you’ll stop giving me dating instructions.”
“I will for today except for one last thing,” Gertie said as she stepped outside. “Do everything I would do. That gives you plenty of wiggle room.”
It gave me room to jog from here to California, but I just nodded and waited until she’d reached the sidewalk before heading into the kitchen to see what kind of leftovers I had for Carter.
I gave two seconds of thought, as promised, to the push-up bra, then dismissed it completely and pulled a dish of casserole out of the refrigerator.
Carter had already seen plenty of my lean body and completely average chest. A bra wasn’t going to fool him.
I was heating up chicken casserole when I heard the screen door open and Carter call out.
“In the kitchen,” I said.
He walked in as I pulled the casserole from the microwave. “I love a woman in the kitchen,” he said with a smile.
“It’s a good thing,” I said. “Because I love being in the kitchen. Just not for the cooking part.”
“That smells delicious,” he said. “Ally or Gertie?”
“Gertie’s chicken casserole. I have cookies from Ally. Something new. Chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips.”
“Sounds incredible.”
“They are. We could probably end wars using them as a negotiating tool.”
As I placed the plate of heated casserole on the table, he stepped up next to me and pulled me close to him, lowering his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my hands into his muscular back. As the kiss deepened, I moved closer, molding our bodies together.
Carter groaned and broke off the kiss. “If you keep touching me like that, I’ll end up missing a meal and being late back to the office.”
“Might be worth it,” I said, completely surprising myself.
I’d been dancing around taking our relationship to the next level for a while.
At first, I’d been dead set against a deep physical and emotional commitment because one, I was lying to Carter about who I was, and two, I was planning on returning to my old life as soon as I was able.
Now that I had decided to leave the CIA and had Gertie and Ida Belle trying to convince me to relocate to Sinful, what had been a recipe for certain heartbreak before, could be the start of the best thing that had ever happened to me.
I found that concept both exciting and scary as hell.
He stared at me a bit longer, looking almost as surprised at my statement as I felt.
“I have no doubt at all that it would be worth it, and if I had anyone but Quincy and Petey sitting in that jail, I’d call Celia right now and give her my resignation by phone.”
He ran one hand through his hair. “God, I can’t believe I’m asking this, but can I get a rain check?”
“I don’t know. I might be busy later on.”
“I’ll make sure I’m worth the wait.”
He grinned and kissed me hard on the mouth again, then slid into a chair.
I pulled a beer out of the refrigerator and ran it across my forehead before pulling out a second and putting them both on the table.
I had no doubt he’d be worth the wait. I’d had a hot flash standing in front of an open refrigerator.
“You look exhausted,” I said as I took a seat across from him.
“I am. Haven’t slept much lately. I was hoping to get the situation with the poacher under control before word got out, but this deal with Petey launched it right out of orbit.”
“Ida Belle told me about Petey’s past and his issues. It doesn’t sound like he could be the poacher.”
“He’s not, but the state has enough evidence to force me to hold him.”
“I know you can’t tell me what the evidence is, but could they be mistaken?”
“The evidence exists, if that’s what you’re asking, and unfortunately, it does point to Petey being the poacher, but there’s got to be another explanation.”
“Like what?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Like a number of things, none of which I can share with you. I need you to trust me when I say I’m spending every waking moment working on this.”
“When you’re not dealing with Celia, you mean.”
“That woman. Don’t get me started. I assume you heard about Buddy Riker’s dogs getting out?”
Since both Ida Belle and Gertie had been briefly present at the scene of the crochet crime, I nodded.
“Gertie said they chased her all the way from the butcher and they ate all her hot links. She was practically in heart attack mode when she ran into the General Store. Walter and I were about ready to call 911. Ida Belle said she was talking to Dorothy and took off when she saw Gertie running.”
“Smart woman,” Carter said. “If Gertie’s running, there’s usually a good reason for it.”
He proceeded to give me his version of the fray, complete with a pause and grimace over the part about Celia’s underwear. Fortunately, the story was just as funny as seeing it in person and the retelling I’d done for Walter, and I laughed the entire time Carter was describing what had happened.
“That’s hilarious,” I said. “I wish I could have seen it. Minus the underwear part, of course.”
“Of course. Anyway, Celia is insisting that you had something to do with it, even though she apparently saw you go into the General Store and Walter verifies that you were right there talking to him when all hell broke loose.”
“Why doesn’t she believe Walter?” I asked. “It’s not like he’d lie for me.”
Carter snorted. “Walter is half in love with you. If he were thirty years younger, I’d have some serious competition.” He stared at me a moment, then smiled. “I think you remind him of Ida Belle. You know, when she was younger.”
“So I’m like the daughter they could have had?”
“God help us all, but yeah, I could see that.”
“Well, good thing I’m not, or me and you would be first cousins.”
“Gross.”
I laughed. “So what happened with the dogs?”
“They took off with the most god-awful scarf I’ve ever seen, and Deputy Breaux managed to round them up with some hot dogs a couple blocks away.”
“Why would dogs want a scarf?”
“I have no idea. Maybe they thought it was a rope. Tiny likes to play tug-of-war. Anyway, the long and short of it is, the dogs knocked Dorothy and Celia down, mangled a sewing bag and a skirt, and stole a scarf. Buddy is insisting the gate was closed and Celia is insisting I arrest the dogs.”
“Of course she is. I’m surprised she didn’t just order you to shoot them.”
“That was her first command. She moved on to arresting when I refused.”
Guilt coursed through me. I hadn’t thought the dog plan through well enough, and now Celia was trying to give Carter and the dogs the raw end of it.
“I hope the dogs don’t get into trouble,” I said.
“Do you really think I’d let a couple of hounds having some fun get hauled off to the pound over Celia? You should know better.”
“So what did you do?”
He grinned. “I told Celia that if she didn’t go home and shut up about it, I’d arrest her for indecent exposure.”
“You didn’t!”
“Bet on it. I haven’t seen someone turn that red since last year’s holiday bonfire. By that time, a crowd was starting to form out back, and amidst the pointing and snickering, Celia decided it was a good idea to leave.”
I shook my head. “I almost feel like the fate of humanity is riding on the election recount.”