Page 80 of Fortune's Control
I wiped my eyes, took a sip of tea, and returned to the spreadsheet. Sam and Sophie busied themselves with the pretty, but less interesting, part of our presentation, while I stayed buried in the numbers.
“And…done!” Sophie clapped her hands together before raising both arms above her head. “How does it look?”
“Give me a minute.” I saved the final draft on my end and sent it to her. “Copy this part in, and we’re done. Officially done.” I stood behind Sophie’s chair to admire our handiwork. “Amazing. Great photography work, Sam. You brought the town to life.”
Sam’s first love would always be fishing, but photography wasn’t far behind. Photos interspersed the presentation, including the gray lady and Aiden’s recent commercial enterprise. A picture of the local cemetery captured its solemn purpose and sense of history. The bench where Aiden and I started our friendship peeked in at the bottom left corner.
“It’s easy if you’ve spent your life here.” Sam tugged on his fisherman’s hat and blushed. “You ladies did fine work today. I’m real proud.”
“What’s next?” I asked.
Sophie answered, “Our presentation. I leave early tomorrow morning, but I’ll return for that part.”
The word our implied a we. I gulped. “Who delivers the presentation?”
“All three of us. We need you to explain these numbers because they don’t make a lick of sense to me,” Sam said.
“Oh.” I was fired while preparing my last one.
Shane walked through the kitchen door, with Jack rightbehind him.
“You’re back.” Aiden shoved another brownie in his mouth and opened the fridge. “You need more milk.”
Shane frowned. “There’s plenty.”
“Correction. There was plenty.” Aiden poured another glass and threw the empty carton away.
“Come see this.” I beckoned Shane over. “Look at what Sam and Sophie created. It’s stunning work.”
He scanned the slides before stopping at one. “That’s familiar.” Shane stared at the narrow street with live oaks and Spanish moss. “It’s in Pete’s store.” He looked up at Sam.
“You aren’t the only artist in town, son. Dates with my fishing pole leave plenty of time for snapping a few pictures.” Sam pulled up his fisherman’s cap to smooth back his white hair. “It’s time for us to go. We’ll be seeing you at the baseball game. I expect another win against Panther Springs. Our town’s pride is in your hands.” He patted Shane’s shoulder. “You as well, Jack.”
“It was uneventful,” Aiden said, outing himself as the day’s appointed guard. He picked up the plate of brownies. “I’m taking these with me for dinner since I’m on call tonight. The life of a volunteer firefighter never ends.”
“Are you staying for dinner?” Shane asked Jack once they left.
Sophie tensed at the question. “It’s been a long day, so I’m going to bed.” She left the kitchen without a backward glance.
I glanced out the nearest window to make sure, but the sun still shone in a bright blue sky.
“That was for me.” Jack raised his brows, resigned. “I’ll head out as well. Maybe steal some of those brownies from Aiden before they’re all gone.”
“And only two remained.” Shane winked before kissing me. “The best two. I’ll start on dinner.”
“I made those brownies for dessert.”
“It’s a good thing I picked up ice cream.”
“I’d forgotten. Did you get chocolate?”
“They were out of chocolate.”
I choked because that should be impossible. “What kind of store runs out of chocolate ice cream?” Fortune’s Creek contained the first independent grocery store I’d seen. Small, but packed with everything we needed. “I suppose it’s possible.”
“Why don’t you tell me about the presentation while I cook?”
*****
