Page 27 of Tilly's Tutus
“Wow, this place looks like you had a really, really good day,” Rooker said as he settled Carri on a folding chair.
“Yeah,” Carri agreed as she looked around. “What happened?”
Tilly only had a half dozen dresses, two tutus and a few t-shirts left, and Lottie had completely sold out of her candies earlier in the afternoon. There were also only about a dozen critters left to pack up.
“We did have another amazing day,” Lottie said with a smile.
“Yeah, and a lady who has a Little boutique in the capital wants to carry my clothing in her shop,” Tilly said, once again bouncing around in circles as she did another happy dance once more.
“That’s so amazing,” her younger sister said, wiggling in a chair dance.
“I guess I’ll have to get in line to discuss the business of stocking Tilly’s Tutus in my store,” Rooker said as he held his hand up for a high five, which Tilly gladly gave him.
Tilly giggled before she said, “We can discuss it at a later date.”
The sisters then got busy packing up what was left of their booths and piling things on the cart. When Carri announced that not only would she be giving Rooker the box of stuffies that was left, she would be moving in with the man, Tilly was not surprised.
What did surprise her was Lottie’s demand that the Rooker stay away from Carri for a week. Then she thought about it and realized that was probably a good idea. But she refused to allow Lottie to talk to Carri like she was a child who could not make up her own mind.
Before she could step in and smooth things over between her sisters, Carri spoke up and showed that she was stronger than either of them had given her credit for.
Tilly stood back and watched while Lottie laid down the law as she always did. She wanted to tell her that Carri was old enough to make up her own mind, but Carter’s words that she needed to stop being the peacemaker rang through her head. She stayed out of it as long as she could, but finally she’d had enough.
“Does this mean you also will be staying away from your man for the next week, Lottie?”
Lottie blinked and her cheeks began to turn a deeper shade of pink. “What man?”
“That one.” Tilly pointed to where Travis stood. “You two have been getting quite cozy over the past few days, going off in the evenings and not coming back to the hotel room for hours.”
“It’s not the same. We’re in …”
“It’s exactly the same. Just like you’ve fallen for Travis who neither Carri nor I have been introduced to, Carri and Rooker have fallen in love. At least Rooker was gentleman enough to introduce himself, and he put up with our questioning without a complaint.”
“Yeah,” Carri said, “if I can’t see Rooker for a week, you can’t see him, whatever his name is.”
“And I won’t see the man I’ve met and fallen in love with,” Tilly added, earning a shocked look from both her sisters. “For the next week, we’ll go back to being the three Smith sisters while we purge and pack the house.”
Lottie slowly nodded. “All right. I guess if Carri can do it, so can I.”
“What do you say, Carri?” Tilly asked.
Carri looked at Rooker who said, “We can do this, babygirl. It’s only seven days and then we’ll have the rest of our lives together.”
Carri nodded “I’m in. But I reserve the right to be grumpy without getting harassed for it.”
Tilly giggled. “I have a feeling we’ll all be grumpy by the end of the week.”
Now all she had to do was explain things to Carter. Or maybe not since she had not seen him since she’d left him at the park that morning.
By the time Carter was able to get into the ballroom, there were only a few vendors left. Tilly and her sisters were gone, leaving only a bag of trash and a stack of broken-down cardboard boxes on one of the tables the convention center had provided.
Had he fucked everything up by moving too fast?
At least he had her phone number and email. It wouldn’t take him but a few minutes to find her home address and go visit her. But then he noticed there was a message on his voicemail that hadn’t been there when he’d checked it earlier.
Pressing play, he lifted his phone to his ear. “Hi, Carter, um, Papa. It’s Tilly. I wanted to let you know I can’t see you for a week. Carri and Lottie and I made a pact that we would stay away from the men we met this weekend as a test to see if the feelings we’re feeling are real or not. So, um, I guess that’s all. I hope I see you next Sunday.”
When he called her back, her phone went straight to voicemail.
