Page 27 of Fake It Till You Make It
Delores came back and placed the food in front of them, six thick-cut pinwheels of meat, gooey white cheese, and bread. And the fragrance of high-fat meat cured with smoky spices was absolutely soul stirring. Amarie’s mouth watered and she was ready to dig in until Leah bowed her head. Amarie lowered her fork, closed her fingers around Leah’s hand, and gave thanks. She’d set off from D.C. without a destination or a tune-up, but she’d arrived in Service and secured a job. Created an opportunity for herself and for that she had to be grateful.
“Do you like it?” Leah asked, while Amarie shoveled another forkful of stringy melted cheese and warm baked bread into her mouth. She would never insult her taste buds with another frozen facsimile of pepperoni rolls ever again.
“You can’t tell by the lack of responses?”
“Guess you couldn’t answer that without disturbing your fine dining experience.”
“No complaints from this girl.” Amarie laughed.
“I think we’re a good team, you and me.”
“Me too,” Amarie agreed.
“Next thing on the list. You can help me convince Eli the bachelor auction is a great idea.”
“You want me to do what?”
“Talk to Eli about the bachelor auction. I mean, you got those women to pay what they owe. It’s probably my fault that he’s too much of a gentleman to get into a row with a woman over money. After Cara and the divorce, it only got worse.”
Married? Eli “Grumpy Pants” Calvary?
“But look.” Leah thrust her phone at Amarie. She reached for it, scanning the online site, auctionluvbuzz.com.
Five pictures on a simple landing page: Eli, Tobias, and Noah, all in uniform. HERECOMES THECALVARY’SBACHELORAUCTIONin large script above their profile pictures. The bids totaled just shy of eleven hundred dollars. Not bad for less than forty-eight hours.
“Huh, Eli’s wife… the marriage, what happened?” Amarie asked, injecting casual into her tone, handing the phone over.
“What didn’t?” Leah sighed. “Wasn’t much matrimony in a marriage of nine months. That woman was too superficial, selfish—but my baby was in love for the first time. So, we did our best to celebrate the good times and love him through the bad. He came home four months ago.” Leah swallowed. “After I lost my Levi.”
“Oh, Leah. I’m so sorry. How awful.”
“It still is. It’s hard to see your child hurting and unhappy. You spend most of your life protecting your babies from the big hurts, nursing them through the bumps and bruises. The instinct is still there even when he wears size thirteen boots and stands head and shoulders above you.”
The loss of a husband, a daughter-in-law, dwarfed Amarie’s problems. Perspective changed things. “Wow, size thirteen you say?”
“Is that all you heard?”
“Well no, there’s that part about you being an awesome mom. And Cara something or other hurting your baby.”
Leah smiled. “Anybody ever tell you, you have a way with words?”
“I have quite the history with saying all the wrong ones.”
“Eh, being perfect is overrated. I like you just the way you came to us, bold and ready for an adventure.”
“Thank you, Leah. Not that you’ve sold me. But which part do you want me to convince him to buy?”
“It is that obvious that he’s totally against the idea?”
“Yes,” she laughed. “Eli turns raspberry red every time he sees pink, or a woman mentions the auction.”
“That’s the one. Maybe you could ease him into giving the idea some serious consideration.”
“Most men appreciate subtlety. Not Eli. He literally hates it. And from what I’ve seen, he’s not very fond of feminine attention.”
“He wasn’t always so gruff. And the clinic could use the money.”
Amarie had noticed the revenue had taken a sharp decrease in the last five years.
