Knitted Hearts - Amber Kelly Page 0,15
me to foot the bill for her. I thought that maybe she’d changed. I knew it wasn’t likely though, and I was right.”
“It still sucks,” she offers.
I nod. “At least, now, we can both move on. It feels pretty good.”
“I know that feeling,” she agrees.
What a dumbass her soon-to-be ex-husband was. How could he let this woman slip through his fingers?
I’m about to voice this opinion when we are interrupted.
“How are things going, kids?” Doreen calls as she and Sonia’s mother approach us.
“We’ve collected two hundred and eight tickets,” Sonia says proudly.
“Oh, that’s an adequate amount,” Doreen replies.
Sonia frowns and looks down at the box of tickets.
“Adequate?” I ask.
“Absolutely,” she states.
“What’s a better than adequate number?” Sonia inquires.
“Let’s see.” Kathy looks down at her clipboard. “Most have around two hundred and fifty-something. Bellamy and Elle have over three hundred, and Dottie and Dallas are on the top with three hundred and eighteen so far.”
That makes sense. Funnel cake and Dottie’s cinnamon rolls are hard to beat.
“Are we in last place?” Sonia gasps.
“No, the ring toss game only has two hundred and five,” Kathy answers.
Sonia looks at me in horror. “The ring toss game is the worst game at any fair. We can’t let them catch up to us. We have to do something!”
“Like what?” I ask, biting my lip trying not to laugh at her panic.
“I don’t know. Take off your shirt and show off your abs or something,” she suggests.
“You want me to start stripping to attract ticket holders at a church carnival?”
“Yes. You’re sure to allure every female here.”
I like that she thinks that highly of my abs.
“I’m not sure that’s the way we should go,” I say, no longer hiding my amusement.
“We could come in last behind the ring toss game, Foster! You have to,” she screeches.
“No, don’t do that, dear,” Doreen yelps.
I bring my amused eyes to hers.
“I think we can come up with something else to attract people,” I assure her.
“I think it goes without saying—or at least, it should—but please keep it PG,” Doreen requests.
“We will,” I promise her.
Kathy smiles as she looks between Sonia and me. “You two have fun, and we’ll be back around shortly.”
Sonia made it her mission to get every single person she could into that corn maze. She plucked the sign that was attached to the front of our booth and stood outside of the entrance, spinning it and throwing it in the air to catch it like she was a majorette and it was a baton. She made up the most ridiculous chants and pranced around, beckoning every male, young and old, like a siren.
How could they resist her?
By the end of the evening, we raised an additional two hundred tickets and secured our place four spots ahead of the offensive ring toss game.
“We did it!” she exclaims before jumping into my arms in reaction to our victory.
“You did it,” I whisper to her as I hold her to me a moment longer than necessary.
She smells like honey, and I just want time to soak her in.
I let her go when I see Doreen, Dottie, and Kathy grinning at us over her shoulder.
“Congratulations. You two sure do make a good team,” Kathy bellows.
Sonia turns and does a little victory dance.
God, she is perfection.
She turns to me and smiles.
“We do! Don’t we?”
“You two should celebrate,” Doreen prompts.
“Celebrate?” Sonia asks.
“Yes. You worked hard and raised a lot of money for a good cause. I’d say a celebration is in order. Don’t you agree, Kathy?” Doreen adds.
“I do indeed.”
“Um,” Sonia turns to me and whispers, “they’re on a sugar high or something.”
I look back at the three ladies.
They’re definitely up to something.
“Maybe we should just casually walk away,” I suggest.
“Good idea,” she agrees.
We walk in search of our friends and find Elle tending to a cut on Walker’s arm.
“What happened?” Sonia asks.
“A wayward dart got him,” Elle explains.
“Dart?” I ask.
“Yep. Those crazy woman had me working a stupid game. The one where you throw darts at the board and try to pop a balloon to win a stuffed emoji. Who in the hell thinks it’s a good idea to hand darts to a bunch of five year-olds high on cotton candy? I’m lucky I didn’t die,” Walker gripes.
Elle snickers.
“Woman, I’m bleeding here,” he says.
“Don’t worry, baby. It’s just a flesh wound. You’ll make it and you’ll get extra loving tonight,” she assures him before walking off to return the first aid kit.
He grins and turns to me.
“Worth it,” he says with