Forever My Soldier Read online

  Joan tries to stammer her way through a plea, but it doesn’t work.

  “Security will be at your office waiting to escort you out in twenty minutes, starting now,” she says as she looks at her watch and calls security. Joan turns to me and pauses, but with nothing to say, she walks out the door, fighting her tears.

  “Were you waiting on anything from her?” Elizabeth asks me.

  “I’m waiting for the dates for the signings that she’s booked. She was going to email them to me.”

  “Great. I’ll send that to you right now, and if you need anything, you know how to reach me.”

  “Thank you, Elizabeth, I’m sorry about Joan.”

  “I’m not. I had a feeling she was up to no good. I’m sorry it was with you.” I nod as I shake her hand. I walk out the door, feeling a little bad for Joan. There is a security guard standing there, waiting for me.

  “Are you ready, Ms. Fitzgerald? I’ve been ordered to walk you out so that Joan will not approach you.”

  “I will be as soon as I get my coat.”

  In an awkward silence, we both walk to where my coat is hanging. I slip it on, and he walks me all the way to my car. Once I’m inside safely, he walks back to the building and I dial Carter through my Bluetooth.

  “Hey, baby. How did your meeting go?”

  “You’re not going to believe this, but Joan was fired. She’s the one who told the media I was staying at your house. I wonder if she told Ben too, now that I think about it.”

  “Wow, how did you find out?”

  “I was sitting, waiting to go into her office, when one of the reporters who were standing outside of your place came walking out.”

  “So, what are you going to do?”

  “Elizabeth, the owner of the agency, has taken over working with me.”

  “Are you on your way home?”

  “Yes, I am. Are you?”

  “I am. I’ll see you there soon, but wait for me in the lobby because we have an early reservation. It was the only spot I could get at Lorenzo’s, and I don’t want to be late.”

  “Nice. Lorenzo’s, huh?”

  “Yes. I really wanted to go somewhere nice tonight.”

  “Well, I’m pulling in now. I’ll see you in a few.”

  I park my car and hurry inside and out of the cold. “Good afternoon, Patricia.” Darryl nods at me. I’ve tried to get him to call me Patty, but he’s so formal. This is better than ma’am or Ms. Fitzgerald.

  “Good afternoon, Darryl. I’m waiting for Carter. We have early dinner reservations, and he’s on his way to pick me up.”

  Carter pulls up two minutes later. Again, Darryl opens the door for me as I walk out to see my man. I open the car door, and he greets me with his breathtaking smile.

  “Hey, baby.” He leans in to give me a quick kiss.

  We’re sitting in quiet as Carter drives us to the restaurant when I ask him, “Is it weird that I feel bad for Joan? I mean I know she crossed a line, but I didn’t mean for her to get fired for it.”

  “Baby, you’re so sweet, but maybe there was more to it than that?”

  “There must be because Elizabeth said I wasn’t the first complaint she’s gotten.”

  He shrugs his shoulders. “Well, there you go then. Maybe you happened to push her over the edge.”

  “Maybe.” I go back to sitting in silence and think about my afternoon and everything that happened at the office. Elizabeth was so calm, so matter of fact about firing her. I was so deep in thought I hadn’t noticed that we pulled up until Carter places a hand on my leg.

  “Are you okay?”

  I smile. “Yeah, let’s have a nice dinner.”

  I climb out of the Jeep with him, and we walk into the restaurant hand in hand. We are escorted to a quiet table for two in the back corner of the restaurant. I take the seat that Carter has pulled out for me, and he quickly takes the other while the waitress places menus in front of us and fills our water. She tells us she’ll give us a few minutes and walks away.

  “Are you okay with me having a glass of wine?” I question, peeking over the top of my menu.

  “Of course.” He rewards me with a full-on smile.

  “Why do I feel like you’re up to no good?” I give him a small side grin.

  “I’m not. I’m really happy. It was a great day at work, a great day with my counselor, and now I’m finishing it off with a nice dinner with the love of my life.”

  I close my menu, placing it to the side. “Why was work so great?”

  He describes his day, starting with Tobey coming to visit him. He looks so proud, and he should be. He’s come a long way. The waitress interrupts to take our food and beverage order and retreats with a promise to be right back with our drinks. As soon as she’s gone, he continues talking about his conversation with Derek and the idea he has for the New Year’s Eve event.

  “Carter, I think it’s a brilliant idea. It gives you the money you need for the soldiers, and there will be more people at the event for the silent auction.”

  “I already have one company that’s agreed to build a ramp for one of our guys.” He beams with excitement.

  “I’m so proud of you, Carter,” I tell him as my wine arrives.

  “Thanks, baby. We’re trying to come up with another fundraiser, though, and I was hoping maybe you could help with some ideas.”

  “Sure. What is it for?”

  “We need to raise money for the training of our service dogs. Soldiers with PTSD can find comfort in the companionship of a dog, but they need certain training and the vet bills can be expensive.”

  “How much do you need per dog?”

  “About five thousand dollars,” he says with his brows raised.

  “Wow, that’s a lot.”

  “I know. That’s why we need the fundraiser. Right now the soldiers are responsible for raising the funds on their own. We’d like to make it so we have a fundraiser for them and we raise half to three-quarters of the money for them and they come up with the rest.”

  “Hmmm. Let me think for a minute.” I take a sip of my wine. “We could do a bike run. It may be weird since none of us ride, but they tend to bring in some big money.” I can see he’s thinking it over.

  “Or what if we make the dinner event as big as we can and we use the silent auction money for the service dogs and we use the ticket and the table donations for the renovations,” he says, rubbing his chin.

  Our dinner arrives, and we both eat in a comfortable silence. I know we’re both thinking about the fundraiser and how we can do more for these guys who gave so much to defend our country, but I’m not sure I have an idea right now.

  I ordered eggplant parmesan, and it is delicious. I’m getting full, so I take one more bite and push my plate away.

  “Is it okay, baby?” Carter asks, concerned.

  “It was fine. I’m full. I’ll take the rest home.”

  He calls the waitress over and asks for a take-home container for my leftovers. She takes my plate, telling me she’ll be right back with it. When she comes back, Carter has finished his meal. She asks us if we’d like dessert, which we both decline. She places the bill on the table. He snatches it up, looks it over quickly, and places it back on the table with his credit card.

  “Thank you, honey. This was a nice treat.”

  “My treat isn’t done yet.” He hands the bill to the waitress and looks at me, his eyes glowing with excitement.

  “You mean there’s more?” I ask as he scribbles his name across the slip.

  He stands and helps me slip on my coat. “Oh yeah, I need to go home and have my dessert.”

  A smile spreads across my face as I whisper, “And what would that be?”

  “Making love to you, of course.”

  Chapter 7

  Patty

  Bella’s fashion show is this weekend, and that means we need to go shopping. She’s on the way here to pick me up because I really didn’t feel like pulling up in my mother’s car. I�
�m trying to lay low after all the media hype over Ben. My phone rings, and when I answer, it’s Darryl telling me that Bella is downstairs, waiting for me.

  When I get downstairs, Darryl is holding the door for me. As always, he tells me to have a good day. I tell him to do the same as I walk to Bella’s car. Once I’m inside she leans over to give me a quick hug and tells me she’s happy to see me.

  She pulls away from her spot, and I ask, “How are you and Derek?”

  “We’re great! We’ve been talking about me moving in with him. I’m a little nervous that we’re moving too quickly, but I told him I would think about it.”

  “I can understand your concern, but do you really think there’s a chance you want to be with anyone else?”

  “No, but there’s so much going on right now. I have a ton of shoots coming up. The fashion show is around the corner, and then it’s the holidays. I feel like it’s not the right time.” I raise my eyebrow, giving her the look that screams really?

  “Maybe after the first of the year…”

  I cut her off. “What are you really nervous about?”

  She shrugs. “I’ve lived on my own for so long now, I don’t know if I can give up my own place. The thought kind of scares me. I mean, what if we move in together and all of a sudden he thinks my shoe collection is ridiculous or that he can’t handle my OCD when it comes to things being organized?”

  “Really, Bella, have you even spoken to him about these concerns? Or better yet, you’ve spent enough time at his place, has he given you even a hint there would be a problem with organization?”

  “No. I’m scared, okay. I want to trust that he won’t hurt me, but I’m having a hard time. I know I love him, but I can’t even tell him because I’m afraid. Brock left me a mess, and I won’t go through that again.”

  “Does he even know about Brock?” She shakes her head as we pull up outside the boutique we’re meeting my mom at. “What are you waiting for? Tell him about Brock. At least it’ll give him an idea as to why you’re so nervous about moving in with him.”

  She shuts off the car. “Can we talk about this later? I really want to forget about it for now and have some fun.”

  “Sure, but I’m telling you, you need to talk to him.”

  “I will after the fashion show. I need to get through this first.”

  I give her a smile and say, “Come on. We need to get some dresses.” We both climb out of the car, and she surprises me with a big hug before we walk in. “Thank you for listening. You always make me see my way through the haze of my fears, and I love you for it.”

  “Hey, that’s what besties are for.” She giggles. “But you still need to own it and talk to Derek about it.” She nods as we walk into the boutique. Noticing we’ve beat my mother, we approach the counter to talk to the woman. “We have one more person joining us, but while we wait, I need two dresses.” I explain what they’re for, and then Bella says, “Same for me.”

  I have five different dresses in my hand and Bella has three. As we’re approaching the fitting rooms, we hear, “There are my beautiful girls.”

  We both turn with a smile. I walk over and say, “Hello, Mother,” as we air kiss one another on the cheek.

  “How are you girls today?” she asks, excited.

  “We’re good. How are things with you and Richard?”

  “Better than ever. We’ve been talking more and making more time for each other. I couldn’t be any happier than I am now.”

  “That’s great!” I tell her, genuinely pleased that they’re working things out.

  “I see you girls have found some dresses to try on. Shall we move to the changing area?”

  “Sure,” Bella says.

  We follow her to a room that has a large elevated circular riser in the middle of it for modeling the dress you’re trying on. Bella insists that I go first, so I carry my dresses into the fitting room and put on the one I like the most. Once I have it on, I can see it fits really well, but I’m not sure it’s right for either the fashion show or New Year’s Eve. I walk out and show them anyway.

  They both agree with me that while it’s pretty, it isn’t the right dress for either event. I go back into the dressing room and put on dress number two. This one is a pretty charcoal color dress that I think will be lovely for the fashion show. It’s a high low with enough flash to make it really pretty and not too overly done. I walk out wearing the halter dress, and Bella says, “Fashion show?”

  I nod. “That’s what I was thinking.”

  “I think it’s really pretty. You want to look nice for the event, but you really don’t have to be overly done up.”

  My mother says, “I think it’s perfect.”

  “Okay, I have three more. I’ll be right back.”

  I hurry back into the fitting room to try on the next three. One doesn’t fit me well at all. It looks frumpy, and I need to have something that looks fun. The second fits me perfectly, but it doesn’t scream New-Year’s-Eve fun; it screams night at the ball. I think the third is a pretty good fit considering we’re raising money for the military. It’s a navy blue dress that ends just above my knees. It has a sweetheart neckline and a really pretty belt of silver around my thin waist.

  I walk out of the dressing room, and they both say at the same time, “Perfect.”

  I smile. “Good. I thought so too!” I jump up and down. I’m so excited. I ask the girl helping us if she has some pretty sparkly silver shoes to complement the belt.

  “I have the perfect pair.” I give her my size, and she tells us she’ll be right back. She comes over with these three inch heel, silver Louboutin shoes, that are all sparkle and shine. I slip them on my feet and walk around the circle, trying them out. They’re gorgeous, and they perfectly complete my outfit.

  My mother stands and says, “She’ll take the two dresses and the shoes.”

  “I’ve got it, Mother.”

  “Absolutely not. Richard has already told me that neither of you are to pay for a thing today. I will not have him mad at me because you didn’t want to listen.”

  I roll my eyes. I know Richard comes from money and he makes a lot of it being a DA, but he really doesn’t need to pay for every dress I own. I cave. “Fine. Tell him I said thank you, please.”

  Bella jumps up. “Okay, my turn.” She runs into the dressing room and starts trying on her dresses. While we wait for her to come out, the girl helping us brings a few over for my mother to try on as well.

  About forty-five minutes later, we’re all walking out with what we need for both the fashion show and the New Year’s Eve party. My mother turns to us. “Richard is meeting us for lunch at the club, so we need to hurry because he has court this afternoon.”

  “Okay. We’ll see you there in a few minutes.” We carefully hang our dresses in the back of Bella’s car, climb in, and rush off to the club.

  When we pull up a few minutes later, my mother is walking in with Richard, and they look so happy. “Awww, look at them holding hands,” Bella says as she pulls into a spot.

  “I know. I’m so happy that they’re on the mend and things are working out with them. I would’ve been seriously worried about my mother if they hadn’t been able to make things work.” We both climb out of the car and walk into the club right behind them.

  Richard turns as we’re approaching. “Hello, ladies. How are you both doing?” We tell him we’re fine as he kisses our cheeks. “Sandra was telling me that you had a great time shopping this afternoon.”

  “We did. Thank you for the dresses. You really didn’t have to do that.”

  “I wanted to, and it was my pleasure. I work hard for my money, and I enjoy spending it on those I care about the most and that’s you three. I can’t wait to see you girls all dressed up.”

  He puts his arm around me, giving me a small hug.

  “Well, thanks again. We did have fun.”

  The hostess approaches. “Your table is ready. I can show you right over.”

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sp; “Please,” Richard says. “Please let the waitress know that I do not have a lot of time. I have to be in court shortly.”

  “Yes, sir,” she says as she places our menus down. We take our seats, and she scoots off to talk to our waitress. We all quietly look over our menu so we can order quickly. I already know I’m going to have a salad. I ate a heavy dinner last night and don’t want to eat heavy again today.

  I close my menu and sip my water. I’m so thirsty from trying on clothes at the boutique. It was really warm in there. The waitress must have been watching because the second we all put our menus down, she comes to the table, ready to take our order. Once she’s filled our water glasses, she flees to put in our order. We have all ordered simple dishes so it shouldn’t take long to prepare.

  “So, did Sandra tell you where we’re going on vacation?”

  “No. I know you guys mentioned going away after the holiday, but you never said where.”

  His smile now reaches his ears. “We’re going to travel through Europe for two weeks.”

  My eyes widen. “That is so romantic.”

  “I thought it would be. We’re working on scheduling some tours, but I want some alone time too.”

  Bella says, “That’s so cute, but don’t go getting all TMI on us either.”

  They both start laughing. “We’re old, not dead,” my mother adds.

  “We know, but we don’t need to hear about it,” Bella says as we all start laughing.

  “Be sure to take lots of pictures,” I tell them.

  Bella jumps in again. “Of the sights, not the TMI stuff.” I give Bella a look, and she starts giggling. “What! If you can’t see they’ve fallen in love all over again, then you’re blind.”

  “Oh, I see it. It’s all over their faces.” I glance back at them with a smile.

  Our lunch arrives, and we all fall into silence as we start eating. My salad is delicious, as always. “Before I forget, we want to invite everyone over for Christmas dinner. Are you free, Bella?”