miss fortune mystery (ff) - my sinful valentine Read Free Page A

ingredients to the table. I think Fortune is ready for them.” Ally asked as she picked up two bowls and started in my direction.
I was just musing over how well the day had been going when everything slid downhill.
As I turned to take one of the bowls from Ally I knocked the plastic butter dish off of the able. It hit the floor and butter splattered everywhere. Before I could warn everyone Gertie was already on her way toward me. Her foot hit a patch of butter and she started to fall. I stepped forward to try to catch her but that only made matters worse.
As Gertie went down her thumb hit the switch on the electric mixer she held in one hand. The beaters started spinning and before I could get away, they caught my hair and spun their way all the way up to my scalp. Gertie and I both went down in a flailing pile of arms and legs.
As we hit the floor, Gertie’s foot flew up and kicked the bowl of flour Ally was holding. Flour flew into the air in a burst of white that resembled a mushroom cloud and covered the three of us from head to toe.
Ida Bell saw what was happening, rushed forward to help and slid on the buttery surface. Ally reached out and steadied her before she fell on top of us, but as Ida Bell jerked to a stop in front of Ally, the bowl she held flew out of her hand and the eggs within landed squarely on Ally’s face and slid down her chest.
We all sat frozen, in a stunned daze unable to believe that our mostly eventless day had taken such a drastic turn in a split second.
Gertie was the first to pipe up.
“I knew this was all going too smoothly.”
We all nodded our agreement.
“I was just thinking the same thing.” I admitted.
Ally wiped her face with the hand towel draped across her shoulder.
“Look at this mess. My goodness, Fortune! Look at your hair!” she kneeled down and turned my head to get a better look at the mixer dangling from my hair.
“It’s all the way to the scalp.”
Ida Bell knelt next to Ally, grasped the mixer by the handle, and pressed the eject button. The beaters sprang out of the mixer, unrolled a little bit, and dangled down beside my face.
“We have to get this place, and you, cleaned up before Carter gets here.” Ida Bell said. “There’s still cupcakes to bake and getting these out of your hair is going to be one heck of a challenge.”
The deep sound of someone clearing their throat had the four of us jerking our heads up to find the source of the sound.
Carter stood in the kitchen doorway wearing an expression that one could only describe as concerned amusement. I looked at the four of us, covered in butter, flour, and eggs, beaters dangling from my hair, and felt a much unwanted, unfamiliar blush burning my cheeks.
“What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here until seven. It’s only,” I checked my watch. “A little after five.”
He laughed and cautiously moved toward me. “I know that, and I was going to stay away, I swear that was the plan, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that you might need some help.” He looked at my three friends, then back at me. “Even with these three around.”
“You can’t help. I’m supposed to be doing this on my own. The girls are just here to tell me what to do.”
“Does that include getting the mixer caught in your hair and drowning Ally with eggs?” he teased as he reached out and helped each of us to our feet, then stepped back with an amused twinkle in his eyes.
“What exactly where the three of you working on, and what smells so good?”
I reached up and tried to untwist one of the beaters from my hair with no luck. “We were about to make red velvet cupcakes but had a little accident.”
Little accident.
When I looked at my kitchen again, I decided little accident was a bit of an understatement. It looked like the Pillsbury Dough Boy had a wild party and bailed before the cleanup.
“Roast and vegetables in the slow cooker, and rolls in the over are what smells so great.” Ally chimed in. “And