Destiny's Fates

Chapter 11

I finish my one slice of pizza quickly and reach for the box to take to the kitchen. Cherry follows me from where she was begging at Derrek’s feet. At least she remembered she isn’t allowed on the couch when there is food. “Good girl Cherry. You get a treat for staying off the couch.” I open the pantry and toss Cherry a treat, then turn back around and grab the Ziplock bags. I divide the rest of my pizza up into bags, 2 slices to a bag. I put the bags on the middle drawer of my fridge. Man, I really need to go grocery shopping. I barely have any food in here. I turn and face the dishwasher. The dishes are clean. I glance into the living room and see the guys still chowing down on the pizza and cheese sticks. I can unload it here quick, then I just load the dishes in tonight after they leave, if they leave. Where are they staying? Did they get rooms at a hotel? Are they planning on staying here with me? I quickly stack all the clean dishes on the counter and then start putting them away in the cabinets. Cherry follows right behind me, almost becoming a tripping hazard as I try to step backwards to avoid hitting my face with the cabinet door. “Cherry!” I groan, exasperated. “You are going to be the death of me one of these days.”

“Yip,” Cherry says, as if she is agreeing with me.

“You love that dog, but you say she is going to be the death of you Love. Which one is it?” Derrek asked, entering the kitchen with the empty pizza box and cheese stick box. James followed with the dirty plates and Chris brought in the extra cans of soda they hadn’t opened.

“Why can’t she be both?” I retort, taking the sodas from Chris. I put them in the fridge, then turn around to see James loading my dishwasher and Derrek shoving the boxes in the trashcan. Chris is wiping down my counters with a dishrag. “Wow, a girl could get used to this.” I laugh.

Chris snorts, “Don’t get used to it Des. You only get to marry one of us, not all of us. Speaking of marriage, we should probably tackle the piles of paper in the living room.”

I nod and follow the guys back into the living room. James hands me the pile of paper’s he printed off. “There are about 50 guys in there, Doll. I filtered out the ones that no longer live in Idaho.” I sit down on the couch, eyeing the stack of paper in my lap. “Good grief,” I groan.

Derrek sits down next to me on the couch. “I will compare the name on the paper with my dead people stack here. If they match, then we can cross them off the list.”

“Okay, let’s do this.”

Chris phone suddenly rings, and “Cool Rider” starts playing. He quickly answers it. “Christopher Bradley speaking...Yes...I understand...Okay...Yes sir...I understand...You will have my full report by the end of this coming Tuesday.” He hangs up the phone call.

“Cool Rider? Really man? That’s your ringtone?” Derrek asks.

“Right, cause the Darth Vader theme song is so much better,” Chris retorts.

James pipes in, “Well, Destiny’s used to be ‘Carry on my Wayward Son’ in High School.”

“It still is,” I mutter. “Hey Derrek, you aren’t doing your job. This is a dead man and you have been staring at my paper for the past 2 minutes. Also, his last name is Finley. I think this was my mystery date guy...guess this explains why he never showed up.”

“Sorry Love.” Derrek took the paper from my hand and the paper from his file, folded them in half, and threw them on the coffee table. “What was that phone call about Chris?”

“My boss, he wants an updated report about one of our patients. Also, I just got an email from the Fate Council. “

We all stop and look at each other, then James and Derrek pull out their phones. “Same here,” Derrek says, looking at James, who looks up from his phone and nods.

I look at all of them. “Well, I didn’t get an email so what does it say?”

Chris clears his throat. “Attention Fate assigned to Destiny Marie Reign. We would like a full report on the progress of your Assigned and her marriage plans by Sunday, June 25, 2023, at 6 pm. Please know that this is not optional, and the report will be in person with the entire Fate Council.”

Great, just great. Now we have a deadline to find my 4th Fate by. “What happens if we haven’t found my 4th Fate by tomorrow night?” I ask.

“Nothing good,” James answers. “We will all have to appear before the Council and explain the situation.”

“Including the three of you telling me you are my Fates? Isn’t that against the rules?”

“I mean, that is like the one major rule of being a male Fate.” Derrek mutters.

“Well gentlemen, let’s get back to work and find this Fate so that way y’all don’t have to deal with the consequences.”