Chapter 32 Dean
DEAN
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Kerry Winsor: Dean’s at the diner, everyone! Line up if you have questions!
Comments:
Jackie Anne: I’m too shy to say hello . . . one day I will.
Jade Clark: He’s gonna hate you all.
Kerry Winsor: He offered!
Jade Clark: Don’t tell people to line up!
“Okay, but what if we all got together and threw a massive party to say we all support Grace? Then she’ll know we only wanna help, and we can break the embargo!”
I wanted one meal to myself. Just one. And since Center Point Diner was the one place I could get decent food, I’d braved the chance that Tammy would corner me for questions and came in.
She wasn’t my biggest problem. Kerry was.
“For God’s sake. It’s killing you, isn’t it?” Tammy was back with my food. “Don’t you know not to ruin a man’s breakfast?”
“I just need to talk to him.”
“Get to your own table, or so help me, I will ban you from the diner.” Kerry whined, but slowly got up. “There. Now you owe me one.”
I blew out a breath. “Thank you.”
“Didn’t have breakfast with Grace this morning?” Tammy asked.
“Why would I have breakfast with Grace?”
She paled, a common reaction whenever they hinted at me living with her—a detail none of them should’ve known. “Well, I just figured it would be . . . economical, if you were staying with the woman you’re here for.”
“Wow. What a conclusion. How long did Kerry last?”
“Two days.”
“That’s longer than I thought.”
“She tried. Now are you gonna tell me or not?”
I sighed. “Grace makes eggs on toast every morning. I’m happy she has breakfast and it’s nice of her to share, but if I ate it one more time, I might have started crying.”
“Eggs on toast is pretty tame for a pregnant lady.”
“She douses it in hot sauce and sour cream, which . . . makes no sense, but I know better than to say anything.”
“You’re smarter than you look.” She gave me a half smile. “And it seems like you’re treating her right. She hasn’t kicked you out yet.”
“Grace wouldn’t do that, but I’m still gonna make sure I don’t do anything to upset her.”
“And I thought it was bad when you kept staring at her.” Her smile was downright vicious as she walked off, and I had to resist the urge to groan.
I should have eaten the eggs on toast. Or hell, just the toast. Grace’s company would have been preferred.
Still, the food was good, and I was able to get a reprieve from the same thing every morning. Once I was done, I’d get a little bit of work done before taking Grace to her appointment.
For the first time in a little while, I’d finally be back in a city. Strawberry Springs hadn’t been terrible, but I looked forward to a dining experience where I didn’t have to spill my life story.
I didn’t know how many more questions about Grace I could take.
I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the night I slept in her bed. I had a feeling she hadn’t either. I’d waited for her to ask me about it, but she never did. She only watched me with a furrowed brow, and I had no idea what she was looking for.
Did she want me to admit it? Did she want me to apologize?
Did she want me to do it again?
That might have been the worst of all the options because I knew that I wouldn’t hesitate to do it if she asked. There wasn’t a question she could pose that I would say no to.
She didn’t know it yet, but I was wrapped around her finger. There was no getting out. She had me, even if she didn’t want me. The time I spent in Strawberry Springs didn’t help, but there was no way I could leave.
And that was fucking terrifying.
I didn’t even want to leave for Clyde. I told him that things had been rough here with Grace being sick and I wasn’t sure when I would be back. The more that I thought about leaving her, the less I wanted to make plans to return.
He understood and told me to take my time, but the fact that I had even said I didn’t want to come back in the first place was alarming.
He’d offered a few jobs in Knoxville that were coming up, where I could be closer to Strawberry Springs if I needed to be.
I told him I’d find a way to work those. At least I would get to see him.
Grace opened the door only seconds after I turned off the engine and got out of the truck.
She was in a skirt again, this time burnt orange, with a white shirt tucked in.
I could see her belly openly now, and every time I did, it made my heart jump into my throat. There was no denying she was pregnant.
She looked beautiful. She seemed to glow a little bit more every single day. I was lucky that I had gotten to be here for so much of it. I might have been sleeping on a tiny twin bed and developing permanent back issues, but it was worth it.
“Do I look okay?” she asked as she brushed nonexistent crumbs off her skirt. “Now that everyone knows, I can go back to my normal wardrobe.”
“You don’t just look okay. You look fucking stunning. I missed those skirts.”
Both of us had carefully avoided anything that could be considered flirting ever since I found out she was pregnant. This was the first time I’d let anything slip.
Grace’s eyes grew wide as she stared at me. “R-really? I missed them too.”
That was the best response she could have given considering the circumstances. It was almost professional the way she said it.
It reminded me of my place.
She began to walk to the truck, but stopped herself and turned back to me. “I would have thought that seeing me throw up would have completely ruined the vibes. Do you somehow still find me hot after that?”
“Nothing can ruin the vibes,” I replied. “You’re hot all the time.”
She smiled the same way she did when she was leading me to the Treasure Trove to have sex with me.
“You should compliment me more often. I like how it sounds.”
That was enough for me to continue.
“You’re so beautiful all the time, but seeing you pregnant is really something. Your skin is literally glowing. Your smile is even more beautiful now that your cheeks are fuller. You catch my eye every time you walk by. You always did, but now I can’t look away.”
Her eyes grew wide and I realized my compliments weren’t flirty, they were deeper, coming from the heart rather than anywhere else.
“Sometimes a girl needs to hear all of that,” she said. “You’re good at this.”
“Not as much as you think.” I led her to the truck, pushing away any other thoughts. “We should get going, though.”
“Yeah, we should.”
I needed to keep it together.
But the more I wanted to do for her, the harder it was keeping myself in check.
“So,” she said as I started the truck, “there’s a chance we might get to know the gender today.”
My heart stuttered. “There’s a lot of stuff we’ll get to know today.”
“Are you nervous?” she asked. I didn’t know how she’d figured it out, but she always did.
“Terrified.”
She blew out a breath. “Yeah, me too. A lot of people wait until after this point to tell family and friends, but I didn’t get so lucky.”
“Fucking Brooke.”
She let out a sigh. “Yeah. Brooke is a piece of work.”
“Have you heard from her?”
“Nope. Not at all. Is it bad that I’m grateful?”
“After what she did, no.”
“I still feel bad, though. She’s my only remaining family.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that she’s a terrible person.”
“I know,” Grace said quietly. “I really wish she wasn’t. It would be nice to be able to share all of this with her and have her care about it, but she’s just not that kind of person. She never was.”
“You can share it all with me.”
“I know. It’s good to have a friend who cares.”
Friends was exactly what we should have been. It was what we’d stay.
But I fucking hated that word.
I was cracking at the seams. Living with her was a terrible idea, and yet I knew I’d never leave.
“Do you wanna find out the gender today?” I asked. All of this had been so vague in my mind. I knew that there was a baby coming. I was working hard because of it, yet I still hadn’t wrapped my mind around it.
“That’s what I wanna ask you. We’re doing this as a team, right?”
“We are.” Just the thought of being a team filled me with a feeling I couldn’t describe. I’d been the one to start this and it still hit me hard. “I’m not sure, but it would help to figure out the gender so we have ideas for our nursery.”
The room I’d been staying in would eventually be one. I hated the idea of not living with Grace anymore, but maybe it was a good thing for me to be forced out.
“Right, that.” She let out a sigh. “I still haven’t cleared the room out, and getting a crib? Baby furniture? That sounds overwhelming.”
I turned to her. “I can—”
“Just in the last week, you cleaned out my gutters and worked on the front porch. You’ve done enough. Don’t make me lock you out of the house.”
“Well, at least it would be safer than you leaving the door unlocked for me all the time.”
“I left the door unlocked all the time before. It’s not just you.”
I blinked. “Do you not lock the front door?”
“I live in the country.” She shrugged. “No one locks up their stuff.”
“That’s so unsafe.”
“Did your mom lock up?”
“She did after all the city people moved in.”
“Well, you’re city people. So I guess I’ll start.”
This woman. Did she know what she did to me? I could see her smile from the corner of my eye.
“Lock the door, but not just because of me.”
“Sure, sure.”
“Grace—”
“Anyway, back to the baby.” She changed the subject forcefully. I knew I’d be bringing this up later. “I’ve heard through the grapevine that Kerry’s wondering if we’re having a gender reveal party.”
I glared. “Did she ask you? She better not have—”
“No, she asked Jade, and I happened to walk into the shop during the conversation. She played it off and ran away.”
“Good.”
“It’s a fair question, though. I should say yes, right? I bet the town would be happy if I did.”
“It doesn’t matter what the town thinks. What do you think?”
She paused. “I wanna celebrate it once. But not yet. So maybe I should have a baby shower.”
“Kerry will want to plan it then.”
“I was thinking Mollie should.”